PUBLIC FORUM.

This is normal

Re "DWP overtime scam" (Feb. 21):

How can we present a DWP bilking of the public as though it is unusual? How about connecting the dots with the 600 percent pay raise for school board members, and how about realizing that every facet of government is absolutely swimming in excess money? This is how "departments" and "agencies" work, and this is why these incredible scams keep showing up.

All the money has to be spent, and they all have more than they can legitimately spend. It takes thievery to spend it all. We only have to go back a few months to recall the incredible scamming by our "heroes" at the Fire Department that results in tens of millions of dollars in overtime abuse and disability scamming. Does anyone recall anything being done about it? No, no one does because nothing was done.

-- Patrick Weir

Chatsworth

When in doubt

Re "600% raise for LAUSD board?" (Feb. 21):

David Tokofsky said that what school board members need is a pension boost. I think what they all need is a boost out the door. Measure L on the ballot targets salary issues and creates a review committee to set the board members' salaries every five years, in addition to limiting terms to three terms (12 years) too long.

I think these politicians get too comfortable and get laid back. As in Measure R, they put too many issues under one measure. In doubt, vote no.

-- Marianne Castro Lawson

Granada Hills

Fix or dismantle

The March 6 ballot initiative Measure L is all about getting Mayor Villaraigosa's candidates in office so he can guarantee his developer friends that they will get a piece of the multibillion-dollar pie to use to build more and more charter schools. They're using the fragile education of our youth as a tool to get contracts. And the public is buying it hook, line and sinker.

But charter schools won't fix LAUSD. Charter schools siphon money, staff and the best-performing students from LAUSD, leaving behind a vacuum. Either we fix LAUSD for the good of all K-12 pubic school students or dismantle the district all together and build charter schools. We can't have both. We can't afford both.

-- Donna Connolly

Sherman Oaks

Talk about scams

Re "Illegal border traffic drops" (Feb. 21):

George W. Bush and his administration woke up one morning and decided that they would deflect the negative media attention of the Iraq war onto "illegal" immigrants.

The lack of humanity that politicians have is actually hurting legal immigrants in this country. Jails are full of Mexicans who have lived in the United States since they were children. The nerve of the Bush administration to use undocumented workers to further their political agenda is nauseating.

-- Anita Sarkeesian

Los Angeles 

No court options

Re "No court option for detainees" (Feb. 21):

There once were two appellate judges, "the Decider's" new appointees, who held no court option for arresting innocent, perhaps guilty, detainees. Evidence or proof of a person's wrongdoing now not needed. No lawyer, court, family, Bill of Rights, Constitution need be heeded. Because now U.S. citizens, for no reason, can be caged like chimpanzees.

-- Jerold Drucker

Tarzana

A big second

Re "Good ol' bore of NASCAR" (Sports, Feb. 21):

I read the article written by Steve Dilbeck, and if he is a sports writer, shame on him. We all have opinions, but to bash NASCAR and its fans the way he did I think is wrong. Every week they fill the stands at all tracks, and there is a big following on television. I have watched Dodgers games and Lakers games and even the Kings games on television and seen a lot emptier arenas than most of the races.

The Daily News said in Monday's sports section that 17 million people watched the Daytona 500 on Sunday, and the announcers at the track said there were an estimated 200,000 people in the stands. I have been a NASCAR fan for over 40 years, and I think Steve needs to look what sport is second to NFL.

-- Bill Allender

North Hills

Price of protest

Re "Showing our support" (Feb. 15):

Steve Carrizosa's idea of a citizen march (to) protest gangs seems a bit off base. The brave, patriotic civil rights defenders of the '60s and '70s were protesting an institution, not gang members who live amongst the citizenry. And their protestations did not come without a price.

History tells us the Bull Shannon racists attempted to repel their common-sense demands with clubs, dogs, pressurized water and premeditated murder. Somehow I only see gang members confronting citizens protesting their right to operate with gunfire from a moving vehicle. The institutions buckled under to common sense; can the filthy murdering gangs demonstrate the same?

-- Thomas Tassinari

Encino

Troops are groups

The media reports that "thousands of troops" are being deployed, etc. This is confusing as the dictionary defines "troops" as a "group of soldiers." There are also Boy Scouts troops, etc. I am quite sure that what the media report means is thousands of soldiers. And since a troop is made up of many soldiers, what does "thousands of troops" mean?

-- Ruth Volk

Woodland Hills

Scofflaw cyclists

Re "Protecting cyclists" (Your Opinions, Feb. 18):

I, like Marie Mull, cannot believe that a bill is being considered to give cyclists a 3-foot buffer zone. Law enforcement should be enforcing the traffic rules on the many Lance Armstrong imposters who ride throughout the city. These cyclists are supposed to obey the same rules as motorists. Instead they run stop signs, go through red lights and block traffic.

They ride down Valley Circle, east of Roscoe, a narrow, winding, one-lane road, and act as if they are the only ones on the road. They often ride side by side, forcing the motorists to go over the double yellow line. If law enforcement could patrol these roads and cite these cyclists for disobeying the law, a serious accident involving the cyclists could be avoided.

-- Dave Harps

West Hills

It's still a republic

Re "Democracy redefined" (Your Opinions, Feb. 9):

Our Founding Fathers feared both a dictator (king) and unlimited majority rule. They understood that a democracy is "two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."

So they wisely established a republic where the majority does not always rule. The majority cannot take away the Bill of Rights. And a unanimous jury verdict (not merely a majority) is required to convict. The Democrats and Republicans have forgotten this, since majority rule allows them to spend other people's money. Only the Libertarian Party understands that the United States is a republic.

-- Bruce K. Bell

Moorpark

Where's McCarthy?

Barak Obama is running for president because he's charismatic. Hillary Clinton is running for president because of her famous last name. John Edwards is running for president because he's not George W. Bush. John McCain is running for president trying to be George W. Bush.

Where is Eugene McCarthy now that we need him?

-- Stan Gordon

Encino