On the Bench To the Editors:

Your fine article "Judging the Judges" [Aug. 20] was long overdue. Obviously, many lawyer-judges are unable to police themselves, and people outside the bar are needed to end the abuses. It seems the lawyers and lawyer-judges want to regulate and control everything and everyone except themselves. Earl Wheby Jr. Atlanta

I used to resent doctors, now it's jjudges. At least with doctors it doesn't take so long to get a second opinion.

Frederick Clevel and Milford, Mich.

Rights, civil or otherwise, are not and should never be isolated absolutes. No court can ever protect anyone against the will of the majority. When sufficiently provoked, the majority will attack both the court and the minority and redress any such imbalance. I suspect this realization once prompted a Chief Justice to observe that the court did "read the election returns."

David N. Alloway Upper Montclair, N.J.

Honestly, I am more afraid of judges and lawyers than I am of the U.S.S.R.

Jim Peterson Ringsted, Iowa

To relieve case loads in the courts, legislators should be required to eliminate an old law before legislating a new one.

Frank Zaic Northridge, Calif.

Young's Exit In letting Andrew Young go [Aug. 27], the White House lost the best Ambassador to the United Nations in recent memory. For a brief period, he made the U.N. newsworthy, gained some valuable good will in the Third World and rediscovered a weapon that modern diplomacy has forgotten: speaking the truth. Even the diplomats will be sorry to see him go.

Nicholas H. Morgan Charlottesville, Va.

The talks with the P.L.O. that brought about Young's departure will become the official policy of the U.S.

June Clark Chicago

Of course he should have been fired -- he isn't the President, is he?

Don E. Barman Harrisonburg, Va.

Who would be a better candidate for the U.N. Ambassador than Sammy Davis Jr.? He's black, Jewish and personable.

John Stevens La Mia, Calif.

A Chat with Arafat Yasser Arafat in his interview with TIME[Aug. 20] rightly implies that the conflict in the Middle East is basically between Jewish lobby dollars and Arab oil wealth. Can any American politician risk alienating either? As long as the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians are ignored, the Middle East will remain a powder keg.

Catherine Mullally Seattle I just returned from a kibbutz near Israel's border with Lebanon. During my stay we received a gift from the P.L.O. -- a bomb. Fortunately no one was hurt, but that was not their intent. To grant the P.L.O. self-determination is a step toward the elimination of Israel.

Jory Vernon Downsview, Ont.

Hooray for Yasser Arafat for his super remark: "The real terror is the occupation itself."

Abul Barkat Boston No Meeting In your story "Talking to the P.L.O." [Aug. 27] I am mentioned as having had a meeting with Ambassador Robert Strauss. I have never seen, much less spoken to, Mr. Strauss. As a Palestinian American I deplore the continuing policy of denying full Palestinian self-determination, and as a scholar and intellectual I am a party to the struggle for self-determination, not an intermediary.

Edward W. Said Beirut

British Races You, as you show in your story on Britain's multiracial society [;Aug. 27], like Hitler, have not understood the solid British character. All of us, browns, pinks, blacks, whites and any other color that is relevant to you, will give proof of our love and loyalty to our country when the time comes.

A million articles like yours cannot spoil even an iota Britain's standing in the world in this respect. As a proud British Sikh, I say hands off our country.

Rajinder Singh Meinerzhagen, West Germany

I hope Britain will not follow that peculiar Americanism known as affirmative action, in order to help immigrants. Such programs exacerbate a feeling of resentment among the majority population and can only exacerbate the immigrants' inferiority complex. Sean O' Sullivan East Peckham, England

Remembering the Holocaust Stefan Kanfer's account of the presidential commission's journey to the sites of the Holocaust [Aug. 20] is a gut-wrenching reminder of the sinister events of only a generation ago. Rereading it once a year will truly keep alive the last command in the Warsaw ghetto: Pamietaj! Remember!

Sol Z. Abraham Denver This memorial should not be built in remembrance of only one religious or ethnic group. Millions of Poles, Russians, French, Dutch, Italians, Greeks, Germans and other Europeans were murdered by the Nazis. It should be dedicated to all these souls.

Alfred Giovannini West Haven, Conn.

Gift from Mexico Mexico is finally giving the U.S. the oil [Aug. 20] our economy so desperately craves. However, Mexico didn't say that we would have to scrape it off our beautiful beaches!

Paul W. Capor Monroeville, Pa.

With the "Repo" Men Your American Scene [Aug. 20] on the way the men who repossess cars work was extremely informative -- probably too informative. How many people actually know how to break into a car? If I lived in Houston I wouldn't appreciate your letting everyone know when the best times are to "repo" or rip off cars. Stan W. Unruh Santa Ana, Calif.

Soul Talk Regarding your article on Black English [Aug. 20]: As a radioman in the Coast Guard, I must be articulate in use of standard English language, but when I go home to Bed-Stuy I tend to use "been gone" and "maf work." My point being, don't knock it, man, till ya tried it.

Lee C. Payton Jr. Brooklyn

In your phonetic rendering of woof ticket, the pronunciation is correct, but rather than being a "wolf ticket (meaning a challenge to fight), it is a "woof ticket (meaning a bluff). One often hears the term woofin' to mean that someone is in a sense barking, not yet committed to bite. Thus an inferior athletic team "sells woof tickets," trying to psych out its opponents. The superior team, confident of its ability, "buys all woof tickets."

Edward Boyer Los Angeles

While the classroom is the place to expose the student to conventional language, the teacher should not rob the black student of his right to articulate in a manner in which he is most able to express himself. We will lose a culture if we do this --"and I ain't just sellin' wolf tickets."

Edie Scher Scotch Plains, N.J.

Tale of Two Cities

What a dreadful shame that those 19 French visitors to the U.S. [Aug. 20] could not communicate in their native language, or share their cultural experiences with more than a handful of Americans, even in New Orleans.

Anthony J. Vetrano Skaneateles, N. Y.

We were in Paris, we did not speak French. We were lost. No one cared, not even the fat, unattractive French women. All we wanted was to get out of a dirty city.

Hal and Cindy Cotter Somerset, Mass.

Parochial Pride

If local chauvinism is "as American as pumpkin pie," as Frank Trippett tells us [Aug. 20], it is something of far more significance than he would have us believe. It is never enough to be good; one must be better than, and the result of this attitude is that finally we are all losers.

Alfie Kohn Providence

Pride in local distinctiveness is not a perverse deviation from national homogenization but a healthy counterweight to it. The "disparagement of rival areas" is good-natured, not bitter. We are one nation but within that unity there is a colorful diversity.

E. McClung Fleming Wilmington, Del.

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