I am concerned about the decision to allow a microwave transmission tower to be constructed above the area where our children gather in large numbers for their sporting events. Within 300 to 400 yards of this tower, there are two public schools, a swimming complex, a Boys & Girls Club and the public library.

Who made this bad decision? I also realize it may have been prompted by a large monetary payment to the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District without much thought to the consequences.

None of the people in my neighborhood was consulted prior to this decision. I have documentation about the possible consequences of the microwave tower's installation. This appears to have been a stealth project without input from the taxpayers who have supported this park over the years.

Microwaves have been found to trigger leukemia in younger children. If some child playing in our park should come down with leukemia, the district could become the target of a lawsuit. I feel that we are being the guinea pigs, since I do not see similar installations being considered in the Mission Oaks and Camarillo Heights parks. The district has neglected to inform the public.

At 1570 Thompson Blvd. in Ventura, the site of a former family-planning clinic, developers now plan to erect a condominium complex with 29 units. This in itself is not a problem. Ventura needs denser housing, and midtown Ventura certainly needs development that is not a cheap motel or auto lot.

However, the style and scale of this project are completely out of character with the historic bungalow neighborhood known as the Buenaventura Tract, where I and many concerned neighbors live. This neighborhood of mostly one-story homes dating from the 1920s and 1930s jars with the three stories and aggressively modern style of this condo project - a style that was determined with little or no input from the public.

We who live in this precious part of midtown feel that, at the very least, such projects must represent the dominant style of the area, and indeed, the California Environmental Quality Act mandates this. Yet, closed-door deals appear to have been made, allowing this project to receive approval. This is completely unacceptable.

The people of midtown must be consulted, and all projects for this area must show the same restraint and respect for historical architecture as those approved for downtown Ventura. I urge the City Council to take this matter extremely seriously to avoid legal action and a long battle over what should be a time of celebration in midtown Ventura.

I have had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since age 3. I am now 78. Without continuing physical hydrotherapy, my joints will eventually freeze up. I have been attending the Easter Seals pool since the early 1980s.

I have researched other pools in the area, and their pools are heated to about 81 to 82 degrees, so they say. This is much too cool for proper hydrotherapy.

Has anyone suggested the pool temperature be reduced to the high 80s? Has anyone analyzed why we need so many therapists? Other pool visitors have commented to me about pool employees standing around visiting with apparently nothing to do.

Former City Manager Donna Landeros, after ongoing negotiations with the City Council on renewal of her contract, resigned as city manager and agreed to leave in January 2004. It is obvious there were unresolved difficulties with the agreed-upon terms of the termination because City Council ended up paying her a full year's salary of $172,000 as severance, despite her earlier agreement to leave in January. Council also gave her one year of health-insurance coverage, plus up to one-year's retirement fund, plus computer equipment, but stopped its generosity at her request to keep the provided city-owned automobile. Many citizens were outraged at this out-and-out giveaway and could not help but question the council's decision and its obvious waste of taxpayers' money.

A similar scenario was just played out in the matter of renewing City Attorney Bob Boehm's employment contract. Articles in The Star reported a series of closed session meetings, held since May, evaluating Boehm's performance, including some recent questionable incidents of mishandling homeless violations and a cover-up by the assistant city attorney, in Boehm's own office, of fixing a relative's traffic citation.

Boehm was scheduled to retire in June 2008, but agreed to retire June 30, 2007, in exchange for a 13.5 percent pay raise, from $159,121 to $181,104, which would entitle him to a higher pension. I wonder what other perks he was able to wheedle to enrich his early retirement. The council approved the extension on a 5-2 vote, with Councilmen Neal Andrews and Jim Monahan voting no.

The similarity of the Landeros and Boehm cases is highly suspect and very disturbing. How many more of these giveaways must we endure before we challenge our leadership at City Hall to hire people of high character and ability to serve our citizens?

I have been a medical professional for 22 years. In reading Dr. Stephen Miles book: "Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror," I was shocked to learn physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists were complicit in the Guantanamo processing and torture of detainees. In our land of freedom and democracy, I am even more shocked by the silence of the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, although they had full knowledge beforehand of a variety of torture techniques being used by the medical community. This clearly betrays our Hippocratic Oath: "Above all else, do no harm."

Physicians falsified autopsies and death certificates, while psychiatrists and psychologists led the way in suggesting torture techniques that included "temperature extremes, stress positions, gender coercion, water boarding, attention slapping, and sleep deprivation."

Psychologists were solely responsible for suggesting that a detainee's entire family be threatened with rape and murder if the detainee refused to cooperate. These "techniques" were clear violations of Article III of the Geneva Conventions.

As long ago as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, governments have understood that information obtained by torture is unreliable and, hence, meaningless. Further, it gives our enemies the excuse to use similar barbaric methods. As one cannot fight fire with fire, a nation cannot afford to fight terror with terror.

The AMA and the APA should thoroughly investigate this matter, and any medical professional found to be complicit in torture should lose his or her license to practice medicine. I can no longer remain silent. When medical personnel participate in victimization, it reflects upon all of us, as well as our nation.

I urge the medical community to speak out against this blasphemy, and insist our Hippocratic Oath be honored rather than used for hypocrisy and torture.

While Bush and some Republican congressional leaders have expressed their determination to privatize Social Security, many incumbent Republican representatives apparently are not talking about their intentions before the elections.

Interested in finding out where Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, stands on the issue, I went to his Web site. I clicked on a link called "CRS Issue Brief for Congress: Social Security Reform." Up pops a page that says, "The document you requested is no longer being distributed."

The person who answered said, "I don't know." I asked how I could find out. The person told me she'd have Gallegly get back to me. I asked how long that would take. She said a couple of days. That was a month and a half ago - not word one from Gallegly.

I called the campaign headquarters of Jill Martinez, the Democratic candidate for the 24th Congressional District, asking about her position on Social Security. I got a call back within a half hour from a staff person who gave me a straight answer: Martinez opposes the privatization of Social Security and will work to strengthen the program.

I hope everyone reading this letter who cares about Social Security will contact Gallegly's office and ask if he supports the privatization of Social Security. If enough constituents ask, he might feel more motivated to level with the people.

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