PUBLIC FORUM.

'Amnesty'

Immigration deal struck" (May 18):

America. Land of the brave, home of the free. Come one, come all. You don't have to do it legally. Be here long enough and you and all your family will get "Amnesty." It does not matter if our school system is falling apart, does not matter if our health care is overwhelmed. It does not matter that my relatives did it the right way, nor those who came here the right way.

Do it the wrong way and you get rewarded. Those in power do not care about our letters, calls, e-mails. They care about their next raise, next election, etc. They must sit back behind their closed door and have a hearty laugh. Well, I am not behind a closed door nor am I laughing. Time for me to become an independent voter.

-- Pat Werth

Granada Hills

Lipstick on a pig

Immigration deal struck" (May 18):

The new immigration plan is amnesty. See, when you let them stay, that's amnesty. When you send them back home, like President Eisenhower did, that's not amnesty.

Now you can take a hog and doll it up with lipstick and an evening gown and call it whatever you want, but the voters can still see it for the pig it is.

-- Michael A. Leptuch

Pacoima

Where he stands

Re "Top officials join in rally" (May 18):

It is nice to know where Mayor Villaraigosa stands. His actions Thursday show he clearly supports the illegal-alien community and its demands. It has become apparent he only views the citizens of Los Angeles as a large wallet to support his agenda.

-- Sharon Lewis 

West Hills

Special treatment

Re "Paris -- a short-timer" (News Lite, May 17):

Paris Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail. But, she will only have to serve half that time and will be jailed in a unit reserved for "police officers, public officials, celebrities, and other high-profile inmates." Hilton should have been sentenced to 90 days, serve the full time in the regular part of the jail, and receive no special treatment.

Apparently, when a person is famous for being famous, has no talent, and no real abilities, then they do receive special treatment.

-- Robert S. Kennedy Jr.

Camarillo

Good-time Paris

Re "Paris -- a short-timer" (News Lite, May 17):

I'm pretty sure the judge emphasized Paris was not to receive special treatment and had to serve her full time; however, she is given credit for "good time"? What good time?

Good time refers to time spent in jail prior to sentencing. Did she? Also, why is she being separated from the rest of the inmates when that was clearly not the intent of the court. Is there an exchange of currency here?

-- Lynette Grismore

Valencia

Some satisfaction

Re "Paris -- a short-timer" (News Lite, May 17):

Paris Hilton will be serving 23 days in jail. Twenty-three days of sitting around doing nothing. That's what she does anyway! Punishment for nonviolent offenses like hers should not be inside a jail.

Out streets and highways are littered with trash. Imagine being stuck in freeway traffic only to look over to see Ms. Hilton in her orange vest, picking up trash by the side of the road. Priceless. Paris would learn the value of real work while she does her time. We, in turn, would get cleaner highways and, pardon the pun, some "guilty" satisfaction.

-- James L. Rahm

Chatsworth

Veterans' graves

We know there are no more grave sites in any of the military cemeteries in the major populated counties in the coastal area of California. Families wishing to inter their vets near them for visits are forced to bury them in private cemeteries at their own expense (as I did with my husband) -- even though land located at closed military sites could be converted to military cemeteries.

The only thing military vets buried in private cemeteries get is a grave marker. Now that is being threatened -- the marker provided by the VA is not accepted by many of the private cemeteries; if it is, they only allow it to stay on the joint grave until the spouse dies, then they throw it away and force the family to buy a whole new set of markers for both of the deceased -- despite there being enough room to add a small marker for the spouse.

-- Patricia E. Carpenteri

Burbank

World upside down

Re "Top officials join in rally" (May 18):

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who sees himself as an education guru, has an odd idea of teaching young people how to obey the law.

His mere appearance, let alone leadership at a pro-illegal immigration and against his own Police Department demonstration, turned Los Angeles on its head, and truly gave credence to our nickname of "La-La Land."

-- Sandy Sand

West Hills

Who do you call now

Re "Top officials join in rally" (May 18):

Well, well, well, I have seen it all now: The mayor protesting in the streets with illegal aliens against LAPD. The mayor is going to tear apart the LAPD. Who is going to protect us? Maybe the mayor can contract the gangs.

-- Ronald Watson

Arleta

Wrong city

Re "Top officials join in rally" (May 18):

Someone should remind Mayor Villaraigosa that he is the mayor of Los Angeles -- not Mexico City. Shouldn't he be representing the interests of American citizens and legal immigrants instead of illegal immigrants?

-- Al Angele

Sun Valley

The going price

Re "Mayor's 4 LAUSD allies unite" (May 17):

The old adage of "if you can't beat 'em, buy them" is exactly what our traveling mayor did to get control of our school board. When the courts ruled against him on numerous occasions, he went out and procured a couple of ambitious new names eager to claim the $24,000 a year and a steppingstone into the lucrative world of politics.

He and his cronies with their millions of dollars bought a campaign that won a couple of elections, but left a trail of allegations and accusations that were conceived in a dirty gutter. It is a shame that the incumbent had to endure all the slime that was thrown.

-- Ira Kaplan

Woodland Hills

Another bailout 

Re "Children's Museum gets city bailout" (May 12):

This City Council never ceases to give away hard-earned tax dollars of the people without a second thought.

This is supposed to be a loan, but who can say if it will ever be paid back? Stop these unnecessary expenditures. We have great museums all over California for "the children" to visit.

-- Pamela Franklin

Granada Hills

Learning curve

Re "Top officials join in rally" (May 18):

Interesting that this march, it was all American flags; they learned something from the last one May 1. All I can say is, God bless our policemen and -women.

-- Martha Ballardo

La Crescenta

A salad of ethnicities

Re "Census: Valley now a salad of ethnicities" (May 17):

Such diversity as far as cultures, customs and languages are concerned is so tempting, one may almost cancel one's trip to a foreign land. However, this is far from the truth. Along with diversity comes behavior patterns that are not always easy to digest. Within the animal kingdom, animals from the same species are often ostracized when they try to join a group.

As human beings, are we all alike? Can we all get along? This would be pure utopia.

-- Christine Peterson

Woodland Hills