Letters to the editor

Unbelievable. Carmelita Alvarez, the wife of convicted killer Juan Manuel Alvarez, is going to tell her children when they get older that their father was unfairly convicted. In fact, what she should tell her children is that their father was subjected to the best system of justice ever devised, that he was presumed innocent until proved guilty, that he was justifiably convicted following a public trial and full opportunity to confront his accusers and that his life was spared by a jury of his peers. That is what Carmelita Alvarez should tell her children.

Aside from being the truth, it would constitute a civics lesson, an example of taking personal responsibility and an unequaled opportunity to teach her children right from wrong, including the consequences thereof.

Craig A. Roeb

Los Angeles



Despite outcries demanding the execution of Alvarez, whose suicide attempt caused a deadly Metrolink crash, and the two elderly women convicted of murdering homeless men for money, the juries and judges in those cases imposed permanent incarceration. By sparing the lives of these deeply disturbed individuals, the juries and judges also saved taxpayers millions of dollars that would have been spent on automatic appeals if the death penalty had been imposed.

Indeed, the independent, nonpartisan California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice released a report last month showing that, statewide, we could save more than $100 million every year by not seeking the death penalty in cases like these, money that could be better spent to balance the state budget and provide better healthcare, education, transportation, job training and law enforcement.

Stephen Rohde

Los Angeles

Case for, against offshore drilling

Re "Bush lifts offshore drill ban, urges Congress to follow suit," July 15

We can't drill our way off this sinking energy ship. Soaring oil prices are the inevitable result of a policy that creates a monopoly on energy for oil companies and ties consumers to a product with serious health and environmental consequences. Calls for more drilling provide no relief to Americans, but they further enrich oil companies and throw money at a broken policy.

It is time to ignite a clean energy economy that will release us from the grip of foreign oil, give Americans real fuel and transportation choices and cut the catastrophic effects of global warming. Until our leaders get serious about a clean energy lifeboat, we will continue to sink with the boat, oil spills and all.

Nathan Springer

Whittier



I am very tired of hearing about the oil spill off Santa Barbara in 1969. Technology has improved in the last 40 years. There were catastrophic hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago -- Rita and Wilma -- and there were no oil spills from the platforms there. Yes, if drilling started today, gasoline from those operations would be years away from going to the market. But we've been talking about it for years; if instead of talking we had been drilling, we would have had the oil by now.

We need alternative energy sources, but in the meantime we need oil. Alternative energy sources are many more years away than the oil would be if drilling would start today.