Rowdy Lakers fans; oil as a ‘green’ fuel; parents who let their children take risks

No parade for them

Re “Fans’ party gets rowdy,” June 18

It was disappointing to watch some of the citizens of Los Angeles turn what should have been an evening of celebration after the Lakers’ victory Thursday night into tragedy, as cars were damaged and people were injured.

Based upon this display of unruly behavior, L.A. should cancel any plans for a victory parade in honor of the Lakers. Our resources are already severely limited due to the budget cuts. To allow an event that will require a monumental amount of police presence is foolish.

We can congratulate the Lakers in some sort of a press event, but poor conduct should not be rewarded with any type of a parade.

Gail Richardson

La Crescenta

Congratulations, Lakers, on a very hard-fought and well-deserved win.

To the true fans of the Lakers: what a night for celebrating.

To the others, who felt it necessary to destroy personal property and injure people: You don’t deserve anything except jail time.

Karen Acker Husman

Pasadena

Supervisors’ leadership failure

Re “Probation Dept. under fire again,” June 17

I would have to consider a county supervisor criticizing the Probation Department by stating that it “has lost its sense of mission... [it] became more about them than about the clients they serve” a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

It is incredible that seemingly every department under the jurisdiction of the supervisors is out of control: King-Drew, the Probation Department, you name it.

Talk about self serving. The real issue is that responsibility and control start at the top, and the supervisors themselves have neither.

Martin Mangione

Brea

L.A. teachers’ cleanup duties

Re “Nearly 2,500 jobs are saved, L.A. Unified says,” June 17

Now L.A. Unified is thinking about sharp reductions in plant managers. Teachers have furlough days, spend our own personal money in the classroom, and now have to clean our classrooms too?

We already work in dirty schools, and most of us have to sweep our classrooms or empty our own trash. Are we going to have to clean up after a sick child too? Let’s get rid of the plant managers at headquarters at Beaudry and let the administration clean their offices after a hard day at the office.

Genie Penn

Los Angeles

Pixar sequels? Bring ‘em on

Re “To Chapter 3 and beyond,” June 17

I was taken aback by last Thursday’s front page story that seemed to suggest that Pixar’s foray into sequels is a bad thing. Could the authors be more cynical?

I’m looking forward to the third installment of “Toy Story” more than anything else this summer, and after just reading The Times’ review of the movie, I don’t think I’m in the minority.

If “balancing critical achievement with commercial appeal” brings us the kind of movies we want and need, I’ll take it — again and again and again.

Seth Hancock

Los Angeles

The use and limits of oil

Re “Oil — it’s the real green fuel,” Opinion, June 15

I was struck by Jonah Goldberg’s thoughts about the virtues of oil as a fuel “if you remove the argument over climate change from the equation.”

I’m waiting for his follow-up ideas on the virtues of cigarettes if you remove the argument over cancer and heart disease from the equation.

Eric Mankin

Venice

I should not be surprised or disappointed when intelligent ideologues like Goldberg make claims that oil can be both good and green compared to so-called green fuels — while entirely missing the fundamental fact that oil is disappearing.

It may be that to satisfy our energy needs we need “wind farms the size of Kazakhstan or solar panels the size of Spain.” Let’s do whatever necessary to replace the disappearing oil.

Also, Jonah, please don’t mix up our present oil dependency with what we could do by saying we use oil, and not electricity, for transportation. There is an electrical energy pump — an outlet — in every house, and all kinds of possible electric transportation.

Granville Henry

Claremont

No doubt those on the left will excoriate Goldberg for his rational views on the essential need for fossil fuel and for pointing out the fallacy of ethanol and other pie-in-the-sky “biofuels” so fondly advocated by these same misguided people.

Instead, he deserves kudos for correctly noting that wind and solar produce only small amounts of electricity, which cannot be used to fly a jumbo jet or propel a cruise ship to the Caribbean.

Electricity is not interchangeable with liquid fuel. No matter how much (or little) electricity is produced by windmills or solar panels, it will not make one gallon of liquid fuel.

Alfred Theurich

Murrieta

Goldberg refers to “the Billy Sundays of the Church of Green.”

Better to put one’s faith in them than in the Elmer Gantrys of the oil industry.

Michael D. Mauer

Los Angeles

Brave parenting? Or foolhardy?

Re “Brave parenting,” Opinion, June 16

In the early 1950s, I lived above the Sunset Strip. Since there were few children nearby and I was an only child who loved the outdoors, I was permitted to wander through undeveloped areas in the hills for hours at a time — starting at the age of 6!

My only instructions were to avoid “oddballs” and to return before dark. So I followed coyote tracks, befriended alligator lizards (if you stroke their bellies, they go into torpor), and developed an unerring sense of direction as well as a taste for adventure and a mind that has never known boredom.

The notion that my parents would today be considered negligent or worse for allowing me to “run free” on my own is appalling — and far scarier than anything I’ve encountered in a lifetime of traveling solo.

Victoria Branch

Northridge

I could not agree more with Bruce Barcott’s contention that there is too much structure today in raising kids, and clearly a need to foster more participation in physical activity.

I was, however, a little astonished to read that this somehow supports sending your 16-year-old daughter on a solo around-the-world sailing expedition. Can’t a girl have a fun and adventurous time just sailing the ocean, around the world even, with other people?

Barcott’s contention that when children turn 16, they are somehow magically transformed and able to take on the world is also a bit at odds with the reality that children mature at different rates.

Perhaps it is mere parental envy here, as Barcott seems to have trouble with the notion of having his children take part in these risky adventures. Go on Bruce, be a brave parent — you have five years to ready your daughter for scaling K2. Alone.

Oh, and by the way, you might want to start saving to rescue her, just in case.

Andrew Smith

Newbury Park

Barcott uses a straw-man argument, putting reasonably conscientious parents in the same category with those who panic over a skinned knee.

Parents who insist their children learn to crawl before they walk, and walk before they run, are doing their proper job. It’s not the kind of parenting that grabs headlines. But it is the most reliable path to responsible adulthood.

Bonnie Sloane

Los Angeles