PUBLIC FORUM WELL-RESTED OFFICERS.

Re ``Parks again criticizes 3-day LAPD workweek'' (Sept. 14):

Those who want to know why officers are working ``part-time'' and making $60,000-plus a year should put on a badge and patrol the streets while working a ``traditional schedule,'' and see how long they last. A traditional work schedule is for office jobs that do not have duties or assignments that must be completed before going home, such as booking a suspect, writing incident reports or keeping the perimeter of a crime scene.

A shortened workweek does not mean fewer police officers, it just means that the community has well-rested and motivated officers who know that even if they have to stay overtime during their three-day workweek, they will get a sufficient amount of rest before the next workweek.

- Ivan Villegas

Duarte

Rolling blackouts

Re ``Customers urged to cut power use'' (Sept. 14):

Southern California Edison reported the loss of two transformers at their Moorpark facility and immediately threatened rolling blackouts for a large service area if users did not conserve. They went on to inform us that replacement parts were three to five days away.

It is amazing that Edison does not stock at least one replacement transformer for emergencies such as this. Of course, they will say that it is not cost-effective, but this is the same company that spends millions of dollars on needless advertising and could afford to sponsor the Anaheim Angels stadium for several years. The exorbitant rates we pay this company demand better use of funds and better planning.

- Michael Ley

Agoura Hills

Too dim to read

Re ``Walk, wait? $9.3 million in signals too dim to read'' (Sept. 14):

Why waste the money fixing what's being ignored? Nobody pays any attention to the pedestrian signals. Use the money on more traffic signals, speed bumps, etc. I've seen parents dragging their kids across the street against the signals (another generation learning to ignore them). While we're at it, let's not bother replacing the yellow light in the traffic signals. Nobody pays any attention to them either.

What used to mean ``slow down and prepare to stop'' now means ``speed up and run the red light.'' Spend the money on intersection cameras and ticket the car. Let's use the money where it will do some good and not waste it on things the public ignores anyway.

- Sheila M. Cooley

Van Nuys

Open borders

Re ``Major cities left shortchanged'' (Sept. 7):

All this money being thrown at homeland security efforts when our borders remain wide open is totally insane and ineffective. Open borders and homeland security - what a joke, on us.

- Millie Derose

San Fernando 

Up in the air

Re ``American jets hit enclave of al-Zarqawi operatives'' (Sept. 14):

To bomb or not to bomb is no longer the question. Whether 'tis nobler to kill innocent civilians from altitude and not from the ground, in order to lower the American casualty count prior to the Nov. 2 election, or opposing them to die: to sleep. No question politically.

The first two sentences really pinpoints the outcome of pinpoint bombing. ``U.S. warplanes unleashed devastating airstrikes on a suspected hideout where operatives from an al-Qaida-linked group were meeting Monday, and hospital officials said 20 people died.'' Followed by: ``One strike hit an ambulance as it sped away with wounded, a hospital official said; the U.S. military said innocent lives were spared.'' The Iraqi people gotta love us.

- Jerold Drucker

Tarzana

Nature lesson

When you attack a bee hive with a flame thrower, the bees scatter in all directions and come back and attack you with the only defense they have, stinging you with their stingers, in doing so, ripping out their stomachs and dying as they leave the stinger in you. In a sense they are ``suicide bombers.'' So does that make the bees terrorists?

- Art Haendiges

Topanga

Vietnam War 

Re ``Didn't want to win'' (Your Opinions, Sept. 14):

The writer was responding to my letter, ``Unpopular war'' (Sept. 10) and states that the Vietnam War was JFK's war and was trying to impress the people after the fall of the Bay of Pigs and that we should get our history straight. The writer needs to read up on his history. I was there at the time also and the ``Bay of Pigs'' came after our Vietnam involvement.

Presidents Eisenhower and then Kennedy initially sent our ``military intelligence and training troops'' to support the South Vietnamese government. It was Presidents Johnson and Nixon who escalated the war with our enlisted, drafted military troops and bombings.

- Nina Trotta-Sutton

Simi Valley 

Was never called

I have to set the record straight regarding Jerry Schwartz's letter (``Which one?'' Sept. 13). He describes John Edwards as someone ``who chose not to go'' to Vietnam. That is not true. John Edwards reached draftable age in 1973. He was assigned a draft number, but it was never called because 1973 was the year the draft ended.

- Josie Nericcio

North Hollywood

What is wrong

Regarding Joseph Galloway's misleading article (Viewpoint, Sept. 12), about what is wrong in Iraq, and he wants a political solution. He seems to conveniently forget that there is an interim government and in a few months, there will be general elections in Iraq and this is why the insurgents are trying to disrupt.

Furthermore, it took the American army five years to bring democracy to Japan.

- Joseph Nicassio

Valencia

Let's not laugh

Let's not laugh at the man who speaks with an accent - at least he knows one more language than most of us do. Let's not laugh at the man who made millions being a B actor and reading scripts, and is now having difficulties balancing the state budget - most of us can't even balance our checkbooks.

Let's not laugh at the man who went a long way to become our ``governator'' - most of us can't even go a short way to cast our votes. Instead of laughing, let's just learn one more language, make millions of dollars, and become ``K-aulifornia's'' governor. But first, we all have to learn how to read.

- Ged Jodele

Santa Clarita 

Feel-good gun laws

This week Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill outlawing the sale of .50-caliber rifles and .50-caliber ammunition. I feel so safe now.

This caliber rifle has never been used to commit a crime in this state. The reasoning for this law was because of terrorists. As if a terrorist would care about any laws. It sickens me that our taxpayer dollars are being wasted on ``feel-good'' laws that do nothing.

- Daryl DeCrow

Simi Valley

Deceptive duck

Last week's ``Mallard Fillmore'' strips demand a response. The cartoonist refers to a National Review article revealing that the wealthiest Americans are paying far more taxes than they used to. This is both true and very misleading. The well-off simply receive a larger fraction of the national income than they used to, which is why they pay more taxes.

Census Bureau figures show that the top 5 percent of American families received about 15 percent of total income in 1977 but receive about 21 percent today. The bottom 80 percent has seen its share of total income drop steadily.

- Stephen Walton

Lancaster