It is time to move past Alomar's infraction, which was aberrant

Nearly two years after Orioles second baseman Roberto Alomar spit in an umpire's face, I feel he deserves forgiveness from both the fans and umpires he so blatantly offended.

His actions resonated with the fans for two years as they repudiated Mr. Alomar in spite of his many accomplishments as a perennial All-Star.

But he has served his time and won top honors at the 1998 All-Star game in Denver for his incredible feats. He continues to amaze on a daily basis with his bat as well as his fielding maneuvers. Ultimately, his notorious confrontation with John Hirschbeck was merely an aberration and does not reflect his altruistic nature as evidenced by his involvement in many charitable organizations throughout the Baltimore area.

We should put the past where it belongs and allow one of baseball's greats to continue entertaining us for many years to come.

Steven Greenwald

Pikesville

Help from home is needed to teach children to read

As an education major, I take great interest in articles concerning the recently proposal changes in our public schools. I am increasingly concerned with the hoopla surrounding The Sun's Reading by 9 series and the never-ending flood of articles suggesting new requirements for Maryland's teachers.

The proposal that would require teachers to take an additional 12 credit hours of reading instruction courses disturbs me so much because it fails to consider the root of our poor reading problem -- diminished parental support.

Regardless of any additional hoops through which current and future teachers will have to jump, the problem will still exist and reading abilities will be sub par. Reading begins, or should begin, at home. Parents should read to children and encourage reading at an early age. If reading is not practiced and its importance emphasized in the home, attempts to teach reading in schools are greatly hampered.

The problem is not lack of teacher knowledge. Maybe if we turned down the television or put away the video games just long enough to identify the fundamental flaws associated with poor reading skills in our schools, we could begin to solve the problem. Until then, keep in mind that teachers are just teachers, not miracle workers, and can only work with what they are given.

Patrick Radomsky

Baltimore

Baltimore must clean house before it thinks Olympics

I read with interest "Two cities, one Olympian effort" (July 5). My first reaction was excitement -- what a wonderful event it would be. My second reaction was one of concern.

For a moment, I felt like a housewife who does not keep a clean house and is surprised by unexpected guests. I'm a native Baltimorean peering into middle age, so I remember well the Baltimore whose downtown was a thriving place and the inner harbor (it was not capitalized in those days) was to be avoided, except for Connelly's, of course).

What is left of downtown are tawdry stores, dirty streets and crime. The Inner Harbor is lovely, but how can we invite the world into our home when such a small part of it is clean?

There are, of course, isolated neighborhoods in the city that are wonderful bastions of city living at its best. But these are nowhere near downtown.

We have 14 years to get ready for these visitors. It would be a great thing to be able to have a downtown that would not only draw visitors but would also draw us suburbanites back to Howard Street to shop, to eat, to stroll.

Ann E. Regan

Ellicott City

Newspaper should oppose Secret Service secrecy

Your lead editorial on "Secret Service secrets: Are they worth telling?" (July 9) supports the notion that in seeking facts pertaining to criminal behavior, selected sources are off-limits.

I believe that honesty, truth and integrity are among the foundations required for lasting human relationships, especially for confidence in our government.

You forfeit your responsibilities as news people and deny your motto "Light for All" by failing to endorse shining the light into dark corners where truth may be hidden.

You should not continue to support methods such as endless delays, stone-walling and secrecy as means to obstruct the search for truth.

Frederick R. Knoop Jr.

Timonium

Ancestry of Ethiopian Jews was ignored in genetic tests

In response to John Rivera's article "Chromosome ties Modern Jews to Aaron," it is rather odd that the only priestly class tested were European Jews. Why didn't they also test the chromosomes of the Ethiopian Jewish priestly class too?

Most certainly, Ethiopian Jews have a Jewish tradition far older than that of Europeans. Also, where is the scientific data proving that they were able to test the remains of Aaron? I certainly did not see any proof of this.

Olatunji Mwamba

Baltimore

Headline unfairly implied psychosis in conservative

I do not agree with any of the opinions expressed in Steven Greenhut's article "Gay zealots seek to control our thoughts" (June 28). However, one has to be a bit suspicious about the media's biases when The Sun gives headlines such as this to conservative pieces.

Even if we disagree with Mr. Greenhut, there's no need to make him sound like a lunatic. In his article, I found ignorance and prejudice but no evidence of the full-blown psychosis implied by your headline.

Please attempt to rein in your biases just a smidgen and let your pages allow for something approximating level-headed debate.

Matt Goldrick

Baltimore

Cowherd needs to learn to appreciate the accordion

How could you print Kevin Cowherd's "Nothing hurts quite like the sting of a sharp Polka" (July 9)?

It is Mr. Cowherd's right to like or dislike something, but to malign something that makes other people happy is not his right.

Saying that people who enjoy accordion music were "societal misfits, people who were dropped on their heads as infants, etc." was really horrible.

Mr. Cowherd should attend a Polish wedding, and he would see how many people enjoy accordion music. There is nothing to compare to this. Even people who are not Polish enjoy the entertainment.

Rosalie M. Lesniewski

Pasadena

HMOs should get a taste of their own medicine

It would be interesting to know what would happen if top officials of the HMOs got caught in their own web and were denied necessary care for their illnesses.

Carolyn Mazer

Pikesville

Plan would direct growth beyond town's capacity

There are a few captions contained in the article, "Smarting from growth" (June 26) that I differ with, not the least of which is one located below my picture and adjoining a quotation.

I cannot quibble with the accuracy of the quotes attributed to me, but the proximity of some captions cast inaccuracy upon my convictions and invalidate the credibility of the article.

Maryland does not have a plan that will increase Hampstead's population.

The concern I tried to express, which I believed should have been conveyed in the article, is that the revision of the county's comprehensive plan and growth strategies will direct growth to the town beyond its capacity to handle it.

The state is helping Hampstead on the important issue of traffic control, community preservation and revitalization.

As a proponent of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's "smart growth" policies, I was disturbed to see the spin the captions put on this story.

Hampstead is working with state agencies to relieve the congested Main Street corridor, make roads safer and employ many "smart growth" opportunities to make the town an ever better place.

Neil M. Ridgely

Hampstead

The writer is Hampstead's town manager.

Pub Date: 7/14/98