PUBLIC FORUM IT IS TOO LATE.

I write in support of Valley secession. The city government is remarkably like an abusive husband and father. He beats his wife and deprives his children of necessities while he spends lavishly upon himself. He continually promises to do better, but always reverts to his accustomed and destructive ways.

One day he returns home and finds that his wife has the car packed and the kids in their seats, ready to leave, permanently. He expresses dismay and once again promises to reform. He threatens. But his wife and children have heard it all before. It is too late. The husband is about to get what he so richly deserves - the loss of his family.

That is the state of the city of Los Angeles today.

- Richard Muir 

Encino

Best wishes

Re ``Yes on secession'' (Editorial, Oct. 27):

Your Sunday editorial was stupendous - to say the least. I suppose, and doubt not, that anyone from the Valley who read it would certainly vote for secession. Just to read that ``City Hall has shown nothing but contempt for the values and concerns of the San Fernando Valley'' should convince the most hardened skeptics that secession would probably be advantageous for the Valley.

Valley voters should be confident in voting for secession considering the rampant calamities the big boys at City Hall have ``bestowed'' through the years on a helpless Valley. Were it possible for me to vote on Measure F, it would unquestionably be a big yes. With all best wishes for secession.

- Edmond Robert Mansoor

Thousand Oaks

Scatter gun approach

Does the Daily News editorial staff really believe the Los Angeles Police Department is rightly portrayed as a mindless, unfeeling, mechanical Boris Karloff-type monster (Patrick O'Connor's ``View from the Valley'' cartoon, Oct. 27)?

Have any Daily News staff members been wounded or killed protecting us from the Valley's criminal hoodlums? Do you really equate the brave officers of the LAPD with some other L.A. city public agencies that are devoted to grabbing money and power? More power to the separation movement, but please quit using a scatter gun where accuracy and discrimination are essential.

- Robert E. Kofahl

Glendale

A little ironic

Re ``Divorce, L.A.-style'' (Oct. 27):

It appears your paper is not without a sense of irony. How else to explain your article regarding land use in the proposed Valley city? In this article, you manage to praise secession supporter and former Los Angeles Planning Commissioner Bob Scott for his anti-development stance while still bashing the existence of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill. Not unreasonable, unless you recall that Bob Scott on the Planning Commission was a supporter in favor of the landfill.

Not that I should be surprised. This ``bait-and-switch'' has consistently been the modus operandi for secession supporters who love to levy complaints without doing their research or considering their history.

- Robert Kalonian

North Hollywood

Without scrutiny

Re ``Approval for safety bond investment in future'' (Opinion, Oct. 25):

I don't think they Fred Gaines and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association did their homework on Measure A. Why should I vote to spend $98 million on fire-safety work, earthquake-safety work or any other work on four Los Angeles County Museum of Art buildings that are scheduled to be demolished anyway and replaced by one $200 million to $300 million building?

LACMA is trying to sneak through its request for public funding for new buildings under the guise of ``safety work.'' Also packed into this vague proposal is $15 million for California State University, Northridge, for ``work at a new Performing Arts Center. There is, of course, no such center even vaguely conceived - other than in the minds of the pro-secessionists who keep clamoring for their ``fair share.'' For at least two of the projects in Measure A, it's a vote for public funding without proper scrutiny. Vote No on Measure A.

- Jan Brown

Van Nuys

Property rights

Re ``Hold your horses; Valley has real issues'' (Opinion, Oct. 23):

The gist of Joseph Straub's rambling complaint is his contempt for the property rights of others. He contends that rights do not exist if not specifically enumerated in the California Constitution and/or the U.S. Constitution.

Straub should read the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution that clearly states: ``The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.'' The California Constitution's Declaration of Rights provides: ``This declaration of rights may not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people.'' our rights as a free people are inherent, not government-granted.

- Jim Nolan

Sunland

Badge of distinction

Retired Chicago police detective Neal Graney smacks of ignorance in his criticism of the Los Angeles Police Department (Public Forum, Oct. 21). He refers to the department as lazy, inefficient and poorly trained, and he blames the chiefs and deputy chiefs. He believes that going outside of the department to select a chief was the best thing.

I wish Chief William Bratton well and hope he succeeds, but I am reminded of how other outsiders have failed in their quest. The LAPD holds the badge of distinction of being one of the finest, if not the finest, police department in the world. This marked honor was accomplished by leaders of repute who rose within the ranks of the department.

- Ben Delgado

Retired LAPD detective

State of the state

This is no time for apathy from anyone who cares about California. The state has deep financial and structural problems. The current leadership sank the state's credit rating and spent the surplus down to a record $27 billion deficit. These people should not be trusted to lead California out of these troubles.

Gray Davis and the Democratic leadership have failed, and whatever hesitations anyone has about Bill Simon, we need to vote in new management in Sacramento if we are to have any chance of improving California. Otherwise the state's problems will surely be compounded rather than corrected.

- Ann Browning

Fullerton

Day after day

Montgomery County, Md., was paralyzed for three weeks by the sniper's random shootings. Residents are lucky that they can now get back to normal lives, and I rejoice with them. I hope we all use this experience to understand better what it is like for residents in many gang-infested urban neighborhoods in our country who live under the same fear of such random death not just for a few weeks, but day after day, month after month and year after year.

Why don't they get the same press coverage and national concern?

- Lora Malvani

Granada Hills

Two points

Re ``Adjusted comparison'' (Public Forum, Oct. 24):

Martin Kolowski struggles to compare George W. Bush with, as usual, Adolf Hitler, and he compares France (where they make wine) to the American military juggernaut of World War II. ``Thank God there are countries like France that won't appease him,'' Kolowski wrote.

The author only missed on two points. Can you guess what they are? George W. doesn't have a mustache, and, as a matter of fact, were it not for George's father and others like him, France (where they make wine) would be German.

- Bruce Jones

Eagle Rock