Government Treats Children as Worthless

As I read the Valley Edition article of Dec. 27 (“Uphill Battle”) regarding the deadly triad threatening Castaic Elementary School--high-voltage power lines, underground oil pipelines and the colossal dam that looms over the school--I was dismayed, then angered, by the quote from Jay Jazayeri of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who said, “We did not put the dam above the school.” If this unprofessional, callous and disturbing statement is any indication of the federal government’s concern for children, then we are in deep trouble as a nation.

My 8-year-old son goes to school there, and so do hundreds of other children who are learning to trust and respect authority. Maybe it is better that they don’t learn the truth: The government doesn’t care enough to expedite its cost / benefit analysis of the dangers to a school. Not for a few hundred children. After all, what is a child worth?

GEORGE HUNT

Van Nuys