LETTERS : ACTON-AGUA DULCE SCHOOL BOARD TO BLAME.

At first glance, people look at the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District and think they have it all together, but all you have to do is hang in there for a while and it becomes as transparent as glass.

I was under the impression that the superintendents of most districts are there to advise the school board, the school board makes the decisions, and the superintendent carries out those decisions. It appears in Acton-Agua Dulce that people who are upset (the teachers association and parents) forget that the decision-makers are on the school board, and if they tell an employee such as a superintendent to do or not to do something and that employee goes against their wishes, there are steps that can be taken to discipline that employee, and that has not happened. Therefore, who is to blame in Acton-Agua Dulce but the school board?

Parents and the teachers association need to be aware that if you're battling the superintendent, and it's been an ongoing situation, you are battling your duly elected school board trustees. Your superintendent is just their middleman.

It is amazing to me that we have teachers left to hang onto when they have not had a contract in nearly five years. Add to that California's teacher shortage.

Well, I guess you get what you pay for. If the teachers are willing to go back to the bargaining table, so should the school board. When they open enrollment to more and more out-of-district students to keep that attendance money rolling in, the only thing you have left to lose is more good teachers, more students (enrollment is down) more money (it's your tax dollars that pay for the court battles, arbitrations and mediations) and a decent place for your children to go to school close to home, while you continue to pay more and more taxes for local schools that you won't be interested in using.

Stacey Nickels

Acton

L.A. Basin geology wrong for subways

Subways do not belong in the Los Angeles Basin because of adverse geological conditions. The basin is filled with sedimentary rocks that are faulted and folded. The sedimentary rocks are ``soft'' compared with the metamorphic and limestone ``hard'' rock where other subways are built in other regions in the United States.

The Wilshire subway will most likely experience natural-gas seepage. The tall buildings along Wilshire all have gas vent pipes coming up from their subbasements to carry off the seepage. Plans are in place to build an underground subway station next to the La Brea Tar Pits. How does the MTA plan to get the tar and related natural gas out of the construction area of the subway station?

The tar pits are also on the edge of the site of an abandoned oil field, which produced during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Subway boring into an old oil field could cause many problems. The early 1900s had no laws for proper abandonment of oil fields as we do today. A well might simply be ``plugged'' by shoving a tree into the hole and dirt dumped in, and oil and gas could seep up and migrate laterally.

I realize there is a great need for public transportation in the Los Angeles Basin. Subways are not the answer, but surface rail and monorail are. Southern California is earthquake country. A future earthquake could cave in subways (a railroad tunnel caved in the 1952 Tehachapi earthquake) and damage surface rail and monorail lines. Repair of earthquake damage to surface rail and monorail lines would be expensive, but a quake-damaged subway would have to be ``rebored,'' which is like starting over from scratch.

Kaye R. McCown, Castaic

Kaye McCown is a geologist

River Park complex a safe place to live

I read an article in the Daily News on Jan. 8 titled ``Residents of a complex share fear of car theft'' and feel compelled to respond.

My husband and I, along with numerous others, have lived at the River Park Apartments for some time, and we have always received prompt service and courteous assistance. We have felt safe, and on occasion when incidents out of their control happen, the staff of River Park - especially the manager, Shannen Meddock - handle them with maturity, responsibility and in an expeditious manner.

We feel confident that the staff of River Park is dedicated to serving tenants and doing all it can to maintain a safe environment. We applaud its efforts thus far. We enjoy living here because of the quality of the apartments, the friendliness of the office staff, the promptness of the maintenance crew in responding to work orders and the neighbors who surround us. Thank you, River Park.

We also appreciate the efforts of the Sheriff's Department and its accessibility. With these two forces combined, River Park Apartments can be considered a safe place to live.

Kristin C. Fletcher

Canyon Country