PUBLIC FORUM : PIT BULLS AND GUNS.

I find the lack of creative thinking of L.A. officials in dealing with the estimated 17,000 pit bulls roaming our streets laughable (``Breeding hatred,'' Aug. 29).

May I suggest a solution that will allow us to venture outside without the risk of getting attacked and mauled: Ban the breeding and ownership of this vicious pedigree of dog.

I find it ironic that our local politicians are quick to ban certain types of firearms but will allow the possession of an animal that has the potential to do as much damage as a large-caliber bullet.

Now I know responsible bit bull terrier owners will say this is unfair. But is it fair that law-abiding citizens must turn over certain types of weapons to the government? The major difference between these two actions is that an assault rifle is an inanimate object that will not harm anyone unless there is some type of human intervention, while a pit bull is an independent living creature with a will of its own.

With our politicians continuing to restrict my ability to defend myself while allowing the ownership of this vicious breed of dog, I'll have to remain locked up in my home.

- Michael Pucher Reseda

Not a hard question

I've always found it odd that ``When did you stop beating your wife?'' is always held up as the ultimate stumper. It seems to me ``I never beat my wife'' pretty much covers it, just as ``I never used cocaine'' answers that particular question.

I guess that's why I'm not a politician.

- Burt Prelutsky Van Nuys

Ignoring the facts

``Assault on education,'' Opinions, Aug. 29, is typical of those who object to the teaching of creationism by distorting and ignoring facts that contradict their position.

Evolutionists also refuse to reason with other scientists, such as mathematicians who challenge them based on the probability of occurrence. Virtually all the sequences of events described by evolutionists involve extremely low probabilities. So low, in fact, that those who deal in statistics conclude they are impossible. For example, the hemoglobin DNA is an exact combination of a large number of combinations of amino acids. The number of permutations and combinations of these amino acids is over 10 to 500th power. Only one is a hemoglobin DNA. If one amino acid is out of place, the result is deadly. This is hardly random chance.

Further, while our universe teems with evidence of purposeful design, evolutionists will not allow the use of the word design in their literature.

- Larry Fogg Burbank

Know-it-alls wrong

Intellectual wannabes are laughing at Al Gore's stand on evolution. To do this, they must misstate his views.

Using these tactics, Rob Morse in ``Is he evil or just a twit,'' (Opinions, Aug. 31), hints that Al Gore favors substituting the teaching of creationism for evolution in a scientific curriculum. But the record says otherwise. Gore feels that localities should be free to teach creationism in religious studies classes - not as science.

The most awe-inspiring creationism here is the manufacture of a straw-man figure of fun by the would-be cognoscenti.

- Tarja Black Lancaster

Darwinians threaten truth

Leonard Pitts Jr. ``Kansas creationists defend a small God'' (Opinions, Aug. 24) uses classic propaganda to associate the Board of Education and Christians with terrorists and ignorance. He uses words like ``zealotry run amok'' and science education being worth as much as ``Iraqi diplomacy education.''

He says Christians lack ``faith in their ability to survive unaided in the marketplace of ideas.'' Darwinians claim a monopoly on truth and have erected a ``wall of separation'' between their definition of science and all other philosophical approaches.

Pitts' evidence is the 1925 Scopes trial. The evidence available included the Piltdown man (discovered to be a fake 40 years later), Hesperopithecus (later found to be a pig's tooth), a vestigial organs list (almost nonexistent now), Haeckel's faked human embryo ``gill slits,'' and the misinterpreted Neanderthal man. It has now been accepted as like you and I.

Darwinians threaten truth or don't want you to know too much of it.

- James Teague Reseda

No lobbying money

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission reported last month on the money being spent to lobby city officials considering whether to regulate the delivery of broadband Internet services over cable lines. The report was not as clear as it could have been, and it omitted some important facts. As a result, the Daily News editorial ``Lobbyists log on'' (Aug. 23) erroneously attacked Councilman Mike Feuer.

In fact, Feuer has not accepted political contributions from any of the corporations, lobbyists or lobbying firms alluded to in the editorial. He does not accept contributions from any lobbyists, period. Moreover, Feuer is recused in the broadband Internet services debate because of a small stock holding that has long been a matter of public record.

- Daniel S. Hinerfeld Deputy for Policy and Communication For Mike Feuer

Another country

Re ``You're a capitalist,'' (Public Forum, Aug. 31), a letter concerning Prop. 187.

The writer and tens of thousands still don't get it. Nowhere in the writer's letter is the word ``illegal'' immigrant. Let us ``racists'' and ``capitalists'' point out one more time, we are against ``illegal immigrants,'' not immigrants. We cannot control what manufacturers in other countries pay their workers.

- Tom Colby San Fernando 

Quit whining

I am sick and tired of hearing about the inequities of teachers. I've listened to and read about it for the entire 20 years I have lived here. From a personal standpoint, the LAUSD failed miserably and unpardonable in its feeble and incapable attempt to offer an education to my son, bringing unspeakable consequences to both him and myself in the years following. They owe me a refund and then some. They ought to be held accountable for this alone.

As for their salaries, why should they get so much money? They only work six to seven months out of the year - summers off - two weeks at Christmas - another week in the spring - and every imaginable holiday that exists. Even attorneys don't get that (I'm not an attorney).

Instead of always thinking about themselves and their benefits, why don't they properly prepare themselves to do what it is they profess to want to do: teach. Perhaps most teachers are in the wrong profession. Just ask the students. Well, the record speaks for itself.

- Dawn Berry Canoga Park

Golf rate hikes

Re ``Rate hikes put pinch on golfers'' (Daily News, Sept. 2) . . . a couple of clarifications.

Nonresident seniors will not have any increase, and although L.A. card fees may be the highest, the green fees are the lowest. It is the total that counts, and L.A. is still the best bargain in the USA.

The increases were recommended by the golf advisory task force and approved by commission. The only changes were no increase to seniors and increase to nonresident card fees of 5 cents a day so L.A. can spend money on scholarships for youth programs.

We are proud of the work that city employees have done to make our golf courses comparable to privately run municipal courses at rates that are sometimes less than half of comparable courses.

We need the increases recommended by the Golf Advisory Commission to keep up the service. By not increasing the fees to seniors and by having Los Angeles nonresidents pay a nickel more a day, we will be able to make the golf experience for the player even better and at the same time offer it to those kids whose after-school alternatives lead to problems.

- LeRoy Chase and Steven Soboroff Commissioners Board of Recreation and Parks

It's punny

I find it rather amusing that the myriad right-wing McCarthyites are now whining, crying, mewling and kvetching because the sleazy tactics of character assassination that they have used for years against Bill Clinton are now being redirected toward their anointed emperor, George W. Bush.

I guess it depends on whose Gore is being axed.

- Zachary A. Charles Burbank

Palmdale airport viable

A recent letter writer from Northridge, claiming that Palmdale Airport was not viable due to heat and altitude conditions, continues to promote a myth whose demise is long overdue.

The altitude at Palmdale is roughly the same as that of Las Vegas and Antelope Valley. Temperatures are slightly cooler. Few would argue that McCarren Field in Las Vegas, one of the fastest-growing airports in the nation, suffers from its altitude and temperatures.

A quick look at the history of aerospace flight in the Antelope Valley would put Hall's fears to rest. The sound barrier was first broken over the skies of the High Desert. Modern aircraft such as the stealth fighter and stealth bomber are built and tested here. Commercial aircraft, including the L-1011, a jumbo jet, were built and flown first in the Antelope Valley. Palmdale remains the production home of the space shuttle orbiter fleet, which come into and out of Palmdale Airport on the back of a 747, often during the summer months.

Every airport has some restrictions on flight operations, whether it is fog at Los Angeles International Airport, wind in Dallas or snow at Denver. The recent study on Palmdale Airport clearly demonstrates that Palmdale has ``the right stuff'' to become a viable, thriving regional airport.

- David J. Myers Palmdale council member

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: Winky gets a hug from Mariah Torres at a pit bull shelter in Agua Dulce. The pup's injuries included an eye that had to be removed.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer