PUBLIC FORUM.

Sanctuary for Ruby

Re "Ruby the elephant deserves retirement" (Their Opinions, Feb. 19):

Bob Barker's recent guest column on the plight of Ruby, the L.A. Zoo elephant, is an articulate and heartfelt plea that anyone who cares for animals should agree with. Ruby has spent her time as a plaything of the L.A. Zoo. She now needs to have whatever time she has left in life for herself. She needs to be sent to the PAWS elephant sanctuary immediately so she can live out her life in peace and comfort.

Please, powers that be, do not agree with the L.A. Zoo management view on sending this wonderful animal to another zoo. Send her to the sanctuary.

-- John F. Lappen

Ojai

A valuable asset

Re "Ruby the elephant deserves retirement" (Their Opinions, Feb. 19):

Ruby the African elephant is a valuable asset of the city of Los Angeles. As with any asset owned by the people of Los Angeles, our elected officials and their appointed representatives have a fiduciary duty to protect and preserve the asset. After two years in what amounts to a storage pen, off public display, it is time to resolve this issue.

In the interest of what is best for the property of the residents of Los Angeles, Ruby must be sent to the sanctuary. She will be our ambassador and continue to serve the public. Anything less is a misuse of the public trust.

-- David Hernandez

Valley Village

New gun laws

Re "Top cops, mayor want new gun laws" (Feb. 16):

I see that the top cops and the mayor want some new gun laws concerning bullet identification, requiring manufacturers to develop weapons that will micro-stamp bullets, allowing police to identify which weapon was used in a crime and requiring reporting of lost or stolen weapons within 48 hours.

I guess this all sounds OK, but I was wondering when these people are going to pass a law requiring the law-abiding citizens to be able to defend themselves. A concealed-carry law would be nice. A law like that would surely decrease the gun use by the bad guys in a big, big hurry.

-- Ray P. Keesler

La Crescenta

Chapman extradition 

Re "'Dog' Chapman facing extradition" (Briefly, Feb. 16):

What kind of judge has total disregard for women and their safety when he allows the man and his family to be treated like criminals and sent to Mexico for imprisonment? Duane "Dog" Chapman and his entire family are heroes. They removed the scum from society before he had a chance to drug and rape any more women in Mexico.

The judge who has created all this trouble for the Chapman family should be removed from the bench and sent to a Mexican prison himself.

The Chapman family members have good hearts and are loving people who happen to have the people's best interest at heart -- unlike the judge who wants to send these heroes to Mexico to face certain death.

-- Cindy Hunter

Canoga Park

Tax incentives

Re "Beneath the tinsel" (Your Opinions, Feb. 18):

I'm a second-generation motion-picture-industry person. Television, features, commercials and music videos all generate millions of dollars into the state beyond income taxes paid by individuals. Lumber and building supplies, food service, fuel, security, traffic control, office supplies, real estate, money paid to individuals to use property are some examples.

The corporate offices of the world's largest providers of camera equipment are here, employing hundreds in L.A. alone. Other states have implemented tax-incentive programs and have successfully been luring work to their states because they see that a small investment has returned millions of dollars in tax revenue and brought many expenditures back to their communities and businesses. L.A./Hollywood is the hub of production, and the cities, businesses and individuals would only benefit with more production here.

-- Richard Mosier

Simi Valley 

History lesson

With all due respect to President George W. Bush, when I heard him today in a short address to the nation, in celebration of Presidents Day, cite George Washington as a supporter of spreading freedom throughout the world (suggesting that George Washington would be in favor of our incursion into Iraq), I wondered what history book he had been reading.

Wasn't it George Washington, in his farewell address to the nation, who advised the country and his successors to "beware of foreign entanglements"?

-- Stephen A. Downs

Valley Village

Disingenuous 

Re "Bush lying -- again" (Your Opinions, Feb. 19):

A big difference between the church and state in the U.S. and Iran is that the church in Iran has its own laws, courts, secret police and death squads. Unless you count the Salvation Army, churches in America don't have their own armies.

To dismiss both U.S. military and Bush administration allegations that Iran continues to foment violence in Iraq and the Mideast, simply because it has done so for years and that it's being done by Iran's religious rather than elected government, is both disingenuous and, dare I say, dishonest -- again.

-- John Kurt

Reseda

Lose some, win some

Re "Dixie Chicks" (Your Opinions, Feb. 13):

The man who wrote about the Dixie Chicks losing their country fans due to their political views need not worry. The Chicks are doing just fine with all the new noncountry fans they gained because of them. I should know. I'm one of them.

-- Kat Campbell

Canoga Park

Democrat's altar

After turning yellow in Korea, yellow at the Bay of Pigs, yellow in Vietnam and pale-yellow on the Iraq war, the Democrats in Congress achieved a partial victory on Feb. 16 -- for the enemy. It is a partial victory because, as usual, the Democrats turned yellow and voted for a nonbinding resolution. They want to cut off all funding, which will really bash President George W. Bush and hand total victory to the enemy.

But if they do, the upshot will be that American troops will be decimated in the withdrawal, Iraq will turn into the first bloodbath of the 21st century, and Israel will be sacrificed on the Democrats' Altar of Cut and Run. Israel will, of course, not go gently into that bloody night. The modern Samson has nukes. Thank you, Democrats, for Armageddon.

-- Max L. Huber

North Hills

Britney Spears

Celebrity plus stupidity equals publicity.

-- Susan Murphy

Panorama City

Stop scapegoating

Re "Children, families lose again" (Feb. 13):

The Daily News always tries to paint respected child-welfare agencies as selfish, money-grabbing entities, and now it's trying to blame the county's Title IV-E savings miscalculations on increased payments to agencies.

Let's look at the facts: 1) Entry into group homes and foster-family agencies is controlled by the county and courts; 2) rates are set by the state; 3) rates have not increased for five years; and 4) the county's average costs are increasing because of a changing, more difficult client mix, not higher pay for providers.

-- Bruce Saltzer

Executive director

Association of Community Human Service Agencies