Dear Editor,

I am the longest serving member of the Altadena Town Council and its present vice chair. I am writing to request a correction to your Dec.19 story regarding your school superintendent going to the Pasadena Unified School District. I am writing as a private person attempting to set the record correct.

Ken Balder is the chairman of the Altadena Town Council, he is not the mayor of Altadena. Altadena has no mayor. Altadena is a unincorporated township and the Altadena Town Council is a representative and advisory body that acts as a ombudsman between the citizens of Altadena and all governmental agencies.

Mr. Balder was not authorized to undertake this journey by, nor speak for the Altadena Town Council as a whole or for the citizens of Altadena. Mr. Balder never brought this matter before the Altadena Town Council. Mr. Balder on this trip was not authorized or capable of speaking for either the ALtadena Town Council or the citizens of Altadena. he was acting SOLELY as a individual. His comments and opinions in this matter are his alone and do not in any way represent those of the Altadena Town Council or the Altadena public.

Steven S. Lamb, Altadena

Editor's note: The visiting members of the committee were represented to our reporter as the three mayors. We corrected the error on page A2 last week.

Merry Christmas and Thanks for the Seasonal Holiday Greeting for Readers

Dear Editor,

After defeating the USSR, have local leaders decided to accept its socialist policy? Fee simple absolute title was achieved in Western Civilization after centuries of bloody conflict. People were slaughtered; kings were beheaded. From the Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights' Fifth Amendment, unconditional ownership of real property became one of our society's proudest achievements, available for anyone with the resolve to work to attain it.

Now will local leaders thrash this ideal giving Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin the last chortle from their graves?

Please report the finding of the two studies in the report from Reason Foundation: (1) "Housing Supply and Affordability: Do Affordable housing mandates work?" (April, 2004), and (2) "Do affordable Housing Mandates Work? Evidence from Los Angeles County and Orange County," (June, 2004).

These accurately reveal what our local leaders, backed up by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo V. City of New London, can do to ruin the achievements of our ancestors.

Our leaders appear inclined to join the Marxist Revolution. Question is: Will we let them? If we do, what will they nationalize next? Your home? Your equity? Have our leaders gone mad?

Joseph P. Thompson, Gilroy

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