Valley Perspective

In your short article of Oct. 26, Karima Haynes states that Samhain is the Celtic god of death. In fact, Samhain is Gaelic for "summer's end," and is no more the name of a Celtic god than "Fourth of July" is the name of an American god. KARL LEMBKE Montrose

Re "Ex-Sitcom Writer Turned Teacher Brings Act to Class," March 19. Kudos to Carri Karuhn for her superb piece. I speak from experience. Back in Brooklyn at Samuel J. Tilden High School, I was very fortunate to have as one of my teachers a very gifted comedian, Sam Levinson. Levinson, very talented and extremely funny, appeared regularly on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and made many appearances in the Catskill Mountains. But most important, he was an extremely effective, well-liked and excellent teacher.

"Alarcon Fund-raising Leads Katz Over Last Three Months," March 24. I want to strongly object to the use of my money to support Richard Katz' fund-raising. Katz receives $75,000 per year of our tax money given to him by Cruz Bustamente as a member of the California Medical Assistance Commission. The taxpayers of Los Angeles and the state of California cannot afford such unwarranted giveaways of our money to ex-legislators such as Katz and Paula Boland, who was given a new state post at $38,000 per year.