PUBLIC FORUM : IS THIS DANGEROUS?

Am I the only one who was outraged by ``Daredevil & Dad,'' (Daily News, July 3)? By what warped stretch of the imagination is a ``death-defying leap'' not child endangerment and abuse?

To make matters even worse, the father was blindfolded while his 5-year-old son ``straddled the gas tank of the motorcycle.'' The picture that accompanied the story showed the boy was wearing a helmet, but his face was completely exposed to disfigurement.

I was shocked to read that ``the stunt did not come under the scrutiny of the Los Angeles Police Department or other public safety officials, since it was held on private property.'' This information must have been supplied by the father or by the organizers of the event, because it is utter nonsense. Whether the property was public or private, the LAPD should have immediately arrested the father and taken the child into protective custody. Parents should protect their children, not endanger them.

- Ran Birkins

Woodland Hills

What a waste of money

After reading about and observing, in the many months, about the Belmont Learning Center fiasco, it was interesting to read what Ray Rodriguez, the director of the school district's Project Management and Construction Division, had to say (``Belmont role distorted,'' Public Forum, July 1).

He would have us believe that he had no prior knowledge of the environmental problems facing the project and that, in fact, had he known, he was powerless to do anything about it.

Rodriguez's comments beg the question, if he was so emasculated by his superiors in his capacity as a high-level manager, why was he on the payroll in the first place? Was he just another body to fill out the budget, a political appointment?

It really doesn't make any difference how he came about his position and how impotent he may have been regarding the Belmont project's decision-making process. The glaring truth is that the people of the city of Los Angeles cannot and should not be required to put huge sums of money, for whatever reason, at the disposal of the LAUSD. To be very blunt, its track record stinks.

A system of checks and balances should be put in place to ensure that the taxpayers of this city get value for their hard-earned dollar. Projects may take a little longer being implemented, but when they are, at least those who foot the bills will have a sense their money wasn't wasted.

- L.A. Calabro

Northridge

Incomprehensible Cohen

Re Richard Cohen's column, ``Republican retrograde'' (Opinions, June 24):

I find it interesting that Cohen's criticizing Congress for supporting the Bill of Rights, since his livelihood depends so heavily on the First Amendment. Maybe, he'd like to just pick and choose the ones that suit him best.

Cohen also got the civil rights and civil liberties issue wrong. If he'd dig a little in the past, he'd find out that the Southern Democrats, including Al Gore's father, were opponents of civil rights.

If Cohen is really concerned with gun control, then he should speak to the Clinton administration for allowing the Chinese Communist government to flood our country with 40,000 SKS semiautomatic rifles. That happened from 1994-95.

Cohen closed with words like ``meanness,'' ``smallness'' and ``pettiness.'' His ultra-liberal handbook must be getting dog-eared and worn out; he left out starving children, dirty air and polluted water. The Ten Commandments, which is fundamentally a moral code to live by, makes him real nervous - I can understand that. Here's a man that embraces a president that's a known liar, unfaithful to his wife and involved in foreign campaign contributions. Finally, maybe, Cohen should pressure Congress to enact a 15-day waiting period on the Clinton administration, before we start bombing future countries.

- Ron Jackson

Lancaster

Running out of runway

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport has really fallen on tough times. Not only are they required to ask the city of Burbank for permission to buy the Lockheed land and build a new terminal, judges are looking into their affairs and issuing ultimatums.

It is a far cry from the days when the airport was accustomed to doing things without consulting anybody and expecting every project to be completed before any body noticed.

The quote from Dios Marrero (``Airport's land deal in limbo,'' June 27) about the city of Burbank being familiar with the airport's plans is preposterous. The nine commissioners at the Airport Authority didn't know what the staff had designed for the new terminal until the evening meeting in Pasadena on June 17.

Any reference to prior knowledge about the expansion plan equally lacks credibility. Prior to the public hearing three years ago, city of Burbank staffers worked diligently to extract information from the airport. There was no master plan, only a hodgepodge of assorted drawings. The city was forced to turn down that application for lack of proper information. History is repeating itself.

The offer to pay for any infrastructure changes the city deems necessary is an empty promise. The last time the airport received money from the Federal Aviation Administration for a similar objective, it was used by the airport solely to spruce up the entrance on Hollywood Way.

``Worrying about the ultimate result'' has to be top priority when dealing with this bunch. If you don't get what you want up front you will never see it. In typical fashion, the airport is throwing its weight around and demanding Burbank speed up the approval process to suit the airport's advantage. Burbank doesn't do things that way.

- Don Elsmore

Burbank

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Photo

Photo: ``Super Joe'' and ``Super Joey'' Reed make a record-setting jump at a day-care center in Canoga Park.

John Lazar/Daily News