Blame State for Job Losses

The news about the loss of 300 San Fernando Valley jobs currently provided by R & G Sloane Corp. was shocking. My family runs Roscoe Hardware Inc., a small business near R & G Sloane; it was well known to us a year ago that Sloane was moving.

I am dismayed to learn that the California Department of Commerce was unaware of this, showing they wait for business to notify them of departures, rather than taking aggressive steps to prevent them.

This is typical of the attitude of the California Legislature and the California congressional delegation. This is the third major employer to leave the northeast Valley within the last two years after Lockheed and General Motors. The smaller businesses are too numerous to name.

Now that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been sworn in, where is she? Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) is waving goodby to yet another major employer. Why do Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) and Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) come away with the jobs and we are left with an ever-expanding welfare roll?

GARY FORSCH

Sun Valley