Speed Limit
Gov. Parris Glendening and other state officials are wasting their time in debating the subject of maximum speed limits. Unless they are prepared to regularly enforce a limit, they might just as well take down all such signs.
In regularly traveling Interstate 83 from Towson to Maryland Line, I find it quite apparent that motorists drive at whatever speed they please.
As an experiment, for the last several weeks I set my cruise control on 65 mph and noted that I rarely passed another car but was constantly passed by other cars.
Some, I would estimate, had to be going 75 to 80 mph or more.
My suggestion is to set the limit at 60 mph, allow 2 mph for individual speedometer error, regularly police the roads on a random schedule and really sock it to lawbreakers.
In this day and age of frivolous non-conformers, the revenue collected will assuredly pay for the cost of additional patrol officers and may even swell the state coffers.
Truckers, too, must be just as susceptible to fines, regardless of all their sad stories.
I would set 60 mph as the limit based on my belief that many of the drivers today have no idea of their individual control capabilities or their car response at higher speeds.
R. Moore
Towson
Older Americans
I am writing regarding the editorial headlined "Bad Deal on Block Grants" (Jan. 30).
I agree that it's a bad deal, but I want to point out that your editorial and other articles that have appeared on the Opinion * Commentary page fail to recognize that the Personal Responsibility Act also affects meal programs for seniors -- those provided in senior centers and through Meals on Wheels.
Before the Older Americans Act with its commitment for nutrition was enacted, many of America's elders suffered from malnutrition and related health problems.
Stories of seniors eating pet food were not uncommon. Tea and toast became a staple for seniors -- inexpensive, easy to prepare and lacking in any nutritional value.
Nutritional value and improved health for all the populations who benefit from food programs, especially the elderly, far outweigh the cost to government for providing food.
If seniors are not even mentioned when cutbacks through block grants are proposed, they and the nation as a whole will fail to recognize that a grave injustice may be done.
Rosalie S. Abrams
Baltimore
A5 The writer is director, Maryland Office on Aging.
Medical Policy
Gov. Parris Glendening proposes in his budget to cut $45 million in Medicaid for HMO services and pharmacy products to the poor, while increasing the circumstances under which Medicaid will pay for abortions. The logic is faulty and/or ominous: Save the taxpayer money by getting rid of the poor, slowly through neglect or, more efficiently and definitively, before they are born.
Victoria Szabo
Baltimore
Leroy Merriken's Artistry
While enjoying the Babe Ruth Centennial special section Feb. 2, I looked for credit lines for photos by Leroy Merriken Sr.
Many readers of the 1930s through the 1950s still looked for photos of Oriole baseball with Merriken's name.
Never since have Oriole and Memorial Stadium baseball games been more vividly photographed, and this is written with high appreciation for all of The Sun's photographers.
But Leroy was in a class by himself, particularly when it came to Babe Ruth. He knew the Babe before spring training, through all the preseason and postseason activities.
Leroy followed the Babe perhaps more closely than any fans. Without Leroy Merriken's work, we who never met the Babe but followed him through life would never have enjoyed the rich, interest-absorbing photos The Sun papers produced.
Through the centennial, let us all remember Leroy Merriken. Although a small man, he was very big in Babe Ruth's presence. No photographer was enjoyed and known to the Babe as was Leroy Merriken. Thanks, Leroy.
Wallace E. Dow
Monkton Ishmael Reed is fooling himself if he thinks that the primary reason the O. J. Simpson case has focused attention on spousal abuse is because Simpson is black (Perspective, Jan. 29).
If O. J. Simpson were not a wealthy celebrity, a glamorous member of Hollywood's "beautiful people," a sports hero and actor whose well-known public "nice guy" persona is the antithesis of a throat-slashing killer, his case and any reference to the domestic violence issue would have faded into oblivion months ago.
While discrimination unfortunately still exists, the facts do not support Mr. Reed's argument that the guaranteed way to "galvanize" the nation's awareness on social problems is to involve a black male.
Day in and day out, black (and white) males (and females) are involved in situations that have the potential to raise social issues of national concern. Relatively few of these situations receive local coverage; even fewer are covered on national TV.
The reality is that, at a minimum, it takes a shocking factual scenario to focus the nation's attention on social issues. Skin color is irrelevant.
Mr. Reed's suggestion that "we'll have to wait until a black celebrity murders her child to spark a discussion of domestic violence by women" ignores the Susan Smith case, which centered national attention on this exact issue. Susan Smith is white.
Nor, as Mr. Reed claims, must we wait for the suicide of a black teen-age celebrity "before we become 'galvanized' about the issue of teen-age suicide." Kurt Cobain's suicide already "galvanized" us on this problem. Kurt Cobain was white.
Perhaps Mr. Reed forgets that it was the case against William Kennedy Smith (who is white), not Mike Tyson (who is black), that effectively "galvanized" the nation on the social issue of date rape. The case never would have attracted attention, and certainly would not have become a national media event, if Mr. Smith were not related to one of the most famous families in America.
Mr. Smith's middle name turned him into a pseudo-celebrity overnight; it was his name, not his skin color, that pushed date rape into the national spotlight.
Blacks have no monopoly on the ability to "galvanize" the nation on social problems, but they get their turn, too.
When a national celebrity like O. J. Simpson is accused of murder, or a Supreme Court nominee like Clarence Thomas is alleged to have sexually harassed someone, this immediately becomes front-page news.
If the evidence appears even potentially incriminating, the nation's attention is riveted. Shock value grows in proportion to the disparity between the public persona of the accused and the nature of the accusation against them, regardless of skin color.
If a well-liked and popular white celebrity -- a Paul Newman or John F. Kennedy Jr., for example -- were accused of the same crimes as O. J. Simpson under identical factual circumstance, the nation would be just as riveted on the trial and every bit as "galvanized" on the issue of spousal domestic violence.
If you happen to be as famous as a Paul Newman, a John Kennedy Jr. or an O. J. Simpson, and you are accused of a violent crime that is totally out of character with your public persona (particularly when the victims also were glamorous and photogenic), you can be assured that your trial -- and any corresponding social problems that the crime focuses attention on -- will be covered nationally and analyzed ad nauseam.
Like it or not, this is the price our society exacts of celebrities who are accused of violating the law, whether their skin is black, white or purple.
M. D. Anson
Baltimore