PUBLIC FORUM MTA STRIKE.

In the early 1980s, President Reagan took a bold step and did something most people, including the air-traffic controllers, thought was impossible. Reagan fired most of the PATCO union's air-traffic controllers after they went on strike. Of course PATCO was given the fair ultimatum, go back to work or be terminated. The air-traffic system was eventually rebuilt and today runs more efficiently.

The MTA should do the same. The unions have become too fat and powerful and have taken advantage of the MTA for many years. MTA riders, most of whom are low-income and dependent on MTA buses and trains, have been held hostage by the well-paid unions during each strike. It's time for the MTA to cut the fat.

- D.A. Pierce

Los Angeles 

Bar the door

So the clowns who run our city have handed the LAPD over to Janet Reno's Justice Department, the most shamelessly corrupt outfit in American history. Lets see: These are the folks who aided and abetted trial lawyers to steal billions of dollars from the shareholders of the tobacco companies and tens of millions of dollars by shattering the stock price of Microsoft with a cockamamie lawsuit - money meant for savings and retirement. Their highlights are Ruby Ridge, Waco and a rifle stuck in a kid's face.

So if you are awakened at 3 a.m. staring at the muzzle of an M-16, don't panic. It's not one of Reno's jack-booted thugs, it's only an LAPD cop. Ha ha - you say - you must be joking. Nope. Nobody messes with Reno. Ask Elian. Ask Wen Ho Lee.

- J. Donald Adams 

Sylmar

Ethics of reality

Re entertainment violence yet again:

MTV's ``reality'' series ``Road Rules'' graphically depicts animal abuse. While visiting South Africa, some in the cast actively participate in the sacrifice of a goat and an ox. Although this ritual may reflect one's heritage, it doesn't diminish the cruelty. Because our ancestors accepted customs doesn't necessarily make these rites appropriate today. Would MTV's cast join in a modern-day female circumcision ceremony?

If MTV's cameras unobtrusively documented an abhorrent cultural practice, I wouldn't fault the filmmakers. Since ``Road Rules'' instigates its cast's ``missions,'' I am furious. Kudos to the two cast members who chose not to partake in the ``sacrifice'' due to its conflict with their beliefs. Where were MTV's ethics?

- Melisa Malvin

Canoga Park

TV and movie violence

Have our notions of democracy been carried to such an extreme that we must continue to espouse so much untruth in our society, due to our desire to give equal weight to every ignorant opinion out there? As was noted on the CBS news, the children in Japan are exposed to the same amount, if not more, sex and violence through their media as are our children in the United States.

The difference is that we are a violent nation, and perhaps we do learn how to do death and/or sex better through the media, but the media is not the cause of violence among our youth. The truth is this problem of violence has been with us since Cain slew Abel, and so will it ever be; especially in the United States where we do violence best. Grow up people, and get your facts straight, please.

- James Hamilton Moore

Burbank

Our values

Re ``Pols blast Hollywood'' (Sept. 14):

Yes, the entertainment industry should be taken to task for marketing violent movies, music and video games to children.

Even though parents try to teach children moral values, if the children have access to unacceptable behavior shown to them by the media, they will think it is the ``cool'' thing to do. There are certainly many ways to entice the public available to the entertainment industry without showing those that distort our values. Let us all stand up for what we believe.

- Frances Flower

Chatsworth

Not a takeover

A recent Daily News editorial (``Colonial Los Angeles,'' Sept. 14) purported to represent my views about settling lawsuits against the city, including the Justice Department's threatened Rampart civil rights suit. The editorial couldn't have been more wrong.

I continue to vote to reject settlements, especially against the LAPD, when our officers act within policy, even if the economic risks of litigation are great. We need to encourage our police officers to pursue lawbreakers, confident that the city will back them up if they obey the rules.

As for Rampart, dozens of overturned convictions and the LAPD's own Board of Inquiry report testify to illegal action and breaches of policy. Every legal authority agrees we'll lose if we litigate, giving an unelected federal judge sweeping authority over the LAPD. That would be a true ``federal takeover.''

The consent decree, by contrast, is based largely on ``homegrown'' reforms originally proposed by the Christopher Commission and the LAPD itself. The monitor would have no authority other than to report on our progress implementing them.

This does not a takeover make.

- Mike Feuer

Los Angeles city councilman

Society's priorities

Did anyone besides me notice the irony of the Daily News running a story on Page 1 on Sept. 17 about the homeless family, and the story on Page 3 about the luxury hotel for cats?

- Venida Korda

Van Nuys

Disposable view

Re Gerald E. Roberts' ``Where's the compassion?'' (Public Forum, Sept 10):

In typical liberal fashion, he avoids placing blame for the plight of ``unwanted children'' where it firmly belongs - on promiscuity, irresponsible parenting, absent fathers, absent mothers, etc.

Instead, he applauds the shucking of unborn infants into a trash can as a compassionate and acceptable solution to the problem. You are indeed lucky that your parents didn't share your disposable view of human life, or you may well have ended up in the bottom of a pail instead of sharing your sad and heartless views with all of us. Compassion indeed!

- Robert Straschewski

Burbank

Just do it

Re ``Go ahead, nag him'' (Aug. 23):

Women don't have to be told by scientists to nag their husbands. It is their prerogative. But - what they nag them about should not be the priority of getting him to eat properly, exercise and be healthy. No. The three top, and ever-popular reasons for nagging are: ``put the toilet seat down,'' ``take out the trash'' and ``put the dog or cat out.'' Why should women continue ``nurturing'' their men when they come home from work after a hard day at the office, for their men's health sake?

It's very stressful and nerve-racking to come home and have to start nagging about something a guy feels is below his dignity (to do). Why should a woman have to constantly nag him about those three little chores, which her husband should do, if only to keep peace in the family and lighten the wife's stress? Just do it, guys; just do it and there should be a whole lot less conflict and stress on whom - the woman, (nag, nag, nag).

- Annette Campanella

Burbank

Cruel law

Let's hope that Tom Hayden reads ``Euthanizations rise'' (Sept. 13) and realize his experimental animal bill (SB 1785) has caused the unconscionable overcrowding of L.A.'s animal shelters described in the story; and that he will support repealing it. It is senselessly cruel to require dogs to be held in cages up to seven days before they can be adopted, especially when it often means packing up to eight pit bulls, Rottweilers, boxers and chows together.

The tragic depiction of 70 dogs confined in one West Valley home, fighting for survival, reminds us how helpless and vulnerable our pets are if we give them away or desert them. There are many dedicated and reputable rescue organizations throughout the city that maintain high standards of care while constantly coping with the sadness of an unending stream of unwanted animals. The best way to support them and our shelters is to neuter, tutor and keep your pet.

- Phyllis M. Daugherty

Director, Animal Issues Movement

Los Angeles/Orange counties