Rose Parade Float

Regarding 20th Century Insurance Company’s Rose Parade float, “Fantastic Journey” (“The 1998 Tournament of Roses,” Jan. 2): While I love beautiful floats made of flowers as well as the next person, I can’t help but feel that 20th Century could have put the thousands of dollars they spent on the float to better use by settling the earthquake claims of their policyholders, who have been trying to get them to do just that for soon-to-be four years.

I too embarked on a “Fantastic Journey” shortly after the Jan. 17, 1994, earthquake when I filed a claim for damages with the insurance company. One that never seems to end. One that has caused me, an elderly widow, to spend my fourth Christmas out of my home of 40 years. I pray that my “Fantastic Journey” will soon be over and I will be back in my repaired home.

WANDA M. RAYNARD

Northridge