Reading Playboy in Firehouses

I am concerned that the recent victory and extensive media coverage of Fire Captain Steve Johnson and his fight to read Playboy at the firehouse might leave the impression that all firefighters are pre-pubescent males with out-of-control hormones. Much of the news commentary I have seen and read has been directed at the lasciviousness of the magazine and the right to look at “girlie pictures.”

By the commentary, I can see that much of the media don’t understand what firehouse life is really like. I do believe that these types of magazines can contribute in creating a hostile working environment, not only for women but for anyone, male or female.

I want to reassure the public that many of us use our spare time to improve ourselves personally and professionally and are not counting the minutes until our next break so we can read Playboy. We use our time to study the numerous volumes of department manuals in our station library preparing for promotional exams. We read Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Boating, Fishing, Hunting, and many of us even use our spare time to read our Bibles.

While many would like to paint us with the broad brush of “boys will be boys,” I would like to reaffirm that the citizens of Los Angeles County are being protected by highly trained professional men and women who do this job primarily out of a desire to serve.

FERMIN P. LOPEZ, Fire Captain

Los Angeles County Fire Department

Fire Station 64, San Dimas

* The voters rejected bond issues which would have provided money for some worthwhile, even needed, government spending. Those who don’t understand should look at L.A. County’s wasteful consideration of legal action in response to the court ruling on Playboy in the firehouse.

The county counsel did his job and defended county rules; the court decided the issue. If government has money to file appeals and continue a desperate legal campaign for this cause then we, the voters, are right to deny more money for increasingly out-of-touch bureaucrats.

AUDIE L. PRICE

Long Beach