Struck Again

Doug Struck's article in The Sun July 26 was the second in as many days, and the third or fourth in recent memory, to open with a dramatic account of fearsome Israelis striking terror into the hearts of innocent Palestinians.

Aside from the fact that such a lead paragraph is clearly indicative of Mr. Struck's sympathies -- which have long been obvious anyway -- as a journalistic device, it is getting stale.

Perhaps Mr. Struck should try something more original, like objective reporting.

Ellen S. Friedman

Baltimore

Apologist

I have been involved in Maryland politics for some time now, and I think I know a bit about what wins and loses elections. I noted with interest Barry Rascovar's column of July 17, "GOP Thinks the Unthinkable: Victory in November."

Mr. Rascovar is absolutely correct that November presents our state with the best chance the Republican Party has had in decades to win the governor's race. Helen Delich Bentley is the party's savior -- right? Wrong!

As the column points out, there are a number of reasons to question Mrs. Bentley's judgment, character and ethical standards.

These reasons include her defense of Serbian aggression, her questionable role in Watergate fund-raising and her xenophobic Japan-bashing. But the main reason is her deep involvement in support of the government in Serbia.

People of decency and conscience will not vote for a candidate who has misused her office for the defense and promotion of a regime engaged in genocide.

They will not vote for a supporter of a regime whose philosophy and actions include the use of institutionalized rape of women and children as a legitimate form of warfare.

Helen Bentley has unquestionably been the leading apologist for the government of Slobodan Milosevic -- a government that, as a Sun editorial stated in June of 1992, is committing atrocities against Croatians and Muslim Slavs that outrage the world.

She has admitted using her official House office and staff to form and promote SerbNet, a Serbian American national information network, though she has few (if any) constituents of Serbian heritage.

In letters she signed on behalf of the group, she invited calls to taxpayer-paid staff members in her Washington, D.C., congressional office, and later admitted that using her congressional stationery for mailings to promote SerbNet was "probably not allowed" under House rules . . .

As a Republican, I am truly offended by Mr. Rascovar's description of Mrs. Bentley as the Republican Moses "leading the state GOP toward the Promised Land." Mrs. Bentley is no Moses, but keep in mind that Moses never did see the promised land.

Patrick Dornan

Columbia

Killing Nutria

Your Aug. 1 article on nutria was well-written and interesting.

One contributing factor to the overpopulation of furbearers -- not just nutria -- is the attitude expressed by Cathy Liss, the researcher with the Society for Animal Protective Legislation quoted in the article.

She indicated that she was glad that these animals would not be suffering in "painful leg traps." This is patent nonsense, as trappers usually use conibear (body grip) traps to humanely dispatch nutria.

When a proper foot-hold trap is used, it gives the trapper the option of either constructing a drowning set (again, a humane quick death), or it allows the trapper to release a non-target animal.

The actions of animal rights extremists, such as spray painting fur coats, have caused a decrease in the demand for fur.

This, in turn, has depressed fur prices to the point that many trappers will not trap. The result is a dangerous level of furbearer population, bringing with it diseases such as distemper, rabies and feline leukemia.

I wonder if the Society for Animal Protective Legislation is in favor of this method of population control?

To solve the problem, I would suggest that all bird watchers and photographers who utilize Blackwater and its surrounding area purchase a Maryland duck stamp.

This would increase revenue, without an increase in cost to sportsmen. We have been paying the freight through license and excise taxes for too long.

Michael Horst

Baltimore

Valuable Internet

The editorial cartoon you ran on July 26 concerning the information "superhighway" is detrimental to the Internet and other electronic information services.

The cartoon features a sign saying, "All 500 Lanes Are Open," and a barrage of garbage trucks filling all the lanes.

xTC In my 10 years of using the Internet and on-line services, I have experienced very little garbage. There is a wealth of valuable general and specialized information.

Why poison public opinion about such services?

I wonder if it is to undercut support of public institutions offering free and low-cost access so the field will be left to commercial profit-making. I hope I'm wrong.

Les Bradley

Baltimore

True Equality

What's all the fuss about health care reform?

It's very simple. Either every American is entitled to the same care every member of Congress and his/her family members enjoy -- at 100 percent cost to the employer, we the people, who were never consulted -- or whatever Congress passes and is signed into law applies to all Americans, members of Congress included.

We're all created equal, right?

Charles H. Devaud

Baltimore

Social Investing

Your editorial of August 2 complained about the push to divest tobacco company stocks from the pension funds of public sector employees, claiming that these pensions "are not . . . to be manipulated for political or social purposes . . . [and they] should not be subjected to greater restrictions than funds in the private sector."

You seem to be about 15 years behind the times. Large, privately controlled pension plans all over the country have had social and environmental screens for their investments in place for years -- and done very well financially.

There are many investment brokers who now specialize in socially responsible stocks and can make sure that replacements for divested stock have equal if not better returns to the investor.

Since our tax money can be put into stable and secure investments without supporting companies that pollute the Chesapeake Bay or actively endanger our health, the pension managers do have a responsibility to the public to review their portfolios with a set number of agreed-upon criteria in mind.

Starting with tobacco companies is an excellent choice. An industry that is directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths every year and that costs Maryland untold sums in health care bills clearly should not be supported with our taxes.

I wholeheartedly support Councilman Martin O'Malley's call for the city to divest its pension funds of tobacco stocks and further suggest that a review be made of the city's investments using specific criteria readily available from the socially responsible investment community. It is long overdue.

Daniel Jerrems

Baltimore

Mencken, Dogs and Children

In connection with a new biography of H. L. Mencken, the nation's most famous critic and tickler of risibilities during the first half of the century, a reviewer charged (May 1) that our most quotable of literary journalists "hated dogs and children."

"Hated" dogs and children? As a longtime Menckenophile, I must protest such a calumny; such Mencken-bashing is enough to induce both a wince and a groan in any good Menckenian.

Far from "hating" children, the literary lion of the 1920s and 1930s made it his regular practice to give engraved silver rattles on the arrival of each new baby within his circles.

He followed this gracious practice for over 30 years; in 1945 he was complaining about how hard it had become to find silver engravers at work in Baltimore.

It might be mentioned that Baltimore's unflappable maverick and record-breaking letter writer (well over 100,000 letters from liftoff to splashdown) made it clear in many communications that, rattle or no rattle, he was against having babies named after him.

The great denouncer wrote, "I always avoid . . . having babies named after me. It sets up connections and obligations that are apt to be nuisances."

So much for children; as for dogs, one surmises, of course, he didn't feel the same tenderness as toward the kiddies. But the strongest stricture I've seen that he made against domesticated canines was a mild one: "Living with a dog is messy, like living with an idealist."

When asked by a magazine writer in 1946 if he "hated everything," the man who was born with his motor racing and kept it that way for some 60-odd years replied he did not, but that he did indeed feel "strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency."

Wells Mears

Baltimore