Cheap Shots

In the April 22 letters to the editor, the graphic published along with Jerry Smith's response to Lynda Case Lambert's Opinion * Commentary piece was in truly poor taste and is typical of The Sun's continuing practice of taking cheap shots at the motorcycling community in general.

While there are obvious risks involved with riding a motorcycle, just as there are risks in driving a car or flying in an airplane, motorcyclists do not encounter life or death situations during every second spent riding their motorcycles.

But your tasteless graphic was obviously intended to psychologically detract from a truthful and valid response from Mr. Smith, who is highly respected in the mid-Atlantic and other motorcycling communities.

To many people, a skull represents death or the threat of death. By picturing the motorcyclist facing the skull, with the motorcycle in the background, The Sun clearly intended to promote the myth that all motorcyclists have some sort of death wish and challenge death in racking up mileage on the odometer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The vast majority of motorcyclists are extremely responsible and safe riders, and many in this majority have completed one or more rider safety courses and practice safe riding skills on the street. Four-wheeled drivers should be so responsible.

Furthermore, it is a proven fact that the majority of daylight motorcycle accidents are multiple vehicle, with an automobile driver usually at fault.

Unfortunately, it is also true that the majority of night motorcycle accidents are single vehicle situations, usually with alcohol involved.

So agreed, some motorcyclists (like all people who drink and drive) are irresponsible. But there are also irresponsible people at all levels of government, behind the wheel and in any number of other scenarios. But The Sun always manages to get in its cheap shots at the motorcyclists.

Contrary to the myths perpetuated by The Sun, the vast majority of motorcyclists are not hell-bent, crazy, death-wishing detractors from civilized society.

have families. We're active in our communities. We pay taxes. We go to church.

In other words, we are mostly like everybody else except we occasionally like to enjoy some two-wheeled fun. Surely we don't deserve these on-going tasteless and cheap shots from The Sun.

Steven Hegg

Baltimore

Rude Comments

Stephen Wigler's rude comments concerning the magnificent violin playing of Silvia Marcovici were uncalled for.

Yes, she did bring the house down, as Mr. Wigler remarked (April 15), the innuendo being Baltimore music lovers didn't know any better.

Her performance of the Sibelius concerto, played here many times by great artists, was as brilliant and exquisite, if not more so, than those who preceded her. It was a stunning performance.

Mr. Wigler's use of the word "flirt," by which he apparently meant the flinging back of her long beautiful hair, was not accurate. In fact, her whole stance and seriousness of performance was as remarkable as her playing.

Rudeness is not part of the critic's craft. Analysis and discernment are. Baltimore's music lovers are deserving of the latter.

Rose B. Isaacs

Baltimore

On Considine on Cobain

Like many folks, J. D. Considine tragically figures Kurt Cobain was "joking" when he repeatedly said he hated himself and wanted to die (April 9).

When considering Cobain's motives for committing suicide, Considine assumes that "life couldn't have been better for him and his band [Nirvana]," because they "had a chart-topping album and the attention of a generation."

Such assumptions couldn't be more off-base, since Cobain obviously wasn't joking, and there's no evidence to suggest that selling millions of records made his life any "better."

If more people had listened to what Cobain was saying, maybe he could have gotten the help he needed and quenched the pain that led him to take his life.

John Lewis

Anne Watts

Baltimore

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. . . Mr. Considine labeled Cobain "the voice" of my generation Kurt Cobain is no more the voice of my generation than Jim Morrison was of my mother's. His band, Nirvana, has sold a lot of albums -- I even own some.

However, after only three albums it is still entirely too soon to assess his or the band's impact on music, life or my generation.

In this pop culture, fast food world of one-hit wonders, fads come and go. Remember, disco was once popular, too.

It is much easier to turn Cobain's death into another rock legend than to look at the truth. The truth of the matter is that Cobain's life was filled with problems. Many of them were of his own making.

His message to people should have been staying to deal with them. Instead his final statement was "It's time to bail," punctuated with drugs and a bullet to the brain. The real voices of my generation, the real leaders, are still here slugging it out daily.

Unfortunately, in 20 years the children of my generation will read tripe like that article and believe Cobain was our voice . . .

Bryan P. Sears

Baltimore

Treating Addiction and Mental Illness

Recently, The Sun ran articles and an editorial (Feb. 6 and March 21) concerning the Social Security Administration's payment of benefits to persons suffering with substance abuse.

The Baltimore Partnership for Mental Health & Mental Illness Advocacy & Education believes the articles do not portray the multi-faceted complexity of this problem.

Jeff Singer, in his April 3 letter, addressed much that was omitted. We support his letter and wish to extend the discussion.

In recent years, persons suffering with alcohol and drug addiction, especially those with few financial resources, have been increasingly shut out of many treatment alternatives. The public needs to understand how mental health and mental illness issues interact with addictions.

Many experts agree that a significant segment of the addicted population also suffers from untreated, or inadequately treated, mental illnesses and mental disorders. Adequate treatment of those conditions facilitates recovery and the person becoming a contributing member of society.

The treatment of persons suffering with severe long-term mental illnesses is often complicated by concurrent abuse of alcohol and drugs.

Persons suffering from mental illness often use drugs and alcohol as a form of self-medication. Thus, the interface of addictions and mental illness is a vital perspective for this discussion.

For individuals suffering with both conditions, the difficulties are compounded. It is now extremely difficult to obtain detoxification for individuals longer than a few days, and concurrent residential/psychiatric treatment is virtually nonexistent -- especially for the poor.

Instead of approaching the problem by maligning the provision of benefits by the Social Security Administration, policy makers should be reassessing the entire health care policy toward addictions, especially for persons suffering with both addictions and mental illness.

Adequately funded treatment and prevention efforts are desperately needed. The current approach and the lack of treatment resources leave individuals desperate, often homeless, and with few alternatives.

Cutting off or bemoaning the provision of benefits does nothing to address the problem of addictions and mental illness, or their treatment.

What we need is collaborative work to find more effective approaches and establish effective treatment programs that simultaneously address both needs.

The Baltimore Partnership stands ready to join such an effort -- please join us.

Diane Cabot

Jan Desper Maybin

Susan Tager

Peg Sullivan

Baltimore

The writers are executive directors of, respectively, the Mental Health Association of Metropolitan Baltimore, the Black Mental Health Alliance, the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Metropolitan Baltimore and On Our Own.