The Orange County grand jury investigated the beating death of an inmate in the county's jail and issued a report. In a series of articles, The Times described how witnesses lied to the grand jury and fabricated evidence -- the technical term for which is perjury. The technical term for fabricating evidence presented to a grand jury is obstruction of justice. Both are felonies. When will we see criminal charges brought against the perjurers and obstructors of justice?

David E. Ross

Oak Park, Calif.



Re "Rampant abuse seen at O.C. jail," April 8

I am appalled at the dehumanizing behavior, which was every bit as inhumane as the reports regarding the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. The behavior certainly does not reflect the values that I have come to know as being representative of our society.

I can only hope that those directly involved, as well as those in the Orange County Sheriff's Department who tried to withhold this information from becoming public, will receive the appropriate consequences.

Karl Strandberg

Long Beach

Great Park or greater fiasco?

Re "Irvine's Great Park hasn't exactly earned its name," April 12

I read with a great deal of shock your story about the lack of progress on the Great Park at El Toro Marine base. I was shocked that anyone really believed that the park would happen in the first place. I also was shocked that the shortsighted attitude of the people in south Orange County deprived us of a badly needed international airport. We can look forward to years of idle property and further hopeless congestion in airports throughout Southern California.

Arthur Friedman

Newport Beach



The Great Park fiasco should be a warning to local officials nationwide of the danger of funding public/private projects with bonds to be repaid by the value generated by new homes or rentals over 20 years or more. The American 20th century experience was an anomaly and should be treated by governments and builders as such. The environmental factors that are assumed to underpin bonds for the Great Park project are no longer operative.

Orange County is lucky to have a second chance at rethinking this project. I hope that it, and local officials nationwide, will seriously consider what kind of dwellings will be desirable to live in 20 years from now, while we still have abundant energy to do so.

Danila Oder

Los Angeles

U.S. is on the same road as Italy

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