PUBLIC FORUM A LACK OF TRUST.

Re ``Taxed for nothing'' (Nov. 14):

There is a general consensus that officials cannot be trusted to use these taxes for the stated purposes. The cigarette tax is only the most recent example. In another example, the recent ``lost'' millions were suddenly found and quickly dissipated in raises and other perks. Raiding the treasury at the Department of Water and Power, made up for by increased bills to the consumers, is another example. The list goes on.

Many voters no longer believe the reason put forth to justify these taxes and instead assume it is just another means of chiseling money out of the public.

- Joe Bott 

West Hills

Need a new broom

Re ``Taxed for nothing'' (Nov. 14):

Are we going to continue to be lied to and cheated by our elected officials? Proposition A, Proposition 66 - proposition after proposition after proposition - and they still aren't held accountable. Instead of adding more propositions to the next ballot, let's start cleaning house in the City Council, County Board of Supervisors, Mayor's Office and on down the line. Let's replace these people with people who will do the jobs they were elected to do.

Continue to give them free reign, and you better start standing in line for your U-Haul, as we are losing more and more taxpayers every day, with only a handful of us left to pay for all the social programs. We are a nation of sheep, but I won't stay around for the slaughter.

- Vonnie Harper

Van Nuys

Inappropriate cheers

Re ``Guilty'' (Nov. 13):

When the verdicts were read in the Scott Peterson case, the people standing outside the courthouse in Redwood City cheered as if their team had won the World Series. What am I missing? What was there to cheer about?

A mother and her baby were brutally and selfishly murdered. No cheering for joy when that happened.

Families on both sides of the case, not related to the people standing outside the courthouse, have been devastated. There are more than two victims here. No one in the courtroom was cheering for joy - no winners, no happiness anywhere. What is this mentality? What was there to cheer about?

- Terry Arford

Arleta

Hahn's best decision

Re ``Parks officially in mayoral race'' (Nov. 12):

Councilman Bernie Parks is the last person to criticize anyone with regard to investigations. While he was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, he had corruption right under his nose with Rampart, and he failed to do anything about it. Because of his poor leadership, our police officers have to deal with the federal consent decree.

The LAPD needs the support of our politicians, and Parks has proven time and time again he does not support the rank and file. He also hasn't done anything to help relations with the African-American community and LAPD. Chief Bill Bratton has made great strides in that area. The best decision Mayor Jim Hahn made was the selection of Chief Bratton. Wish we'd had him 10 years ago.

- Monica Harmon

Los Angeles

Greuel responds

Re ``Burning bridges'' (Editorial, Nov. 7):

The controversy over the temporary closure of a pedestrian bridge in Sherman Oaks provides an opportunity for the entire community to work together to improve the quality of life in the neighboring community. At the first town hall meeting I hosted and through the numerous e-mails, letters and phone calls I have received, it has become clear that the problems facing the community are much greater than the 90-day temporary closure of a bridge. Passions are running high over loitering, littering, excessive noise, narcotic activity and, yes, lack of parking.

In the coming days, I will host another town hall meeting where the community will again have the chance to make their voices heard and be a part of the decision-making process. I am committed to finding workable solutions to the community's plight and to protecting the safety and well- being of all the residents. I am also committed to moving forward from a debate over a bridge to a discussion of how we can work together to change the community for the betterment of all.

- Wendy Greuel

City Councilwoman

2nd District

Seven minute break

Re ``U.S. forces take 70% of Fallujah'' and ``Dental program future in doubt'' (Nov. 10):

Current cost of the war in Iraq? According to National Priorities Project (www.nationalpriorities.org), approximately $120,000 a minute. That's each minute. Hey, George Dubya, what about a seven-minute cease and desist in Iraq and instead choose to treat some of our disadvantaged children to dental care for a whole year here at home? Seven minutes of war over there versus a whole year of dental care here.

``No child left behind.'' Remember those words of promise? Whose children are not supposed to be left behind? Whom did you have in mind, George?

- David Wuescher

West Hills

And bring Gita

Re ``Elephant back from Knoxville to L.A. Zoo'' (Nov. 15):

Elephants are family-oriented, and to remove Ruby from the only family member she had been with for 16 years was really inhumane. She is anti-social with all the other elephants? So you don't have to be a brain surgeon to see that she is depressed and unhappy. If it is true that she needs larger quarters, why don't you bring along Gita, her family member, and let them live happily ever after in the new compound?

- Myra Lazar

Woodland Hills

Not that lite

Re ``A festival remembering a prodigious porker'' (News Lite, Nov. 14):

If ``prodigious porker'' belongs in News Lite, so does ``18-month-old toddler falls head-first into scalding soup.'' Past articles in News Lite include ``human ear grown on back of mouse'' and ``moose in Alaska hangs 50 feet in air ... by antlers.''

Now ``prodigious porker,'' provided by Kevin Holyoak, owner of the ``hunting plantation'' where the hog was killed. Do you know what a ``hunting plantation'' is? The owners capture and raise wild animals, then let hunting parties corner the animals on fenced properties and shoot them to death.

- Kathy Zagorski Konar

Granada Hills

Arafat

Re ``Man of Israel-free vision'' (Viewpoint, Nov. 14):

Benny Morris' figures on the partition of ``Palestine'' by the United Nations ignored the earlier partition by the British, which created Transjordan on three-quarters of the land of Israel, so only the remaining one-quarter is divided 78 percent Jewish and 22 percent Muslim.

He should have challenged Yasser Arafat's concept of ``return of Palestine to its rightful owners.'' The Arabs themselves were candidly calling it ``the land of the Jews'' when they first occupied it in 634. The displacement of part of the Arab population, which he mentioned, was by the Arabs' choice as part of their war effort of genocide of the Jewish people.

- Louis Richter

Encino

Their beliefs

I frankly find the Talibanlike Christian right far more obscene than any of the movies, books, broadcasts, etc., that they are trying to deprive other Americans of enjoying. Evangelical Christians, as extreme in their beliefs as al-Qaida members are in theirs, pose a serious threat to this country's democratic traditions by attempting to eviscerate church-state separation, establish an official state religion and impose their myth-based beliefs on the rest of us.

- Michael D. Harris

Reseda