PUBLIC FORUM : STOKKA, BRODERICK 2 SIDES OF CONSERVATIVE COIN.

In the Oct. 5 edition of the Daily News there were two related stories about the Antelope Valley.

One was about the fraud conviction of Elizabeth Broderick, the self-proclaimed ``lien queen.'' The other concerned the president of the local high school board traveling to Washington, D.C.

The similarity? Both are staunch advocates of states rights.

Antelope Valley Union High School District board President Susan Stokka was quoted as believing that the federal government has no right to dictate, through the U.S. Department of Education, either to states or to local school boards.

She said she believes that local school boards should be able to set whatever standards they wish. During her campaign she advocated vouchers to allow parents freedom to send their children to private or parochial schools at taxpayer expense.

Apparently, then, Stokka is among that growing legion of believers in the libertarian swing of the Republican Party which is a direct outgrowth of its capture by Southern politicians who, since Reconstruction, have held that the federal government has no authority over the decisions of state governments.

In the Antelope Valley, through the examples of Broderick and Stokka, this ``states rights'' issue is brought to the local level, with Broderick the representative of the more militant militia movement and Stokka an advocate of the Christian reactionary right.

Two peas from the same pod.

Robert B. Harris

Lancaster

I have been reading the book, ``Toxic Sludge is Good for You! Lies, damn lies and the public relations industry,'' by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton. Because, as the Daily News reported Oct. 9, ``treated Los Angeles sewer sludge is being used on at least three of Antelope Valley's farms, and nine more have given permission to do so . . .,'' and I live in the Antelope Valley, I find the book enlightening. I thought other Antelope Valley residents might, also.

In the Oct. 9 article, the term ``biosolids'' is used. ``Toxic Sludge is Good for You!'' tells how the term originated.

A task force was created at the suggestion of the manager of Seattle's sludge program, Peter Machno. Due to this suggestion, the Water Pollution Control Federation published a request for alternative names for sludge.

In 1991, the name change task force settled on ``biosolids.'' The term is defined as the ``nutrient-rich, an organic byproduct of the nation's wastewater treatment process.''

``Sludge,'' considered a hazardous waste, became ``biosolids,'' a Class-A fertilizer.

James Bynum, director of ``Help for Sewage Victims'' wrote, ``Sludge that was too contaminated to be placed in a strictly controlled sanitary landfill was promoted as a safe fertilizer and dumped on farmland without anyone having any responsibility . . . There is a real concern for everyone, when a bureaucrat can write a regulation which circumvents the liability provisions of the major Congressional mandated environmental laws, by simply changing the name of a regulated material.''

(Just a side note - when ``biosolids'' stops my spell check, the term bestialities is shown as an alternative. I think that is appropriate.)

Marilyn Anita Dalrymple

Lancaster

The insiders and their cronies don't give Antelope Valley Hospital trustee Steve Fox a chance in his bid for re-election. They say that Steve isn't friends with the right people, that he isn't part of their clique, that he's just another citizen.

While it's true that Steve is not one of the Good Old Boys, he does have the experience and knowledge necessary to be an effective trustee. During the five years Steve Fox has served on the Antelope Valley Hospital board, he has been chairman of the hospital's Community Health Committee and its Long Range Strategic Planning Committee.

During that time Fox pushed through a no-layoff policy for the hospital employees. Fox approved a new skilled nursing center, MRI and mammogram equipment, and voted to enlarge the current emergency room.

Now Steve is lobbying to put a new emergency room in Palmdale, and pushing for mobile health units for the rest of the district.

Steve Fox is concerned with reducing medical costs for the consumer. Steve, who is married and has two small children, believes that we work hard for our money, and that we should be able to receive excellent medical treatment for our families.

Consider what the insiders have given us in the past, then consider Steve Fox. Cast your vote as I am casting mine, for Steve Fox for hospital trustee.

Lorraine Arbuckle

Palmdale