PUBLIC FORUM FAILS THE SMELL TEST.

Re ``Scooter payoff'' (Editorial, Feb. 12):

The loan that the Department of Water and Power has committed to make - for $2 million to a scooter company in Hawaii - just doesn't pass the smell test. The company has no sales, obviously no assets and certainly no business plan that makes any sense.

And, to add insult to injury, the loan request was strongly recommended by the union, which has more than ample funds to risk on sub-prime loans of this type. DWP has no business entering in this type of giveaway of customer and taxpayer money. There has to be more to this than has been disclosed.

- Bruce Fane 

Encino

Studio City golf site

Re ``Something for nothing'' (Editorial, Feb. 11):

The senior housing proposed on the Studio City Golf and Tennis site will be priced at current market value, which means the Studio City current market, which is very high. Stop leading people to believe that their grandmothers living on Social Security would be able to afford to live there. The developers would be so generous because they will be making a bundle.

The Studio City and surrounding neighbors have been paying taxes in Los Angeles, so why shouldn't some of the collected taxes for the Golf Fund come back to Studio City? Open space is open space. It is not made anymore.

- Debra Mayer

Studio City

And it's more expensive

Re ``Something for nothing'' (Editorial, Feb. 11):

While it is encouraging that the Daily News continues to devote so much ink to the city's efforts to purchase the Studio City Golf and Tennis Complex, it is discouraging that much of the coverage, including the Feb. 11 editorial, misstates one key fact. Rather than being less expensive than golf courses operated by the city's Recreation and Parks Department, the Studio City golf course is actually more expensive.

The parks department operates two golf facilities similar to the Studio City facility, the Los Feliz 9-hole, pitch and putt course and the Rancho Park 9-hole, 3-par course in West Los Angeles. Los Feliz's green fees are $4 weekdays and $5 weekends, while Rancho Park's 3-par green fees are $5 weekdays and $6 weekends. Studio City's current fees are $8 weekdays and $9 weekends, meaning there is even less room to help offset and bonded indebtedness created by a possible city purchase.

- Craig Kessler

Los Angeles

Our last defense

Re ``Justice not served in trial of pot grower, juror says,'' (Feb. 9):

Imagine you're on trial, but you're not allowed to present your defense. That is what happened to Ed Rosenthal. A federal judge did not allow him to tell the jury why he was growing marijuana - to relieve pain and suffering among the terminally ill. Or that this is legal under California's 1996 voter-approved Proposition 215.

The jury went along with the judge, even though the jury foreman hoped the conviction would be overturned on appeal. Another juror thought the verdict was ``cruel, inhumane and unjust.'' The truth is, juries are our last defense against unjust laws. Remember the brave juries who refused to convict Northerners for helping runaway slaves before the Civil War.

- Bruce K. Bell

Moorpark

Vote tax

I have a solution to the budget problem that Gray Davis and the free- spending state legislature has caused. Obviously, get rid of the 40,000-plus extra jobs they created because we had such a surplus they just didn't know how to spend. Then, cut back to the 1999 spending levels.

And lastly, to make everyone happy, divide the state into the different districts represented in the legislature. For every district that voted for Gray Davis, add a 0.5 percent sales tax and a 2.5 cent gasoline tax. For every district that voted for a Democrat to represent the district, add a 0.5 percent sales tax and a 2.5 cent gasoline tax. We would have a budget surplus within a year, and everyone would get what they voted for.

- David R. Dorazio

Tarzana

Road to tyranny

America's heading down the road to tyranny. Bush and his gang of provocateurs are on the move to create an American global hegemony. Sixty years ago, Germany marched to the anthem of Deutschland ``uber alles.'' George Bush must think the tune is catchy. He's changed a few words and is now singing the U.S. of A. ``uber alles.''

To paraphrase ``Treasure of the Sierra Madre,'' ``we don't need no stinkin' friends'' (as in old Europe), we can police the world on our own. Stupid me, I thought sovereign nations had the right to retain and develop weapons to defend themselves whether we like them or not. The United States, with all its ability and resources can shine like a beacon of light and be a force for good throughout the world. Let's stop being the purveyor of war, deception and arrogance.

- Gary Miller

Encino

Just sign here

For all those eager for war, recruiting stations are readily available.

- John Peterson

Northridge

Leaders should lead

We are heading faster and faster to war, if President Bush has his way. Maybe they should require the president, vice president, and all those top officials so enthusiastic about it to join in. Put them in uniform, give them rifles, and let them have a go at it with all the rest of the troops.

In the olden days, the king led his troops into battle. Maybe it's time we did the same thing.

- Mike Kirwan

Venice

Patently absurd

Re ``Big bang gets confirmation from new map'' (Feb. 12):

The idea of the big bang being the beginning of everything is patently absurd. Where did the ``stuff'' of it come from; perhaps from a big crunch? All physicists worth their salt know that nothing can be created, nothing can be destroyed - it just constantly changes form.

- Stuart Schaller

Ph.D., Physics/Cosmology

Valley Village

Perpetuating nonsense

It's amazing to me how writers like Stan Niedwicki (Your Opinion, Feb. 11) continually try to perpetuate the nonsense that Ronald Reagan increased the national debt. Congress alone enacts spending bills, adds pork and creates debt. To keep essential government business going, President Reagan often had to sign bills that contained spending provisions he didn't like, and he pushed in vain to get a line-item veto so he could bring government spending under control. A Democratic congress raised the debt.

Niedwicki also says George W. Bush gave $1 trillion to the rich. Does he mean that if I forcefully take a lot of money from you, then give some of it back, it's a gift to you?

- Lou Gates

Westlake Village

Traffic cameras

I am against the practice of cities installing cameras to catch cars going through red lights. The cameras do not allow on-the-spot appeal for extenuating circumstances. We know the true purpose is revenue enhancement.

I suggest that the cameras be removed and moved to a more useful spot. That spot is any railroad crossing. Cameras there could catch those who habitually scoot around the barriers. Anyone who goes around a barrier has no excuse and should be penalized. In the unfortunate case of an accident the cameras could show the sequence of events.

- Douglas C. Kubler

Thousand Oaks