PUBLIC FORUM.

Public servants?

Re ``City chiefs to get 5% bump in pay'' (Briefly, Oct. 28):

It's clear where our tax money is going. On top of their 8.5 percent pay raise in January 2007, the mayor and the highest-paid City Council in the nation will get a 5 percent cost-of-living increase. I just got my Social Security cost-of-living raise, and it wasn't close to that.

Now Mayor Villaraigosa is going to make more than the governor or the vice president, and members of what is already the nation's highest-paid City Council will each get an increase of more than $20,000 annually. There are people in their constituency who earn less than that total in a year to support their families. Public servants? Hardly. These do-nothing fat cats should all be kicked out on their rear ends. Of course they want to extend their term limits four more years.

-- George J. Kramer

Northridge

Pay raises

Re ``City chiefs to get 5% bump in pay'' (Briefly, Oct. 28):

The new cost-of-living increase for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, resulting in higher wages than our nation's vice president receives, makes as much sense as it would to pay an army captain more than a four-star general or a box boy more than a store manager. When it comes to incompetence and lack of common sense, members of the California Judicial Council are unmatched.

-- Everett P. Harrington

Glendale

Voters beware

Some years ago there was a ballot measure that passed overwhelmingly for ethics reform, restricting gratuities to the city politicos -- tickets to events, flowers, travel, etc., which they should not have been taking anyway. But, way down at the bottom of the measures was this little item -- which, shame on me, I did not read and which I am sure many others didn't read -- that tied the politicos' salaries into the yearly increases that judges received.

Now by Measure R, the politicians want to raise term limits from two terms to three terms for restricting their acceptance of unethical monies -- which they should not be accepting in the first place. As I say, voters beware.

-- Joe McMillin

West Hills

Have some more

I am in full agreement with the $27,236 Mayor Villaraigosa will be adding each year to his salary. He needs it to buy all the toothpaste he will use to keep his job.

-- Dante F. Rochetti

West Hills

Orange Line success

Re ``Year-old Orange Line has the juice'' (Oct. 29):

The success of the Orange Line has been astounding in the eyes of those who didn't think it was good and even in the eyes of those who thought that the Valley folks were too married to their cars to use it. Now they want to extend it to Chatsworth. Great idea.

With the proposed new line to Culver City and the proposed subway to Santa Monica, what better north-south transit line could be built than along the 405, or even the once proposed Reseda Boulevard extension to Santa Monica? Of all the mass-transit corridors, why does the San Fernando Valley have just one? The Valley is not only in serious need of more mass transit, but it must be considered sooner rather than later.

-- Garth Carlson

Reseda

LAX cop reinstated

Re ``Fired over lewd incident, LAX cop reinstated'' (Oct. 28):

In ordinary circumstances, if there is no proof that Los Angeles International Airport Officer Anthony Edwards acted lewdly, he should not lose his job. However, the charge that he intimidated the victims must be investigated thoroughly. If it can be shown he did so, he should never again be allowed to act as a police officer. The victims must realize they cannot allow someone guilty of such conduct to continue to carry a badge.

-- Thomas E. Locke

North Hollywood

Academics, athletics

Re ``Winners in the classroom'' (Oct. 25)

Every high school coach, parent and aspiring athlete should read this story with pride. It speaks volumes of truth about academics, athletic ability and making the real winning team in high school sports. Van Nuys coach Chris Johnson is to be commended for putting a 3.0 grade-point average first. Every high school coach should. Academics only makes you stronger in athletics.

As a parent of a freshman at Northridge Academy High School, I too stress academics first. My son does have a GPA above 3.0 but wasn't the first-round pick for basketball and baseball. It only made him a more determined team player who won't quit. Real talent is holding a college degree in one hand and a ball in the other.

-- Sandra Ramirez

Granada Hills

Didn't care

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

What is so difficult about sentencing George Russell Weller, the 89-year- old man who killed 10 people and injured more than 60 as he drove through a Santa Monica farmers market in July of 2003?

Whatever sentence they give him, he will probably end up dying in prison, anyway. He reportedly told the injured whom he had just hit that they saw him coming and should have gotten out of his way. Weller might have not known what he did, but he sure doesn't care.

-- Kevin Long 

Northridge

Act of nature?

Re ``Waste of money'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 29):

I was advised by the Department of Water and Power to file a claim for food spoilage during my four-day power outage. I'm 74 years old. I keep my freezer well stocked to avoid making frequent visits to the supermarket. The claim form asked for verification of loss in the form of receipts, etc. Who keeps supermarket receipts once purchases are checked?

To document my loss, I listed each item as I tossed it into the trash and spent an hour and a half at Ralphs, Vons and Trader Joe's pricing items. Eventually I received a three-page letter denying my claim due to the heat wave being ``an act of nature.'' The heat wave was an act of nature, but I cannot accept that the lack of maintenance on transformers more than 50 years old and on other equipment was an act of nature.

-- Barbara Altman

Lake Balboa

Changing the rules

As I read the endless ballot propositions, listen to the debates on hot-button subjects and watch people defend untenable positions with repeated cliches, I think I finally have it figured out. People want to change the Constitution, the law, religion and school curriculum -- anything they can get their hands on -- for one simple reason: The rules don't let them do whatever they want.

That's kind of the point, isn't it? Human beings don't like rules, but we need them. Without them, we would destroy ourselves. Instead of trying to make everything suit everybody, why don't we grow up and accept our need for limits?

-- Sylvia Alloway

Granada Hills

Darfur action needed

We all need a wake-up call and to tune in to the atrocities that have been going on in Darfur, where already more than 400,000 men, women and children have been killed and millions of people are faced with starvation, rape and the constant threat of violence.

Action to halt this outrageous treatment of humanity needs to be taken now. It is critical that candidates for public office hear our plea to stop the genocide in Darfur.

-- Lorraine Buschelman

Granada Hills

Cell-phone driving

Please explain why our Legislature is waiting until January 2008 to enforce the new law. It is very critical for people to stop driving while on their cell phones, and the bill was passed with the justification that it will save lives. Therefore, how many lives will be lost by waiting until 2008?

-- Al Kaplan

Sylmar