Reggie Bush and the NCAA’s sanctions on USC; election results in California; the end of an era in public school teachers

USC’s football fall

Re “Sanctions could cost USC millions,” June 11

A few years ago, a patient came into my office with a car magazine. The cover showed a smiling Reggie Bush next to a very tricked-out older Chevrolet.

I believe Bush was heading into his junior year at USC. I remember thinking to myself, where does this kid get the money to invest and rehabilitate an older car into something so special? Who is giving him the money to do this?

I am a dentist in my 50’s in Woodland Hills, but I was aware there was a problem. How can the staff at USC football say they didn’t know? How blatant does it have to get?

Susan Fredericks-Ploussard

Woodland Hills

Did the agent who bribed Bush with lodgings for his parents get the contract to represent him in the pros?

If so, he would be the only winner in this travesty of justice, penalizing this great university of ours and the high school kids who will be denied football scholarships.

There must be a better way for the NCAA to assert its holier-than-thou influence over college athletics.

But wait. This catastrophe may well serve to bring down USC’s high-and-mighty athletic director, Mike Garrett, on whose back this all rests.

Jack Weber

Oxnard

Fellow Trojans, it’s time to cowboy up and take our medicine.

Jeff Johnson

Laguna Hills

Do the NCAA rulings mean I did not see USC beat Fresno State in 2005?

Ruben Longoria

Pico Rivera

Why Measure E didn’t make it

Re “L.A. Unified fails to turn out vote on parcel tax,” June 10

The Times’ article regarding the “lukewarm” support for Measure E — the measure that would have continued to fund all of L.A. Unified’s elementary arts teachers as well as library aides and other important school personnel, charging property owners only $100 a year — placed blame on several people and organizations in this city for its failed passage.

However, the article neglected to mention your newspaper’s recommendation to vote against the measure.

The measure may very well have failed not because parents or teacher’s spouses did not vote for it, as you implied, but because of your misguided advice to readers.

Carol M. Tanzman

Los Angeles

Re “Prop. 14 promises political sea change,” June 10

While politicians and analysts were, and still are, fretting about the hypothetical unintended consequences of Proposition 14, the voters of California did the right thing.

I live in an Ohio district where Democrats have no chance of winning a congressional or local election. There are other districts where Republicans have no chance. Once the primary is decided in these districts, the general election is really unnecessary.

Under a “top two” open primary system like California now has, even if the top two primary vote winners are from the same party, voters would still have a meaningful choice in the general election.

If we can get the Proposition 14 approach on the ballot in Ohio, we, like California, will opt for open primaries.

Vic Presutti

Dayton, Ohio

Re “You weren’t fooled,” Editorial, June 10

I was relieved to read that Propositions 16 and 17 were defeated, but the numbers worry me. I was hoping for a more decisive victory, one that would send a clearer message to the corporate powers.

How could 48% of the voting public be deceived by these campaigns, especially if, as you claim, “low-turnout elections tend to attract … better-informed voters”?

On the face of it, getting more people to the polls is a good thing. In this election, I’m glad it didn’t happen.

Chuck Petithomme

Burbank

Re “The Year of the Conservative Woman,” Opinion, June 10

Doyle McManus noted last week, “A female candidate makes the GOP look warmer and friendlier.”

He must have written this before Carly Fiorina demonstrated — pretty convincingly and on national TV — that a female GOP candidate sniping about her opponent’s hair can make the GOP look (and sound) nastier and pettier.

June Maguire

Mission Viejo

Frustrated on the 405

Re “Closure of 405 snarls traffic across Westside,” June 10

On Wednesday, the CHP deliberately dragged half of L.A. into meltdown, holding the Westside hostage to investigate the injury of one of its own.

There are unfortunate and serious accidents every week on our freeways, and we’re all used to the necessary traffic delays they cause when a couple of lanes are blocked off so personnel can respond appropriately and professionally. But to injure a police officer is to suffer the disproportionate grandstanding of a department that could care less about the collateral damage its indignant posturing causes.

How many cops does it take to screw up a freeway and show their support for an injured brother at our expense? Just look at the photographs. The CHP shut down the Westside because it could — the rest of you be damned.

James Mandell

Valley Village

A generation of teachers

Re “She’s at the head of the class,” Column, June 9

Steve Lopez’s column nicely honored Jane Schwanbeck, who is representative of many women who have been the backbone of public education for decades.

The real crisis in education is the loss of these women, who in the 1960s graduated near or at the top of their college classes. This was a time when women graduates wanted to raise families and become teachers — even though they could have pursued much higher-paying professional occupations.

My wife, Joy, taught her last class last week. It was the culmination of a 30-year career as one of the hardest-working elementary school teachers in the Rowland Unified School District. It will be difficult to replace her.

When I read criticism of teachers today, I am revolted. I know the younger generation of teachers will step up to the challenge of replacing the quality of their retiring colleagues. But the public should know that we are seeing the end of an era in public school teaching.

Bruce Parker

Hacienda Heights

Where’s L.A.’s airport train?

Re “New high-speed train gives South Africa a lift,” June 9

How nice and convenient — and comfortable as well — that citizens in South Africa will have high-speed trains that can whisk them off between towns and take them to O.R. Tambo International Airport in very little time.

Where does that leave Los Angeles? The time has come to realize that every major city in the United States and most in Europe — and now South Africa — has a rail system taking passengers to and from airports.

Our Green Line light rail was supposed to go to LAX; the proposed Crenshaw lines and others might get close to it. What we need is to separate the politics and stubbornness of those who won’t listen and build what we should have had years ago.

We must have rail access into the LAX complex, and the time is now. The money can be there; the workforce is waiting to get this accomplished.

Morley J. Helfand

Arcadia

Dodger blues

Re “If you think it, they will win,” Column One, June 10

Given Frank and Jamie McCourt’s hiring of a Russian faith healer, and that healer’s seemingly direct influence on the firing of manager Jim Tracy and general manager Paul DePodesta following the 2005 season, I’m surprised The Times didn’t make the obvious reference and call Vladimir Shpunt the Dodgers’ Rasputin.

David H. Crocker

Placentia