Pizzagate

I am furious. The editorial in The Evening Sun, "Pizzagate," (March 20) indicated that Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden condoned the behavior of the Economic Development Director, Kenneth C. Nohe, in entertaining himself, fellow county conspirators and business leaders at a pair of dinners, plus a pizza-bash, to the tune of $2,100 in county funds in the last two months. Some of that money stems from my tax dollars and I object.

It is a good thing for Mr. Nohe that he doesn't have to be re-elected, but Mr. Hayden does. There will be many voters who will remember appointments like this one. Unless I am mistaken we, the people, cannot "finalize" Mr. Nohe, but as suggested in The Evening Sun and I quote, "perhaps it's time for someone else to look after the county's economic growth."

Maud Dulany Jones

Owings Mills

Price too great to pay for revenge

On March 25, Clarence Chance and Benjamin Powell were released from a California jail after serving more than 17 years for a murder they did not commit. The Los Angeles district attorney and the judge in the case agreed that the conviction was a travesty of justice. There was no physical evidence linking the men to the murder. They were convicted on the testimony of three young girls who later admitted police pressured them into lying.

This case occurred during the Supreme Court's moratorium on capital punishment. If the death penalty had been available when these two men were sentenced they would have surely received it, since the victim was a sheriff's deputy. Those who feel it is impossible to execute the innocent should think long and hard about this case. There have been 23 confirmed cases of innocent people being executed in this century, and since death penalty cases are rarely reopened after an execution the real number is unknown.

Many are now calling for increased use of capital punishment with a shortened appeals process. This will surely result in more wrongful executions. Isn't this too much of a price to pay for revenge?

Shawn Blair

Lutherville

Too dumb to serve?

The media put too much emphasis on the candidates' bedroom activities and too little on important things like intelligence. If we judge candidates solely by the image they project on TV we risk evaluating them on how well they deliver speeches written by other people.

We could end up putting some nitwit in the Oval Office with the IQ of a hedgehog but a nice smile and a pleasing voice. He might even have some acting experience -- remember the "great communicator"? -- but be so dense he has to rely wholly on the advice of others, including fortune tellers.

How about it? Could you give us a run down on the IQ of the various candidates? You might also throw in some data on their education and experience.

Esther L. Nash

Baltimore

Fault on both sides

William Hughes wrote in The Evening Sun March 17 concerning the Irish situation. He doesn't point out that the killings are on all sides; the Protestants, the Catholics and the British.

Each group bears a terrible responsibility for the awful things that have been done, in the name of who knows what: Religion, ZTC fear, simple hatred, intolerance, ignorance or perhaps orders, in the case of the British.

The injustices that have been done are unconscionable; they are for the most part an in-kind response to violence. Apparently, it is almost impossible to isolate and remove from circulation or at least neutralize the small Catholic and Protestant vigilante groups which pose the biggest threat to a reasonable, equitable and mutually agreeable resolution to the conflict.

Simply removing the British from the north certainly would not be a total solution. The armed vigilantes would still be there, glaring (and shooting) over the fences.

Until Protestant and Catholic children, backed by their mothers, stop standing on opposite sides of the street and throwing rocks and shouting insults across at one another, a good solution may not be achievable. What is taught in the home surely will show up on the street; it requires some hard, basic changes in thinking in both the north and the south of Ireland. Resolutions passed by U.S. senators aren't going to have much impact.

James V. McCoy

Phoenix

Women's worries

Oh my, Elise Chisholm's March 17 "Mom Guilt" column struck major chords with me.

Ms. Chisholm discusses guilts associated with Caesarean sections. She's right about the lowering of self-esteem.

But I cringed to read a sentence that talks about "the great pressure society now places upon women to undergo a vaginal delivery." Wow, I guess we have reached the point where the natural design of women is at odds with a desirable surgical alternative! Frightening.

If, too, the pressure to achieve natural childbirth exists, then it is certainly not a powerful pressure, as many hospitals report the incidence of medicated births, especially epidurals, up to 98 percent.

Another guilt is the bottle-feeding guilt. Mother's milk is a superior choice for babies. Formula companies have never been able to duplicate mother's best.

Sure, mothers have guilt and there's always more foisted upon us. But, for heaven's sake, let's be accepting of mothers' personal decisions without masking the truth that some decisions are better than others. Many are even the result of misstating risks and benefits. Misinformation can victimize mothers, too!

Ms. Chisholm may have her heart in the right place, but her examples are poor. Women are not victimized by biological design but rather by a culture that convinces them that the design is wrong.

Jane C. Szczepaniak

Linthicum

Absent governor

I was dismayed to hear Governor Schaefer say recently that he may not attend opening day of the new Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He was the driving force behind getting this magnificent new stadium for Baltimore and he played a key role in keeping the Orioles in Baltimore where they belong.

Governor Schaefer took an enormous amount of criticism for his decision to build this stadium and he certainly deserves to be there when the accolades begin to pour in from baseball fans all over the country. He should be there to share in the immense pride and joy of opening day with all Maryland. I would be ashamed to think the governor wouldn't be welcomed by everyone in attendance.

Mary Jo Cress

Ellicott City

No justice here

Where is the justice in our legal system? Following his conviction by a jury, boxer Mike Tyson was sentenced to six years in jail for raping a woman. Next, on the spur of the moment and the whim of a judge, Philip Berrigan was sentenced to five years for an offense our self-serving legal system calls "contempt of court."

Obviously the operators of the system consider the bruised ego of one of their own as important as the bruised body of someone who is not a member of their elitist clique.

Richard T. Seymour

Baltimore

'Pro New Taxes'

I am compelled to point out the sheer gall recently employed by Baltimore County Executive Roger Hayden.

A virtual unknown, he vaulted into the county executive's office primarily based upon his false pledge to curb all new and additional tax increases. However, now that the realities of governing have replaced political rhetoric, one notes that our "no new taxes" county executive is a strong proponent of increasing the county piggyback tax. When questioned about his change of heart, our "pro new taxes" county executive explaned that things have changed in the last 18 months.

Indeed, Mr. Hayden, things have changed. He is now the one charged with the responsibility for dealing with the very real fiscal shortfalls of Baltimore County government--the same burdens that Mr. Hayden's predecessors faced.

However, the fundamental difference between Mr. Hayden and his predecessors is that they honestly recognized that tax increases may be necessary to handle the many needs of county government. To gain elective office, Mr. Hayden chose to forswear new or additional taxes, and now he is forced by reality to eat his words.

One would naturally think that Mr. Hayden would be both embarrassed and humiliated by his lack of veracity and consistency. However, in the event that Mr. Hayden is not contrite, I suggest that all informed Baltimore County residents help him learn a very useful lesson at the polls: Failure to gain re-election is the cure for dishonest politicians.

Yale Kellamn

Owings Mills