Letters

Christine was shown these documents, yet she still printed false information in her article. All the environmental groups we work with know who we are and don’t discriminate against minority religions. It seems that the L.A. Weekly does.

—Maria Ferrara
Vice President, Public Affairs,
Church of Scientology Celebrity Center
Los Angeles

DEAR EDITOR:

It seems to me that if, as a Scientologist, I do something to help in this society, then there is something wrong, not right, about it. According to this logic, I guess I’d better stop volunteering my time on a weekly basis to tutor children and adults in the inner city. Many of my fellow Scientologists volunteer their time in many capacities, but I guess that, according to your article, we had better stop. Fortunately, I pay little heed to individuals with your obvious prejudices and will continue to help all those that I can in any way I can. I am sorry if you find fault with this.

—Thomas Burpee
Los Angeles

DEAR EDITOR:

Is L.A. such a completely fascist utopia that you can’t even clean up a beach without disavowing your religion? Maybe you would prefer that people got tattoos on their foreheads announcing their affiliations. Somehow it appears that being a Scientologist is the ulterior motive if you declare that you like clean beaches. Take a moment and think of how completely ludicrous that sounds. Do all Catholics have an ulterior motive when they run homeless shelters?

—Bruce Pyle
Encino

. . . AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

DEAR EDITOR:

Re: Doug Harvey’s “Blacklisted by Metallica” [May 26–June 1]. I am/was a HUGE Metallica fan. I have been following them for 12 years or more. But I see no reason why Mr. Lars Ulrich gets to decide whether I stay on Napster. He has to realize that bootlegging is what made Metallica the phenomenon they are today. It’s neither my fault nor Napster’s fault that the song ended up out there for the whole world to listen to. Upon finding out that I had been banned from using Napster, I deleted the whole thing. James Hetfield has mountains behind his house that he owns — or so I’ve heard. If he does, why in the hell does he want more money? Anyway, it just pisses me off that they can do stuff like this when I helped put them where they are.

—Paul Breen
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Canada

DEAR EDITOR:

I’m sure there are some unemployed musicians out there who make a thousand times less than Doug Harvey does. Okay, guys, you know who to rip off first!

Stealing is always stealing. Someone worked hard to make that music (or car, or meal, or shirt). Just because it’s easy to steal something doesn’t mean it’s right, no matter how much the owner makes. Rich people aren’t necessarily bad. Neither are poor people. Just people who think like Harvey.

—Brent Carpenter
Hollywood

NO MORE TEACHERS’ DIRTY LOOKS

DEAR EDITOR:

Checked out your letters page two weeks ago. Nice to know where the Weakly stands on freedom of the press. Joe Stalin must be smiling in his grave. Those kids at Palisades High [“Speech — Wild and Free,” May 12–18] deserve support. Instead, you publish some sourpuss letters from some dickhead teachers who probably ran their classrooms like gulags. Keep up the good work.

—Peter Case Jones
Signal Hill

MIERDA

DEAR EDITOR:

Re: “The Latin Explosion Hangover” [Mexiled, May 26–June 1], about certain elements of our Hispanic community and their supposed recent discovery of Lalo Lopez’s column. Lopez is not only a piece of “mierda,” he’s also not funny. He is tacky; he has something to answer for regarding my people, as far as I’m concerned. Just to make myself clear, I’ll add that he totally sucks. But that’s what he probably likes to hear, as it no doubt must feed into his insatiable persecution complex.

—Juan Gomez
Los Angeles

THE END

DEAR EDITOR:

I was one of the lucky audience members to witness Re: LAX — Stories From an Airport by Playwrights 6 [New Theater Reviews, May 26–June 1]. May I say I was very shocked and disappointed that your reviewer, Amy Schaumburg, chose to give away the ending of one of the pieces in the two sentences she wrote about it. The joy of theater is to be surprised and taken down a path to conclusion. Perhaps she could simply write what her impressions are rather than spoil the ending for the audience. I was fortunate in that I saw the show prior to this review. Please encourage your critics to take the audience into consideration.

—Veronica Sims
Los Angeles