Billboard Attack

* I would be proud to call myself a citizen of Azusa, which employs a city manager who has some values (“Official Admits Obscuring Risque Billboard,” March 30). What he did was illegal (defacing of property) and we cannot overlook that, but I’ll bet that whatever penalty Rick Cole has to pay, it was worth the effort to stand up for something.

Southern California is one of the most liberal places I’ve ever lived, with its bold advertising of strip clubs and adult bookstores on every corner. But at least I know that if I have to live here, I can choose to live in a city that protects itself from all of the garbage. Rick, you have my full support.

PATTY COVARRUBIAS

Phillips Ranch

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* I find the admission by Cole that he defaced an offensive billboard appalling. As city manager he could have contacted the company that purchased the billboard and requested its removal; he could have gone before the council and requested the passage of an ordinance removing such “offensive” billboards from major thoroughfares. Instead he broke the law.

This type of lawlessness should not be tolerated. It only encourages vigilantism. People may applaud his actions in the context of this billboard, but they would not feel the same way were he to destroy property they enjoy. A city official should uphold the letter of the law, not break it.

MICHAEL L. STEMPEL

West Hollywood

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* I agree with the spirit in which Cole defaced the Avengers’ billboard, though not with his means. Enough assaults the senses in Southern California without obscene corporate greasepaint glaring down upon us.

PAUL DAVID LIEHR

Los Angeles