Activities

Re the article "Kids, Gym Sit Idle as Bureaucrats Quarrel": Trustee (George) Perez says in this article that "everyone is trying their best" and to be patient, as large projects take time to get off the ground. Mr. Perez needs to understand that we count on youth activities to keep our children busy. We have been patient because we know you and the board members grew up in this area of El Rio and that you would make things happen! Two years is more than enough time to plan things out. You say you have a good idea of where you want to go with this?

Political advocacy corrupts academic institutions. Why? Because the mind-set of a genuine academic teacher is in every important respect the opposite of a political activist's. Academic teachers want to promote independent thought and analytical skills; political activists want conformity. The one fosters intellectual curiosity and encourages opposing viewpoints; the latter seeks to shut it down. This vital distinction is well understood. In California, the state Constitution contains this unambiguous statement: "The university shall be entirely independent of all political or sectarian influence and kept free therefrom.

WHY DOES The Times again give publicity to so-called artist Robbie Conal ["Poster Boy for Mischief," by Irene Lacher, Oct. 13]? Over the years, he and his crew have engaged in the illegal activity of plastering posters on utility boxes, poles, fences, etc. throughout the L.A. area. Government agencies have spent considerable sums of taxpayers' money on the poster removal from public property. He should be behind bars, not in an art gallery. Donald McPoland Glendale

Barack Obama wanted to be a transformational president, and as we head into the general election, he may have gotten his wish - just not the way he or his supporters might have thought. Obama seems to have transformed the cohort of 18- to 29-year-olds, a whopping 66% of whom preferred him over John McCain, from passionate voters who thought Obama really did offer change they could believe in, into people feeling, in the words of veteran political analyst Charlie Cook, "disappointment and disillusionment.

For once, Andrew Bynum couldn't wait to talk about his recovery. "I've been cleared," the Lakers center said late Sunday night, repeating it a couple of times for added emphasis as he walked briskly down an empty corridor at Staples Center. "I can start running next week, and then maybe start practicing in two to three weeks. But the important thing is the doctor cleared me. " He then added the latest timetable on his return from off-season knee surgery. "Hopefully, I'm back playing games by late November," Bynum said, smiling.

On Sept. 13, a letter by Shirley Cereseto referring to recent mouthings by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) makes me wonder what kind of congressman is representing me in Washington. The only knowledge I have of Dornan's activities is what I read in the news concerning some of his outrageous conduct toward people who do not fully agree with his sentiments. It makes me wonder about his ability to properly represent the welfare of his constituency when he is capable of such outbursts as are repeatedly being reported in the press.

"Sports vs. Gangs" is very scary and depressing reading. Do you think that by running this in the sports section more attention will be paid to the problem? Whole generations of young people are being destroyed by drugs and gangs. Other high school activities must suffer as much as sports. I hope that by focusing on sports, your series will motivate our sports-loving population to demand action--from police, politicians and community leaders. CHRISTINE R. REED Santa Monica

The National Credit Union Administration is investigating whether officers of some credit unions have indulged in activities that benefited themselves or other insiders, the head of the federal regulatory agency said. NCUA Chairman Roger W. Jepsen told an industry group that the agency will consider recommendations for tighter examination procedures and new regulations.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said his administration would begin blocking bank accounts that are tied to "terrorist fund-raising" activities. "We have resolved that we are going to take an intensive effort to deal with terrorist fund-raising like it has never been done before," O'Neill told a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee convened to assess the financial toll on the nation.

Paul Conrad's July 15 cartoon captioned, "National heroes," depicting the images of North, Bernhard Goetz, Tammy and Jim Bakker carved into Mount Rushmore is truly outrageous. However clumsy and flawed North's activities might have been, they were performed in order to free American hostages and to try to halt a Soviet encroachment on this continent. How these motives can be equated with the actions of a New York subway vigilante and a pair of venal religious charlatans is beyond my power to understand.

In the face of privacy concerns, the Los Angeles Police Department has agreed to change the way it collects information on suspicious activity possibly related to terrorism. The department, after coming under fire from civil liberties and community groups, will no longer hold on to so-called suspicious activity reports that the LAPD's counter-terrorism unit determines are about harmless incidents. Until now, the department stored the innocuous reports in a database for a year.

A New York federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that opponents contend could subject them to indefinite military detention for political activism, news reporting or other 1st Amendment activities. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ruled Wednesday in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and the Defense Department. Obama signed the bill into law Dec. 31. The complaint was filed Jan. 13 by a group including former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges.

Foreclosure activity in the U.S. fell last month to its lowest level since the start of the credit crisis in 2007, driven largely by drops in states such as California, where the process occurs outside of the courtroom. Foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were logged on 18,780 homes, according to RealtyTrac. That was a drop of 5% from the prior month and a 14% decline from April 2011. One in every 698 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.

The allegation was serious: Someone might be playing politics with Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich's personnel file from his days as a county prosecutor. Trutanich, who is campaigning to become the next district attorney, complained to state authorities last week that his file was missing and asked for an investigation into "suspicious political activity" in the district attorney's office. In his letter to the attorney general's office, Trutanich noted that Los Angeles County Dist.

Active U.S. servicemen and women and their families will receive a new perk come Saturday: free passes to more than 2,000 public lands nationwide. The Department of the Interior and the Joining Forces initiative announced Tuesday that passes would be available starting on  Armed Forces Day on Saturday. "Just 1% of Americans are fighting our wars, but we need 100% to support our troops and their families," Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar said in a news conference Monday.

WASHINGTON - The FBI is analyzing a sophisticated explosive device, similar to the underwear bomb used in an attempt to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit in 2009, that U.S. officials believe was built by Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen in an effort to target Western aircraft. U.S. officials said Monday that no one was captured by U.S. agencies as part of the operation. The officials emphasized that they found no sign of an active plot to use the new bomb design against U.S. aviation or U.S.-bound jetliners.

FAMILY "The Greatest Show on Surf" kicks off its 34th year with an exciting array of sand and sea related activities for the entire family at the San Clemente Ocean Festival. Highlights include Waterman & Waterwoman competitions, surf contests, fishing derbies, an ocean art show, children's activities and the ever-popular Rubber Duck Race for the event's finale. San Clemente Pier, 611 Avenida Victoria, San Clemente. 6:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sat., 6:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sun. Free. (949)

Do you ever get so bored during winter break that you actually find yourself wishing you were back in school? Do you succumb, year after year, to the winter blues? Here's a sampling of things to do and places to go that can help make the holiday break merrier and get you into the spirit of the season. Ice-Skating Ice-skating is a true winter activity. There are several ice-skating arenas in the area. Public sessions run about $8 with skate rentals, but prices vary.

They had names like Rebuild L.A., Community Coalition, the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance. Their goals were nearly identical: provide new jobs and services to an underserved community. Improve neighborhoods. Build better relationships. The aftermath of the 1992 riots was a galvanizing moment for community activism, spawning groups formed out of City Hall, churches and local nonprofits. Some have endured over the last two decades, shifting their priorities as the city changed.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to seek a speed limit for skateboarders and penalize them for failing to follow a range of traffic rules, from stopping at stop signs to yielding to pedestrians. On a 12 to 0 vote, the council instructed City Atty. Carmen Trutanich to draft an ordinance that would prohibit "unsafe" skateboard activity and limit riders to a speed of 25 mph. The proposal was initiated by Councilman Joe Buscaino, who described it as a response to the death of two skateboarders over the last year.