Constellation
Frank D. Roylance's article Sept. 25, "From the High Seas to Dire Straits," depicting the plight of the USF Constellation, was incisive and informative.
One of the questions raised was how the city is going to raise the $25 million needed for the restoration work before the U.S. Navy repossesses the ship. I have what might be a very worthy idea:
Make monetary solicitations of the public which will include not only the restoration of the ship but also the total, complete and forever demolition of that hideous piece of architecture adjacent to it.
What a sad day it would be if Baltimore were to lose, forever, the Constellation and to have as a reminder that little piece of primitiveness which calls itself, pretentiously, Constellation Center.
Jamie Blount
Baltimore
Mitterrand
The column by William Pfaff on Sept. 15 uncovers only the tip of the iceberg about the actions of President Francois Mitterrand during and after World War II in rendering assistance to French Nazis.
Not only did he join the anti-Semitic Petain government during the occupation, but afterward was responsible in his position as the president of the National Prisoner of War Movement in obtaining the release of Nazi collaborators during the war, most notably Eugene Schueller, the founder of L'Oreal and a long-time virulent anti-Semite.
While other members of the organization to which Mr. Schueller belonged were tried and executed as traitors, Mr. Mitterrand was able to arrange for Mr. Schueller's release and re-entry into French society.
For this act, Mr. Mitterand was amply rewarded by being made publisher of one of Mr. Schueller's magazines, Votre Beaute. As an interesting sidelight, Mr. Mitterand in his early biographies had the gall to list himself as a publisher.
The above information is disclosed in a letter to the New York Times of Sept. 19 by Clifford Forster.
However, even more outrageous has been Mr. Mitterand's recent actions in allowing L'Oreal, under the daughter of Ernest Schueller, Liliane Bettancourt (the richest individual in France with $4.2 billion in her personal fortune), to avoid the laws against companies cooperating and directly aiding the secondary and tertiary boycott of Israel by the Arab League.
In an obvious miscarriage of justice, L'Oreal has been allowed to escape essentially free of any punishment for a series of actions that hurt Israel economically and allowed L'Oreal to abide by the infamous Arab boycott.
President Mitterand has much to answer for in his treatment of Israel during the past 14 years as well as earlier, his involvement with known Nazis and Nazi collaborators, his release of terrorists from French detention to allow them to escape to haven in Iran and the failure under his regime to prosecute war criminals.
D8 History may not judge him lightly for these actions.
Nelson Marans
Silver Spring
Sun's Sour Braying
The Sun is behind the curve in getting its information and passing it to the public. The editorial in the Perspective section Sept. 18 said that you want information from the gubernatorial candidates concerning the major issues facing Maryland.
Did you guys sleep all summer?
Del. Ellen Sauerbrey held not one but two press conferences over the last three months giving specific details on how she would address balancing the budget and promoting economic development.
I guess The Sun chose to either ignore any candidate that was not leading in the polls or ignore the facts brought out by Delegate Sauerbrey. My guess is that both are correct.
You say you want a campaign of issues, not slogans. Ellen Sauerbrey did exactly that, and the voters responded overwhelmingly in their approval of her message.
If you truly mean what you say, you will present the issues without any slant to them and let the voters make up their own minds.
You gave your position away when you requested, "No bromides, please." Maryland is in desperate need of some tough medicine, which Delegate Sauerbrey prescribes.
You just want to avoid taking anything that might "disagree" with you.
Greg Muth
Cockeysville
Liberty Road
Three women were killed in a car collision on Liberty Road the other day.
I hope the investigation continues beyond what you have reported.
This terrible accident merits further investigation, which may bring to light things we can learn and possibly prevent re-occurrences.
I strongly recommend more police cars patrolling the area, from the city line to beyond Randallstown. Their presence should be an effective deterrent to excessive speeding, reckless driving, etc . . .
There are traffic signals at Buckingham and Croydon Roads. As a rule, traffic on Liberty Road is slowed because of these signals.
As you reported, the area of Liberty Road where this accident occurred is heavily traveled.
Much of this traffic is caused by the closed Buckingham bridge, which was badly damaged a long time ago and never rebuilt.
Hopefully it will now be restored, as a one-way or two-way bridge.
B. J. Small
Baltimore
Festival Highlights Delights
Our compliments to Michael Olesker for his Oct. 4 column about the 28th annual Fell's Point Fun Festival and his recognition of the value of this popular and unique event to the city of Baltimore and its people.
This annual rite of autumn brought 350,000 happy revelers from Maryland and the country into the Fell's Point neighborhood for two days of entertainment, shopping and fun.
Rain or shine, cool weather or hot, the Fell's Point Fun Festival continues to be the year's most talked about event in the waterfront area.
The Fun Festival is produced by the Preservation Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the 18th and 19th century architectural treasures of Fell's Point and Federal Hill.
Proceeds from this annual event are used to protect the architectural integrity of these two National Register historic districts, while promoting the opportunities to live, work, play and visit in two lively, growing and diverse communities.
Like Michael Olesker, we are surprised that The Sun did not cover this event.
The Fell's Point Fun Festival truly does demonstrate, as he said in his column, "why so many of us hold on, why so many resist the various pleasures to flee to the counties" and that "for all the city's troubles, the glad moments like these count for something, too."
Karen Webber
Baltimore
E9 The writer is the Fell's Point Fun Festival chairman.
Carter, Clinton and the Media
I commend you for the article on the front page headlined "Carter pursues peace as a free-lancer' (Sept. 21), and at the same time I would like to say that I find it upsetting.
I liked the article because, for a change, by implication it presented a sympathetic picture of the sort of problems President Clinton faces in trying to carry out his agenda in what he considers to be the best interests of our nation.
The media is usually so quick to find flaws in everything that he does, which encourages the American people to lose respect for him and to withdraw support for what he is trying to do.
As a nation we can't accomplish anything meaningful if we nit-pick about every leader's performance. We need to understand our leaders rather than to endlessly condemn them because they aren't perfect.
Which leads me to my second point: my concerns about the same article. At the same time that it is important for us to recognize the problems that former President Carter presents for President Clinton's leadership even while he is on a mission sanctioned by Mr. Clinton, it is important for us to recognize why Mr. Carter behaves as he does.
The fact of the matter is that when anyone assumes a role as a negotiator, he or she needs to assume a reasonably neutral stance regarding the needs, concerns and feelings of the conflicting parties, even when acting as an emissary of one of those parties.
Therefore, it was necessary for Mr. Carter to develop some genuine sympathy for Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras' perspective in order to win any concessions at all that might have a lasting effect. The idea that we could, or should, get our agenda accomplished by intimidation is short-sighted, as Mr. Carter clearly realized.
On the other hand, in presenting his position to the American people (as opposed to the way he may have talked during the private negotiations), Mr. Carter handled himself publicly at various points in a way that inappropriately up-staged and/or disparaged the actions of President Clinton, thereby serving to undermine confidence in Clinton leadership.
The bottom line is that I believe the media, in its reporting style, needs to work harder at helping the public understand the complexity of every situation in a manner that shows more
sympathy for all parties involved.
The media and we, the American people, are too quick to judge every thing as right or wrong, whereas in truth almost every issue and every person involved falls somewhere in between. We need your help in achieving and maintaining this perspective.
Louise Meister
Baltimore
I refer to your article on President Carter as a free-lancer and also your editorial Sept. 21, where now it appears that due to Mr. Carter, President Clinton's claim to fame in Haiti will be a mere blip in his ratings.
Has anyone realized that what Mr. Carter did was to forgive a group of known murderers and rapists for their past transgressions? Is this now the going price we pay for human rights, that we forgive all past sins?
President Clinton's crime bill suddenly looks pretty good to me. At least it has a few teeth in it among the pork that may work.
Or should we try Jimmy Carter's approach and "negotiate" with all our American criminals in and out of jail, for a deal to let them go if they promise not to bother us anymore?
Fred Mott
Towson