Curfew

Troops have seized thousands of weapons since a curfew was imposed nearly two weeks ago to quell ethnic violence in Uzbekistan, and the death toll rose with the discovery of two more bodies, Tass reported Friday. Tass, the official news agency, said troops had confiscated 157 firearms, knives and bayonets as well as 26 firebombs during road checks in the last 24 hours. A total of 7,718 weapons have now been confiscated. Meanwhile, the remains of two people were discovered and added to the list of at least 100 victims, Tass said.

The courts' assembly line processing of thousands of people arrested on charges of curfew violation and other lesser crimes in last week's riots has left prosecutors and defense attorneys frustrated, furious and replete with horror stories.

Commenting on the proposed curfew enforcement for minors in Newport Beach, Carol Sobel of the American Civil Liberties Union is quoted as saying, "Simply being on the street is not a reason for curfew--hanging out is a ritual of growing up." I wonder if Sobel would feel the same way if the "hanging out" was being done next to her bedroom window every summer night (and often all night) as it is for many permanent residents of the Balboa Peninsula? Minors are not simply on the street, they are noisily on the street.

If you are a highly touted college football player today, and you are contemplating leaving school early for the NFL, please think twice. Might Maurice Clarett have benefited by staying at Ohio State? Maybe not for his football abilities, but surely for his personal growth. Gentlemen, get that degree! WAYNE MURAMATSU Cerritos The real mistake Maurice Clarett made was not going to either Miami or USC. The way their programs are run he would have been a four-year starter with a free condo on the beach, full medicine cabinet and midnight curfew at the Playboy mansion.

While declaring that "discos are a viable source of entertainment for teen-agers," Mayor Tom Bradley reasoned that they should nevertheless fall under age and curfew restrictions. Bradley's comments came in a brief statement accompanying his signing of an ordinance prohibiting the three dance clubs in the city from admitting 13- and 14-year-olds without a consent form signed by their parents. The new law, which takes effect Aug. 31, also requires the clubs to close by 10 p.m.

Re "ROAR Airport Initiative," Letters to the Valley Edition, April 15. A writer inquired as to how the ROAR initiative is illegal, while John Wayne Airport [in Orange County] has a curfew and cap in place. The cap and curfew at John Wayne were grandfathered in before the Airport Noise and Capacity Act was implemented in 1990. An attempt to get the current voluntary curfew at Burbank made mandatory was rejected by the Federal Aviation Administration several years ago. The irony of the ROAR initiative is that it [opens]

With such an attitude about juvenile delinquency proffered to students of social ecology at UCI by Arnold Binder ("Restrictions on Youths Strain Families, Burden Government," Sept. 18) it is no wonder we have more and more social problems among teen-agers. I don't know where Binder is coming from but his views are scary. With the permissiveness that psychologists and sociologists have fostered in the past generation, even "good" parents are losing control of their young at an early age. The curfew has long been an aid to parents in maintaining control of teens' hours.

HESPERIA - Worried that her daughter may be on drugs, or worse, Angelica Aquirre did what any parent of a rebellious 13-year-old might do. She cracked down, set a curfew and thought about moving closer to her family in Mexico. Now a distraught Aquirre is left wondering whether she was too harsh. Her daughter on Wednesday was in a juvenile detention facility in Apple Valley, accused of hatching a murder plot with two of her middle school friends. The target: her mother. "I don't know what to say. I just can't believe it," Aquirre said, weeping as she sat at a kitchen table in the family's tiny mobile home, a framed picture of Jesus on the wall.

With no curfew when they got to Dallas, UCLA players have seen a lot of the area, including the Metroplex by night. And by early morning. Some players stayed out as late as 4 a.m. on Saturday night, after hearing from coaches that the Cotton Bowl is a reward for a 9-2 season. That mind-set ended, though, with a midnight curfew Monday, scaling down in half-hour increments to 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

In your editorial Aug. 9 on the Burbank Airport dispute ("Reconcile Visions for Airport"), you endorse noise mitigation measures such as "noise containment areas" and takeoff and landings over sections that are less densely populated. The area you are referring to must be Palmdale. I agree, the planes at Burbank could roll into the walled and covered noise-containment areas, rev up their engines and taxi onto large flatbed trailers and then (be) trucked out to Palmdale for takeoff.