Leaf Blowers

Here in the so-called rural and serene Palos Verdes Estates, the leaf blowers screech all day. I recently taped on a cassette recorder 1 1/2 hours of continuous neighboring blowers.

Ear-covered gardeners respond with mocking indifference to complaints of noise and dust. I believe that gardeners like the blowers for the additional reason that it keeps their homeowner bosses from making nagging requests. Who wants to talk to a 175-m.p.h. wind machine?

It seems absurd that a group of gardeners can seriously claim that residential property cannot be maintained without these despicable public nuisance machines. An aspect of beauty is silence. Are these gardeners the new czars of beauty?

WILLIAM KARG Palos Verdes Estates