PUBLIC FORUM.

Leading by photo op

Re ``City charges MTA with release of toxic substances'' (Oct. 19):

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised new leadership and he's delivering - but not in a good way. The city is suing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for dumping waste into city storm drains, and the mayor heads both; therefore he is suing himself. Perhaps this mayor, who failed the bar exam four times, believes the best way to win a lawsuit is to be both plaintiff and defendant.

For taxpayers, it means footing the legal bills for both sides of the litigation. Perhaps he could interrupt his busy photo op schedule long enough to spend a few hours actually running these two entities, rather than turning Los Angeles into a ``lawsuit-ocracy.''

- Sandy Sand

West Hills

Regard for truckers

Re ``Truck deaths mount in state'' (Oct. 18):

Fatigue and excess highway speed are factors in truck crashes, but another issue is seldom mentioned - the blatant stupidity of so many drivers of regular-size vehicles and the foolish things they do around big-rig trucks. One is to carelessly cut too close in front of a big truck, drive merrily on their way and, in many cases, causing the big rig to jackknife.

People have no regard for the drivers of big-rig trucks and fail to realize the truck drivers can't maneuver or stop their big rigs like the driver of a small car. I know truckers are always highly alert of all motorists around them. I say to the motorists, be courteous and considerate to the truckers - let them have the extra room they need.

- Doris McDonald

West Hills

Starts with parents

Re ``Can U.S. manage to compete'' (Their Opinions, Oct. 18):

Charles Vest, former president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is totally correct: ``We need to get back to blocking and tackling. ...'' Yet all of this starts with the parents at home. They have to set a better example, get involved with the teachers and schools and encourage good education.

The value of good education today, in the USA, is mostly emphasized by Asian and Jewish parents. A fact. Check the lists of top graduates. We do lack well-trained teachers in science and math classes. However, good teachers should be paid more and earn a lot more respect by all of us. In Europe, Japan and China, teachers are revered. They are also well-educated and demand discipline in the classroom.

- Frank Neumeister

Sylmar

Bad rap on pit bulls

Re ``Dog control'' (Editorial, Oct. 11):

To suggest that pit bulls are no more suitable as pets than tigers or alligators shows how uneducated the Daily News is about this breed. Pit bulls have been used in drug-detection work, emergency rescue, service and therapy work, and military service. There are United Kennel Club-regulated pit bull confirmation and obedience shows almost on a monthly basis throughout California.

I have been a pit bull owner for 20 years and these dogs have been around since the 1920s. They were relatively unknown until the last 15 to 20 years, when they became more of a symbol of intimidation and were left untrained and mistreated.

- Sidney Cooke

La Canada Flintridge

DWP misinformation 

Re ``DWP in fine condition despite occasional tic'' (Their Opinions, Oct. 18):

Richard Nemec says we don't need an investigation every time a Department of Water and Power rate hike is looming. As I and other Neighborhood Council leaders fought to defeat the attempted 18 percent DWP rate hike last year, DWP screamed that they absolutely, positively needed the hike or all sorts of bad things, from terrorism on down the line, would happen.

Turns out they were exaggerating. That kind of consistent misinformation from the DWP led me to demand an independent review prior to approval of any rate hike. Councilman Greig Smith agreed and now it is the law. Maybe as the DWP is forced into honesty, its trust level with the ratepayers will increase.

- Jim Alger

President

Northridge West Neighborhood Council

Proposition mania

Have you ever known a proposition that didn't yield hidden agendas? Proposition initiatives are concocted by manipulators who could sell magic elixir to Alan Greenspan - but couldn't get a fifth of Sacramento to buy into their schemes. These super-shrewd legalistic composers depend on gullibility and brainwashing to finagle schemes that our legislators refuse to consider.

The only proposition we should ever favor is one that eliminates the proposition process.

- Fred Coble 

North Hills

Win-lose situation

Re ``Pushing his agenda'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 18):

I think that Darrel Woodward may have misunderstood the governor's pro-California TV spot. The public-employees union isn't spending $80 million to hold this election. They are spending it in hopes of controlling this election.

They hope that the voters are too stupid to recognize that this special- interest group will spend, do and say whatever it takes to maintain their powerful, political stranglehold on California. If they win, the rest of the state loses ... big time.

- David Hall

Winnetka

The 'Laws of Nature'

Re ``From God'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 14):

The Ohio Co. wasn't given land grants solely (if at all) ``for the support of religion,'' as his letter implies. The Northwest Ordinance didn't ``specifically and intentionally (connect) schools with the promotion of religion.'' (Its only reference to religion reads: ``Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education, shall forever be encouraged.'') The Declaration of Independence does not say ``our rights come from God.'' It does talk of ``the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.'' True, ``not a single framer (...) believed that rights came from the Constitution.'' They clearly stated ``... to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ....''

- Alan Koss

Studio City

Bullied our city

Re ``Day-labor center'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 16):

I never said Burbank would be running the Home Depot illegal- alien day-care center. I said it was ``city-sanctioned.'' Yes, Catholic Charities was chosen to run the site; however, Marissa Garcia of the Park, Recreation and Community Services Department told me that's on hold while the City Attorney's Office creates some legal device allowing such a relationship.

As for the rosy scenario Alfred Aboulsaad ``thinks of'' when he hears the term day-labor center, the fact is Home Depot successfully bullied our city staff and representatives into getting something no other business seems to need. This while claiming that they couldn't run it themselves but will annually funnel money to the city for its upkeep. Disgusting.

- Dink O'Neal

Burbank

Three missing facts

I've read dozens of articles and letters to the editor concerning the problem of sexual abuse by clergy. However, three important facts seem to have escaped the writers: The victims are boys but there is no mention of the homosexual factor in these crimes. The position of the Vatican is and has always been that men with strong homosexual orientation do not make good candidates for the priesthood.

And the American Catholic Church chose to ignore the guidelines set down by Rome. What ever happened to honest journalism? Is it just another victim of the ``Politically Correct Police?

- Agnes Peterson

Malibu