Letters.

Award Mania

All these years I've erroneously been attributing the proliferation of celebrity award shows to the paradoxical vanity and insecurity so common among entertainment and sports celebrities. It has always been puzzling why these overpaid egos require so much more stroking than the average citizen. One would think their celebrity status and obscene salaries would be sufficient to keep them content.

Thanks to Hans Ibold's March 12 article ("Hollywood Awards Almost Never Stop"), I finally understand that the driving force behind such shows is money. Of course!

The vanity and insecurity of celebrities would have to be a secondary factor to the most powerful driving force in our society.

But doesn't the success of such programs say a lot about the viewers who watch such shows? These are the same viewers who watch garbage sitcoms and reality programs - people who seem to have no life of their own and who demand to be constantly entertained at the lowest level possible.

What a sad commentary on our society.

WAYNE D. KERR

La Crescenta

Peons Must Pay

In reference to the Feb. 5 article by Laurence Darmiento ("Cities, Developers Bracing for Tough Pollution Rules"), there is a terrible problem in the kingdom (Los Angeles County). The river in the kingdom (Los Angeles River) is full of trash, so much trash that no one can use the river. The benevolent leader (State of California) comes up with a grand idea: Let's have the peons (all the cities, residents and businesses) clean up the river.

The peons need to make sure that not one gum wrapper blows into the river. The leader explains that this plan is what is "best" and "right" for the peons.

The leader holds "hearings" on his grand idea. The peons support cleaning up the river, but wonder why the benevolent leader is forcing them to do all of the work.

Critics of the leader's plan say it is going to cost the peons millions of dollars. The peons have been struggling to pay for electrical deregulation and other great ideas forced on them by the benevolent leader. How are the peons supposed to pay for this new plan? The peons argue that the leader is sitting on billions of the peons' tax dollars. Why can't the leader use some of this money?

The peons also come up with their own, less expensive plan. The peons' plan would make the best use of scarce resources. It would band groups of peons together to solve the trash problem in the river. The only thing that they say is you were "too late!" The peons are left to believe that the benevolent leader had already made up his mind. The benevolent leader adopts his plan - zero trash in the river.

The peons will be carried off to the stockades, if they do not clean all the trash from the river. The benevolent leader is armed with a timetable, $25,000-per-day fines and litigation for the malcontent peons.

Sounds like a bad Hollywood screenplay? No, this is a page from the State Water Quality Control Board action that will force cities, businesses and residents to clean up the Los Angeles River at their own expense.

The lesson here is that the benevolent leader always has to be right. If the peons forgot this lesson, we only have to look at our recent electric bill.

LARRY FORESTER

Vice Mayor

City of Signal Hill