May an eternal red zone await

Re “Parking cop had no empathy on his meter,” Column, Jan. 31

As I read Steve Lopez’s column on parking Officer D. Brown and cancer-stricken Shari Kahane, it was all I could do to suppress the rapidly rising bile. I was left with three thoughts: First, Dr. Kahane, may you dance at the weddings of your two sons; second, Officer Brown, while I certainly don’t know what happened to make you the man you are today (nor is it at all relevant), I am saddened that you never appeared before me in a case such as this during the five years I served with L.A. County Superior Court as a bench officer in traffic trials and arraignments; third, my foremost prayer now is that the keeper of the pearly gates proffer Brown the exact same level of humanity and empathy that he so clearly showed Kahane that day in Century City.

That miserable conduct truly shames all the honorable men and women in blue. Hopefully a psychologist with internal affairs reads Lopez’s article as well.

JULIE L. KESSLER

Los Angeles

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Brown denied an obviously extremely ill woman the right to park in a red zone, the only option available to her caring husband. Such inhumanity is incomprehensible. Despite what actions are taken by the L.A. parking authorities, Brown’s behavior will come back to him in one way or another.

I hope that Lopez’s article encourages acts of compassion among all of us, but especially toward the elderly, ill and disabled. The collective hearts and prayers of millions of readers go out to Kahane, Mark Baskin and their two sons.

JOAN WAGNER

Los Alamitos

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I have concluded that the parking bureau and its employees do not have the capacity to have one iota of compassion. Because the fines are so small, no attorney or consumer group wants to waste their time challenging the parking bureau. Also, because the bureau is a huge profit center for the city, no politician wants to take it on. Therefore, the parking bureau operates within its own fiefdom without anyone to stop it.

ANDREW E. WOODWARD

Los Angeles

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When a narrow-minded individual is in a minor position of authority, he will exercise his power by saying “no,” whether it is the correct thing to do. Either that, or he had a terrific argument with his wife before he left home for work.

C. CASUCCI

Anaheim