PUBLIC FORUM.

Something is wrong

Re ``Council members shy away from Prop. R mailer'' (Oct. 25):

Dennis Zine has been a friend of mine for over 20 years and I risk offending our friendship when I say that I couldn't disagree with him more. Though I believe Dennis' exemplary service and honorable retirement from the Los Angeles Police Department, before moving into politics, lends credibility to his desire and intent to finish what he started, the rest of the City Council members have no such background.

They are politicians because they can't do anything else that will pay them so well, and if this extension of service were to pass, we would be strapped with these deadbeats for four and or even eight more years -- long enough to retire without ever working for a living. This city is a mess, and we cannot afford to have the same people running it. If it takes eight years just to get started, as Dennis tells us, something is wrong.

-- Patrick Weir

Chatsworth

Chick for three terms

Re ``Council members shy away from Prop. R mailer'' (Oct. 25):

Keep Laura Chick for three terms and vote no on Proposition R. The mailer sent out was a bunch of out-and-out lies. I especially find amusing the part about limiting City Council members to three terms in office, so they do not make it a lifelong job, since they are limited to two terms now by law.

Laura Chick has done more in my opinion to weed out fraud, waste and good-old-boy practices than anybody I can remember. Bring Laura up to three terms and can the rest of them at one term.

-- Mike Hoblinski

Burbank

About Prop. R

Trying to deceive voters at the last minute is a common practice. Ex-Mayor Richard Riordan writes that Proposition R ensures ``that City Council members cannot serve for life'' because they would be limited to three terms. They can only serve for eight years now (two four-year terms). What else have you forgotten, Riordan?

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles wrote the ballot measure, claiming it ``is an effective way to make city government more honest and accountable to voters.'' The City Council should be honest and accountable to voters to begin with. Why would they think that four more years in office would make the City Council more honest? And what about the terms of the city controller, the mayor and the city attorney? Aren't they part of city government?

-- Edwin Ramirez

President

Pacoima Neighborhood Council

Fitter punishment

Re ``No choice: Guilty'' (Oct. 21):

I do agree with the verdict in the George Weller case; although accidentally, 10 people are dead because of his misjudgment. The lives of 10 grieving families are forever changed. I do not feel, however, that jail time for Weller would be good punishment or beneficial to the victims' families.

The best, the most fitting sentence should be community service. Have Weller visit (by bus) elderly drivers at retirement homes and gatherings at community centers, or anywhere that aging drivers can be assembled, so that he may speak to them about his experience and the dangers that face drivers, at any age, with diminished-reaction abilities. If his words and the experience of his accident could save lives in the future, something positive will come from his tragic errors.

-- Mark Haber

Van Nuys

Driving evaluation

Re ``A difficult decision'' (Oct. 24):

A felony manslaughter conviction for George Russell Weller might satiate many people's sense of justice, but that justice is empty satisfaction. An 89-year-old man might go to prison. Some will say that he got what he deserved.

I think of my 84-year-old father who began to drive again after recovery from a bypass operation. How do you take away your parents' freedom and force them not to drive? Where do we draw the line between concern for independence and concern for safety? We need a driving-evaluation process for older drivers, along with help from doctors who can work with families.

-- Sharyn Cadia

North Hollywood

Sour grapes

Re ``LAPD flex-schedule debate renewed'' (Oct. 24):

Councilman Bernard Parks still sounds bitter because he wasn't reappointed chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and he continues to criticize our rank and file. Parks states, ``We have fewer officers on the street.'' The LAPD lost over 1,000 officers because of Parks' poor leadership while he was chief, and the city has paid out millions of dollars in settlements because of the Rampart scandal, which occurred during Parks' tenure.

Thanks to Chief William Bratton, crime is down, morale is up, and officers aren't leaving in record numbers as they did under Parks. The 3-12 schedule may be modified, but overall it has been successful.

-- Monica Harmon

Los Angeles

Bush's speech

Regarding President Bush's speech: What a crock! If he were really concerned with national security, he would close the borders. It has been proved over and over that radical terrorists (why didn't he name them Muslims?) have entered our country along with nonterrorist illegals who are bringing diseases previously wiped out in the country: Chagas' disease, tuberculosis, leprosy, etc.

I doubt Sen. John Kerry would have done any differently if he had been elected president in 2004. We are controlled by the Council on Foreign Relations, and ``we the people'' didn't elect any of its members. People need to wake up and take back their government.

-- Tesa Becica

Van Nuys

Cruel illusion

President Bush insists there is not a civil war in Iraq and that the ``Iraqi'' army will now replace American soldiers in keeping the peace. No, not ``a'' civil war but rather five: the Sunnis' war to reimpose their traditional dominance on the Shiites, the Shiite war to make the Sunnis' demotion permanent, the internecine war between the two dominant Shiite factions, the war between the Kurds and Arabs in the north, and the lingering war between the two dominant Kurdish factions. All these bloody wars make the ``Iraqi'' army a cruel illusion.

Not to mention the war against American occupation.

-- Martin Kotowski

Sherman Oaks

Vote yes on 87

Has anybody actually looked at the bottom of the ad for ``Vote No On 87.'' This negative campaign is paid for, and Proposition 87 is fought against, by the big oil companies. Both Mobil and Chevron are fighting 87 aggressively.

So tell me why I would vote for something in their favor instead of my own? Vote yes on 87 and become dependent on ourselves for once.

-- Ivy Clarizio

Lake Balboa

Cartoon candidacy

So the mayor of Oakland wants to be the top law enforcement official for California, and just how does he entice voters -- with his proud record of defending the Constitution, with the shining example of his city's crime rate? No, he has an active-duty police captain (a potential campaign violation) wave a big, scary bullet at the camera; then an animated rifle shoots an animated bullet through two animated police cars.

I guess ol' Moonbeam uses delusive cartoons to terrify the electorate away from his opponent.

-- Donald Stachowiak

Northridge

Ticket quotas

Re ``Quotas, a good thing'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 24):

Mark Ditko displays unsound logic in regard to his letter endorsing traffic-ticket quotas. We live in a city that gang violence has turned into the Wild West. It is flawed use of our police assets that allows this rampant scourge.

Create a separate civilian traffic unit to enforce traffic laws and sentence violators to work for the California Department of Transportation for many weekends, instead of fines, and you will see traffic violations become totally insignificant.

-- Victorio Santollo

Montrose