Food for guns; problems at Fremont High; religion and the media

Gun control that works

Re , and “Man exchanges 58 guns for gift cards,” Dec. 30

This successful program of trading weapons for gift cards is one that works and works well. This should be done on a regular basis and as often as possible. It brings hope and helps rid our city of this chronic virus of violence that we have all come to accept as normal.

Any gun that is gone offers one more chance for preventing another senseless death. Please keep this going.

Our city thanks the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for its efforts in this ongoing battle against weapons.

Frances Terrell Lippman
Sherman Oaks

Fremont High’s problems

Re “L.A. Unified steps up at last,” editorial, Dec. 27

If The Times had made even a cursory effort to do some research on teacher turnover for its editorial on the “reconstitution” of Fremont High School, it would have discovered that keeping good teachers at Fremont has always been a much bigger problem than getting rid of the few poor ones.

Many competent Fremont teachers are asking themselves why they should stick around. It is so much easier for Los Angeles Unified School District officials to blame teachers than to point the finger at the real culprit -- themselves -- for the mismanagement of the school. The district long ago should have eliminated cosmetology classes, instituted real vocational education and elevated academic decathlon to the status it deserves.

But of course, uniforms will cure all the problems at Fremont.

Barbara Stam
Tujunga
The writer is a teacher at Fremont High School.

The Times continues its editorial Band-Aid view regarding L.A. Unified. The only method for improving schools is to break up the district into 10 to 15 smaller ones. This would create local control and local involvement and remove the massive layers of administration that continue to be a drag.

L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines seems like a decent fellow with good intentions, but his vision is too large. Success in L.A. Unified will only come when folks think smaller.

Bill Raabe
Fountain Valley

The challenges of parenting

Re “Starting at home,” Opinion, Dec. 23

At what point do you stop blaming our teachers and our government for the sad fact that some parents are just bad parents? Better oversight and accountability for mandated parent involvement programs doesn’t necessarily mean parents will participate in the programs.

Parenting is the most difficult job in the world, and some people are just not up to the challenge.

Nora Castillo
Whittier

Dale Russakoff uses a tale of three mothers and an eggplant to illustrate a point about encouraging low-income students to engage with their children.

But this parable could also apply to today’s multi-tasking or self-absorbed mothers. The first two mothers could very easily be too busy talking on their cellphones and ignoring their children, or very rushed to grab some quick groceries.

These are not just examples from a low-income background. The same thing could take place at Gelson’s or Whole Foods.

Laurie Nada
Irvine

Protecting consumers

Re “Targeting debt ‘fixers,’ ” Opinion, Dec. 26

Assembly Bill 350 will help protect consumers, contrary to assertions made by Ginna Green and Caryn Becker of the Center for Responsible Lending.

As it has done in several other states, the Assn. of Settlement Companies is working to get legislation passed that regulates the debt settlement industry in California. AB 350 would require licensing, background checks, accreditation by an independent third party, fee limitations and mandatory disclosures, among other strict requirements.

Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D- Torrance) has a strong record of supporting consumer interests and should be commended for working to create laws regulating an otherwise unregulated industry in California.

Opposing AB 350 will only hurt the consumers Green and Becker are trying to protect.

David Leuthold
Madison, Wis.
The writer is executive director of the Assn. of Settlement Companies, a trade organization.

Jani’s case is unique

Re “A glint of hope in Jani’s world,” Dec. 29

Jani Schofield is blessed with parents who love her and understand that she needs nurturing and treatment.

If the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health is prepared to cover the expense of sending Jani to an out-of-state facility, why is it unwilling to cover the cost of housing and medical services for Jani’s parents who, along with dedicated volunteers, are providing the care she needs?

Jani’s case is unique and requires a nonstandard response from the mental health bureaucracy.

Evie Tole
Rancho Cucamonga

Invasion of privacy

Re “Selling what the dead left behind,” Dec. 28

A woman in reduced circumstances dies alone, and the county is left not only to bury her but to dispose of her personal possessions.

This is sad and intrusive enough. But to print her name in the paper along with an unkind photo of her apartment was an utterly disrespectful invasion.

She was not a criminal. In fact, she was a retired civic employee. It may not have been apparent that she had relatives or close friends, but there were certainly people who knew her.

I was not among them, but even I was shamed by this cruel exposure of a private human being’s life and death.

Stephanie Garman
Ventura

Re “Selling what the dead left behind,” Dec. 28

Faith and the media

Re “ ‘Avatar’ and the faith instinct,” Opinion, Dec. 29

Jonah Goldberg may be correct that humans are hard-wired for spiritualism and a belief in the transcendent, which acts as a survival mechanism for humans. How else to explain, and thrive in, the unknowable universe?

What he doesn’t fully appreciate is that humans are also hard-wired for greed, fear and social dominance, and that when these particular traits are mixed with spiritualism, the combustible result is the religious and evangelical fanaticism that we see troubling so much of our planet.

If our instinctual spiritualism can be made free of these influences, we will not have militant or evangelical religions.

Ron Ellsworth
La Mesa

Goldberg offers up the same conservative whine that we have been hearing for years: The media are down on Christianity. This time, it is because liberals like the movie “Avatar,” but, as Goldberg argues, they wouldn’t root for the underdogs if they were Christians.

Forget for just a moment that it’s a movie with a made-up species and a fake religion. There is a reason that there are few movies today that paint Christians as underdogs: Christians haven’t been underdogs for 2,000 years. Many cultures have been ground up in the voracious maw of Christian nations claiming to spread their faith for the good of the unenlightened. Christianity is a dominating global force that doesn’t need Hollywood’s help.

There is no war on Christmas. There are no “death panels.” Barack Obama is not a socialist, nor does he pal around with terrorists. There was never any real evidence to support the hysteria surrounding Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.

These are fabricated inventions of right-wing media outlets, and they serve as a rebuttal to the canard that the media suffer from a liberal bias.

Branden Frankel
Los Angeles