PUBLIC FORUM.

Night Stalker

Re ``Lawyer wants Night Stalker freed'' (June 7):

Put the esteemed lawyer Geraldine Russell in a darkened house with Ramirez for a week and let's see if she still wants him freed when she emerges. Stop wasting taxpayer money on such nonsense as appeals for Richard Ramirez.

``The court had a duty to step in and take care of the situation,'' Russell said. They did. Now the state of California has a duty to step in, step up and execute vermin such as Richard Ramirez as per sentencing by judge and jury according to the American judicial system, and stop wasting more taxpayer money.

-- John F. Goff

Valley Village

Bratton picks facts

Re ``Turf War'' (Our Opinions, June ):

Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton continually calls into question the validity of the hiring process and training program of the Los Angeles Airport Police Department. He never points out the fact that both the Airport Police and LAPD administer similar pre-employment tests and use the same city-employed civilian background investigators.

Bratton also fails to inform the public that the Airport Police and 40 other local police departments utilize the same police academy that he received his California POST certificate at. Furthermore, the Airport Police provide a state-required aviation law enforcement course to police officers from around the state, including the LAPD.

-- Mike Mannan 

Reseda

A sad society

It's a sad segment of our society who would make excuses to justify American soldiers murdering a 3-year-old child in her bed, then calmly shooting a 74-year-old man in his wheelchair. What we have here is a Donald Rumsfeld in the making. Sad, sad, sad.

-- Max Ross

Lancaster

LAPD not needed

Re ``LAPD to senators: It's folly to meddle,'' (Their Opinions, June 7):

Instead of preaching to knowledgeable people about the importance of the integrity of chain of command, Bob Baker ought to consider the corruption of this concept he seeks by inserting the sometime-participation of the LAPD into the already very well established and clear chain that operates at Los Angeles World Airports' LAX now.

That network already includes some 20 agencies that actually do have the ultimate responsibility and that already regularly exercise disaster scenarios with the LAWA PD. The reality is that the LAPD is not needed to pre-empt the functions of the LAWA PD on the airports in this already effective, fully functioning network. The message is very clear.

-- Robert L. Rodine

Sherman Oaks

LAX meddling 

Re ``LAPD to senators: It's folly to meddle,'' (Their Opinions, June 7):

Los Angeles Police Protective League President Bob Baker claims that the Senate is interfering by considering changes to authority of Airport Police officers, calling it a ``local issue.'' He is perhaps unaware that the Los Angeles City Council made this a state issue in 2002, when they directed me to request a study by the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, looking into whether or not this change in authority was warranted.

As directed, I requested the study, which concluded with the commission recommending the authority change. By the way, this is the only time that such a POST study has resulted in that recommendation.

-- Bernard J. Wilson

Chief (Retired)

Los Angeles Airport Police

Spineless council

Re ``City OKs Devin Brown payout'' (June 8):

Devin Brown was shot and killed while he tried to run over an LAPD officer with a stolen car. The mother, who should have been prosecuted for child endangerment for allowing her 13-year-old to run around unsupervised during the early morning hours, sues the city for wrongful death.

The spineless City Council, with the exception of Dennis Zine and Greig Smith, voted to give the mother $1.5 million even though the shooting was found to have been proper, even by the FBI. If the attorneys who work for the city are so inept they can't defend against this specious lawsuit, they should be fired and replaced with people who are competent.

-- John R. Schlank

Granada Hills

Separatists

Re ``School regenerates immigrants' pride'' (Their Opinions, June 6):

Articles like this highlight why so many of us are in a perpetual state of rage over the illegal alien invasion. Put aside the lame excuse Principal Marcus Aguilar has for the recent incident at the school -- bloggers pretty much have the real story covered, and it has everything to do with trying to prevent outside interference with the indoctrination going on within.

Of what possible use in an advanced technological society are ``learning a vocabulary of the ancient Aztec languages'' and understanding ``base 20'' mathematics? To call this a waste of time and tax dollars is putting it mildly, but what better way to put a thumb in the eye of American taxpayers than to use their money to further the aims of Third World separatists?

-- Judith Lucas

Los Angeles

Doing great things

Re ``Done with DONE'' (Your Opinions, June 7):

Pacific Palisades may not have to put up with the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment but, being uncertified, they have no legal standing, city attorney representation or, I would hope, city funding. (But they do have a treasurer?).

Maybe the high-wage earners in the Palisades don't need the city's $50,000, but I'm not sure that Lincoln Heights, Pacoima or some other areas would be so fast to agree with them. Many certified neighborhood councils are being very independent and doing great things for their community, thank you very much, Jack Allen.

-- Jacque Lamishaw

Winnetka

Failed honor system

Al Gore is poking holes through the Bush administration veil of ignorance with his movie ``An Inconvenient Truth.'' Global warming: The principle waste product of fire, combustion, is carbon dioxide, and given enough time, the biosphere could absorb all the carbon dioxide we produce. The problem is that we are producing it far faster than the oceans and plants can absorb it.

Although the concentration of carbon dioxide is small, it has a significant effect on climate. Carbon dioxide allows heat from the sun in, but does not allow the Earth's heat to radiate out so easily. President Bush's answer to the problem: He has put corporations and industry on the honor system to clean up their own pollution. Why is everybody laughing?

-- Ron Lowe

Grass Valley

Leave it to the bench

Yes, it is indeed sad that Congress should have to waste time even debating the idea of marriage as a constitutional amendment. That laws regarding this issue are being created by judges is, of course, no concern for alarm, right? Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your righteous, feel-good indignation with a dose of reality.

In fact, what did the Founding Fathers really know when they set up the separate powers of the three branches of government? Come on, these were all, like, white slaveholders, you know? I mean, they didn't know about, like, now. I mean, marriage, that should be like, you know, whatever, with like, you know, whatever.

-- Roger Olsen

Burbank

Blowin' in the wind

I have been jogging in the city park over this last week and for over four days, I have seen the park employees using leaf blowers to blow nothing more than dust and sand. With the price of gas, we citizens should demand an audit of how much gas is used and possibly wasted.

-- Martin Schiechl

Woodland Hills