Out of Control

There are quite a few parents upset at the prospect of a curfew for the children of Baltimore. They claim it's too hot to stay in an unheated rowhouse, and the children are awake anyway.

But toward the end of an article June 17 in The Sun, they finally get to the point. They can't control their children.

The real crime is parents raising children they can't control, children they and the society they belong to are afraid of.

Perhaps "raising" is misused in this context. Maybe "growing" would be a better word. They are growing children they can't control.

This reaction illustrates that those who disregard common sense are the first to blame others when trouble catches up with them.

Just because it's too hot inside does not mean that children should go unsupervised outdoors. There are always alternatives.

Children under a mother's wing are seldom assaulted on their own stoop. What is needed in inner city neighborhoods is a sense of responsibility and accountability, traits too often bred out after generations of poverty.

So now, when society fights back and usurps authority the parents didn't know they had, the parents object -- while their children play nightly in the streets. Now that is a crime.

Alan Brown

Baltimore

Clinton's Failures

I believe Raymond Frankewich's letter of June 14, "Clinton Is Doing Pretty Well," misses the point as to the frustration surrounding Bill Clinton's presidency.

As a former Clinton supporter, I have become disheartened by his seemingly endless flip-flops on issues.

Candidate Clinton rightly lambasted George Bush's policy on Haitian refugees. President Clinton made no change in the policy.

Candidate Clinton promised a tough stance on China's well-documented, abominable human rights abuses and threatened its most favored nation trade status. President Clinton has twice renewed China's MFN status.

Candidate Clinton promised an end to the military's ban on homosexuals in the armed forces. President Clinton "compromised" and agreed to a reworded version of the same old policy.

Candidate Clinton pledged assistance to the beleaguered Muslims in Bosnia. President Clinton has allowed the genocide to continue unabated.

The list goes on. The problem is that President Clinton wants to appease everyone and in the process is pleasing no one.

Kevin C. Naff

Baltimore

Hats Off to Cal Thomas

What a breath of fresh air the truth of Cal Thomas' June 15 Opinion * Commentary article on "The Religious Right and the Pagan Left" brought.

How well stated it was that the pagan left "raises the specter of imposed morality, but can't defend its own imposed immorality, which has produced . . . the highest divorce rate in the world, the highest teen pregnancy rate, the most abortions, the highest percentage of children raised in single-parent homes, the highest percentage of violent deaths among the young and a male homicide rate that is five times greater than any developed country except Mexico."

How long before this country wakes up and returns to the God-sent blessings that are showered on the United States of America that became great among all nations because it was truly and morally "One Nation under God"?

May we once again live up to the motto on the currency of the land "In God We Trust"?

Hats off to Cal Thomas.

Shirley Watkins

Baltimore

Many thanks to Cal Thomas (column, June 15) for defending Christians in our decaying society.

Too often, we face reprisals from amoral free-thinkers for what they perceive as intolerance.

Any persons suggesting how Christians could be more acquiescing would have my complete attention, given that left-wing interest groups are quick to coerce us into silence before we have the opportunity to say anything "offensive."

The recent castigation of the Catholic Church for its unflinching stances regarding abortion, women in the clergy and homosexuality proves that an assault on Christian doctrine is most definitely in progress.

People in disagreement with thousands of years of truth aim to rewrite and reinterpret it. Sounds vaguely Orwellian to me.

I certainly do not allow the likes of Oliver North to speak for me. Extremists on either side of an ideological fence are repugnant.

However, I refuse to dress down my faith so as not to offend liberal sensibilities.

My trusty World Book dictionary tells me tolerance means "a willingness to be patient toward people whose opinions or ways differ from one's own."

Absolutely fascinating how the media become easily silent when Christians are under attack.

Jada Jean Fletcher

Baltimore

O. J. Simpson's News Coverage

As I watched the car chase between the police and O. J. Simpson and the news surrounding the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, I didn't see him as a fallen hero.

A hero is someone who has given his life for someone. A hero is someone who has saved another's life.

Mr. Simpson was just a football player.

As for his guilt or innocence, only a jury can decide.

G. Morris

Baltimore

I wrote this letter tonight (June 18) to get away from the lunacy of the O. J. Simpson press coverage. It's past 11 p.m. and the major TV and radio networks have been covering the chase for over an hour.

With between 200,000 and 500,000 dead from the civil war and genocide in Rwanda, our press can't find time to cover that tragedy.

Woman and children shot in cold blood. Infants chopped up by machetes. Yet we must listen to O. J. and his companion being pursued through the Southern California freeway system.

I think the former football star would have stopped if the press helicopters had gone away. Those reporters were just like the frustrated defensive backs of not so long ago chasing O. J. toward the goal line.

There will be no touchdown for either team in this case.

I kept on walking away from the radio hoping that when I came back the Oriole game might once again be heard.

Anything would be more soothing than live coverage of O. J.'s ordeal, perhaps even some news affecting most of us (e.g., the North Korean crisis, the bond market, etc.).

Instead, I hear a reporter questioning the morals of people sitting along the freeway gawking and cheering for O. J.'s strange entourage of police cars and press helicopters.

Who started the freak show in the first place? The Los Angeles press is already trying to cover its filthy tracks.

They in essence convicted an alleged felon before he went to trial. To finish with a flourish, they humiliate this troubled individual with a display of raw media might by air and land.

I am not making light of the calamity represented by a double murder of a young mother and a young man. Rather, I am stating my disgust with our press in the O. J. Simpson case.

Whatever happened, I'll read about it in the paper. I'm ashamed of having listened to more than 10 minutes of this live news coverage? What was I waiting for?

David M. Buttner

Baltimore