PUBLIC FORUM.

Limit to power

Re ``Judge: Charge Padilla or release terror suspect'' (March 1):

Congratulations to U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd, who even though he was a Bush appointee, recognized that the president cannot do what he wants to do in the War on Terror. The government has held Jose Padilla in custody without charging him with a crime for 2 1/2 years. The government says Padilla is an ``enemy combatant'' but has not brought him to trial.

If they can do it to him, then they can also jail me with the charge of being an enemy combatant without having to prove it, can't they? They can also do it to you, too.

- Jean Strauber

Encino

Constitutional violation

Re ``Judge: Charge Padilla or release terror suspect'' (March 1):

Three cheers for Judge Henry F. Floyd. The imprisonment of Jose Padilla is one of the worst constitutional violations in American history. Padilla is neither a member of an enemy military nor an agent of an enemy government. To imprison him as an ``enemy combatant'' is to deny him his constitutional right to due process.

- Josh Rivetz

Northridge

Cleanup permit

Re ``Sunland golf club could face fines'' (March 1):

The Army Corps of Engineers has issued a citation because the Angeles National Golf Club used heavy equipment to prevent further flood damage. The Corps said the club failed to get a permit to do the emergency work and also probably harmed a few flowers and frogs.

Tell me, Army Corps of Engineers, what do you think that the raging floodwater did to the flowers and frogs? Also, as it takes months, if not years, to get permission from you to do the smallest of tasks, what good would a permit for the year 2006 do? Perhaps the Corps would like to explain why it was OK for them to dump trash and concrete into Hansen Dam, but not OK for the golf course to clean up and prevent further damage.

- James J. Menotti

Sunland

Paying for services

Re ``Pension time bomb'' (Editorial, March 1):

In ``Pension time bomb'' you state: ``the public has already grown tired of tax hikes.'' Have they also grown tired of living in a state whose infrastructure in everything from schools to roads to public services has, in the last 30-40 years, fallen from first rate to Third World? How can we live in America's richest state and tolerate rankings in the above that have fallen, in most cases, into the bottom 20 percent of states?

I am selfish enough to enjoy the spending power of lower taxes but smart enough to know that the price of being undertaxed is watching my once proud state slip ever downward.

- Jim Turner

Granada Hills

Pension funding

Re ``Pension time bomb'' (Editorial, March 1):

The ``mess'' has nothing to do with the Los Angeles Unified School District's pension plan. That plan is part of the CalPERS system. The liability is the estimated current value of future health care costs for retirees. Like most employers who provide such benefits, the district has been paying them as they are incurred rather than specifically investing additional money to prefund them.

The issue arose not due to a ``bureaucratic mess'' at LAUSD. but rather due to a new accounting rule that will become effective in 2007 when the district will be required to recognize a portion of those future costs in its annual financial statement. The $500 million represents the annual contribution necessary to pay off that liability over a 30-year period. In fact, the district is not required to make any such additional payments.

The district is facing the same effect of this change as is every other governmental entity that provides these benefits.

- David P. Kendall

San Diego

Teachers' benefits

Re ``Pension time bomb'' (Editorial, March 1):

So, public employees earn wages and benefits unimaginable for similar work in the private sector. How right the Daily News is about that. As a teacher, I have roughly the same level of education as my brother, a lawyer. Last year I earned 10 percent of what he made. Compared to a friend who is an engineer, I did slightly better at 30 percent.

Yes, it is unimaginable that compared to a lawyer, I am worth only 10 cents on the dollar. In exchange for accepting a markedly lower salary than what I could earn in the ``private sector,'' I was promised a pension and health care for devoting 30 years of my life to the youth of Los Angeles. Without those unimaginable benefits and perks, who is it that you expect to teach your children - for certain it won't be me.

- Brent Smiley

West Hills

Vigil for tiger

Re ``Vigil protest tiger shooting'' (Feb. 26):

Candlelight vigil for a tiger. Why don't these people go to a candlelight vigil for the man who was killed by a drunk driver. Or the mother of three who was killed by her estranged husband. Or the children who die every day from gangs, drugs, AIDS, etc.

- Mitch Sternbach

West Hills

Knee-jerk response

The letters section of the paper has been inundated with protests concerning the killing of the tiger in Simi Valley. Most are knee-jerk responses. Animal regulation personnel are not big game hunters. The amount of drugs to effectually tranquilize a tiger was unknown. The hunters had one shot. In the event the tranquilizer did not work, the tiger would have charged, or taken off for Oxnard.

Although there are plenty of coyotes in the area, a child is easier to catch and eat. The real culprit is the person who imported the tiger and kept it in a homemade enclosure. Certainly records must exist that can identify this individual. Is law enforcement working on this situation? And where are the politicians who should pass laws prohibiting keeping dangerous animals outside a licensed zoo?

- Sion Colvin

Woodland Hills

Redistricting a must

The root of California's ills over the past decades is redistricting. The politicos have had their way for far too long. In last year's elections, not one of the 150-plus seats changed hands. Not one! State politicians have been able to set the table in their fashion for their own gain, at the expense of every citizen of California.

I say we the people need to take back our state from the very political machine that has shackled our freedom and democracy. The system as it stands today is tyranny - we the people are not being represented fairly or justly. This is a matter of freedom and democracy.

- Paul Angello

Granada Hills

Next mayor

I do believe it is time we have a mayor from the San Fernando Valley. We may receive some of the services we in the Valley are entitled to. Mayor Hahn thinks the Valley is a cash cow for the rest of the city.

- Gilbert Smith

Encino

Live, die in L.A.

Imagine if you are a person who has a job and has to take the train to go to work, chances are some sick individual will park his vehicle in front of the train so that you can die. If your are stupid enough to run from the police and they have to chase you, you are increasing the possibilities of being shot and you may even die.

But can you imagine if are an animal, you are in the wild trying to survive and roaming around in the beautiful hills? Can you imagine being killed by an animal control officer? Not even this poor, beautiful creature survived in L.A. What a shame.

- Milton B. Lopez

Winnetka

Dubious jokes

I watched the Oscar ceremonies and was irritated by Chris Rock's dubious jokes at the expense of Jude Law. I am not familiar with Jude Law but if one nasty comment wasn't enough, he continued to make more negative comments about him.

He offended me right then and although Sean Penn did make an appropriate comment later in the show, I felt it was cowardly of Chris Rock to belittle someone who was not there to defend himself. I hope the academy does not invite him back next year. Billy Crystal, where were you?

- Patricia Lamoree

Granada Hills