LETTERS: RESIDENTS JUSTIFIED IN OPPOSING DANGEROUS ROAD PLAN : SOAR RESPECTS RESIDENTS.

The Borchard Road extension is a safety issue, not a political issue. The road, as currently designed, poses an inherent danger to public health, safety and welfare. All parties who were involved in the design and approval acted with total disregard and need to held accountable for endangering the public's safety.

The involved residents of the greater Thousand Oaks area, who have worked diligently to bring this issue before the powers that be, have been blasted by those with clear political agendas for their involvement in making sure all citizens are aware of the impending risk the current design of the road poses to the entire community.

I want to stand as an individual who respects the participation of all citizens who have done something to make the world a better place and I have nothing but contempt for anyone who attempts to negate the valiant efforts of so many.

- Diane Adele Slate Smith

Newbury Park

SOAR deserves the support of the people of Simi Valley. Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources will give the people the chance to prevent Simi from becoming a western extension of the San Fernando Valley.

Many Simi residents have expressed the hope that our hillside performance standards are enough to protect our scenic valley. Unfortunately, many do not realize that the hillside standards can be set aside by a four to five super-majority of the City Council.

Developers are keenly aware of this, such as when the Parker Ranch development application was allowed to proceed, despite gross exceptions to both the hillside performance standards and the city's General Plan. It seems as if every development can be ``made workable'' as Simi Valley approaches build-out. Our General Plan and the hillside performance standards are good, workable policy outlines. The problem comes from our City Council's willingness to set these carefully crafted plans aside at their convenience. Progress is not always measured at the front end of a bulldozer.

Simi Valley recently had a referendum on whether to allow Wal-Mart to come to town. The citizens of Simi Valley rejected Wal-Mart. We told our City Council what to do, and they ignored us. The new Wal-Mart is being built on what used to be three lovely little hills, one of which was donated to the city by an individual for the purpose of building a park.

It is amazing what can be done with a dozen earthmovers over a period of several months. This poetic reminder of what our council will do is precisely why we need SOAR standards now.

-Tom Halpin

Simi Valley

Mentally ill get shuffle

Why are three of our county supervisors - Susan Lacy, John Flynn and Kathy Long, shifting the care and treatment of the mentally ill in Ventura County from the umbrella of the health department to the umbrella of the welfare department, renamed ``Human Services Agency''?

This abrupt move passed on April 7 raises some serious questions: Many believe that this is an illegal maneuver of the part of these supervisors to shift the funds to the troubled and underfunded social services department - funds that have been and should continue to be earmarked for the care and treatment of our society's most vulnerable population, the mentally ill.

Why is the care of the mentally ill being shifted to a welfare administration whose goal is to place its consumers back in the workplace as swiftly as possible? Depending on the stage of their recovery, most of the mentally ill are not stable enough to hold jobs and need medical attention, not the stress of more responsibility.

Even though treatment of the mentally ill has a psychological/social component, it is well established that this is a population with a brain disease which is medically treatable. This makes them vastly different from welfare consumers. Moving funding from the health department to the social services department minimizes the importance of medical treatment for those who suffer from a medical problem.

I would like to think our local politicians have an enlightened understanding of the needs of the mentally ill and do not see their funding as a ticket for balancing the county's problematic welfare budget. I would like to see the decision reversed, now, just as quickly as it was foisted upon us in the first place.

- Susan Vinson

Ventura