PUBLIC FORUM : QUESTIONS ABOUT SOLICITING MONEY PERSIST.

With regard to Bob Loza's comments (``Clinton's critics are `partisan hypocrites' '') about the use of telephones to contact wealthy contributors (Public Forum, Dec. 17):

I say he is right. Who cares?

But isn't he just the slightest bit curious about the likes of Charlie Trie and John Huang, and possibly that there was foreign money in the last election?

I most certainly am. In my first presidential election I voted for Harry S. Truman. I think old Harry would be embarrassed, more likely outraged, about what the process has come to be.

The Democrats are no better, and possibly no worse, than the Republicans. George Wallace said it best: ``There's not a dime's worth of difference between them.''

- John Pierson 

Thousand Oaks 

DWP buyouts

Our City Council always has had a sneaky way of handling salary or pension increases, but this payoff to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees tops any and all others.

There is no way to justify the buyout figures. It was quietly and quickly brought to the floor, voted on and passed. Nate Holden and Joel Wachs were the only council dissenters. Apparently these two members still maintain a degree of honesty and common sense.

The way our City Council handled this situation very clearly indicates just how little interest it has in regard to our citizens or to the financial status of our fair city.

- Clarence W. Hayward

Los Angeles 

Cardiac death rates

I am writing to respond to your article of Dec. 15 (``Hospital cardiac death rate high; Granada Hills, others studied'') describing the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development comparison of 1991 to 1993 hospital outcome data for heart attack patients.

As the former assemblywoman representing the community that Granada Hills Community Hospital serves, and a past president of the Granada Hills Community Hospital Foundation, I have intimate, and what is more important, current, factual knowledge of the excellent cardiac care the hospital provides.

The first hospital in the San Fernando Valley to perform open-heart surgery, GHCH fulfilled its promise to deliver ever-improving cardiac care by establishing a university-affiliated heart center in the fall of 1993.

In recent years, the heart center has produced superb results, far exceeding state and national norms. The heart center has earned the gratitude of patients and families and the respect of the medical community.

With an emergency heart-care center certified by the American Heart Association, a chest-pain center for rapid evaluation and treatment and an effective cardiac rehabilitation program, GHCH has helped heal thousands of broken hearts.

- Paula Boland

Northridge

Freeway diamond lanes

When I drive to Ventura one evening a week, I see many cars occupied by one adult - the driver - and a child in the whizzing by in the diamond lanes. I don't think of the bulk of them as commuters, though I could be mistaken.

In many ways, I can agree with those who resent the diamond lanes on our freeways, and by the same token, I use these lanes when I drive with my father - we are both retired - anywhere.

What is the solution to this problem? I think back to when we spent some months living in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. One or more of the very wide thoroughfares - they were called parkways - had an extra center lane. During peak hours of the ``into downtown'' rush, lights along the center lane were turned to green for traffic in that direction.

During reverse traffic flow hours, when many workers were leaving their jobs, the green light was given to traffic in that direction. Between the changing of the light colors, it was red for all traffic for a short period of time. This way, nobody got confused - as they would be if actual clock hours were designated for each direction.

I don't recall ever hearing of an accident on any of these parkways due to a head-on collision in this lane.

- Anita Work

Sylmar

It would appear that the complaints about car-pool lanes have an easy solution.

Eliminating them is not the answer. Obviously, they are a necessity because of Air Quality Management District regulations, and those who do car pool to work should be afforded this perk.

However, these high-occupancy lanes need not be a 24-hour hardship on those who can't or are unable to car pool. Simply allot the diamond lanes to high-occupancy vehicles during our known commuter rush hours.

No single drivers would be permitted in these lanes from 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Those who do would still feel the well-deserved pinch of a hefty fine, courtesy of the California Highway Patrol.

Other than these well-posted hours, the car-pool lanes would be for everybody's use, thereby alleviating some of the bottlenecks that can occur at any given hour on our freeways.

- James L. Rahm

Chatsworth

Animal euthanasia

Animal shelters also need to tell pet owners that pet euthanasia is often the lesser of many evils.

People who buy Christmas puppies and kittens may quickly change their minds about pet ownership once the cute little bundle of fluff becomes a lot of work. They need to accept the very painful fact that there are few good homes available for unwanted pets. A lethal injection can be the most humane thing that can be done for an unwanted animal. Consider the options:

Pet owners, scared off by the threats of animal shelter euthanasia, decide to ``drop off'' their unwanted pet in a ``nice'' area, believing that some ``nice'' person will take in the animal.

Usually, animals abandoned on the street get killed by cars and trucks, or are left to die in the gutter by hit-and-run motorists.

Pet euthanasia should exist only for old and sick animals, for whom the needle is a welcome relief to suffering. Tragically, it is also the least horrible method of ``putting to sleep'' the tens of millions of unwanted pets born for no reason except human greed - it's easy to make money breeding dogs and cats - as well as human irresponsibility and human stupidity.

Folks who are compassionate enough to take their unwanted pets to shelters should be commended for doing the responsible thing for their pets. A lethal injection is an easy death, compared to the alternatives for unwanted dogs and cats.

- Annie Caroline Schuler

West Hollywood

U.N. incompetence

My intended purpose of addressing the incompetence of the United Nations (Public Forum, Dec. 6) was merely to make injustices visible to Daily News' readers, especially to those who are still swimming in a sea of ignorance whenever Arab-Israeli or United Nations' accountability comes under scrutiny.

A response should normally center around the subject in question. However, in Public Forum, Dec. 14, Leonard Snebold (``Dealing with Saddam'') opted to give a history lesson on emotional events that were unrelated, irrelevant and nowhere mentioned or disputed in my letter - the holocaust and Israel's right to a homeland.

The dream of a Jewish homeland, which many of us moderates wholeheartedly and sincerely support, has been realized.

The dreams and aspirations of Palestinians to an independent state where they can live in peace, dignity and harmony alongside a prosperous, peace-loving and compassionate Israel has yet to be realized.

- Fouad Hallack

Sylmar

Alcohol study

I am writing in response to ``Alcohol: Study backs 1 drink a day,'' Daily News, Dec. 11.

I am glad that the article addressed both sides of the study, because now people will know the benefits and disadvantages of drinking. But, I do not agree with the statement that one drink a day decreases the risk of death, because many other factors such as diet and exercise can also determine how long a person lives.

Why not just eat right, exercise and take your vitamins? As a teen-ager, I know how hard it is to resist drinking alcohol, and I hope that teen-agers will not use this study as an excuse for drinking.

I am disappointed because the article did not address the consequences of taking more than one serving per day of alcohol. Many people get or become addicted from their very first drink and cannot set themselves free and therefore become addicted for life.

Many men and women turn to alcohol to solve their problems and ease their pains, but it does just the opposite. It brings them more grief and more pain.

There are more disadvantages than advantages of taking alcohol.

- Nadia J. Siswanto

Reseda

Outcry against crime needed

Re ``Three men shot to death at home in Pacoima,'' Daily News, Dec. 15.

Killings like this, along with drive-by shootings and accidental killings from stray bullets by gang members, will unfortunately only bring about a mild reaction from the general public. Just another killing - ho-hum.

But let one mountain lion walk through a neighborhood, and then there is a big outcry: Get the posse out, eliminate these killers.

What we accept and what will bring about a cry of outrage from the public is totally out of proportion to the problem. I would like to see a huge public outcry. We must demand that our communities be made safe once again and restore law and order.

It wasn't always like this, and there is no need to accept it now.

Los Angeles has the highest-paid public servants in the country. What are we getting for our money?

- Conrad Hubert

North Hollywood