BP and its oil spill; closing medical marijuana outlets in L.A.; China and the anniversary of Tiananmen

More than a teacher

Re “School honors a local hero,” Column, June 4

We’ve come a long way — sort of. It’s encouraging to see that boat-rocker Sal Castro is being recognized for his years of advocacy for better education by having a school named after him. He deserves it.

I was a student of his at Lincoln High School back in the Pleistocene (1968.) He was something of a mentor to me. I was the editor of the school paper, and the “walkouts” were my first big story.

What’s intriguing to me is that Sal is now being hailed as a hero. Back then the administration of L.A. Unified and the mainstream media painted him as a combination Svengali-Rasputin-anarchist-agitator-

and-devil. My, how times change — except that the improvements in education Castro fought for still haven’t been fully achieved.

Luis Torres

Pasadena

Oil, birds and BP’s CEO

Re “Oil invades sanctuary for pelicans,” June 8

“The pelican, brown pelican; his bill can hold more than his belly can.”

This was the little ditty we children used to recite when I was growing up in New Orleans. Now I wonder if future generations of children will someday ask what a pelican was.

Frances E. Murphy

Monterey Park

Re “Can’t we just cap BP’s Toxic Tony?” Opinion, June 6

Perhaps someone should remind BP CEO Tony Hayward what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said about confronting challenges head on: “ The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Hayward lamenting about wanting his life back is extremely insulting and, I might add, a bit pathetic.

Word to BP: Start looking for a new leader.

Omar Duran

Compton

Pot isn’t going away

Re “Move it, bud, pot outlets are told,” June 7

Los Angeles’ newly enacted ordinance reflects a growing national trend. Many states and municipalities, including Colorado, Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, San Jose and Washington, D.C., are moving to enact regulations governing the distribution of medical cannabis. They acknowledge that marijuana is a commodity that ought to be regulated safely and legally.

Ideally, these regulations must acknowledge that a majority of the public supports these operations, that these facilities serve an unmet community need, that they create jobs and spur economic growth and that they dispense a product that is safer than many commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals. It is unfortunate that Los Angeles Ordinance No. 181069 fails in large part to reflect these realities.

Medical marijuana dispensaries can be integrated into the community in a way that addresses the concerns of law enforcement while maintaining the spirit of the law and meeting the needs of the patient population.

Unfortunately, L.A.’s arbitrary and overly restrictive ordinance will do neither.

Paul Armentano

Vallejo, Calif.

The writer is deputy director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

I’m always fascinated by feel-good solutions to problems that require more thoughtful deliberation, like closing 400-plus pot outlets.

Where, pray tell, do the creators of this “solution” think the pot is going to go now? For that matter, where do they think the excess pot being legally grown for the medicinal dispensaries is going to end up? Perhaps it will simply be thrown out at a higher price in the nontaxed black market — burned in pipes in the mouths of people who purchased it.

Edward Bialack

Woodland Hills

Train safety is elementary

Re “Expo line’s last hurdle,” June 8

When I attended North Hollywood High School in the late 1950s, a heavy-rail line ran along the northern side of the school.

Today, the same corridor carries the Orange Line Busway. Large and heavy articulated buses pass by every few minutes — about as often as light rail would pass through the intersection of Exposition and Farmdale, near Susan Miller Dorsey High School.

I continue to live near North Hollywood High and never have heard of a transit-related pedestrian or driver injury in the intersection at the northeast corner of the school.

Activist Damien Goodmon worries that a motorist’s “wrong turn at the wrong time … would go right into a group of 100 students.” Without the planned gates and signals, isn’t that more likely to happen today?

Are the several groups of objectors to the at-grade crossing near Dorsey High School worried that students and motorists are not smart enough to keep from being hit by a train?

Roy W. Rising

Valley Village

Corruption, exposed

Re “Inquiry targets hospital staffers,” June 2

Gee! More corruption problems at yet another county hospital. And a slow response by the Department of Health Services. All occurring in a practically bankrupt county and state.

Taxpayers should be beyond outraged at this ongoing misbehavior, and we must soundly defeat any proposed tax increases until this nonsense stops and the offending parties are penalized.

As noted in the article, some staff at Olive View tried to report the problems, and they got nowhere. But when The Times got involved, things started to happen.

Whenever I think I don’t have enough time to read the daily paper and consider cancelling my subscription, The Times does another article or series like this, so I keep my subscription going. Thank you!

Kathy Smith

Torrance

Lessons of Tiananmen

Re “Annual Tiananmen games,” June 4

The withdrawal of a cartoon published by Southern Metropolis Daily, as well as the confiscation by the Hong Kong police of a statue similar to the Statue of Liberty, indicate that the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square incident is still a forbidden subject with Chinese authorities.

This kind of attitude does not serve the Chinese interest well, locally or internationally.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou suggested last week, in a reflection on Tiananmen, that the Chinese must manifest a new way of thinking about human rights and must treat dissidents more magnanimously. Such actions would resolve problems stemming from the incident and would help reinforce Chinese citizens’ trust in the authorities. Likewise, it would reduce the disparity between the human rights conditions on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and would reassure the world that the rise of China is peaceful.

T.K. Lee

Los Angeles

The writer is director of the press division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.

Sound advice for teachers

Re “Graduating into the classroom,” Opinion, June 4

Thank you, Mike Rose, for the shot in the arm. I truly enjoyed reading your inspiring letter to new teachers.

Although your target audience was educators who are just starting their careers, your sage advice was meaningful to me as well, even though I am starting my 19th year of teaching this fall. Your thought-provoking observation that teaching “goes beyond affection; you are using your mind in the service of others,” should prod teachers to make every day in the classroom one full of learning opportunities.

I only wish you had been teaching at UCLA when I was getting my masters in education and teaching credential there — alas, you were hired four years after I graduated. I plan to read and ponder your Op-Ed and President Obama’s speech to students in September before every school year starts.

Kristine Haenschke

North Hills