The Vancouver Olympic Games; charter schools; DNA evidence

To Vancouver

Re “No love for the Games,” Feb. 6

Though some have concerns about the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the life of a city depends on how well it grows -- and the 2010 Winter Olympics will see the city of Vancouver bloom.

Los Angeles is a two-time Olympics host city. I know what a great thing the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games were for Los Angeles. I am sure this will be a very positive event for Vancouver as well.

The city will play host to some of the world’s finest athletes in competition, an opportunity to shine on the world stage unlike any other. Investments both public and private will create a lasting legacy that Vancouverites can be proud of for generations to come.

I am so proud to see Vancouver, a sister city of Los Angeles since 1986, take part in this extraordinary event. All of Los Angeles wishes Vancouver a very successful Winter Olympics.

Tom LaBonge

Los Angeles

The writer is City Council member for the 4th District and president of Sister Cities of Los Angeles.

The Olympics, a city and its poor

Re “An Olympic challenge,” Feb. 10

Your front-page article on the perils of the poor in Vancouver made interesting reading, even for an Olympics exile like me. I left town to escape the Great Squander you so accurately described.

However, I might quibble with your analysis of the downtown area’s squalor. Vancouver has been a mecca for the drug business and street crime for generations. The climate is good, the cops inept, the courts corrupt. Go west, young bum!

Furthermore, British Columbia’s political system feeds off “helping the poor and homeless,” making electoral and bureaucratic livelihoods for thousands.

As much as I loathe the Olympics movement, I must also admit that opponents of the Olympics are using the street denizens and their allegedly sad plight once again as political fodder.

No one really gives even a Vancouver rat’s behind about the poor: This is about politics, man.

Brian Buchanan

Cathedral City

What charter schools can do

Re “Charter schools’ racial divide,” Feb. 5

Critics previously accused charters of cherry-picking only the best students. Now they’re saying that charters are segregating -- separating children by race.

Both positions are lies coming from entrenched bureaucracies afraid of losing their jobs and influence in the wake of better alternatives to their own offerings.

Since when is it a civil right to be around a mixture of races other than your own?

Robert Westcott

Alhambra

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It would seem to me that in a world economy increasingly dependent on ethnically diverse markets, and with employers looking for employees with experience in group problem-solving skills, it would behoove us to spend our educational dollars on schools that promote -- not shun -- ethnic diversity.

Perhaps we need to look at the mission statements of most local public school districts. That is exactly what they are doing.

Bob Bruesch

Rosemead

The writer is a member of the board of education, Garvey School District.

DNA is just part of the puzzle

Re “The DNA of justice,” Editorial, Feb. 6

Your editorial regarding the preservation and use of DNA evidence to exonerate innocent people fails to address another equally important issue.

If 250 innocent people were known to have been wrongfully convicted in the relatively few cases in which there was physical evidence capable of being tested, how many innocent people now sit in prison wrongfully convicted of crimes for which there was no DNA evidence present to exonerate them?

I worked as a criminal defense attorney and deputy public defender in Los Angeles county for 36 years. In my experience, the vast majority of criminal cases do not involve physical evidence but rather are based on unreliable eyewitness testimony, suggestive procedures such as photo identifications and questionable police practices used in obtaining confessions.

Problems with these types of evidence must be addressed before any real improvement can take place.

Allen Adashek

Los Angeles

Demjanjuk and his accusers

Re “Justice and his lasting horror,” Column One, Feb. 6

The Times writes of the trial of accused Sobibor death camp guard John Demjanjuk: “Now it is theater of the half-dead. The victims are old and dying; so are the perpetrators. Demjanjuk is 89 and so sick he can stand trial for only 90 minutes at a time.”

This account is an insult to the victims. The co-plaintiffs, including me, are a group of vigorous older people, far from “half-dead” or “dying.”

Also, Demjanjuk is not as feeble as he may seem. Courtroom pictures of a sleeping Demjanjuk circulated around the world, but recently the court wrote of the defendant: “The impression [that the defendant gives] does not result from the state of his physical health but instead from his decision not to address the court or even to deign to look at the court. This behavior is in complete opposition to his behavior outside of the courtroom.”

Martin Haas

San Diego

The writer is a co-plaintiff in the Demjanjuk trial.

Life lessons

Re “Students dread leaving Beverly Hills Unified,” Feb. 8

Thousands of children change schools every year because their families relocate. Somehow, those children survive. Many actually thrive because they learn how to adapt to what life throws at them.

It would be nice for The Times to write an article about such children rather than about the coddled youngsters living outside Beverly Hills who are complaining about no longer being permitted to attend Beverly Hills schools.

Gerry Swider

Sherman Oaks

One man’s Ferrari

Re “Ferrari garage grinds gears,” Feb. 5

A guy may not be able to park his Ferrari in the living room of his two-acre property because a second guy and some other neighbors don’t want him to.

Whatever will we do?

David Reskin

Los Angeles

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I have noticed that these same homeowners have raised no objections to the obscenely oversized McMansions proliferating in their neighborhood and built right up to the curb with zero consideration for surrounding neighbors.

The owner of the beautiful garage was clearly given a permit to build his garage/gallery -- should he now be penalized because the building department is asleep at the wheel?

The argument that his access and egress is dangerous carries very little water. He would surely have no interest in exposing his dream car to a possible collision.

What drives these neighbors? Envy perhaps.

Ann Videriksen

Los Angeles

The writer is a design publicist.

Re “Ferrari garage grinds gears,” Feb. 5