PUBLIC FORUM.

Orange or lemon?

Re ``6 Days until the Orange Line opens'' (Oct. 23):

``If you build it, they will come'' looks good on a cocktail napkin, but doesn't translate. Most people I've talked to are very skeptical of the bus to nowhere. They believe the lack of safety precautions (crossing arms), the control of intersections by bus drivers, fear of being stranded, and inadequate parking will keep motorists in their cars.

Residents are already selecting alternate routes, avoiding Victory Boulevard; they don't want traffic collisions to make them even later to work or appointments. They also don't want to have to wait for law enforcement to arrive from Lost Hills or Santa Clarita in the event of a problem. If the project is so wonderful, why are there daily articles or warnings.

- Ellen Bagelman

President

Lake Balboa Neighborhood Association

Running red lights

Re ``Close call on Orange Line'' (Oct. 25):

We're so accustomed to seeing and running red lights, that it's not enough to get our attention. If there was a small white strobe light along with the red light for the bus crossing, that would definitely alert cars to the approaching bus.

- Gary Mond

Valley Glen

Irresponsible

Re ``Dry runs raise busway fears'' (Oct 21):

Tarzana resident Claire Tucci attempts to excuse irresponsible motorists for any potential accidents they may cause on the Orange Line busway (the elderly, teenagers, cell-phone talkers) as if age and personal conversation are valid excuses for breaking the law.

Can't see signs, can't see traffic lights? Gee, maybe these people ought to stay off the road altogether.

- Lisa Katz

Tarzana

Busway taggers

I've reading all about the new Orange Line busway in your paper, and how so many believe it will bring much new promise to the Valley both economically and environmentally. But there's one aspect that hasn't been written about - taggers.

Although all the local politicos have been ``on'' the busway, how many of them have been just outside those MTA parking lots? Those fresh new walls that've been built by the Sepulveda Station, tagged by graffiti. I fear this is only the beginning ... because if the MTA doesn't nip this in the bud, it will only get worse.

- Roderic Kavanagh

Van Nuys

Disinformation 

Re ``Washington braces for leak indictments'' (Oct. 24):

So the administration's plan is simply to smear the special prosecutor rather than to dismiss Rove or Libby? I once prayed for a Republican monopoly in Washington, but this Bush cabal is a culture of corruption - more a corporate disinformation campaign than a government.

Add the CIA leak to the legal tangles of Frist and DeLay, and the political appointee Michael Brown who couldn't be disturbed at dinner while people screamed for help on their roofs, and you have a Republican Party that Lincoln wouldn't recognize.

- Marshall Abernathy

Woodland Hills

Not World War II

Re ``Lost WWII airman to come home'' (Oct. 22):

Army Air Corps Staff Sgt. James D. Cartwright disappeared on the eve of World War II, June 8, 1941. World War II began September 1939. Many tens of thousands of people had already died in Europe by the time isolationist America was dragged into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

Condolences to his family and with all due respect to the memory of Staff Sgt. Cartwright, he did not serve during WWII and with all good conscience cannot be termed a WWII airman.

- Harold Harris

Woodland Hills

Adult stem cells

Re ``Stem cell gift from overseas'' (Oct. 24):

I think the title of this article is misleading. At first glance, one would think it was a story about how a local man had to go to a foreign country to get access to stem cells. I assume that this case involved adult stem cells, since the ``donor agreed to give peripheral blood stem cells to the young man... .''

It is important to emphasize where the stem cells came from, because there is no ethical controversy over the use of adult stem cells, since these donations do not involve taking life from an unborn child. Also, most if not all of the medical miracles from stem cell transplants to date have been from adult stem cells.

- Loretta Reust

Newhall

American prisons

Re ``Heinous criminal'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 4):

Kathryn Durfee feels Lynndie England should be put to death for mistreating Iraqi prisoners. One wonders if she feels the same way about American prisoners in American prisons. Does she feel any pity for them because they are not allowed cigarettes anymore. In some prisons not only smokes, but magazines and radios are banned.

But who cares, right? Most are blacks and Latinos. But please don't harm Arabs under military custody. All the kind, good-hearted, God-loving Americans will cry brutality. Get it right, Americans: Write to your senators.

- Eloy L. Mendoza

Pacoima

Evolution

Re ``Personal thing'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 24):

I was surprised to see my Oct. 13 letter in favor of Proposition 75 evolve into a letter claiming that President Bush started the war in Iraq as a personal thing. No, it was not a personal thing.

A joint session of the 107th Congress passed the ``Iraq War Resolution'' on Oct. 10, 2002, authorizing the president to use the United States armed forces against Iraq. Approximately 20 reasons in the form of ``Whereas'' were cited in the resolution for this authorization.

- Bill Zelenka

Granada Hills

Restoration

Re ``Traditional homelands'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 24):

Boyd Britton's comparison with Olduvai Gorge is invalid, since no one is known to have invaded it and exiled its inhabitants, and no one but the writer wants to return there.

A better comparison would be Spain (or Espaa, as its people style it). Although the Muslims ruled it for eight centuries, the Spaniards (who had lived there before) were not shy about evicting them. Would Britton refer to it by the Arabic name, ``El Andalus,'' and agree that it should be restored to Muslim rule? Would he restore South Africa to white rule, and all of Europe to the Germans?

- Louis Richter

Encino

Daylight time

Do you notice how dark it is in the morning? It is long past the equinox; winter's daylight hours grow shorter. Yet, our clocks are still set to summer's daylight-saving time. It is more difficult to arise, and to wake up the kids when our windows are still dark. It is more dangerous for our kids walking to school, crossing streets while sleepy commuters squint into the rising sun.

The pending energy bill will extend DST to even later in the winter months. This is wrong; it puts our kids in greater danger. DST should end around the autumnal equinox, at, say, end of September. There are many reasons responsible senators should oppose this bill. It would allow special-interest oil drillers to rip open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

- Bruce Joffe

Piedmont

Tenure not the end

Just for the record, attaining tenure does not end the evaluation process for teachers. In fact, California teachers are evaluated every other year - thereafter.

Moreover, some of those ``poor performing'' teachers miraculously go on to wear administrative suits. If Proposition 74 passes, how will teachers then be protected from such punitive and poor performing administrators?

- Louisa B. Caucia

Montrose

Not in my name

Could someone please tell the firefighter and teacher unions that they do not have the right to speak for all public employees. I will tell you, as a public employee, I never hear from the union unless they want something for them. Fact is, I am now in a new union due to a promotion three months ago and still have not heard from them yet - but I am sure when they need more of my money they will call.

- Keith Smith

Granada Hills