Fightin' John Maybury strikes back:

Shannon Del Vecchio's letter to the editor last week complained about the San Francisco Bay Guardian quarry expose, but Bay Guardian reporter George Schulz quoted extensively from Pacifica's new playpal Don Peebles. That sounds fair and balanced to me. Shannon also wrote about "every stupid rumor made up by the No on L' contingent." Wow! That's some amazing doublespeak. If I were a lawyer for "Noel," I'd be drawing up papers right now. Coastside.com caught Peebles PR hacks (Davies Communications of Santa Barbara, officially in denial) red-handed in a "sock puppet" astroturfing incident, which was independently verified by the San Mateo County Times and reported widely in the Pacifica Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle. That's not one-sided journalism, Shannon, that's good reporting on unfair campaign practices.

Now take a deep breath, everybody. Shannon also wrote a letter to the Bay Guardian (Sept. 6) accusing it of "lack of research and blatant promotion of the reactionary (and unpopular) organization in our town called Pacifica Today and Tomorrow." Unpopular? Sheesh, are we back in high school?

Shannon called PTT's Web site (pacificaquarry.org) "extremist." That's some pretty ripe rhetoric for a local land use election campaign. Bring on the "nattering nabobs of negativism" and "the effete intellectual snobs." Better yet, bring on "the evildoers." Bring it on, Shannon.

But Shannon saved her best line for laughs -- oops, I mean last: "The majority of us who passionately support this project are committed environmentalists." If Shannon is an environmentalist, I'm a big fan of George W. Bush.