PUBLIC FORUM.

Teacher pay

Re ``Teachers brace for strike'' (Oct. 30):

The average annual teacher's salary is $56,652 -- pathetic. Thousands of experienced teachers will be retiring in the next five years. Who will take their places? Teacher training programs are at all-time low enrollments; current high school and college students understand how poorly paid the profession is and are seeking more lucrative careers.

Teaching professionals and the school experience are perhaps the most important influence on the lives of children. Teachers deserve respect; our children deserve the finest instructors available. Make the compensation attractive so the best will come ... or pay the far greater price later.

-- Robert T. Jones

Sherman Oaks

Politicians' whims

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

So, the Daily News has quietly endorsed Proposition H, the ``affordable housing/homeless'' initiative, which will cost most homeowners about $50 in additional property taxes. I, for one, am sick and tired of absorbing politicians' whims as added fees to my property taxes. In the seven years I have owned my house, the taxes have increased well over 32 percent, due mostly to school bond issues. This is a far cry from the 2 percent cap mandated by Proposition 13.

Property owners should not be seen as an endless source of funds for all the ideas, good or bad, of local politicians. I propose that, on issues affecting only property owners, that only property owners get to vote.

-- Janet Lakatos

Tujunga

Our forechildren

Re ``When it comes to Prop. 85, no one knows best'' (Viewpoint, Oct. 29):

Bill O'Reilly on Sunday was saying that our forefathers would not allow 14-year-olds to make an adult decision -- I hate to be the one to point this out to you, Bill, but by age 14 years, many of the girls at that time were having kids and had been married for at least two years. Boys were known to be in the work force at the age of 10 years.

It was not until the Industrial Revolution that we started to see a change in how people viewed children and it wouldn't be until much later that those same children would be taken out of the work force and laws for the protection of minors would take place. In fact, our Founding Fathers would be wondering why we are babying our kids in today's society.

-- Paul Straughn

North Hollywood

Proposition R

Unfortunately, gerrymandering and low voter turnout make it difficult to get rid of incumbents who aren't living up to the responsibilities of their jobs while assuring, by whatever means they can get away with, their own financial futures. Otherwise, why not three terms? If someone is doing a good job, let's keep them around for four more years.

The real issue here is the ethics reforms. Do they really need ``ethics training?'' Honestly, isn't ethics something we all understand? But rules, like laws, once defined, somehow tacitly approve other behavior not expressly prohibited. What we really need is an effective full-time citizens' ethics panel to represent the people's oversight of elected officials. I'd be willing to pay for that, knowing I'd get honest representation.

-- George J. Kramer

Northridge

Well-spent money

If, as the opponents of Proposition 87 claim, the oil companies will import more foreign oil, so they don't have to pay money on oil extracted in California, and the cost of gas will rise if it passes, why would the oil companies be against that? That's what they want: higher oil costs and more profit. Maybe the oil companies decided that the only way to get it passed by the voters is to spend a few millions on a ``no'' campaign hoping that enough voters will see their name listed under the ``No on 87'' contributors and that might make them decide to vote ``Yes.''

It would be a few million well spent that they would probably earn back in a few months with the increased profits.

-- Leonard E. McGinnis

Granada Hills

No easy solutions

The public is being misled by ex-President Bill Clinton and others to the effect that all we have to do to solve the oil-dependency crisis is to pass Proposition 87 and throw money at the problem. This is highly unlikely. Talk is cheap. Remember the 1973 oil crisis? A similar cry was heard back then and a lot of resources were expended on exactly this problem. Results were marginal. The technical and economic problems which blocked a solution to this problem back then have not been solved.

There are no cheap or easy solutions. They have already been tried. The recent cancellation of the electric-car program by GM is evidence of this harsh reality.

-- Joe Bott

West Hills

Bill and Al are wrong

Re ``Rebutting Clinton'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 30):

Andrew Glover is right on the mark. I wish to add to his remarks about the omissions that were not revealed in the Clinton or Gore ads. First of all, Brazil uses sugar cane to make its ethanol, which produces four times more than our grain-based ethanol. Secondly, the Brazilians all carry calculators to do the math to see if it is worth using the ethanol.

The third omission in his ad is that while it does cost 33 percent less than regular gasoline, it also comes up short in the per-gallon mileage by 30 percent. If I were running Chevron or any other oil company, I'd import more oil rather than paying the tax on oil extracted from the ground in California and pass the extra cost on to the consumer.

-- Richard M. Stuber

Sun Valley

Proposition 85

You have to get parental permission to get your ears pierced at the mall. Do you think the mall (any mall) is afraid to ask for permission because of the possible repercussions of a violent parent beating their teenage daughter for piercing their ears? Any inference that an invasive abortion done without parental permission is a right of an underage female is insanity.

The repercussions of making this choice alone could do long-standing damage to the delicate and still forming psyche of a young girl. It kills me that feminists spend so much of their donated time and energy making sure we all have the right to end pregnancies when none of that time and energy goes toward making sure children of both sexes understand that sex is not a toy.

-- Kim Greene

Studio City

Too lenient

Re ``Fitter punishment'' and ``Driving evaluation'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 26):

Both letter-writers sympathize with George Russell Weller, despite the fact that Weller killed 10 people and injured 60 others.

Frankly, a jail term would be too lenient for the killer.

-- Eddie Cress

Sylmar

Washington insider

Given all the revelations of corruption among House Republicans, it is time to ask whether we are being well served by Rep. Elton Gallegly. He has blindly supported President Bush's disastrous policies from Iraq to the Medicare drug boondoggle. He has done nothing to stem the trillions added to our national debt or record earmarks for special interests.

He even contributed $5,000 to Tom DeLay's legal defense and voted to weaken House ethics rules. In short, he's become a Washington insider who rubber-stamps incompetence. Let's bring in someone who will stand up for good government.

-- Steve Jung

Ojai

Observatory graphic

Re ``Gala celebrates return of iconic observatory'' (Oct. 30):

My compliments and thanks to your staff artist Warren Huskey for the fabulous overview of the new Griffith Park Observatory. It truly is ``everything you wanted to know.'' I have reservations to visit in a couple of weeks and will take this page along as my guide.

-- Jan Brown

Panorama City