PUBLIC FORUM : PETE DESERVES BETTER.

Baseball's All Century Team was displayed Sunday night on television. The moment, seeing players still with us and hearing the names of those who have passed on, was indeed heart-stopping even for a casual fan like myself. When Pete Rose tipped his cap to the loudest and most prolonged applause of the event, I couldn't help but think about Daryl Strawberry in the Yankee dugout. Isn't everything wrong with baseball right there in the fact Strawberry is playing in the World Series and Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame? How does baseball, specifically its commissioner, justify the awkward coexistence of these two men?

- James Homan

Thousand Oaks 

Parents and schools

I recently attended my stepdaughter's Back to School Night. I found what the science teacher said most enlightening. He asked all of the parents in the room to take notice of how many of us were in attendance. The room was almost full, and the teacher informed us that almost every child's parents were there that evening. He then informed us that this class was getting almost all A's and B's. He then said he had a class where most of the class was receiving D's and F's. This class had two parents show up.

It does not take a rocket scientist to see that there is a direct correlation between parental participation and good grades. The teacher was the same, the subject was the same, and the text was the same. The only variable in this equation was the parental participation.

The involvement of the parents is crucial in educating the child. Stop blaming the teachers and get involved in your kid's life.

- Craig Hawley

Reseda

Doesn't she understand?

LAUSD board member Julie Korenstein recently claimed that she was kept in the dark about a great many of the decisions related to the Belmont School fiasco. At a meeting of the board to appoint a chief executive officer, Howard Miller, to assist in running the school district and sorting out this mess, Julie had an opportunity to support Miller.

Instead, she abstained, giving no reason. Fortunately, other board members voted in his favor, and he was appointed. If Julie is unable to grasp the complexity of the issues before her, then perhaps she should step aside.

- Alex Meade

Woodland Hills

Monitoring Belmont

Who will monitor the Belmont Learning Center if it is built? I can only extrapolate an answer from my experience as an active parent in the Granada Hills High School Booster Club. Some years ago, the school asked the community to help with security lighting on campus. Private funds, raised by parents and the community, were given to LAUSD for installation of the of the security lighting. As of today, not a single wire has been placed to illuminate the campus for evening use.

If Belmont is completed, with all of the complex pollution-mitigating systems in place, what will happen when a thingamabob needs adjusting or replacement? I'm afraid the Los Angeles Unified School District has shown that it cannot deal with simple maintenance problems that arise on a campus. How can LAUSD officials assure their charges that they can protect them against the technical problems?

- Gary Kalyn

Northridge

A bad idea

I attended Polytechnic High in Sun Valley from 1976 to 1979. During this period, the boys' playing field was evacuated several times when the noxious stench made people ill. It was also rumored that staff members had died of cancer due to the toxic dump next door. Attending my 20-year reunion recently, I learned that several classmates suffered with cancer, some diagnosed as early as our graduation year.

It sounds like the same bad ideas - i.e., Belmont - keep coming back to kill us. Can the city possibly keep from putting dumps and toxic sites anywhere near schools and settling basins?

- Tisha Parti

Sylmar

Not a trick

Last year, I ran out of candy when these big kids came to my door. So they mashed my pumpkins I had on my porch. Another time I saved for a long time to buy this Santa. I put it out in my driveway. I came in the house, went to my bedroom, came back - and my Santa was gone. Enough is enough.

- Wilda Summers

Arleta

Motorcycles help

Recently a reader was irked by a motorcycle sans passenger in a car pool lane. The following information might be of help to some readers.

Because of their fuel efficiency, federal law requires all states to permit motorcycles - passenger or not - access to carpool lanes. Motorcyclists also own automobiles. If they are not riding their motorcycles, they will be driving solo in their cars in the regular lanes, probably in front of me. The federal government views motorcycle usage as part of the solution to easing traffic congestion and, therefore, provides an incentive to promote motorcycle use.

Numerous individuals, by getting out of their cars and onto their motorcycles, help alleviate traffic in the regular lanes every day, leaving more room for the rest of us. They deserve a thank-you.

- Mark Hoover

Winnetka

Bad math

``100 times worse'' (Public Forum Oct. 17) gets an F for math.

The writer asserts that 12 is 0.0012 percent of 1 million, not of 10,000: the number of officers in LAPD. Wrong: 0.0012 percent of 1 million is 1,200, not 12.

Then, to further demonstrate his ineptitude in math, he contends 12 is 12 percent of 10,000. Wrong again: 12 percent of 10,000 is once again 1,200.

To find the correct percentage that 12 bears to 10,000, Mr. Heuman should have divided 12 by 10,000. And the answer is 0.0012 percent or 12 ten-thousanths.

I invite the writer to attend my fifth-grade math class at Encino Elementary School, Room 27, where I volunteer after practicing law for 40 years. You'd be most welcomed.

- Herb Wiener

Encino

On second thought

``Film Stars Overpaid?'' (Oct. 24):

With all that is going on in our world and community, I was hard-pressed to see how this topic deserves major headline status. That aside, although the study by Rutgers is probably not too surprising to the average person, it is most indicative of how unbalanced our businesses and their executives have become. On second thought, this topic is very important because it eventually affects all of us in the prices we have to pay. Studies on salaries of professional sports players and corporate chief executive officers would most certainly indicate similar results and the same ridiculous judgment by business leaders.

- Charles Zahka

Encino

Adair jury right

It was plain from the start, before Jeanie Adair went to jail and later she waited two years for a trial, that the police and the prosecution had no case. The prosecution was prodded by the insurance company to build a case: Maybe waiting for a trial for two years might coerce Jeanie into a manslaughter plea during a domestic spat, and the insurance company could save its dough. The dough boys use any strategy to protect their bottoms and their bottom line. The jury did right.

- John O. Legreid

Santa Monica

Got a memorial

I'm writing in response to the letter that asked where's our memorial for World War II veterans (Oct. 26). As a veteran of World War II, I have already sent several contributions to the memorial that is in Washington, D.C. The chairman is Peter Weller. You can acquire information by writing to World War II National memorial. I do have three baby boomer children, and they do not think we are ``despicable.'' In fact, they respect all senior veterans.

- Irvin Park

Northridge

Suing auto makers

It has been facetiously suggested that automobile manufacturers should be sued because of traffic accidents and fatalities. To this extent they are culpable: Why do they make such high-speed vehicles?

All this speed is only necessary for firetrucks and ambulances. The rest is strictly thrill-seeking. Let them get their thrills at an amusement park instead of on the roadways.

The TV and radio commercials that make reckless driving appear cute or funny do not help.

- Marie Dailey

Los Angeles

Writing on the wall

This is in response ``From myth to reality'' (Public Forum, Oct. 17) regarding Reagan in Grenada.

I was in Grenada last December and noted the writing on the wall, so to speak. One wall had emblazoned on it ``God Bless the USA - Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!'' Another said, ``Viva, Fidel - few for the many rather than the many for the few.'' Well, we know what Cuba became and how many of its citizens feel. The tour guide from the island was most appreciative of the U.S. intervention.

Apparently Reagan could see the writing on the wall, too.

- Beverly King

Winnetka

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Photo: Pete Rose is introduced as a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team on Sunday in Atlanta as Stan Musial, left, and Hank Aaron applaud.

Associated Press