PUBLIC FORUM; LIMITED COMPASSION.

I notice a memorial was held on behalf of Rose Bird at the Skirball Cultural Center on Sunday. I see that the usual sob sisters of the bleeding heart variety were there. They said she was compassionate for those who faced the death penalty. Of course, over 60 percent of the electorate voted to reinstate the death penalty in California. This woman, when she lived, used every means to thwart and disenfranchise our viewpoints. In truth she was a lap dog of the trial lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union.

It is ironic she and these mourners showed no compassion for the victims or the families of victims who go through a hell on Earth trying to put their lives back together.

- David Fiorella

North Hollywood

IT CAN BE DONE

The time has come for private enterprise to finish the Belmont Learning Center. The heavy scientific knowledge as to its safe operation mandates such action.

Perhaps a pluralistic mix of several small religious schools representing the various religions of the world would enrich the area.

Vouchers could come into play. The Supreme Court has not ruled them out in several religious schools. A strong pro-voucher lobby, especially around election time, would seem most effective.

To moralize is easy but without political muscle it's for naught.

Since our all-American board of education seems to be stuck in concrete, a can-do American organization must finish the project. The can-do people have made our country what it is, a great country.

- Ben Gomez

Los Angeles 

MARRIAGE INITIATIVE

Re Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's letter (Public Forum, Jan. 5), on Proposition 22:

This country has survived many liberal points of view from our politicians but this is the last straw. In simple English, marriage emphasizes the legal union of a man and a woman.

Now we have a problem, or do we? Just on Monday the Declaration of Domestic Partnership went into effect that gives couples visitation rights in medical facilities. Where do we draw the line? California is not Vermont where a single judge could rule on this subject. I am married 52 years and I speak for the millions of married couples who believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, period.

We don't need politicians to tell us how to vote and to give us their social input. They were elected to see to it that our cities are kept clean. Los Angeles is far from being called a clean city.

- Johnny Rotella

Van Nuys

ROSENKRANTZ PAROLE

Robert Rosenkrantz deserves to be paroled. The homicide he committed was provoked by an assault on him when he was ``outed'' for being gay. He is remorseful, he has matured, he has accepted full responsibility for his crime and has an impeccable 15-year prison record.

I began to represent Robert on a pro bono basis at a June 1996 hearing, in which he was initially granted parole. At that hearing, Deputy District Attorney Diane Vezzani courageously and correctly said that the District Attorney's Office would not oppose Robert receiving a parole date and that she believed he had earned it. The trial judge, the homicide detective and numerous others vigorously supported and continue to support parole.

It was not until a year later, August 1977, that I appealed to District Attorney Gil Garcetti and members of his staff to ask that they affirmatively argue for Robert's release. He declined, as the quote of him in your Jan. 6 article reflects, but decided instead to maintain the ``nonopposition'' position taken a year earlier by his deputy.

Why should a deputy district attorney or the district attorney be attacked for their humanity in not opposing parole in this tragic case, where it is so appropriate?

- Alan V. Friedman

Los Angeles

WHERE'S THE CHP?

Driving on our freeways daily, I am amazed that someone has the nerve to drive 20 mph faster than the traffic flow and swing in and out of all the lanes on the freeway. These drivers seem to have no fear of collisions, no fear of being ticketed and no fear of the consequences of their aggressive driving.

The real mystery is that the California Highway Patrol has no presence on our freeways anymore.

Where has the California Highway Patrol gone to?

- Paul Werts

Glendale

DOCTORS AND DMV 

I would not worry much about whether doctors would report their patients to the DMV, not because I am healthy, but because I could not recall the last time my doctor paid any attention to my health.

In the U.S., somewhere between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die in a year because of their doctors' carelessness, the eighth leading cause of death, ahead of car crashes, breast cancer and AIDS.

Today's doctors just do not know enough about their patients to be concerned whether their patients would be unsafe drivers because of some medical conditions.

- Julian T. Nguyen

Reseda

AN IGNORED MINORITY

Re ``Society pushes chronically ill to brink'' (Opinions, Jan. 4):

Thank you for printing Deborah Vitek's essay. I have been a hemodialysis patient since 1991. We (all disabled) are an ignored minority, often too sick to fight and with few, if any, advocates. Only when a tragedy occurs does the media find room to wring their hands and ask how could this happen? It happens because you work all your life, building a middle-class lifestyle, to have it evaporate because you were unlucky and got sick or injured.

Now your middle-class lifestyle means you make too much money for the few, if any entitlements. Society would rather have us disappear for fear of being reminded they could become us.

- Darene Sutherland

Reseda

IT'S THE CHEESE

After surviving Y2K, I felt pretty good about the future until I picked up the Jan. 4 Daily News. As Luke Skywalker would say, ``I have a bad feeling about this.''

Sacramento is planning on new gun registration laws (that will eventually lead to gun confiscation) despite Gov. Gray Davis' request that new gun legislation be put on hold. It's the cheese.

L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is now out misrepresenting Proposition 22 after killing the Great Western Gun Show in L.A. County. It's the cheese.

Mayor Richard Riordan and his millennium committee have egg on their faces over the New Year's celebration fiasco, where the actual events were far less (almost nothing) than advertised. It's the cheese.

The L.A. Unified School District is still unable to come to grips with the Belmont Learning Center. Complete it or drop it? It's the cheese.

For once, there is some truth in advertising. Yes, things have gotten pretty cheesy here.

- Armand Vaquer

Tarzana

ONLINE SECURITY

Re ``Hacker tries to blackmail Net retailer'' (Jan. 10):

The article raises an important question concerning whether the online merchant is conducting business in a sensible manner. As a founding member of the Council on The Standard for Internet Commerce, I am adamant that no e-commerce Web site should be maintaining an online database of credit card numbers with names and addresses. There is no need to maintain the credit card numbers online, and the First Draft of The Standard for Internet Commerce states that merchants do not maintain an online database of credit card numbers.

Yes, customers can save time by buying at a site that saves name, address and phone number in a database. But in the interest of security, customers are happy to enter the credit card number every time they actually make a purchase.

The article does not raise a question concerning the security of online sales. Rather, the article delineates foolish behavior by an online merchant, followed by the expected result of a hacker taking advantage of that behavior.

- Virginia Lawrence

Northridge

LIBERALS ARE NOTORIOUS

Re Fred Coble's letter ``Liberal meaning,'' (Public Forum, Jan. 5).

His letter requires amplification. He states that, ``Americans who are sensitive, compassionate, tolerant, sympathetic, kind, charitable, benevolent, generous and unselfish'' are ``commonly referred to as liberals.'' I would feel more confident in Coble's self-serving assessments if he would express these virtues by funding them from his own pocket, rather than using the coercive, armed authority of the government.

Liberals are notorious for extracting that which they feel worthwhile by whatever means they find effective, and the largess with which they handle others' hard-earned resources is nothing short of totalitarianism. If I keep my own money, I won't need Fred's ``generosity, charity, benevolence, etc.'' Thanks anyway.

- Bruce Jones

Eagle Rock

CAPTION(S):

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Photo: Mike Farrell, president of Death Penalty Focus, speaks at former California Chief Justice Rose Bird's memorial Sunday.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News