Letters

As a senior Forest Service officer, I applaud Cyril T. Zaneski's efforts to bring Park Service law enforcement officers' concerns to the forefront ("The Thin Green Line," May).

At 650 officers nationwide, the Forest Service law enforcement group is half the size of the National Park Service's, yet it patrols three times the land mass, 191 million acres.

Our law enforcement officers face the same dangers, if not more, because of remote patrol areas, lack of immediate backup, and our role in fighting the drug war. In fact, firefights with drug smugglers and growers are becoming more frequent. Yet we get the same answers the Park Service law enforcement managers get: "Sorry, can't help you. No money."

We, too, have lost officers. I guess this is the price we pay for wearing a badge and taking an oath to protect our visitors and our resources.

Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, folks on Capitol Hill are going to have to accept the fact that resource law enforcement officers desperately need more help.

Gil Quintana
Deputy Special Agent-in-Charge
Pacific Southwest Region
Forest Service
California

I am a federal manager who has been the proposing official for a disciplinary action that was recently heard before the Merit Systems Protection Board. I hope I am not the only one who is deeply troubled by the fact that it takes the use of a 900-page reference manual to ensure that managers can win their appeals before the MSPB ("Winning the Appeals Game").

Ira Pollack
Health and Human Services
Department
San Francisco