Don’t Impose Park Curfew

I live three doors from the Sepulveda wash just to the north of Woodley Park. I spend a lot of time in Woodley Park. I do archery at the archery range in Woodley Park. My brother walks his dog in Woodley Park near the wildlife reserve.

We don’t see the problems that the park ranger and the park commission and the Los Angeles Police Department are citing (“Parks Commission Seeks Dusk to Dawn Curfew,” Times Valley Edition, Nov. 24).

Certainly we do see some problems. For instance, twice this year there were huge gatherings which should not have been allowed, and some people were shot. I personally called the park ranger headquarters at Griffith Park two hours before the shooting started at one event and told them that there was a serious problem. There were way too many people and they were parking all over the grass.

But the problem with Woodley Park isn’t so serious that it requires such a drastic remedy as closing it at night. In our society, we have always prided ourselves on our freedom. Woodley Park is publicly owned land. If you cut off access at night to the innocent because the guilty cannot be controlled, in essence you are saying, “We give up. Freedom and civilization don’t matter anymore.”

JOHN DETWILER

Van Nuys