Due to an editing error, a word was dropped from a letter to the editor from Ronald E. Alper that was published yesterday . It should have read: "Mr. Walker is right: The Stalinist Romanian regime Mr. Codrescu lived under did deaden that nation's spirit."
+ The Sun regrets the errors.
Codrescu's Point
I had to re-read Andrei Codrescu's Dec. 26 column to make sure Ron Walker (letter, Jan. 9) and I had read the same one.
Perhaps Mr. Walker is not familiar with Mr. Codrescu's dry wit and his tendency toward satire, irony and exaggeration to make a point.
Does Mr. Walker really believe that Mr. Codrescu was applauding the fact that the paranoia which developed under Stalinist Romania led to the family value of keeping one's mouth shut?
Does he also genuinely believe that were there more snitching, the drug problem would immediately be solved?
Any long-time reader of Mr. Codrescu's columns (and admirer of Amy Salganik's thoughtful accompanying drawings) recognizes that the man revels in the freedoms, excitement and occasional zaniness this country offers.
His point is that if everyone begins snitching on each other, much of that freedom and excitement may be extinguished. People become afraid to speak out for what they believe for fear that someone will report them.
Mr. Codrescu is merely saying that perhaps we as a nation should take a step back and consider the potential consequences of laws that promote turning in friends, neighbors and relatives.
No reasonable person would disagree with Mr. Walker's point that society ought to obey its laws.
Mr. Codrescu and others are simply saying that perhaps more thought ought to be given to the consequences of enacting certain laws.
While the "snitch" laws may satisfy some short-term problem, they may ultimately destroy some of the rights upon which this country was founded.
Mr. Walker is right: the Stalinist Romanian regime under which Mr. Codrescu did deaden that nation's spirit.
Does Mr. Walker also seek to deaden America's spirit by creating a system where everyone is constantly worried that the next guy might turn them in?
I hope not.
Ronald E. Alper
Baltimore
Election Judges
I think a thorough review of election practices in Maryland would be an excellent outcome of Ellen Sauerbrey's challenge.
In defense of election judges, however, I would like to describe my own experience as a Republican judge in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County over the past five years.
I know that it is extremely difficult to find competent people who are willing to serve as election judges.
In the months preceding the primary, the newspapers in Anne Arundel County ran pleas from the Elections Board asking people to step forward and serve as judges.
After the primary the pleas continued; for some judges who served in the primary, one experience was enough.
Being an election judge is not an easy job. We report for duty at 6 a.m. to begin setting up the polling place.
When the doors open an hour later, there are usually dozens of people in line, and many of them are inpatient because they don't want to be late for work.
Many voters have no idea where their registration cards are. Quite a few don't know where their precinct is. Some are so frail because of age or illness that they require special help from the judges.
Ideally, an election judge should possess an abundance of physical stamina to endure the long day.
The ideal judge also needs excellent eyesight, superb hearing, a clear handwriting, a devotion to detail and the patience of Job. It's a tall order.
I have been fortunate, I think, because the judges with whom I've served have been, without exception, disciplined and careful.
They've also been much older than I, retirees in their sixties and seventies. Younger people are not available; they are at work.
Uniform training of judges and uniform procedures probably would help.
But the public should be aware that elections boards do not have a vast army of workers from whom to choose.
In many cases they do the best they can with the resources they have.
Sally K. Craig
Annapolis
Importance of Auto Lights
May I call your attention to the important issue that is related to the use of headlights during the day?
On foggy or rainy days it is very important to have the headlights on.
This will prevent the accidental "bumping," when a car is bent on leaving a parking spot or turning right at the intersections or passing another car.
Nowadays, when a car is light colored, such as beige or gray, it's important that the lights are on. Otherwise the driver of another car may drive onto the unlighted car, causing an accident.
In its January/February issue, Maryland Motorist stresses the importance of having the car lights on during adverse weather conditions, especially foggy or darkened skies.
Lydia S. Waters
Baltimore
Relative Changes
Michael Dresser's Jan. 1 examination of the potential end of telecommunications monopolies misses an important point, namely that the end may come to business customers only.
Residential consumers, who represent to an overwhelming degree the primary revenue source of Bell Atlantic Maryland, will experience few benefits of the telecommunications revolution for the foreseeable future.
The "new competitive terrain" has probably been developed more by business customers. They sought a variety of services which local telephone companies were often unable to provide them -- more often for technological reasons than regulatory ones.
When the telephone companies complain of competition, it occurs in quite specialized types of service, not what most people do when they phone family or friends.
The foundation of this competitive frenzy is the desire of telephone companies to enter the cable television business and vice versa.
Additionally, the New York networks, Fox and the motion picture studios are all seeking to expand their share of consumers' dollars spent on information and entertainment.
In the meantime, substantial numbers of people (approximately 40 percent of all U.S. households) will continue to have what their grandparents had; broadcast radio and television and dial-tone telephone service, regulated for the most part by the Communications Act of 1934.
John J. McGoldrick
Baltimore
Old Ships in the Inner Harbor
Daniel Berger's column (Jan. 21) about the Constellation and the Baltimore Maritime Museum displays an appreciation of the value of historic ships to the Inner Harbor, and a misunderstanding of the situations of each of those institutions.
The Constellation, as Mr. Berger points out, is an important icon in the harbor, and the benefits her presence has conferred over the years go far beyond her tangible admissions.
At this most pivotal point in her history, an operating subsidy is immaterial; the ship needs major restoration at a substantial price.
Her best chances lie with the reconstituted Constellation Foundation board in single-minded pursuit of her survival. Putting that effort under the umbrella of another institution would make it a secondary activity of that organization.
Similarly, lumping its appeal for funds with appeals for another institution would only obscure the imminence of its need and dilute its effort.
Besides, the Baltimore Maritime Museum does not need to be saved.
Two and a half years ago, the City of Baltimore began the process of privatizing the Baltimore Maritime Museum after 20 years of management by the Department of Recreation and Parks.
Privatization is a partnership between the city and the board of directors of an institution that shifts operating authority to the private board.
It provides a transitional period of funding -- that is, working capital -- to allow the new enterprise to build the systems, programs, marketing and fund-raising efforts that will foster financial independence.
Baltimore City began privatizing city-owned cultural institutions a decade ago, not only to save money but to maximize the potential of those assets to serve the community.
Institutions like Baltimore City Life Museums and the Baltimore Zoo attest to the success of giving management authority of cultural assets to private boards devoted to a single mission and with specific expertise.
Operating under a parent organization -- public or private, or worse yet a consortium -- is the very weakening of drive and focus that privatization sought to remedy.
Mr. Berger may be right that romance and ambience alone argue for supporting historic ships in the Inner Harbor; however, in an age of constrained public budgets and intense competition among good causes, no institution can afford to be merely decorative.
Institutions need to provide services to justify their existence to funders -- public and private -- and to rigorously pursue financial strength.
In addition, the Baltimore Maritime Museum's ships have long and courageous histories, with much to tell Baltimore and the nation about citizenship, community, service, shared effort and individual accomplishment, and technology.
To maintain them for aesthetics alone would be to squander a national treasure. We don't want Mr. Berger to appreciate us from afar, we want to welcome him aboard.
The Maritime Museum's request for short-term funding is based on a pragmatic plan of programming, marketing and fund-raising to increase revenue as it increases services to the community.
Our goal is not simply to replace public funding over a period of several years but to give the City of Baltimore a real return on its investment, economically as well as educationally. The Maritime Museum is not hoping for survival, it is working toward growth.
Jennifer Hevell
Baltimore
OC The writer is acting director of the Baltimore Maritime Museum.