PUBLIC FORUM : READERS SACK PLAN TO NAME FIELD FOR ELWAY.

It seems Principal Kathy Rattay (``Granada Hills stadium to sport Elway name,'' Daily News, April 14) has forgotten those who brought Granada Hills football into prominence.

Surely, one cannot forget the epic battles of the 1971 season, which ended with Dana Potter and the Highlanders defeating the heralded Anthony Davis and San Fernando at Birmingham High. These were the days when a city championship meant that your school was the best throughout the city. There were no divisional subclasses of high schools. Granada sported over 3,500 students then, second largest in the United States.

John Elway arrived after the city championships of 1970-71 and while his statistics were certainly at or beyond those exhibited by Potter, I don't know whether it would be appropriate to ignore the accomplishments of the 1971 team. Perhaps a designation of the ``John Elway Stadium'' might work with Potter's Field, or that might be too Capraesque.

Dennis McCarthy's column raises the issue, Do we applaud celebrity and a Super Bowl ring or do we continue to maintain the value of the teaching profession?

Principal Bryce Schurr left a Granada High with many of its alumni graduating to universities and professional schools. Surely this act has a more enduring effect on the lives of these students than a Super Bowl victory.

Elway has certainly shown the grit sports heroes are made of, but he should share and not displace someone who gave a lifetime of service in educating some of the best in our community without the Super Bowl salary.

- Leigh Datzker

Granada Hills High School 

Class of 1972

Woodland Hills

Beware all you who would wipe out the footprints in the sand left by Bryce Schurr, a wonderful person and school leader.

He was the boys' vice principal at San Fernando High from 1952 to 1953 when I went there.

When you take from better men than yourself, it makes it easy to remove yours, if you leave any footprints at all.

- Mike Parti

North Hollywood

Granada Hills High School has indefinitely postponed its controversial plan to rename Bryce Schurr Football Stadium after Elway. The rededication ceremony originally set for June 5 has been canceled.

L.A. council salaries

What is the funniest remark of the year? It was when Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, when asked if he would accept a $9,000 raise, which is expected to be approved shortly, said, ``I'm not inclined to contradict the voters.''

The question is do we laugh or just throw up?

All these city, county and state raises are not only unwarranted, they are nothing but political chicanery. Every time the public votes for something to control government costs, the politicians slip in amendments or twist things around to make things favorable to them.

The biggest joke of all? It's that you have to pay big money to get good people. It hasn't happened yet.

We get the same, old, self-serving people who would be earning half or less of what they get paid by the government. We know it; they know it.

We know there is no difference between the parties. We know that special interests and money control our government at every level by payoffs to men and women who pledged to serve for the public good.

If, as they say, we the people are the government, there must be a way to control a situation that is completely out of hand. If not, you can look forward to a mighty dismal future and the downfall of America.

- Bob Hutton

Burbank

I'm glad to see that council members have finally come out in support of Propositions 209 and 187 and Valley secession, even if it is in a roundabout way.

While trying to justify accepting their proposed pay raises, various council members have been heard making ``will of the voters'' and ``it's the law'' statements. Well, good for them. It's about time they realized that they work for the people and not the other way around.

I'll be waiting for the ``will of the voters'' quotes from the council when Proposition 209 and secession issues arise, but I won't be holding my breath.

- Kirk Hunter

Santa Clarita 

Mayor snubbed

Your April 17 Editorial, ``Getting no respect; L.A. council snubs mayor and the public,'' simply points out another example of the arrogance in our city government.

Not even the threat of the San Fernando Valley leaving the city was motivation enough for the City Council to attend this meeting. This comes on the heels of the Planning Commission's snub of the community meeting recently.

The council seems to be a collection of 15 special-interest groups that, as a body, does a great job finding ways to collect money. The sewer tax and Los Angeles International Airport expansion are good examples: They both smell. Collecting money for water then taxing you for flushing more water than your bill says you used deserves explanation.

Let's not kid ourselves on the motivation for the expansion of LAX. It's all about money, not transportation. It's about spending construction money, taxes, freight, fees, etc. It's about keeping that money in the city limits.

Anyone who lives in the city knows the 405 Freeway is already near gridlock any hour of the day; it's just going to get worse. We need airport expansion but not at LAX. We need an affordable mass-transit system but not underground. L.A already owns the land around Palmdale Airport, the train tracks run directly to it. Why is this resource being ignored?

The politicians will cite distance, transportation problems, etc. It's all smoke and mirrors. The bottom line regarding Palmdale Airport is if you build it, they will come.

- Brett Papworth 

Van Nuys

Your April 17 editorial critical of City Council members not attending Mayor Riordan's State of the City address at Taft High School was a broad brush, unfairly painting 12 people with the same stroke.

While I cannot speak for my colleagues, at 9 a.m. on Wednesday I was at the Los Angeles County Courthouse, doing my civic duty by serving on a jury. While the mayor was summarizing his vision for the city, I was being called to serve on a jury panel.

City Council members certainly have a multitude of duties: to the voters, to each other and all city officeholders and to our constitutional processes. Unfortunately, sometimes they are in unavoidable conflict.

- Cindy Miscikowski

Councilwoman, 11th District

Los Angeles

Sewer audit needed

In response to ``City attorney responds,'' (Public Forum, April 12), James Hahn's defensive rebuttal letter to ``Down the drain; city attorney stops up sewer service audit'' (Daily News, April 6):

There appear to be some major contradictions that need to be cleared up. The City Council first voted for and approved the sewer service audit in May 1993.

Hahn asserts that the 1993 ``single recommendation'' made by his office (against the service audit) was the result of a lawsuit filed by his office for the good of the city and its taxpayers. He says, ``The city has been fully able to complete the audit'' and asks the question, ``Why hasn't it been done?''

Ironically, the same question was also asked Councilmen Joel Wachs and Hal Bernson during at least three separate City Council meetings. Bernson and Wachs revealed that the city attorney ``won't let us go ahead with the audit,'' because it would jeopardize the city's position in a lawsuit filed against it, since the results of the audit would reveal inequities and how ``we're all being ripped off with these sewer charges.''

As one of just probably thousands of San Fernando Valley residents who are outraged at the sanitation bureau's skyrocketing sewer service charges, I strongly agreed with the Daily News' April 7 editorial (``Flush with cash''); the residents who pay for the system deserve an answer, which only a full audit can provide.

The results of this audit will undoubtedly provide the ultimate answers which will benefit all San Fernando Valley residents and all the members of the class-action lawsuit filed against the city that Hahn's office is defending against.

- Harriet K. Bilford

Northridge

LAPD drug testing

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks wants to randomly test officers for drugs. Sgt. Dennis Zine, a director of the Police Protective League, says fine, but implement a policy that requires random drug testing of all city workers, from the mayor down to the custodian.

Zine knows this will never fly because the courts have already ruled that random drug testing of citizens, except in special cases, violates the Fourth Amendment.

Studies have proven that random drug testing does not discourage drug use by those who use illegal drugs.

Random drug testing humiliates law-abiding employees who are drug-free.

Just remember: Each encroachment of our civil rights leads to more and more encroachments. Your rights may be next.

- Denni Gonzalez

San Gabriel

Testing in Spanish

Brad Sales, spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said, ``We thought we were just doing our best to inform parents of their rights,'' regarding the controversial test letter sent to parents, informing them of their right to opt children out of the English-language Stanford 9 achievement test (``School district won't face legal action for test letter,'' Daily News, April 10).

No such letter has ever been sent to parents informing them of their rights, that participation in a bilingual program is strictly voluntary.

Even before open enrollment, children, some with Hispanic surnames who spoke fluent English, have been summarily red-lined into such programs.

With the admonishment of some pedagogical principals, parents who protested were advised to take their children elsewhere.

While some with means opted for private schools, many newly arrived immigrants, confused and with language difficulties of their own, complied out of fear and intimidation.

If Sales honestly believes in informing parents of their rights, it's showtime.

- Virginia K. Huntman

Woodland Hills

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PHOTO John Elway prepares to pass for Granada Hills High School in 1977.

Daily News