PUBLIC FORUM : TALE OF 2 TRIALS: 1ST JURY WAS `DUMBED DOWN'.

One wonders how O.J. Simpson's first criminal trial jury unanimously voted to acquit, while the civil trial jury voted unanimously that Simpson was liable. There's no mystery.

When jury selection was made for the first criminal trial, Judge Lance Ito would not allow anyone on the jury who had been reading the papers, watching the TV news, or who had showed any intellectual curiosity over the crime. Ito saw to it that the jury was dumbed down. Based on the criminal jury's short deliberation, it is apparent that the jurors did not take the overwhelming incriminatory evidence into consideration and had their minds made up from the start.

Simpson did not need the so-called ``dream team.'' Any good used-car salesman could have sold an acquittal for Simpson to that gullible jury.

- Hal Netkin

Van Nuys

For all the talk of a ``white'' courthouse vs. a ``black'' courthouse and a ``white'' jury vs. a ``black'' jury and the so-called ``race card,'' the fact remains that from the time he became an adult, O.J. Simpson lived his life among white people.

So Simpson got his jury of peers in Santa Monica. It was the downtown L.A. jury that was not a jury of his peers.

- Sheila M. Cooley

Van Nuys

Call it criminal, civil or whatever: The retrials of O.J. Simpson and the police officers who apprehended Rodney King were classic examples of moral double jeopardy. After properly impaneled juries of 12 people in each trial reached verdicts of not guilty, some higher powers decided the people's decisions were incorrect and ordered new trials, with the implication that both juries in the original trials were wrong and that the new jurists should ``get it right this time.''

In my opinion this is a travesty of justice that endangers the future of jurisprudence in this great country.

In the videotape of the Rodney King arrest, it appeared as if the police did use excessive force in the apprehension, but King had been running from the law at a great rate of speed, endangering everyone on a busy freeway.

Simpson appeared 99 percent guilty circumstantially, but a jury found him innocent. No murder weapon was produced, no one came forth as a witness and he didn't confess - reasonable doubt.

An old axiom applies here: I would rather see 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man hang.

Our system of justice is still the best and we should defend it at all costs.

- Al (George) Tommasino

Chatsworth

If it was proper to charge Detective Mark Fuhrman with perjury for lying under oath, and in my opinion, it certainly was, then why is it not proper that O.J. Simpson also be charged with perjury?

The District Attorney's Office, which failed to win a conviction in 1995, should now seize this opportunity to put Simpson behind bars, where he belongs.

- Ron Richards 

West Los Angeles 

On Feb. 4, our president delivered his State of the Union address. Love him or loathe him, his policies affect us a great deal. On Feb. 4, our system did deliver its verdict on an infamous defendant. Love him or loathe him, his guilt affects us not at all.

- Thomas E. Braun

Littlerock

Demographics and schools

Re ``As demographics change, so must educational system'' by Robert Rueda, Opinions, Feb. 2, 1997.

I find what Rueda professes as a solution to our educational problems offensive to my intelligence and life experiences.

I was raised in Lincoln Heights. From a very young age, I was exposed to various ethnic groups. We were diverse, but as a whole we were being educated with sound educational practices based on a common core of knowledge, and would not be promoted until we achieved mastery. In college we built on that sound foundation.

My husband is from Manchester, N.H., a textile mill town. He was raised among the Pappases, the Xanthakys, the Sosnowskis, the Shakras, the Boisverts, the Bronsteins and the Eliases, as well as the Adamses, the Dicksons and the O'Learys. His education was structured along lines similar to mine.

We both are keenly aware of our ethnic ancestry - he Polish-Russian and I Spanish-Mexican-Native American - but place our first allegiance to America. We were never ``disconnected'' because we were taught about George Washington before Casimir III or El Cid. We were never ``disconnected'' because we learned of Hawthorne before Cervantes. We were never ``disconnected'' because we learned about the U.S. Constitution before the Partition of Poland or of ``El Grito de Dolores.''

What Rueda's philosophy of education will create is the further Balkanization of America.

What the elementary grades should be emphasizing is the complete mastery of reading, writing and computation skills. The students should not be promoted until they have mastered these skills. At the high school level, students' diplomas should reflect their level of competency.

My husband and I are teachers, working out there in what some would call the trenches. Our combined years of teaching is a little over 56 years. Our most successful students have been the ones whose families demanded achievement from their children just as our parents demanded it of us.

- Dorothy Chavez-Wiskup

La Crescenta

Irish for a day

When the Irish came to America, they were unwelcome. The Irish were fleeing destitution, oppression, starvation and absolute hopelessness. Upon arrival in this still-new nation, rejection was on the doormat.

However, the glimmer of hope within the vast expanse of America gave these people the steam to endure the hardship and rejection of this new world.

Endure they did, participating in every aspect of society. There is even a day that welcomes everyone to be Irish for a day of festivity. I know of no other immigrant group that truly offers the same opportunity to join such festivity to their neighbors. The rest are exclusionary and separatist.

- Dwight Mac Thurston

San Fernando 

Credit-card calls

I am one angry customer. There are many public telephones that are not owned by Pacific Bell, General telephone or any of the large phone companies. The owners of these phones will charge huge prices for anyone using them for credit-card calls.

I would like to inform those who are making these calls on public telephones to check on the phone. The logo should show Pacific Bell or General Telephone or one of the larger phone companies - it will state so on the telephone. Beware of rip-off artists. Join in and write to the Federal Communications Commission and to your congressman or senator about this.

- Carl M. Loporchio

Burbank

Panhandling ordinance

These are additional letters on Saturday's Public Forum topic: whether there is a need for a new Los Angeles city ordinance to deter aggressive panhandling.

I fully support Mayor Richard Riordan's proposed legislation that would protect us against abusive panhandling. I cannot even count the times that I have left the supermarket and have had to endure those pesky, persistent panhandlers who try to intimidate me when I do not give to their cause.

I applaud Riordan for his efforts to toughen laws against panhandling because if this problem does not stop, we will notice a continued decline in the quality and safety of our neighborhoods.

Recent newspaper articles have heralded the economic and emotional return of the San Fernando Valley from the Northridge Earthquake, and now the mayor is proposing yet another tool to improve our surroundings and our self-esteem.

- Judith Owens

Northridg

As a woman, I personally feel intimidated by some of the aggressive techniques employed by these individuals. And, if an establishment has too many panhandlers outside over a consistent period of time, I do not continue to do business there.

I am not unsympathetic to the plight of homeless people. I do give when the situation appears genuine, but many panhandlers appear to have made this a way of life and act as though they are entitled to a handout.

This proposed law would place restrictions on the behavior of those who aggressively pursue handouts. It would improve the safety on our streets. Mayor Riordan and Councilman Joel Wachs are on the right track with this proposal - a safer city will mean a more livable environment for all of us.

- Mikie Maloney

Sherman Oaks

Panhandling is everywhere in Los Angeles from freeway off-ramps to streets corners to storefronts. I don't like to walk down the street and be scared and intimidated by a panhandler. Abusive panhandling deteriorates our quality of life. I support Mayor Riordan's attempt to fight intimidating behavior so that law-abiding citizens can walk down the street, drive or stand in line in peace. Stopping abusive panhandling would make me feel safer in Los Angeles.

- Flip Smith

President

Sepulveda Business Watch

Van Nuys

What's wrong with this picture?

Thank you, Daily News, for the subtle humor I often find in my paper.

It was a real laugh when I read the article about the city of Gorman for sale (``Family prices hometown to move; owners offer city-size deal on Gorman,'' Feb. 2).

Throughout the long article, different members of the founders of the Ralphs supermarket chain were mentioned, and there on Page 26 was a picture of three members of the Ralphs family who own and run the city of Gorman.

The laugh? There in the picture is a huge Vons grocery truck parked at the side of the road.

- Emma Lou McCammon

Reseda

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: From left, Ron Ralphs, his sister-in-law Ruth Ralphs and nephew James Lloyd stroll through Gorman, much of which the family owns.