Talbot Smoke
We all work very hard to keep our loved ones safe and healthy. As a long-time Talbot County doctor and resident, I know that most people here truly love and care for their families and friends.
If there was a health hazard present in our county, I am sure you would want it removed. I am sure you would want to protect your children.
We know many things about tobacco smoke. Not one of them is good news for the tobacco industry.
Tobacco smoke kills. This is certainly not news to you. Most people know that smoking causes heart disease, cancer and the like. Those who smoke know how hard it is to quit once they are addicted.
Second-hand smoke also kills. It causes cancer, contributes to heart disease and triggers severe illnesses in kids.
Just about every health organization has researched this issue and came up with the same answer. Only the tobacco industry is unclear about this reality.
Did you know that your children are exposed to second-hand smoke when you eat at a restaurant even if you sit in a
non-smoking section?
Tobacco smoke is a health hazard we can easily remove from public places. It is good policy. It is the right thing to do. Most businesses will save money as a result.
We in Talbot County can do something to protect ourselves, our friends and our kids.
On Nov. 8, Talbot voters will notice a question on your voting ballot called, "Question D." It will ask whether we should prohibit smoking in most public places and workplaces in the county.
If you vote yes, you will protect your family members where they work and eat. In no way does this law affect smoking in private places or bars.
Sadly, one out of seven Talbot County deaths in 1990 was due to smoking-related causes. This number does not include death and illness caused by second-hand smoke.
You have the chance to make a positive difference for our county. Vote yes on question D and prove once again that we care about each other.
'Eugene H. Guthrie, M.D.
St. Michaels
Changing Labels
At his Oct. 25 news conference, gubernatorial candidate Parris Glendening asserted that his opponent Ellen Sauerbrey comes from the "extreme right wing" of the Republican Party. Mr. Glendening labels Mrs. Sauerbrey thus because of her 24 percent tax cutting plan, which his supporters suggest could be a disaster for the fiscal health of the state. Oh?
Back in the 1950s, federal taxes on the wages of middle income Americans averaged 7 percent; added state and local taxes brought the total of 12 percent. Today, that total is over 35 percent.
President Eisenhower kept a tight lid on taxes and big government. But he was never labeled an "extreme right winger" for doing so.
His successor, President Kennedy, won a tax cut widely credited for the economic growth of the 1960s. Yet JFK was never called an "extreme right winger."
Labeling Mrs. Sauerbrey as "extreme" because of her proposed 6 percent cut over each of four years simply demonstrates how far some politicians have drifted from the sound moorings of a more prosperous era.
Manuel A. Correa Jr.
Upper Marlboro
Inconsistency
The Sun's choice for the U.S. Senate was easily predictable. But the reasoning was both shallow and parochial.
After devoting a large part of the editorial (Oct. 23) describing what an eminently qualified senator Bill Brock would make, followed by some very cogent reasons for denying re-election to Paul Sarbanes, The Sun nevertheless gives him the nod.
And its reasons? Simply that it was displeased with the Brock campaign and that Mr. Sarbanes is due to assume chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. You could hardly get more shallow than that.
What was not predictable was to find The Sun zinging in on the most salient reason to send Mr. Sarbanes into the retirement sunset -- that munificent Congressional Retirement Plan for which he no doubt voted.
That salient reason is Mr. Sarbane's 100 octane liberalism. With doctrinaire determination he has clung to his intellectually bankrupt notions as though it were the last life-boat on a raging sea -- all to the detriment of Maryland's corporate environment and its continual quest for new businesses.
With Democrat control of Congress for 40 years, The Sun should also recall that in the history of politics, among its most credible maxims is the one which states: "A party long in power grows self-serving, arrogant and finally corrupt." That, indeed, is the current status of the Democrat party.
The Sun's occasional editorial inconsistencies can verily be a thing of wonder.
artin W. Mayer
Arnold
No Glory for Substitute Teachers
As a substitute teacher in Baltimore City, I am slightly annoyed at Susan Reimer's Oct. 18 column glorifying the so-called "substitute system." Ms. Reimer's lack of understanding concerning real teaching and the act of substituting is both revealing and depressing.
It pathetically shows Ms. Reimer's middle-class, "suburban mom," approach to life in general: Let us not worry about the real crisis in education today, i.e. low pay, large class size, lack of books, etc. Instead, let us worry about who is in the classroom when teachers happen to be sick.
Let us all logically think this through.
Does anyone really care who takes over when a government bureaucrat, computer operator or garbage man calls in sick? Why is Ms. Reimer asking us to be so concerned about a person who "substitutes" for an absent teacher?
Is it because we truly value education in this society? Does teaching school rank up there with all other esteemed and time-honored professions? When a classroom is void of a real teacher for just one day, does the whole fabric of society unwind?
Or are we so naive as to believe Ms. Reimer when she makes such a stupid assumption as: "A change in a child's routine blows the lid right off the pot." What's going on here?
Does she think teachers get in front of 150 Homo sapiens every day, or 150 baby seals? Let us give credit where credit is due.
There is no such thing as a "substitute system," as Susan Reimer would have us believe. As a substitute teacher in the city, I am simply a warm body getting paid to implement a regular teacher's daily lesson plan. No glory here.
All credit should be given to regular classroom teachers who put up with low pay, oversized classes and shoddy materials while at the same time trying daily to impart some education to our young people.
The real villains here are the Susan Reimers of the world who cloud the important issues at hand by imparting bourgeois values to her readers.
This all comes at a time when clarity and logic are so desperately needed in sorting through the issues of our present educational crisis.
That is what is so truly depressing, as I sit typing this letter on such a beautiful fall day.
Depressing especially for me, a low-paid substitute teacher in Baltimore City, with no benefits.
Joseph Delia
Baltimore
Sundial
To hear selected editorial endorsements, call Sundial, The Baltimore Sun's telephone information service, at (410) 783-1800. For other local numbers, see the SunSource directory on page 2A.) Using a touch-tone phone, punch in the four digit code that follows each office.
Governor -- 6520
Comptroller -- 6521
Attorney General -- 6522
U.S. Senate -- 6523
Congress, 2nd District -- 6524
Congress, 6th District -- 6525
Anne Arundel Executive -- 6526
Baltimore Co. Executive -- 6527
Carroll Commissioners -- 6528
Howard Executive -- 6529
Harford Executive -- 6530