PUBLIC FORUM.

Orange Line crash

Re ``MTA: Crash rare on busway'' (Oct. 24):

Another busway accident ... anybody surprised? Each grade crossing on a high-speed commuter line, busway or light rail is just another accident waiting to happen. Our politicians who continue to build commuter lines with grade crossings are putting all of our lives in danger.

We need bridges or underpasses at each street. Elevated or subway is what we should have for the safety of both passengers and automobiles.

-- Raiford L. Langford

Sherman Oaks

Not child-friendly

Re ``What the new supe needs to know about L.A.'' (Viewpoint, Oct. 22):

The LAUSD board selected retired Vice Adm. David Brewer to spite the mayor and to cause political damage if he fires Brewer. The mayor will fire Adm. Brewer because he is not the mayor's choice and is not the right person for the job.

This job requires someone with an extensive academic background who understands the intricacies needed to educate diverse young minds. If the courts rule against the mayor, Brewer should commit Mariel Garza's article to memory to guide him through L.A.'s political minefield. Unfortunately, this will not help the children.

-- Francois Verin

Van Nuys

Oasis arena

Re ``Valley's Oasis?'' (Our Opinions, Oct. 22):

Having been present when Mark Steele presented plans for The Oasis to the Midtown NoHo Neighborhood Council a few years ago, I cannot fault the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council for arriving at its recent decision.

The developer at that time could not explain how greatly increased vehicular traffic into the NoHo area would be handled, nor did he provide a satisfactory answer to a question I asked: Why pour millions into an arena when its use was only contemplated three days of the week, and not seven?

-- J. Eric Freedner

Sun Valley

It's been too long

Re ``Clinton-Gore team'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 23):

Unlike Bob Sharp, I was ``on the fence'' regarding Proposition 87 and busy plowing through the various modes of information about the proposition trying to firm up my choice when I saw President Clinton's ad to vote ``yes.''

It was just so darn refreshing (and it's been such a long, long time) to hear from someone with intelligence, aptitude, astuteness and brainpower speak on this issue (or on any issue) that I decided (also unlike Bob Sharp) then and there to cast a yes vote for Proposition 87.

-- Eileen O'Neill

West Hills

Half the story

Mallard Fillmore implies in his Oct. 23 cartoon that Rep. Mark Foley is being singled out for harsher treatment because Gerry Studds didn't suffer ``incessant media coverage'' during the congressional page scandal of 1983. Mallard conveniently leaves out that Daniel Bever Crane, Republican, House of Representatives, also was censured by the Congress for his involvement with a 17-year-old page during the same scandal of 1983. He, however, was voted out of office by his constituents, while Gerry Studds was returned to office six more times.

There should be a place in hell to roast duck for those that conveniently don't tell the whole of the story. Oops, that place would need to include the League of Women Voters for their deceptive Proposition R mail-out piece.

-- Michael N. Cohen 

Reseda

Housing measure

Re ``Leap of faith'' (Our Opinions, Oct. 22):

A vote of yes on Measure H will only put the current homeowner closer to needing help just to hold on to what he or she has worked for the ``hard way.'' I am not unsympathetic to the homeless, but I feel strongly that every homeowner should not be forced to pay through the nose to solve the problem, especially with the wasted moneys thrown around by the ``fat cats'' in power at City Hall, and the unions and pet projects our leaders and their cronies want to push through.

We are already being taxed to the hilt on some very poor services because the money we have already given up in previous bond measures shoved in front of us time and time again is spent on things other than it was requested for.

-- Gary W. Saar

Encino

Reconsider

Re ``No on Proposition 85'' (Our Opinions, Oct. 15):

Per Daily News, Prop. 73 was rejected by the voters last year, so it should be again this year. Could it be voters discovered that maybe, just maybe, we made a wrong choice, we were duped? The way these issues are worded, it's very easy to make a wrong choice.

This issue is not going to alter the option of the abortion. If she wants it, she will get it. There are plenty of Planned Parenthood folks around to help your child get what she wants. All this is saying, parents, is you get to know and have an opinion, not stop it! This will not overturn Roe v. Wade.

-- Linda Hughes

Sun Valley

No protection

Re ``No on Proposition 85'' (Our Opinions, Oct. 15):

Why on earth do people believe that abortion clinics care more about a minor girl than her own parents? Currently a pregnant minor girl is sent to an anonymous doctor for a surgical abortion (paid with public dollars) without even informing a parent. This is a lower standard of care and poor public health.

California needs Proposition 85. The fact that we live in a state where young girls cannot get their ears pierced without parental consent, and yet these same girls can obtain an abortion by people who profit by their pain, and who do nothing to protect her from sexual predators, is honestly a disgrace. The logic here can only be called psychotic. Reverse this insanity. Vote YES on Proposition 85.

-- Mary Burke-Farrell

Northridge

Hard data

Re ``Abe's 50 years'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 15):

Tom Reilly put more faith in the words of a former Atomics International employee than hard data showing high cancer rates in the neighborhood and six times the expected death rates for former employees. I worked at Atomics International in the '60s and was diagnosed with an occupational cancer in the '90s. I lived in my 1959 vintage house for 35 years and did my own cancer research. My data shows one cancer for every house in the area -- that is 1 for 1 and now I am seeing the carnage among former employees who are being diagnosed with long latency, radiation-induced cancer.

We have only one source of pollution in this beautiful corner of the world and that is the rocket testing, nuclear research company up on the hill that has contaminated the groundwater, soil, employees and neighbors.

-- Bonnie Klea

West Hills

Bush and funerals

I get upset every time I see a letter here criticizing the fact that President Bush has never attended the funeral of a soldier who has died in Iraq. I think that these letters must be written by people who are not in the military, and just can't grasp the ramifications of having such a high- profile person at a funeral. I don't think that many people would like their private grieving to become the fodder of international media attention, because the president of the United States is attending.

Just because he doesn't attend the funerals, it doesn't mean that Bush doesn't care about these soldiers and their families. He actually meets with many of the families of deceased soldiers. These moments are private, removed from the press, and not photo opportunities for the president's own benefit. So I implore people to stop wishing that soldiers' funerals turn into media circuses.

-- Britt Temme

Van Nuys