PUBLIC FORUM : USE SURPLUS FUNDS TO CUT DEFICIT, NOT TAXES.

I was raised during the Depression of the 1930s, served my country for 3-1/2 years in the U.S. Cavalry during World War II, and after the war watched several administrations squander money they didn't have by issuing bonds to the world and creating a national debt so immense that it is unfathomable to the average person.

Now that the federal government sports a surplus of a few paltry billions of dollars, how can any right-minded public official, be he a U.S. representative or senator, even entertain the thought of cutting taxes when he and his colleagues should take the opportunity to channel any excess funds toward reducing our national debt?

Only a bum borrows in bad times and avoids his creditors when he happens on good times.

It takes real chutzpah to talk about tax breaks for fat cats when they are already living off the fat of the land and then ignore your children, who will be responsible for every dollar not paid, plus interest, to some creditor when the next generation is handed the sorry federal financial mess we are in but choose to ignore.

Talking about any tax break is immoral and should never be considered until the national debt this generation created with Star Wars and other nonsensical projects too numerous to mention has been paid off. To do anything less is simply stealing from your children and your grandchildren.

Is that the image we want to project to other countries? Aren't we the home of the brave? If paying off the debt is not important, why does the World Bank insist that foreign countries looking for loans set up austerity programs to assure that the loans will be paid off?

This country can start to pay off its debts without austerity programs. All it has to do is cut out the pork-barrel appropriations, channel all surplus funds into paying off maturing bonds and not issue any more until the debt is modest - say, under half a trillion dollars.

- Zane U. Ginsburg

Chatsworth

Lawmakers slight Valley

Where is the outrage?

While our First Amendment rights are being trampled, our Assembly representatives are too busy with AB 2751, requiring more public meetings for school district breakups, to notice.

Unfortunately, dedicated, civic-minded volunteers got caught in the cross hairs of political indiscretions at Van Nuys Airport when petitioners from Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment were threatened with arrest unless they stopped collecting signatures on the premises.

While the finger-pointing begins, now would be a good time for our gang of six elected Assembly representatives Tony Cardenas, Robert Hertzberg, Sheila Kuehl, Wally Knox, Jack Scott and Scott Wildman - to take a reality check: We don't need another Assembly bill; we need their combined outrage in a condemnation of anyone who, under color of authority, usurps our basic freedoms.

- Roger B. Huntman

Woodland Hills

Proposition BB projects

Your July 17 article ``LAUSD might be $500 million short'' failed to take into account that the Los Angeles Unified School District is fully utilizing the $2.4 billion in Proposition BB funds to fulfill all of the promised repairs and deliver new construction.

Proposition BB was intended to bring all Los Angeles schools up to a comparable standard. These repairs were based on needs identified in conjunction with school sites. Each school was given a contract and guaranteed repairs reflected in those contracts. Proposition BB reflected the cost of these contracts and not of additional repairs that would be needed by schools at future dates.

The cost overrun projection may be a result of schools sending in their wish lists of additional requests. It is not based on current repairs authorized under Proposition BB school contracts. For those new requests that are deemed essential, we will utilize $51 million in state deferred-maintenance funds.

Are we going to have to withdraw funds from the new school construction accounts to cover repairs? It's still too early to say, because the outside construction management experts have not completed enough repairs to perform a thorough analysis of cost trends. There is a possibility we may need to use Proposition BB modernization funds to complete the additional requests.

We will abide by the parameters of Proposition BB. Requests such as new administrator parking lots may not be considered essential to the educational process, and therefore may not be fundable as part of Proposition BB.

In addition, the district is making good on its commitment to relieve student overcrowding by constructing more campuses. New schools and primary centers are now being built with Proposition BB funds. However, as our master facilities plan indicates, the need for new schools well outpaces the available funds.

- Victoria M. Castro

President

Los Angeles Board of Education

Religious right defended

Re Jon Nelson's rebuttal (Public Forum, July 21) of Mona Charen's column on fired teacher Mildred Rosario (Opinions, July 9):

I predict Rosario will be vindicated in the courts. That's only fair when imprisoned pedophiles have pornography and public schools schools hand out condoms and take pregnant girls for abortions without informing their parents.

Those afraid of the religious right mostly come from two categories. The most virulent are atheists, the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way and that ilk. The second are the uninformed, those not tutored about our once-revered foundations and hence easily gulled by the first group.

In his farewell address, George Washington left a benevolent legacy to his nation, including these words: ``Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.''

The deplorable state of society today shows little of that capacity manifested. Instead, we see the fruits of ignorance of and/or rejection of our most fundamental principles.

A desire to correct this abysmal ignorance and counteract that rejection has caused millions to be dedicated to home schooling, private schools and vouchers in defiance of the sneers of the malevolent or the ignorant.

- Jack Schlicht

North Hills

Puppy mills

Each year, millions of dogs are killed in animal shelters while, at the same time, puppy mills breed thousands of puppies a year for sale to pet shops across the country.

The people who buy these puppies think they are taking home healthy, well-adjusted companion animals. But sadly, many times they discover they have purchased a dog that has a personality problem, disease or genetic defect caused by inbreeding or the unsanitary, squalid conditions of the puppy mill.

Without pet stores, the puppy mills would go out of business. Every one of us who seeks a companion animal should adopt from a local humane society, shelter or breed-rescue club. Only when people make a vow to adopt companion animals instead of buying them will we be able to see a reduction in the millions of companion animals tragically killed at our nation's shelters.

- Ms. Marion Winkler 

Sherman Oaks

Altering pets

Not altering your pet is a horribly irresponsible decision.

It is true that the surgery, like all surgery, can be risky and painful. However, an altered male dog will never get testicular cancer, and if a female dog is altered before her first cycle, the dog's chances of getting deadly cancers of the reproductive organs are cut by 98 percent.

Let's also not forget the behavioral benefits of an altered pet and the overall benefits of a smaller pet population.

- Brad Corio

Northridge

`Meaningful' testing needed

I have a possible solution to California's ``dismal'' standardized test scores.

Let's make the reporting of the scores meaningful. To take a large state like California, with its extremely diverse population, and reduce its students to a median percentile score is both unfair and inaccurate.

Forty-one percent of the children taking the Stanford 9 test were from California. One cannot simply take a median percentile score and compare it to the scores from smaller states.

If 10 million students took the test, this would mean that 100,000 scored in each percentile.

What we should report is the actual number of students from California who scored in each percentile, and what percentage that is of the total number of test-takers. This would recognize those who scored in the highest percentiles, not just the one large number of students scoring both in the highest and the lowest percentiles.

We should always try to improve our educational system, but not because of skewed test scores. We have many of the best students in the nation right here in California. Let's give our teachers and our system credit.

- Kay Rosen

Granada Hills

As a former student at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, I would like to comment on the July 20 article that appeared on the front page titled ``High standards, set early, put schools on top.''

Like most Los Angeles residents, I was appalled at how poorly L.A. Unified School District students scored on the Stanford 9 achievement test.

Even more appalling was to read the article giving praise to three LAUSD schools, including Sherman Oaks CES, for scoring above the national average. Sure, these schools may have scored above average; however, when the statewide average ranges between the 23rd percentile in reading and 27th in math, is there really anything to brag about?

- Damien S. Rosen

Reseda