PUBLIC FORUM\U.S. quake insurance proposal denounced.

I was absolutely outraged when I read "Valley delegates back quake bill," Daily News, Feb 27. This is a perfect example of why citizens are angry with government and the fools who run it. The first order of business should be to come up with quake insurance that is affordable to all homeowners.

Seventy-five percent of homeowners don't have quake insurance. Will this law (HR 1856) force them to buy what they can't afford? Of course not. Will his law help them to afford quake insurance? Of course not.

What we homeowners do need is national disaster insurance, available and affordable to everyone in all 50 states. I have heard this could be feasible at $1 to $1.50 per $1,000 of insured value.

HR 1856 is a scheme by the insurance industry to fleece 100 percent of the homeowners. And our congressmen are in on it.

- Thomas Kiser

North Hills

How dare anyone suggest that we as homeowners have to purchase earthquake insurance - who can afford it? The insurance industry has been ripping off the homeowner for many years. We all carry homeowners' insurance, as it is mandatory if you have a mortgage on your home, and many of us pay and never file a claim. So the insurance industry collects, and most of them never pay a dime on a claim.

We suffered damage to our home in the Northridge Earthquake and, no, we didn't have earthquake insurance. Yes, we did receive money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but it wasn't given to us. We're paying it back just like many other responsible homeowners.

Yet, I have a neighbor, who has earthquake insurance, who has been out of her home for months waiting for her insurance company to handle her claim. Meanwhile the house looks like a mess, and we have to live daily with her storage container in the street and her house looking like a piece of abandoned property.

Is this what we would have to look forward to as homeowners if we have earthquake insurance? I think I would rather take my chances with FEMA.

We can't afford to pay for more insurance. The rates already are too high just for regular home coverage.

- Carol Consolo

Reseda

I am writing in response to Congressman Elton Gallegly's comment that FEMA monies were being used by San Fernando Valley residents to put us in the lap of luxury. My FEMA money went for such extravagant items as new toilets that were broken during the quake, a new refrigerator to replace the one that was leaking Freon due to the quake damage, and the replacement of windows.

I am sure that Gallegly knows more than most about being on the dole from the government. With his inflated congressional salary and perks it is easy to buy some extra insurance. - Lawrence Larson

Granada Hills

Fate of bad teachers

"Where to put bad teachers?" (Daily News, Feb. 25) was fantastic. Superintendent Sid Thompson's statement, that it "may be necessary to modify the hiring authority of LEARN (Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now)" is typical. In other words, he says keep shuffling the "bad teachers" and don't let the good schools keep them out.

Your article has finally brought out into the open what we parents have known for years. I am the mother of five children and have 15 grandchildren. I have had more than one occasion to challenge "bad teachers."

In one particular instance, we requested that one high school teacher not be transferred to another school to unsuspecting children and parents, but that he be kept here where we could keep our eyes on him, since he was not about to be fired at that time.

Most of us who work must either perform to the prescribed standards of productivity or we are replaced with someone who can and will perform to those standards. If the school teachers can't do the job, then they must be fired.

Clean up the Los Angeles Unified School District now. Start by getting rid of Thompson and the busing system. There is no requirement to bus children for integration and it certainly is not improving their education. By keeping children in their neighborhood schools, parents can see on a daily basis what is going on.

- Marge Ivy-Hammond

Tujunga

The primary motivation in becoming a LEARN school has always been, in our minds, the creation of a better educational system for our children rather than the elimination of poor or under-used staff.

When teachers, parents, classified staff, students and administrators vote to work together in a unified quest, they have already elevated their academic perspective to a higher plane. The resulting excitement and esprit de corps invigorates all stake holders to maintain a prominent level of competence and responsibility.

LEARN's mutual dialogue and peer pressure affords the better alternative to firing or transferring poor staff.

- Cathy Kay

Dee Dee Henley

PTA Co-Presidents

Justice Street School

West Hills

Rebuttal on race

Unfortunately, white America and K.L. Billingsley ("Race over character," Opinions, Feb. 26) refuse to get it. The "it" is that throughout the history of the United States, white America has always been able to find an Uncle Tom or a stooge to parrot its best interests. It's the best strategy in the world. Find an African-American whom you an manipulate, place him in a position of power, and watch as the members of his race attack him, while you escape blame.

Two living examples are Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and University of California Regent Ward Connerly. The reason Connerly is being attacked by African-Americans is that his position is not only wrong, it is dangerous and divisive.

Connerly's deluded position on affirmative action shows that he is completely apart from the mainstream of African-Americans who are still catching hell for years of discrimination in education, business and society.

Under the Orwellian double-speak name of the "California Civil Rights Initiative," Connerly has sold out thousands of African-American children who, through no fault of their own, attend subpar schools with subpar facilities, yet still survive to make excellent grades and deserve a chance to attend California's finest schools.

The accusation by state Sen. Diane Watson against Connerly about his white wife is a valid one. African-Americans do not hold any prejudices against his white wife - whom he loves and marries is his business - but it does provide legitimate insight into his makeup and philosophy.

Certain blacks want to run as far away from their race as possible. They marry white people, circulate socially with whites mostly and preach the words of white America.

That's their prerogative. But it is also African-America's prerogative to question their closeness to their African-American brethren.

- Lawrence C. Ross Jr.

Los Angeles

Credibility gap

I read in the Feb. 24 Daily News that the Department of Commerce reports that the gross domestic product for the final quarter of 1995 rose at an annual rate of less than 1 percent, and that the economy grew during 1995 at a little more than 2 percent.

I thought that Bill Clinton told the American people in his State of the Union address that the American economy was vibrant and strong, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and that the economy's growth rate was the highest in decades - all as a result of the Clinton administration's economic and foreign trade policies.

It seems as if a credibility gap exists here.

- Ralph Joseph Novotney Jr.

Woodland Hills

Impact of profanity 

Regarding "Profanity is sending culture into a deep, blue hole" by George Plagenz (Opinions, Feb. 20): I wish to state that I am in 100 percent agreement. I am very disgusted with seeing highly rated films that subject me to a barrage of foul language and graphic violence.

I would like to see all R-rated films made in two versions. One R-rated, with foul language, etc., and one made with a G rating with no foul language, etc. I believe that the clean versions of these films would do better at the box office than the R-rated versions.

Also the foul language I am being assaulted by on TV and radio needs to be stopped. I am not a prude, as I do occasionally enjoy good humor that is ethnic or sexual, but not told with a foul mouth.

- David Vickson

Glendale

George R. Plagenz's cogent column on the proliferation of profanity in our society is too true but I would like to add a few thoughts to complete the observation.

In many circles the f-word has become the adjective of choice and in many other areas it is the only adjective in common use. I hope our wonderful mother tongues will survive this trend but what worries me is what happens to the minds of the people whose vocabulary becomes so constricted that they can no longer describe the simplest idea in a clear and direct manner. Their careers shall be limited to the most menial positions and their minds shall be warped so they can no longer enjoy some of the vigorous beauties of our language.

- William Tulin

Reseda

The death penalty

Regarding Fred Coe and his opinion that William Bonin should have been "keep in an asylum for life" ("On William Bonin," Public Forum, Feb. 23): As a concerned citizen and taxpayer, I disagree, as I'm certain the friends and family of Bonin's 14 victims do. Justice was served.

- Eddie Cress

Los Angeles

"Families finally feel sense of relief," Daily News, Feb. 24, quoted Lance Lindsey, the executive director of the Oakland-based Death Penalty Focus of California. He said "The witnesses (to the execution of William Bonin) only saw the end product. They didn't see the point where this method is brutal." Then he went on to say, "They had a hard time finding a vein, that's a botched execution. It's torture."

I wish someone would explain to him what torture is. Maybe he should talk to some of the victims' families about what torture is.

- Dee Smith

Van Nuys

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(1) William Bonin (2) Before the next one homeowners need national disaster insurance