Drug clinics
Police Commissioner Thomas Frazier seems to think that by making drug sweeps in infested neighborhoods, such as the one made in Walbrook recently, residents will believe "the message that it is not hopeless."
Unfortunately, under the present drug policy the situation will continue to become more hopeless and more dangerous. More of our young people will be lost to random violence which accompanies drug dealing.
We must face the harsh reality that as long as illegal drugs generate huge sums of money, no amount of incarcerations will make the problem any better. The good news is that there is another way.
We must take the profits out of drugs. This can be done by treating the drug crisis as a public health issue.
What I mean is that drug clinics can be set up where addicts can go to get their drugs at nominal cost and be able to administer them in a safe, clean environment.
Drugs would still be illegal to sell on the street, and that problem would be eliminated because there would no longer be huge amounts of money to be made.
Mayor Kurt Schmoke was a strong proponent of a similar idea a number of years ago but then backed off because of political pressure. Now is the time to revive the whole debate before we see thousands more victims of the so-called war on drugs.
Robert Jenusaitis
Baltimore
Police state
The recent tactics of the Republican Party in challenging the voting results for Maryland's governor were blatantly racist and elitist.
Even before election day there were attempts to intimidate Baltimore City voters under the guise of safeguarding the polls.
The prospect of challenging voters as they prepared to cast their votes in a democratic society smacked of police-state tactics.
After the election, votes were challenged only in the Glendening strongholds of Montgomery County and, again, Baltimore City.
It seems only certain people are deemed fit to vote in the Republican view.
In Ellen Sauerbrey's haste to become governor, she and fellow Republicans forgot the fundamentals of our society: that you don't have to be rich, famous, powerful, male or white in order to vote. You only have to meet standard qualifications and then register before making your choices in the voting booth.
Fortunately there were just enough informed citizens who came out to vote for Parris Glendening, thereby thwarting a disaster that would have had ramifications for all Marylanders.
Frank J. McGloin
Baltimore
Jeffersonian
Rep. Newt Gingrich, on the matter of a school prayer amendment, self-righteously quoted Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence -- "they are endowed by their Creator."
But Jefferson, some years later in a letter to Peter Carr, his virtual adopted son, also said this: "Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must approve of the homage of reason than of blindfold fear."
During his presidential campaign of 1800, Jefferson wrote to Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration, these famous words, insisting, curiously enough, on the separation of church and state. "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
Was this last statement meant for an amendment that would permit what its supporters call voluntary prayer in a public school when a student there now may do this constitutionally?
R. D. Reese
Baltimore
First-time voter
As a young, urban Afro-American male who overcame second thoughts and decided to vote for the first time, I have these thoughts about the recent election:
Congratulations to Parris Glendening for his victory, despite the long delay due to the absentee-ballot count and the grumblings of a sore loser.
Let his victory be the road to ensuring a future of harmony in Maryland.
Congratulations to Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke for throwing his political weight behind the greater good in a shifting, topsy-turvy political climate where floundering economics, extremists, and all manner of racial, ethnic, and regional tensions run amok.
Finally, I give major credit to an unlikely source for waking me up and encouraging me to raise my voice:
To Ross Pierpont, thanks for nothing!
Shawn Tavon Soms
Princess Anne
Get over it
What is wrong with Ellen Sauerbrey?
The election is over and she lost. Now if she could just get on with her life and stop catering to her own self-serving interests, maybe she could do something to help make this world a better place.
The time, energy and financial resources she is spending should be put to some better use. Get on with your life, Ellen Sauerbrey, and stop wasting our time.
Nancy Carrey-Beaver
Baltimore
Agricultural runoff woes not ignored
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) would like to respond to a recent letter to The Evening Sun regarding the contamination of public drinking water from agricultural runoff (Oct. 25) .
This letter, by Jack Norris, cites a major herbicide study by the "Environmental Working Group and Physicians for Social Responsibility" wherein it is stated that 14 million Americans in 14 states drink water contaminated with five cancer-causing herbicides.
Maryland was included in the states listed, and we would like to provide you with information about MDE's efforts concerning this issue.
First and foremost is the fact that all of Maryland's public drinking water systems are safe and in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.
Maryland's latest figures for 1985 through 1991 show a 42 percent reduction in the use of these five cancer-causing substances. Additionally, stream and river monitoring show an overall decline in baseline levels.
These trends are attributed to label restrictions that lower application rates and to various Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) programs to control herbicide use.
Mr. Norris lists numerous other pollutants carried by agricultural runoff, including salts, suspended sediment, organics and nutrients.
Maryland has had programs in place to address these sources of pollution for quite some time. MDE will continue to take direct action on point source pollutant discharges from manure storage facilities on farms.
Recent agricultural sediment control regulations allow MDE, local soil conservation districts and farmers to cooperatively develop soil and water quality management plans to control serious agricultural runoff problems.
Since the Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed in 1984, funds have been offered to farmers through the Maryland Agricultural Cost Share Program (MACS) to implement practices that control agricultural nonpoint source pollution.
Since 1985, this and other agricultural control programs have reduced nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to the Chesapeake Bay by 18 percent and 24 percent respectively.
It is anticipated that by the year 2000, through MDE's Tributary Strategy process, additional nitrogen and phosphorus reductions of up to 40 percent will be realized.
Mr. Norris stated that prior to EPA Administrator Carol Browner's arrival, EPA virtually ignored the agricultural runoff problem.
However, while we would agree that Congress' failure to reauthorize both the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act was a disappointment, we would disagree that the agricultural runoff problem has been ignored in Maryland . . .
David A.C. Carroll
Baltimore
The writer is the secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Healing statue
I take exception to the Nov. 17 letter written by Andy Basoco. The newly dedicated Maryland Monument in Gettysburg does not imply anything racial.
It merely represents a healing between two soldiers who fought on opposite sides during the War Between the States. The monument stands as a visual moment of American history, and a lasting reminder of a grave situation that some of our state's forebears endured.
We see two men who had survived a tragic battle and overcame their irreconcilable differences, perhaps in a small moment in time.
Let this sculptured representation stand in perpetuity to remind us of our ability to overcome.
Marvin Brilliant
Baltimore