Dear Diary

This is a new one. Joshua Steiner: "I lied to my diary." Wow.

Charles C. Gardner

Baltimore

The Constellation

Your Aug. 7 editorial, "Don't Give Up the Ship," is precisely the kind of positive support required to save the Constellation from the burial-at-sea fate for which she was destined when saved by the Baltimore area community in the early 1950s.

The Constellation arrived in the sheltered waters of the Patapsco several days before a disastrous hurricane reached the Atlantic coast.

It would have destroyed her just as surely as a lack of full, positive and aggressive support today from all elements of the private and public sector will send her to the briny deep.

The Sun is to be commended. So is Mayor Kurt Schmoke and the Maryland congressional delegation, which have taken prompt, positive and effective action in Baltimore and Washington to set the stage for a rebuilding and restoration of the Constellation, which your editorial correctly notes is "an important economic asset" for Baltimore and Maryland.

As the last sailing warship built by the U.S. Navy, she is an irreplaceable national treasure and tangible facet of America's maritime history.

Douglas Price

Rock Hall

Slag Origins

Your staff writer, Edward Lee, wrote an article July 16 concerning the use of slag on Baltimore County's roads during this past winter.

Please be advised that slag is not ash from the coke ovens at the Bethlehem Steel Company's plant in Sparrows Point.

First of all, the coke ovens at Sparrows Point have been shut down for the past two years.

Second, ash is not produced in coke ovens. Only coke, gases and chemical fluids are.

Perhaps Mr. Lee intended to write that slag is produced in Bethlehem's blast furnaces and open hearth furnaces.

Walter E. Carbone

Towson

No Time for Jokes

I read with some amusement your editorial "Campaign Censor?" of July 29. In the editorial you are critical of Democratic state party chair Vera Hall and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Parris Glendening for not being able to "laugh off political slings and arrows" aimed at him in radio commercials.

To be sure, political attacks and satire are, indeed, an integral part of campaigns. Similarly, candidates and party officials routinely castigate those who indulge in more strident forms of negative campaigning. Let's remember Ronald Reagan's "11th Commandment" about speaking ill against another Republican.

Mr. Glendening, American Joe Miedusiewski and other Democratic candidates will have to join forces after the primary to defeat the Republican candidate in the general election.

Why indulge in personal attacks in a primary? Verbal battering is better reserved for the general election. Intra-party bashing will only serve to defeat any Democratic candidate in November.

Clearly Mr. Miedusiewski has every right to use satire in his commercials. A better forum would be a televised debate when the state's Democratic voters could measure the candidates on the basis of experience, vision and intellect.

After such a debate, my guess is that the joke will be on Mr. Miedusiewski.

Stephanie Chin

Baltimore

Wrong Sale

I feel that Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. is "just plain wrong" to suggest that the city and state pension funds should sell their tobacco stock investments.

The tobacco companies are large conglomerates that produce everything from beer to baby foods.

Would the attorney general have the pension boards divest themselves of stock in companies that make these products?

And what of the tens of thousands of city and state employees whose pensions might be adversely affected?

Let the pension boards do their jobs without political influence.

Kurt S. Willem

Hydes

There Is No Such Thing as Black Racism

I read your editorial, "The Urban League Thinks Globally" (July 26), with keen interest.

Your editorial, in essence, represented an effusive and generous paean of praise for Hugh B. Price in terms of the direction he foresees for the National Urban League in his new role as the national president.

I, too, share, in part, your editorial analysis as to what the National Urban League, NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, People United for Humanity, the Congressional Black Caucus and other black organizations and churches, in concert with rational and fair-minded white Americans, must be about in order to abate and extirpate the nervous, debilitating and vexatious socio-economic and educational pathologies which encumber and deny a preponderant number of black Americans access to the socio-economic mainstream of our nation.

You state, as a central emphasis of your editorial: "The new head of the National Urban League said something over the weekend that very much needed to be said by a black leader: 'We must not let ourselves and particularly our children, fall in the paranoid trap of thinking that racism accounts for all that plagues us,' said Hugh Price, the league's new president."

In terms of truth and historical reality, there is no "paranoid trap" that blacks adhere to in regard to their clear, palpable and present reality of operational and institutional exclusion in the American body politic. Racism for 32 million black Americans is not a "paranoid trap," but a painful, stultifying and felt reality.

You, too, are guilty of rank hyperbole and inaccuracy, after delineating some of the societal factors (viz., poor education, breakdown in family structure, etc.) you include "black racism."

There is, as a matter of fact, logic and historical reality, no such animal as black racism.

Racism is defined as a belief system which holds that a group is superior to another group because of color (i.e. race).

However, equally important, the group/race must have the authority and power to execute its belief system.

Black Americans, singly and collectively, do not control the power and authority in our nation. The power and authority in the United States, according to the 1990 Census and updated census reports, remain overwhelmingly in the hands of white males.

The NAACP since its founding in 1909 and the National Urban League in 1910 have, historically, each in its own distinctive way, worked and counseled black citizens, in the face of pervasive racism, denial and hostility, to engage in self-reliance, self-help, educational and vocational excellence and family solidarity as a means of achieving manhood/womanhood in our indigenous land.

I am highly encouraged and heartened that Hugh B. Price, utilizing a global perspective, is staying the course for socio-racial parity and equality of opportunity for all.

Samuel L. Banks

Norfolk, Va.

Reviving Standards at Patterson High

After months of turmoil, dissatisfaction, poor grades and attendance at Patterson High School, with city schools superintendent Walter G. Amprey seriously favoring turning the school over to the Hyde School (a private boarding school in Maine), I am relieved to see that after considering serious protests from the student body and parents, he has reluctantly scrapped the plan.

The problems of Maine and that of Maryland, particularly in the inner city, differ very greatly. Environment, family influence, discipline and willingness to learn are factors that I doubt the Hyde School administrators would be able to tackle successfully.

Because of the vocal opposition of teachers' unions and parents, including community leaders, residents and particularly the students, Patterson High can improve.

I was most encouraged to read about a Patterson High senior's outstanding academic achievements. Setting a good example is not easy; buckling down by attending school and keeping "your nose to the grindstone" is not easy.

Placing Baltimore's troubled schools with its disruptive students the control of out-of-state schools will not solve the problem.

Since Dr. Amprey seems to favor passing the buck, Baltimore certainly would not need a superintendent who was rewarded by a renewal of his contract and a substantial salary increase.

Many of us are products of Baltimore's public schools, where classrooms were crowded.

It is amazing how our teachers were able to cope with personalities; encourage the timid; punish the very few unruly, often with just a stern glance . . .

In 1973, a refugee family (a grandmother, parents and four children) arrived in Baltimore from China.

The four children enrolled at Hampstead Hill. The principal, the school's program and the teaching staff were excellent. Each child (without any knowledge of English) was placed in classes with students close to his or her age.

From Hampstead Hill, each attended Patterson High. The oldest, a commercial course student, dreamed of going to college. Patterson High's principal, counselor and teachers helped this student select the subjects she needed to qualify for college. The next three years were not easy, for English was the biggest obstacle. Her teachers arranged for outstanding classmates, willing to contribute their time after school, to tutor her as much as they could.

She graduated from Patterson with flying colors and was accepted by the University of Maryland College Park. Each of the younger children graduated from Patterson, attended the University of Maryland in the Baltimore area, attaining degrees in their chosen fields -- engineering/computer science, health services and nursing.

The family is very grateful to Patterson's advisers, teachers and students who helped to mold the character of these four immigrant youngsters and encouraged them to strive always toward their potential goals . . .

Patterson administrators, faculty, students, parents and alumni have been given another opportunity to strive for their potential in every facet of their lives, including behavior, respect, courtesy and cooperation, for the attainment of scholastic achievements that will prepare them for leadership in the years to come.

illian Lee Kim

Towson

Building Health Carw Reform

In an effort to move health care reform through the legislative process, Congress may abandon the goal of universal coverage.

That would be a profound and tragic mistake.

Providing all Americans with guaranteed access to health care is the foundation upon which health care reform must be built.

All the tinkering in the world means nothing to the increasing number of the uninsured, particularly families with children.

Most people think the uninsured are the poor and the elderly. That just isn't the case.

Under the current system, the poor have access to Medicaid, the elderly have access to Medicare and those wealthy enough can buy their own insurance.

Ironically, it is the working class families (and their children) who don't have adequate insurance coverage and who stand to gain the most with reform, or lose the most without it.

In fact, about two-thirds of uninsured children have at least one parent who works full-time. Without universal coverage in Maryland, 75,640 children will be left out in the cold, according to a recent congressional survey.

Reforming the health care system and providing universal coverage is the only way to bring these children into the health care system, where they can get the kind of preventive care that will keep them healthy and strong.

In addition to that, there are serious economic ramifications for not providing universal coverage.

Right now, when a child who doesn't have insurance shows up in an emergency room for treatment of a problem (that most likely could have been prevented with a visit to the pediatrician), we all pay for that visit if the child isn't covered by insurance.

Unless we bring everyone into the system, this problem will continue to spread like ripples on the water until we're eventually consumed in a tidal wave of debt.

Understandably, Congress has been focused on some other important issues, like allowing people to keep their insurance when they change jobs, but what's the sense of debating issues like this if people have no insurance to take with them in the first place?

Congress is really putting the cart before the horse. They must deal with this issue first and make it the central part of reform, or they should go back to the drawing board.

The heart and soul of health care reform is about preventing illness and keeping people well so they can be healthy, productive members of society.

It's about bringing costs under control so business can prosper, and families can afford to care for their children.

For health care reform to be successful, it needs a sturdy, sound foundation.

I urge Congress not to abandon the notion of universal coverage, or I guarantee we will pay for this mistake for many years to come.

%J. Crossan O'Donovan, M.D.

Baltimore

The writer is the president of Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Elected Sheriffs are Accountable to All Citizens

In response to Michael K. Burns' "A Job for the Sheriff" (Opinion * Commentary, Aug. 3), we would like to offer the following:

In two Maryland counties, Harford and Kent, voters will be asked this fall to make a choice.

That choice will be whether to continue to have their county police department led by a sheriff elected by and directly accountable to the people or a chief appointed by and directly accountable to politicians.

Judging from the tone of Mr. Burns' commentary, he believes that a police system with an appointed chief is preferable to one with an elected sheriff. Although Mr. Burns is a thoughtful and well-informed journalist, we believe that on this issue he is profoundly wrong.

There are actually many very important differences between a county police led by a sheriff and a county police led by a chief of police. But by far the most important is that the sheriff is elected while the chief is a political appointee.

So why is it so important to have an elected sheriff rather than a politically appointed chief?

1. The right to put a sheriff in or out of office gives every citizen of voting age a guarantee that his or her opinion counts.

It's not just an empty promise by government bureaucrats that they will "listen" to citizens. It's a guarantee that each citizen's opinion will be heard.

2. An elected sheriff specifically guarantees each citizen an opportunity to evaluate police service.

A county police is just one more department in a big government operation. With a sheriff, the buck stops where it ought to.

Voters know who to blame if they're not getting professional police service. And they have the option to vote the sheriff out of office.

3. Because only citizens can fire a sheriff, every sheriff knows the way to stay in office is give every citizen courteous, efficient and professional service.

A county police chief has to satisfy only a tiny group of people -- a county executive, a county council, or a board of commissioners. A sheriff has to satisfy everyone who calls for help -- and do so consistently, all day, every day.

4. Because every sheriff knows that satisfying citizens is the only way to stay in office, a sheriff views citizen complaints differently from the way they are viewed by many police chiefs.

All too often, citizens find it difficult to file their complaints and have police take them seriously.

For a sheriff, complaints are opportunities. They are occasions on which a sheriff can show that he takes the concerns of every citizen seriously.

Every sheriff welcomes complaints because they provide opportunities to make a personal effort that, hopefully, the complainant (and the complainant's friends and family) will remember at election time.

5. A sheriff system guarantees that every four years there will be an election.

While some may criticize elections as disruptive and diverting, they are so valuable to the good health of a police agency that their merits far outweigh their disadvantages.

Elections are occasions that insure accountability. Every sheriff knows that any questionable conduct will be brought out and magnified at election time.

The healthy, democratic conflict of elections requires every sheriff to demonstrate accomplishments, answer public criticism and subject his office and its management to intense public scrutiny. "Sunlight," the great Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "is the greatest disinfectant." Elections bring sunlight into every aspect of a sheriff's system.

6. There is a "natural" tendency for police agencies to become insulated and isolated from the people and the communities they serve.

A major movement called "community policing" or "community-oriented policing" is now under way in most big city and county police agencies to try to counteract this tendency. Sheriffs, because their success depends directly upon being sensitive to the people they serve and meeting community needs, have always done "community policing."

7. Mr. Burns is correct that Harford is the only metropolitan county in the state of Maryland where the sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer.

He might have added that in Harford County crime has been declining steadily for years, and taxpayers pay less than half of what citizens in comparable Maryland counties pay for their police service.

Finally, while Harford is unique among metropolitan Maryland counties for having an elected sheriff as the head of its police, the sheriff system is, by far, the most preferred form of county police.

There are in the U.S. today 187 county-level police agencies with 100 or more full-time sworn police officers. Over 80 percent (155) are sheriffs' offices.

It is something citizens of Harford County like to tell their friends in Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties about -- especially at tax time.

William T. Bright

Robert E. Comes

R. Hunter Nelms Jr.

Annapolis

The writers are, respectively, sheriffs of Kent, Harford and Wicomico counties and are officers of the Maryland Sheriffs

Association.