PUBLIC FORUM; PRAYER FOR ELIAN.

I watched and videotaped Elian Gonzalez and his family move from the motorcade to the airport and finally leave for Cuba, and felt tears well up inside myself, just imagining what this little boy, one month shy of his seventh birthday, has been through since Thanksgiving Day.

No matter what side you take on this issue, try to remember this innocent little child, who, after watching his mother die, was pulled in every direction by both countries, and is finally returning to his original home. Let's all say a prayer and hope for Elian and his family to heal from all of this pain.

- Marie Roberts

Los Feliz

JUSTICE PREVAILED

I applaud the Supreme Court's assent to the return of Elian Gonzalez to Cuba with his father. It is a belated Father's Day gift.

Considering the efforts of Elian's relatives in Miami, it should also be considered a victory for the secular forces for law and justice of our country.

The actual and real separation of religion from government that, against the sentiments of many, prevails in the United States, has worked to uphold family ties between father and son.

- Kenneth H. Bonnell

Eagle Rock

ABORTION RULING

The Supreme Court has made infanticide legal, and they mentioned in their decision that partial-birth abortion was legal even if the head of the baby came out of the womb first. Let us take it to its logical conclusion.

The next time a woman is charged with murder for killing her newborn baby her defense will be, ``Yes, I strangled the baby, but its foot was still inside of me. I performed an abortion made legal by the Supreme Court in Stenberg vs. Carhart.''

- George Noonan

Sylmar

ENCOURAGE, DON'T BAN

LAUSD board member Valerie Fields has proposed banning the use of fake rifles and air rifles in Junior ROTC. Fields did not cite any problems with the use of fake rifles by the JROTC that inspired her proposal. In truth, her proposal is based more on superstition than logic. The ancient Romans chopped down trees from which a child had fallen and been hurt on the assumption that the spirit of the tree had hurt the child. Fields seems to think the spirit of firearms will hurt children.

Fields could make a real contribution to our children if she would encourage supervised use of firearms rather than driving children who want to learn about firearms to do so illegally.

- Robert Harding

Northridge

PASS IT ON

Your front page article ``Proposal to ban Jr. ROTC rifles triggers debate'' amusingly points out the intelligence of the L.A. school board, i.e. ``They don't need to be that militaristic.'' Maybe the Marines could be less militaristic, too. Hey, that's an idea. Pass it on to Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

- Susan Bell

Canyon Country

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

Re Supreme Court's version of freedom; You can riot, but you can't pray,'' by Tad Cronn, Opinion, June 27:

The separation of God from government is more like a conflict of interests than the scenario Tad described. To some of us, God, whatever that is, requires certain acts of love. As a Jew, those are very strong commandments, as in many other faiths. When the state forbids acts of love that are required by our ethical beliefs, God must be the winner in this as well as any other conflict.

I wonder if there are other Jews who would like to challenge the state's authority over laws which forbid acts of love such as the laws prohibiting prostitution?

- Mark James Simon 

Van Nuys

ATTA BOY

Thank you, Daily News, for Tad Cronn's insightful and well-written essay, ``Supreme Court's version of freedom: You can riot, but you can't pray.'' It is heartening to see a byline from a local writer who possesses such a wonderful combination of wisdom and intelligence. Let us hear from Cronn more often.

- Dave Culver

Pasadena

GIVING THANKS

I would like to praise the Los Angeles firefighters for their outstanding commitment to doing their job. My deepest gratitude goes to them. On June 23, my 4-year-old son Gustavo Valdivia Jr. was hit by a car while he was outside of our house with my wife and our daughters. It was the scariest moments of our lives to see our son lying on the floor with head and leg injuries.

My wife called 911 and in less than five minutes, the paramedics arrived, and about seven minutes later, my son was airlifted in a helicopter to Childrens Hospital. I also want to express my gratitude to the driver who hit my son. He responsibly stopped his vehicle and also called 911. I always hear on the news or read in the papers of many drivers who hit and run.

- Gustavo Valdivia

Pacoima

WE'LL SEE

Re ``Davis pitches Palmdale for deal'' (June 21).

It is clear that the program could save lots of money by using an available facility and a willing labor force. As mentioned in your article, Rep. (Howard ``Buck'') McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, inserted ``language'' into the 2001 Defense Authorization Act requiring the Pentagon to consider Palmdale as a production site, along with already-considered Fort Worth, Texas and St. Louis, Mo.

It will be interesting to see if that language holds up through the Republican Congress. Texas and Missouri have so-called ``right to work'' laws (i.e. anti-union). I can't see Republicans helping a state get a contract which uses union labor.

- Vic Spencer

Northridge

BAD IDEA

There was a huge rally of about 20,000 people in the Sports Arena some days ago and they wanted all of the 5 million or 6 million illegal aliens living in this country to be given amnesty. In other words, they want to repeat the 1986 amnesty program again.

Some 3 million illegal persons were legalized then and the results, in my opinion, have not helped our country as a whole. First of all, the great majority of the legalized aliens of 1986 were poor and had little education, circumstances that sure didn't help their kids growing up here.

Even many Latinos, born here or not, do not think too much of the idea advocated at the Sports Arena.

- John F. Mendez

Los Angeles

WE HUMANS

Re Ron Kaye's ``12 LAUSD years is a real education'' June 24:

Hurrah! I totally agree with you about public education.

I am a retired LAUSD teacher. For 30 years, I was in the system. My three sons went to Calvert, Parkman and Taft. Three of my grandchildren go to public schools. I taught at Taft High School for 18 years, retiring from there in 1994. Over my years of teaching, I saw outstanding teaching and I saw the other side, teachers that should not have been teaching. But through it all, children learn not only the basics but that to succeed in this world you must try to understand all people.

I taught special-education students. They were creative, talented individuals who had slight learning problems. In my classes were students from Iran, El Salvador, Mexico and a mixture of whites from the Valley and African-Americans from the inner city.

If your message gets across to anyone, let it be in our homes and classrooms - in other words, everyone. We are the human race.

- Jean Domine

Winnetka

CAUSE FOR WONDER

Has anyone else begun to wonder if the California Earthquake Authority, created during Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush's administration, will be prepared to function in the event of another Northridge-like earthquake? Or has that money disappeared as well?

It also should not be forgotten the CEA was created by the same insurance commissioner as a result of major insurance companies blackmailing the state. Remember, they were no longer going to sell homeowners policies unless they could be free to avoid an earthquake endorsement. Where do the earthquake policyholders, who are paying about four times as much to receive much less coverage, really stand?

- Michael Vosganian

Woodland Hills