PUBLIC FORUM KEEP IT IN MIND.

Does anyone remember about a year ago when our state government was proudly touting its brilliance for having amassed a $5 billion surplus of our money. Now, thanks to the previous Legislature's incompetent deregulation of the power companies, and the current Legislature's equally incompetent bungling of this so-called energy crisis, this same $5 billion has, within a few months, vanished.

It is now in the pockets of those same power companies who so generously donated to the campaigns of the governor and these same legislators. And now, Gov. Gray Davis wants the state government to get into the power business. Remember Ronald Reagan's ``Ten most feared words: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.' ''

- Kevin Petersen

Eagle Rock

Where is the outrage?

Mayor Richard Riordan has asked Cardinal Roger Mahony to get involved in the city's business, specifically to assess the moral and ethical consequences of breaking up the city of Los Angeles into smaller cities. The cardinal represents the Catholic Church, an organization that does not allow women to be priests.

Where is the outrage from our City Council, the cries of discrimination against women, the demand that we oust this organization from anything to do with city business until it makes its policies more politically correct, as it demanded from the Boy Scouts of America? It is just another example of the City Council's hypocrisy.

- John R. Schlank

Granada Hills

Morality of secession

Your ``Inquiry or inquisition'' editorial of May 6, questioning the morality of L.A. city downtown power brokers, is profoundly correct. I welcome your clear, well-reasoned and documented statement of how the Valley has been and continues to be neglected by City Hall politicians.

My opinion is that Mayor Riordan and his supplicants are the immoral purveyors of Valley neglect. I also regret that some religious leaders may be dragged into a cause that has enormous impact on the daily lives of Valley residents. Human rights of self-determination are rooted in the American Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, freedom of conscience and religion, and separation of powers doctrine.

- Jerry Domine

Winnetka

Time for the truth

Sixty years ago, the French underground killed German military personnel. Whether guilty or innocent, French villagers were gathered together and executed by the Nazi invaders.

Thirty years ago, American military personnel were fired upon and killed by the North Vietnamese. Whether guilty or innocent, it seems that Vietnamese villagers were gathered together and executed by the American invaders. What really happened under the command of Sen. Bob Kerrey should be discovered.

- Don Lippman

Hollywood

Bob Kerrey

The Vietnam War was an ill-defined war from the start: ``What were we doing there in the first place'' to ``Who was the enemy?'' An innocent villager could prove just as deadly as a heavily armed soldier.

Even though it's over 30 years past, I can still hear the screams of a neighborhood mother when she was notified her boy was coming home in a body bag. A booby-trap bomb in a restaurant in a ``safe'' section of Saigon killed her son. No one longs for peace more than the soldier does so let's at least do that for our Vietnam vets - let them rest in peace.

- Lorraine Migliore

Northridge

Two-tiered society

At the turn of the century when my grandparents came to America from Russia and Germany, they determinedly learned English. Tens of thousands of immigrants came to America from most of the nations in Europe at about the same time. The U.S. government provided little or no translation services. Despite that, all of them learned English and all of us children and grandchildren went on to become part of the American melting pot.

Why then are the Democratic and Republican parties presenting weekly messages to Latinos in Spanish? President Bush has set this stage and it is wrong. Unless this is a way of creating a second tier to our society that will provide us with blue-collar labor.

- Don Evans

Canoga Park

Motorcycle sales

I found the story on Indian motorcycles (Business, April 27) interesting, but in my opinion it makes it appear the motorcycle-buying market is down, which is certainly not true. The article says there's a ``sickly consumer atmosphere,'' a statement I am sure the writer was relating only to the Indian motorcycles. Even that, however, is not accurate. Those motorcycles are still popular, and the Harley-Davidsons, contrary to the story, would have probably made it at ``that big opulent spot.''

People are enjoying motorcycle riding more than ever, and there is a very healthy consumer atmosphere for all motorcycles.

- Andy Kolbe

Kolbe Cycle Sales

Woodland Hills

Our defenders

G.R. Wyatt's response (Public Forum, May 6) to my letter regarding the Navy EP-3 crew ignores the facts. The Chinese violated international law by the tactics of their fighter pilot, again by holding our flight crew prisoner and yet again by keeping our airplane. Yet the author spits in the face of the very people who defend his freedom by calling for their courts-martial.

I suppose he'd prefer that the crew ditched the plane in the ocean, where many, if not all, would most certainly have lost their lives. After all, what are 24 human beings compared with the lost money and some military secrets?

- Steve McCombs

Chatsworth

Latchkey kids

Re ``Latchkey kid growing up'' (Pubic Forum, May 6):

I am glad that James Glass, the latchkey kid, turned out to become an engineer and earned an M.A. I am sure that some latchkey kids followed in Glass' footsteps and became outstanding citizens.

I only wish that I could hear from some of the latchkey kids that became gang members and took part in violent acts that we see in our schools today. They'll never send a letter to the Daily News confessing their past actions. Many of the students in my classes were latchkey kids and freely admitted they were gang members. I wish that I could quote some statistics for you, but I don't have any.

- Ed Rasky

West Hills

It's the mentality

Re Christine Peterson's ``Failed leaders'' (Public Forum, April 27):

I don't have a cell phone, so that's not the ax I'm grinding. It's the mentality of ``make ... illegal'' (and that will stop the problem). Whether it's drugs, guns or bank robbery, many still think ``just one more law'' will do the trick.

Phones are not the only distraction in a vehicle, nor are they the only distraction that requires the use of one hand. Radio, kids, animals, bottles of water, soft drinks and even other passengers are also distractions. Perhaps we should make cars large enough to hold only the driver and with no radio or cigarette lighter for distraction. That would also make the cars lighter and more fuel-efficient.

- Terri Andrews

Castaic

Arsenic in the water

Ever since planet Earth was born out of a metal rock hurled from the sun, 4 1/2-billion-plus little years ago, there was arsenic in the water as a trace element and essential nutrient. No arsenic leads to reproductive failure. Through the age of algae to the age of dinosaurs to early man, there was arsenic in the water.

President Bush, who has appeared on the radar for less than a micronanosecond, is suddenly responsible for the arsenic in the water. Gee, if only anyone had that kind of power. But that is not for anyone human to decide.

- Barbara Noonan

Sylmar