Latin Concerns
Editor: Three cheers to Michael Olesker and Roger Simon. Finally I am hearing someone state the facts as they are.
We as Hispanics will be the largest minority in this nation by the year 2000, yet little is being done about the lack of communication, cultural difference, unemployment, housing, etc. The issue in Washington and in other major cities is not people with knives but years of disregard of the community, which has been pushed aside and is with little or no political clout.
What do you say to your wife and children after repeatedly coming home with empty hands, no food, no cloths, no job? Even worse, you don't understand the language to communicate.
We are not all illegals. You don't have to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service every time a Latino asks for work. The public must be educated.
Here in Baltimore we are working hard to prevent any kind of reaction to the events in Washington. We have invited the police, the mayor and others to our churches and community events. They have come. It is a beginning, but we have a long way to go.
We need help in education. We need employment, opportunities.
The nation has a recession, we have a depression. If we don't work together and this situation continues, it will inflame unrest again. Not only in Washington but in other cities as well.
Let us work together in peace, for the better of our nation. That's the way it should be, that's the way God intended it to be.
Rev. Angel Nunez.
Baltimore.
What Lies Ahead?
Editor: If the article by Eileen Canzian (May 8) on the plight of the single mother living on welfare and in a temporary shelter was designed to arouse sympathy toward her, it failed to hit the mark. Although it evoked sympathy for her unfortunate children, it left too many unanswered questions, including that of how we can best aid the children of this nation born into situations such as this.
The article stated that this mother relies on public assistance totaling $565 a month. It is impossible for a family of five to live on $565 a month. What other public assistance programs does Ms. Morris depend on to support herself and her children? I am sure she receives food stamps, housing assistance and benefits from other programs for which she qualifies. Would this money be better spent on foster care for these four children?
Why does this 28-year-old, able-bodied high school graduate not find work to supplement or replace public assistance? Are there no members of her family or in the families of the father of these children who can assist in child care for the younger children while the older ones are in school so that this mother could work? Could Ms. Morris care for other children of working mothers to earn an income of her own? Couldn't the fathers be forced to pay child support?
The larger question is what lies ahead for these four children whose eyes looked out at us? Are they being taught responsibility for one's own actions? Are they being encouraged to achieve in school so that one day they will become contributing members of this society? Are their futures filled with promise?
Or in years to come will her sons emulate their fathers and will her daughters follow in the footsteps of their mother, recklessly bringing children into the world with no thought of their futures? And so it remains that the only solution in their minds and in the minds of the liberal establishment is more and more public money?
Jill Williams.
Hunt Valley.
Judging Quayle
Editor: You do all thinking readers a grave disservice by your constant de-evaluations of Vice President Quayle.
Your recent editorial was mean-spirited and completely unnecessary, not to mention devoid of substance. You offered no empirical evidence, only a very weak postulation to support your claim that Mr. Quayle is unqualified to carry out the duties of president.
What factors make the vice president unqualified? I challenge you to produce just one.
The Sun and its fellow whining liberals need to get off the vice president's back. As a U.S. senator and as the nation's No. 2 man, he has done extremely well despite what you and other uninformed souls would have citizens believe.
President Bush works with Mr. Quayle every day and has full faith and confidence in his abilities and talents. I'll take the president's observations over the media's any day.
eldon Freeman.
Baltimore.
410's Costs
Editor: The C&P; Telephone Co. of Maryland has announced that on Nov. 1, customers in the eastern part of the state will have a new area code (410), whereas those in the western part will retain their current area code (301).
In anticipation of the change, the telephone company has sent a notice to all business customers instructing them to order new stationery, business cards and other business forms imprinted with the new area code. In addition, business subscribers in the affected area may have to have a number of items of equipment, such as PBX or Centrex systems, computer modems, burglar alarms and other security systems modified or re-programmed.
Since a greater proportion of the population and business establishments is located in the eastern part of the state, a conclusion one could draw is that the telephone company deliberately divided the state this way so as to maximize expense and inconvenience.
Alphonse Chapanis.
Baltimore.
A 'Rawly' Subjective Report
Editor: Significant news of the day as reported in the May 5 Sun was a new report, "Baltimore and Beyond." I was struck by the similarity of the methodology used to produce this report and the SRI report about two years ago.
Both reports detailed the shortcomings of Baltimore, suggested a lack of city leadership and seem to suggest that the nexus of control of the future of Baltimore should be placed outside the beltway, or the city will be doomed to perish at the hands of inept black leadership.
The writers described the report as "prickly and rawly prescriptive." With this I have no problem. However, with continuous and subjective reports that fail to give voice to the very citizens for whom it purports to prescribe remedies, I do have a problem.
After reading the first page of the article, I was immediately curious about the source and methods of the study. Examining the issue and a few phone calls later, I was convinced that the purpose of the report was not to get an objective, outsider evaluation, but an attempt once again to validate the premises and hypotheses of some powerful members of the "Baltimore region."
The badge of anonymity bestowed on the interviewees seems to have given the evaluators a license to say what they were expected to say.
The writers attempt to validate the recommendations by attaching the names of prominent community leaders with whom the community has no quarrel. This anonymous participation ill served them and the community. I am offended.
It is also instructive to look closely at the cast of interviewees and see who was in as well as who was left out of the process. The interviewees are generally well known, as are their views on the Baltimore City region, the city and education. Matching those views with the "challenges" mentioned in the article, it takes no genius to figure out whose views are expressed.
Further, it does not take a clairvoyant to see that the crystal ball used by the study group to assess Baltimore's future was selectively clouded with issues reminiscent of past legislative sessions, regional business ventures and personal agendas.
If we really want to determine whether Baltimore is going the way of Newark and Detroit on measures other than choosing a black mayor, what is needed is trend-analysis research, not descriptive research. Ask any person in Baltimore and you will get the same descriptive data elucidated in the report.
What is needed is objective solutions derived from objective data. A recitation of Baltimore's problems and the gathering of more descriptive data should be replaced with strategies that provide Baltimore City with alternative resources and remedies to solve problems inherent in an American urban environment.
Vera P. Hall.
Baltimore.
The writer represents the Fifth District in the Baltimore City Council.