Comptroller, Comptrol Thyself
Editor: Gov. William Donald Schaefer prepares "doomsday" budget plans. Mayor Kurt Schmoke predicts a crisis if the state does not fund more money for Baltimore. Comptroller Jacqueline McLean says, "Let them eat cake."
R. A. Bacigalupa.
Baltimore.
Editor: Michael Olesker's Dec. 12 column indicates that although Jacqueline McLean is a black woman, she's out of the gate running like a stereotypical white male politician. Double talk and personal advantage from taxpayer dollars are still the name of the game, apparently.
When she says she owns no car, this is technically the truth, since a truck is registered in her name, and the BMW (and another truck) are registered in both her name and her husband's.
In saying that she owns no car, however, the implication is that she needs the city-provided one to do her job. If this is true, why not use one of the three vehicles she and her husband own, and charge mileage for city business?
The comptroller's inaugural ball similarly sends a business-as-usual message to hard-pressed city taxpayers.
In this day of library closings (with volunteer community help requested to keep them open) and numerous other fiscal problems in Baltimore City, the new comptroller is setting a dismal example for city taxpayers.
Kathleen E. Truelove.
Baltimore.
Editor: There is much discussion about the $19,000 Mercury Marque auto that the new Baltimore comptroller has accepted. Why not a Plymouth Sundance at $9,399? That's little more than half the price.
Emma D. MacAllister.
Bel Air.
People's Arms
Editor: The Sun's editorial of Dec. 9 contends that the Second Amendment to the Constitution and the rights therein protect "rifles and equipment in state armories" and not the common citizen or people's right to bear arms.
You state that the second amendment "is a period piece, because it was clearly written to deal with a situation that has ceased to exist."
I, as well as the Framers of the Constitution refute, categorically, such contentions.
The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to protect the people from the very institutions you have so wittingly given sanction to i.e. states, and the National Guards vested in those states.
The Framers worked from the presupposition that "government is inherently evil" and if left unchecked would certainly and definitely lead to tyranny and oppressive rule. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," means exactly what it says; otherwise, the Framers would have affirmed that "the right of the militia to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
The Framers of the Constitution use the word "people" five times in the Bill of Rights; it appears in the First, Second, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth amendments. The object of the rights assigned by these respective amendments, the people, cannot even be )) remotely misinterpreted. Furthermore the Tenth states,"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The United States, the states, the
militia and the people are different entities.
Lafayette Armstrong.
Baltimore.
Joyful
Editor: I'm jumping for joy! Mayor Kurt Schmoke may run for higher office! Maybe he can do for Maryland what he did to Baltimore.
Darlene Riley.
Baltimore.
Bad Law
Editor: I am writing in response to new legislation under which hospitals as well as nursing homes will be required to identify a patient's "right of refusal" for life-sustaining measures.
The number of questions resulting from this act are endless. For example, who decides the "will" of a patient who is brought to the facility in a comatose state? Or how about an elderly individual who is admitted to a nursing home, but unable to comprehend the information presented to them under the law.
What would be the fate of an unborn child in distress who is also in danger of jeopardizing the health of its mother?
This act will create too much confusion and make going to an emergency room of the nursing home even more traumatic then it already is.
Laura Nuckels.
Baltimore.
A Prediction
Editor: It was not a sudden surge of brotherly love. It was not a sudden respect for other human beings. It was not a sudden realization that the poisonous ingredients of hate and discrimination have no place in a decent, just and democratic society.
It was a sudden realization (in the recent gubernatorial race in Louisiana) that the election of David Duke would have been an economic disaster for the state of Louisiana. But it did not deter 680,000 Louisianans from supporting their hero.
David Duke has learned well from Republican Southern strategists. He is no stranger to the deliverance of the "right" message to average white workers who, although suffering a similar fate as blacks in the loss of income and employment, are well-disposed to accept that suffering with the knowledge that the "right" message will assure that black citizens will be "kept in their place."
The former Klu Klux Klan grand wizard who embraced Adolf Hitler is not going to go away any more than bigotry and discrimination are going to go away.
Leon Peace Ried.
Baltimore.
New Beginnings at Spring Grove
Editor: After reading your recent story about Spring Grove Hospital Center: "An address at the end of the line," many of us at the center wondered whether Ms. Wooton hadn't followed the wrong line and ended up at some other address. The hospital, as depicted in much of her article, was not recognizable to those of us who provide care and treatment here every day. Certainly Spring Grove has its problems. Along with most state agencies, we have suffered badly from budget cuts. Some of our buildings are outdated and we are currently short-staffed. However, while these problems exist, we feel compelled to provide a more balanced view.
Last year Spring Grove admitted and discharged approximately 1,300 patients. The majority of these patients responded rapidly to treatment and were discharged back into the community in about 30 days. We resent the implication that patients are being "warehoused" rather than treated.
On average there is one full time staff physician for every 17 patients at Spring Grove. In addition, intensive modern treatment services are provided by hundreds of nurses, nursing assistants, social workers, psychologists, rehabilitation specialists, teachers, dieticians, substance-abuse counselors and pastoral counselors. We have a very active volunteer services program and our citizens' auxiliary recently received statewide recognition.
The notion that substantial numbers of patients are confined simply because nobody else wants them is not consistent with our experience. In order to be admitted to Spring Grove, an individual must have a primary psychiatric illness and meet strict admissions criteria. Only a small minority of individuals admitted to Spring Grove are mentally retarded or elderly, have criminal histories, or come from jails. While a number of psychiatric patients also have substance-abuse problems, rarely is drug abuse the primary problem.
As with every other psychiatric hospital in the state, an individual may not be involuntarily confined without due process. In such cases, a judge, not the hospital, determines whether the legal criteria for involuntary commitment are met. These criteria consider whether the individual is dangerous, whether hospital-level treatment is medically necessary and whether the individual can be treated in a less restrictive setting. Judicial review is provided shortly after admission and at a minimum of every six months thereafter.
We believe over the past 10 years Spring Grove has been able to effectively serve a large number of citizens at very low per-capita costs. We are the safety net for those seriously mentally ill persons who need psychiatric hospitalization and have no other choices.
David S. Helsel, M.D.
Catonsville.
WI
The writer is clinical director at the Spring Grove Hospital Center.