PUBLIC FORUM.

Mess he's made

Re ``Workers' comp on the mend'' (May 13):

Well, I should hope the insurance companies are giving businesses a break. As if you were injured, since the change in the laws in January 2005, you can't get any of the treatments you need as the AME doctors, or company physicians are bought and paid for by the insurance companies and big business and the insurance company adjusters are now medical experts and nobody can live on the compensation they get for being injured.

Sounds like it's time for the injured to file a class-action lawsuit against our own state government and these physicians who only care that they are being paid. Time the people stand up and fight Arnold and the mess he's made of the injured-workingman's life.

- Dave Hamblen

Sherman Oaks

On the mend?

Re ``Workers' comp on the mend'' (May 13):

While I am happy for the gentleman quoted in your article who had his monthly workers' comp insurance cost for his 120 employees fall from $16,000 per month to $10,000 per month, I have the following question: Why am I paying $825 per month for only two full-time employees at my small landscape company?

Not to mention that my general liability insurance rate has gone from under $1,000 per year three years ago to over $6,000 per year. I have no claim history, so this is the best deal I could get.

- Matthew Schaaf

Granada Hills

Eliminate profit

Re ``Workers' comp on the mend'' (May 13):

If Arnold truly wants to reform workers' compensation, he should eliminate the middleman and administer it directly like welfare or the Employment Development Department. By doing this, millions of dollars of insurance company profits could be spent on the patients, not profits.

- William D. Dye

Sherman Oaks

Thought we'd learned

Re ``Really support troops'' (Your Opinions, May 15):

James Gotcher says he is sick and tired of the yellow ribbons on cars which read, ``I support the troops.'' I placed the ribbon on my car in large part because I recall how negative everything was when I came home from serving in Vietnam in 1969.

Negative bumper stickers, college professors who treated veterans with disdain, negative news, etc. I thought the country had learned a lesson about alienating our finest young men and women who serve this country. If one military man or woman, or the parent of one, takes any comfort at all in seeing such displays of public support, it is a positive thing.

- Stephen Dolan

Santa Clarita 

Tangible support

Yesterday, we were treated to the pleasure of speaking to our son, who is serving with the 5th Fleet in Bahrain. He called and said that all the troops received a 90-minute telephone card from Kmart. That's supporting the troops.

- Rosemary Cullen

Granada Hills

LAPD overtime

Re ``LAPD blows overtime budget'' (May 15):

And once again, former police chief Bernard Parks jumped to again mislead readers about the compressed workweek. Yes, court overtime is higher than it was under the five-day schedule, but that is a drop in the bucket compared with the overtime savings from extended shifts under the same schedule. Parks fails to acknowledge the over $24 million in overtime savings the first year the department went to the compressed schedule, including the court increase.

Having officers at the ready to testify is what fuels the prosecutor's ability to push for a plea bargain for an overwhelming majority of defendants, saving the courts, and taxpayers, hundreds of millions of dollars in trial costs annually. And the compressed schedule has significantly reduced Los Angeles Police Department overtime.

- Paul McLaughlin 

Mission Division

LAPD

Needs to focus

Re ``LAPD blows overtime budget'' (May 15):

Perhaps if Chief William Bratton would spend more time analyzing and managing his operation and less time out campaigning for Mayor James Hahn, he might find a way to keep his costs down and still run the police department.

- Sheldon Sloan

Los Angeles 

Thinner blue line

Re ``One killed, four wounded at big party'' (May 15):

I wonder if there were any complaint calls about the San Blas Avenue party in Woodland Hills before 1 a.m., when four people were shot and one man was killed. The police are spread so thin in the West Valley, I believe they are often unable to defuse potentially dangerous situations. In this case, the city's policy for less protection in the Valley may have led to murder.

- Michael Guetzow

Woodland Hills

Call that big?

Re ``Fonda, Lopez lay down the 'Law''' (May 16):

According to the article, the $24 million opening weekend for ``Monster-in-Law'' was the biggest opening weekend of Jane Fonda's career. Sure, 15 years ago when she made her last movie, a $24 million opening weekend would've been considered very big. I don't think that's true today, especially this close to summer.

Also, one of the headlines referred to the opening weekend of the film as a ``smash.'' In May, a $24 million weekend is not a ``smash.'' You want to see a May ``smash'' at the box office? Wait for the new ``Star Wars'' movie.

- R.J. Johnson

North Hollywood

Tunnel vision 

Re ``Extremists at border'' (Their Opinions, May 16):

Amanda Susskind and Joanna Mendelson have tunnel vision when it comes to racial profiling of people. The cute picture of the moron with the Nazi insignia offends me. Every racial, ethnic and religious group has racial and ethnocentric extremists.

The growing concern over illegal immigration is based on the spiraling price we pay for crime, hospitals, schools, infrastructure, environmental degradation, et al.

- Ralph Smith

Woodland Hills

A controlled border

Re ``Extremists at border'' (Their Opinions, May 15):

It should surprise no one that the Minuteman Project would get the attention of right-wing extremists. Fortunately, there were no reports of violence during this action, and the majority participating in this activity were law-abiding citizens.

Had Amanda Susskind and Joanna Mendelson long ago been vigilant, they should have demanded their elected officials enforce our immigration laws.

It would have avoided the present slave trade, death and suffering now experienced by those seeking a better life in America. A controlled border would continue to bring workers into the U.S. (and we need countless more) with safety and dignity, while they seek opportunity.

- Robert E. Simon 

Sherman Oaks

Crybabies

Re ``Extremists at border'' (Their Opinions, May 16):

Oh, boo hoo. You two crybabies can just go back and hide under your mommies' skirts now. Because that is about the level of protection you are getting from that son-of-a-Bush president and his administration of death.

The alleged backgrounds of the Minuteman Project volunteers are irrelevant. The fact is they were willing to stand there and represent the will of the American people, symbolically defending our country from, yes, invasion - because that is exactly what it is.

- Bruce W. Mecchi

Panorama City

Where the fault lies

For those who mistakenly believe that there is a Social Security trust fund, there isn't - and that's the problem.

- David Whitelaw

Eagle Rock