Take a crack at gang graffiti,...

Take a crack at gang graffiti, not lampposts

Once again, our lampposts become the center of attention. There

must be a lull in all the other problems that beset the city.

I am reminded of a story from several years back about a youth

group trying to re-enact a peace march from the 1960s. The problem

was that instead of the peace symbol, all their signs showed the

symbol of a German car manufacturer. Are the symbols similar? Yes.

Could they be confused by someone unfamiliar with them? Possibly.

Does it mean that the Germans somehow were behind the peace movement

of the ‘60s? I don’t think so.

We don’t know why these lampposts have that certain design. But it

has been suggested that it was a positive sign by Native Americans.

It is time we see things for what they are, and what they were meant

to be, not as what the uninformed think they see.

If the City Council has the time and money to worry about negative

symbols gracing our streets, perhaps they might want to take a crack

at the gang graffiti that marks every stop sign in town, and which

indicates a very real problem. We are harboring in this town a

generation of young people who hate each other only because of their

different ancestry. Our lampposts have had nothing to do with this.

JIM DOBSON

Glendale

Here’s a history lesson before we wipe out signs

Before our mayor spends taxpayer money to obliterate a decoration

on the base of lampposts, he might consider that the symbols are not

Nazi symbols. The definition of swastika explains this.

Swastika is an ancient symbol often used as an ornament or a

religious sign. The swastika is in the form of a cross with the ends

of the arms bent at right angles in a given direction, usually

clockwise. The swastika has been found on Byzantine buildings,

Buddhist inscriptions, Celtic monuments and Greek coins.

Swastikas were widely used symbols among the Indians of North

America and South America. The clockwise swastika was adopted in 1920

as the symbol of the National Socialist Party of Germany. As such, it

came to be one of the most hated symbols in the history of humanity.

It came to stand for all the evil associated with the Nazis as they

gained control of Europe before and during World War II. After the

Allies defeated Germany in 1945, they banned the display of the

emblem.

ROBERT M. BARNES

La Crescenta

It’s an evil plot that goes far, far beyond just the lampposts

Re: Mayor Manoukian’s campaign to rid Glendale of offensive

symbols.

Kudos to you, mayor! It’s about time you and the City Council left

behind your bickering about trivial matters and tackled a real

problem -- the insidious symbols of evil that pervade our community.

Not really swastikas? Just try looking at those lampposts with a

mirror! Hah! It’s conspiracy, I tell you!

On a walk with my family tonight, I noticed several brick walls in

the neighborhood that are obviously “Iron Crosses” from the same

period. It’s everywhere! What about the “circle”? You know as well as

I it’s some enemy of the state promoting the evil of the Japanese

“Rising Sun” of World War II! Hey, wait a minute! Doesn’t the Ku Klux

Klan use the symbol of the “Cross” in its meetings? There are

buildings all over town with those on the roofs! Who do they think

they’re fooling? Not you, Mr. Manoukian.

Now that you mention it, I think we should prepare for a Program

of Total Evil Icon Cleansing. Why waste a mere $5.78 million on

those silly lampposts? Let’s get serious. Only a low-paid amateur of

a bureaucrat would consider spending so little. How about $100

million? That’d be money well spent. I’m sure you’d agree we can’t

spend enough of the public’s money to make the streets of Glendale

safe from these insidious icons of evil!

By the way, mayor, thanks for finally convincing me that Glendale

has the silliest bunch of City Council members this side of Oz.

Yikes! Ever notice how the blades of grass on your front lawn make

shapes like ... swastikas? ... and sickles and hammers? ... and

pentagrams! Act before it’s too late! Outlaw lawns! And what about

Mercedes-Benz emblems? Aren’t those some kind of devil worship? What

about all the “666” and “13” addresses all over town! ... blah, blah,

blah.

Next election, I’m going to pay more attention to who we’re

electing to this City’s Council. It would be “crazy” not to.

ROGER MILLS

Glendale

It’s what symbols have come to mean now that matters

Swastikas, marked by history, are no longer positive symbols. A

cold shower runs down my back each time I see this symbols. I would

love to see them removed. It might well be that swastikas were used

by Native Americans; it might well be they are 3,000 years old.

However, these swastikas were not put on the lampposts by Native

Americans.

Maybe I am sensitive about this subject because I am Austrian.

Austria would never tolerate this symbol on inner-city lampposts. The

Austrian (German) meaning for swastikas is anything but positive. And

once they were used in a negative context, these beautiful symbols

turned into something evil.

I feel the same way as Mr. Manoukian about these ugly symbols. I

must compliment his sensitivity. I wish I would have had time to

support his opinion at the City Council meeting Tuesday.

These lamppost symbols remind me also of the Holocaust, and of

inhumanity to man. We live in the year 2002. We learn and live

history. I am talking about people who survived Hitler. People who

jumped of trains to Auschwitz. Others who lost their family members

who were brutally killed in the gas chambers. This is what I think

when I see those lampposts. I personally know survivors, spoke to

survivors.

Tell me again you favor a swastika. Go to the Museum of Tolerance

in Beverly Hills, and then tell me these are beautiful symbols.

Do not stick your head in the sand. Hitler would have killed the

people who loved swastikas. He mocked humanity. He marked this

symbol, and that is what we know.

I do not necessarily agree with spending money on lamppost

improvement. Maybe it is possible to cover up this symbol. We could

have animals on the lampposts instead, as I realize Glendale has a

great number of animal lovers.

CLAUDIA FINKS

Glendale