Dear Editor:My impression is that the downtown sports bar owner probably has one of two reasons for choosing such a terrible name: He's being very stupid by choosing a name that has a positive meaning for him and a few of his old Marine buddies, but which is ugly and offensive to nearly everyone else (and he doesn't care about being offensive), or He's being very smart by choosing a name that is already getting so much notoriety that he feels sure it will attract more people than it will keep away (and he doesn't care what kind of people it attracts as long as they spend). Gary E. Myers Downey

Dear Editor: In the May 11 issue of The Downey Patriot, it was stated that it was "freedom of speech" that protected the restaurant owner in its use of the name ("City's Official Statement on Bastards"). What an absurd statement. Where was the freedom of speech protection in the case of El Valu? I have a possible answer to this dilemma. The owner can call his establishment anything that does not offend the public in general. The owner can call a section of his restaurant, possibly the bar area, "Bastards." Anyone offended in entering his establishment can just leave. This is done in Las Vegas at the Flamingo casino in which a bar, Bugsy's Bar, is named after notorious mobster Benjamin Siegel. Either way, I am in agreement with Ms. Doris Hannon's letter to the editor. Come election time in our fine city, I, with others, will remember our Downey City Council. Vince Diaz Downey

********** Published: May 24, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 06