PUBLIC FORUM.

Don't give up

Re "Lost 'war'" (Viewpoint, Sept. 29):

As a parent who has felt the pain and devastation that gangs and drugs can do to a family, I hope that I never see the day when we legalize illegal drugs. This is not the answer.

Even though millions of dollars have been spent combating gangs and drugs, we can never give up the fight to save our children. We must find programs that are effective, such as LA's BEST and LAPD's Jeopardy program.

Can we beat gangs? Hopefully. Can we end the usage of drugs? Maybe. But the one thing we must never do is give up the hope that we can someday save all children from gangs and drugs.

-- Candido Marez

Northridge

Outsourcing more

Re Mike Keefe cartoon (Oct. 1):

The only thing missing in Mike Keefe's comic with Bush and the truck dumping taxpayer cash was stockholders from Halliburton, Bechtel and Lockheed (and maybe some U.S. senators and congressmen) standing by with their pockets open to catch most of that money.

After the next presidential election, where will more of our children find work, with Blackwater or Kaiser? I know. They could work for Toys "R" Us in China (creating health care jobs here for the treatment of lead poisoning in low-income, uninsured children).

Do our failing schools still teach foreign languages?

-- George Shaw 

Lake View Terrace

What DWP stands for

Re "DWP: L.A.'s best jobs" (Sept. 30):

Maybe they should rename it the Department of Waste and Pay Raise.

-- Mike Hoblinski

Burbank

DWP apples

Re "DWP: L.A.'s best jobs" (Sept. 30)

I am a Los Angeles city worker, but not for the Department of Water and Power. The most appropriate way to truly compare the salaries of the DWP workers is to compare them to other utilities in the area. I am sure if you compare the salaries of DWP workers, they will most likely be below or right in line with adjacent cities like Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, etc.

Just as you think the police officers and other city workers are overpaid, if you look at it from a rational perspective, you will find that we are either below or in line with other Los Angeles County cities.

Start comparing apples to apples. Those of us who pay Edison rates would love the much cheaper utility rates in the city of Los Angeles. Do a true salary comparison and you will see the truth.

-- Chad Costello

Santa Clarita

Counting trees

Re "A million? Not quite" (Oct. 1):

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office claims that 110,000 new trees have been planted, but it doesn't know where they are. The city wants $400,000 in taxpayer dollars from the state for software to count and keep track of the trees.

If they can't count and keep track of these trees, where did they come up with the number 110,000, and where are the work orders?

The database software I use costs $229. It will easily keep count and track 1 million trees, but if the city used it, some politician's money person won't get a lucrative and unneeded contract for the unnecessary software.

The city drops the ball again and, as usual, the taxpayers get to pay for picking it up.

-- John R. Schlank

Granada Hills

Repeating Vietnam

Re "Back a generation" (Your Opinions, Sept. 30):

Chuck Heinold states the war in Iraq will set the U.S. back a generation in its war against al-Qaida. That statement is typical liberal anti-war convoluted logic and belies the fact that we are killing tens of thousands of al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq.

We picked that battlefield, and they are coming to us where we can kill them. The Iraq battle is at a turning point, just as Vietnam was after the 1968 Tet offensive, when the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong suffered a humiliating defeat. In their own words, they were ready to give up until they watched CBS and read The New York Times.

After the Tet offensive, the Hanoi Jane peaceniks pushed us to defeat. The anti-war liberals are doing the same in Iraq.

-- Bob Budworth

Woodland Hills