Teach youths respect for others' property to reduce crime, 0) anger
While it is very disturbing that children are being shot and killed in the city, we need to place the responsibility for these killings on the parents and guardians of these children.
Children need to be taught right from wrong at an early age. They should be taught to respect everyone, especially their elders. Children should be taught to respect other people's property -- it is not up to them to decide a car is abandoned and throw rocks at it.
Most people work hard for their possessions and do not deserve to have them ruined by disrespectful children. In an article concerning Jermaine Jordan's shooting, another youth stated that they were just playing a "dumb" little rock-throwing game. If the children had been taught that throwing rocks at other people's possessions is not a game, perhaps the child would be alive today.
I work in Baltimore City, and twice in the past six months street hoodlums have broken the windows on my vehicle in a futile attempt to find something of value. If I had been able to catch the person who did it, I don't know what I would have done.
Therefore, I can understand the measure that the elderly gentleman took against this child. The man had put up with various transgressions by children in his neighborhood, had reached his limits and took matters into his own hands.
Now an elderly gentleman will spend senseless time being incarcerated because a child was merely playing a rock-throwing game.
Ginny Phillips
Essex
It's a shame that when Nathaniel Hurt killed a youth, it didn't send a message that vandalizing a car can be a deadly, dangerous prank.
Karl Berger
Baltimore
Retiring Northern principal a good example as educator
It is truly sad when someone who knows what education is about and the discipline required for a productive environment retires from the profession ("Embattled principal to retire," July 9).
Alice Morgan Brown was, if only for a brief shining moment, an example of what an education administrator should be. It is my sincerest hope that others will follow her example and begin informing our students that they are here to learn and follow a curriculum of studies and the proper behavior patterns.
She will be sorely missed.
Jay Klapka
Baltimore
Retire horse-drawn wagons into annals of city history
The streets of Baltimore are no longer places for the a-rabs and the horse-drawn wagons. This was a part of our city's history, but now let's move forward ("A-rabbers file suit against city," June 10). There is much more traffic now than in the past, making it unsafe for the horses and the vendors.
Also, the treatment of the horses is inhumane, and the stalls are filthy, with a minimum of food and water. These horses aren't cared for or loved; they're just a means of transporting produce. I have seen vendors beating the horses at the end of the day with boards, trying to get them to run faster so they could get back to the stables after selling their produce. The boards had nails in them.
How can we be proud of a city when we see the disgusting sight of fly-ridden food in a dirty wagon being pulled in the unbearable heat of the city by a pathetic, thirsty, sad animal? The winters are worse.
Let's keep this in the history books, if we must, but that's the only place it should be.
Gayle S. Smith
Woodlawn
Big push needed to restore park at Gettysburg
The shabby and outdated condition of Gettysburg National Military Park ("Gettysburg battlefield mired in past," July 12) is distressing to say the least. Wouldn't it be marvelous if a &L; respected national leader spearheaded an effort to raise funds to restore and improve the exhibits, maintain the monuments, and protect the site as Lee Iacocca did for the Statue of Liberty?
And wouldn't it be outstanding, given the nature of the park, if that leader were a retired general whose understanding of military affairs was beyond question?
And, finally, given the crucial role of the slavery question in the conflict, wouldn't it be remarkable if that general just happened to be black?
Jack C. Childers Jr.
Lutherville
Appellate court was wrong to overturn death sentence
I cannot agree with the appeals court's decision to overturn the death sentence of Ivan F. Lovell for the murder of Tfc. Edward Plank Jr. in October 1995 ("Man who killed trooper gets life without parole," July 11).
The story in the paper reported that Lovell had an abusive childhood and suffered brain damage, but he still killed in cold blood. Why should he be allowed to live?
Trooper Plank was doing what he was getting paid to do -- his job, to keep citizens safe, to uphold the law. He lost his life doing this. Members of his family have lost a son, a husband, a father.
The court ruling is a slap in the face to all the law enforcement officers in Maryland.
Marge Griffith
Pasadena
Expelled midshipmen's acts more severe than McCoy's
Was former midshipman Chris McCoy spared separation from the Naval Academy because he was a star athlete? Only the powers that be at Annapolis know the answer to that question. However, Adm. Charles Larson's argument as to why Mr. McCoy was spared expulsion when the three other midshipmen involved were separated is both logical and solid.
These four young people, at the time of their respective offenses, were stationed at the Naval Academy. That was their place of employment. The three midshipmen chose to pursue sexual relationships at their place of employment while Mr. McCoy went off base to do the same. While that certainly doesn't condone Mr. McCoy's actions, it does illustrate the difference in the seriousness of their offenses.
Compare this to the same situation in a civilian job. If having a relationship with a fellow employee is not allowed at a company but two co-workers decide to have one anyway, on their own time, they will perhaps be reprimanded in some manner. But if two co-workers choose to consummate their relationship in the office, even after hours, the repercussions will be much more severe.
The latter is a much more serious offense, and it's hard to imagine any company that would allow employees that so flagrantly disregard the rules to remain employees. Why should the Navy be any different?
Tracy Alder
Pasadena
Southern Baptist statement brings order to household
Much has been written and said concerning the statement by the Southern Baptist Convention. The statement has been labeled as sexist and a means to enslave women when the statement is from a letter the apostle Paul wrote to the faithful.
In any society, there must be order, or confusion reigns. Someone must be in charge, someone must be responsible for order and must be accountable. God chose man. He may not be the most intelligent or the best equipped, but he is the one God chose and the one held accountable by him.
He may leave decisions to his wife or share responsibility with her. With this authority comes great responsibility to oversee the rearing of the children, the provision for the family, to love his wife and to be an example.
William R. Mock
Freeland
'Waco' viewers' sympathies with agents, not Koresh
TTC
Because members of the audience at Johns Hopkins University did not respond well to his anti-government movie "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," producer Dan Gifford decided that they are irreligious and "very elitist" ("Baltimore filmmaker made 'Waco,' " July 3).
Other explanations may be better. Perhaps the Hopkins viewers concluded, correctly, that the blame for the Waco disaster lies with David Koresh. Maybe their sympathies lie, as they should, with the families of federal law enforcement officers who were killed trying to protect the public.
Maybe they have figured out that the bigger threat to our lives and liberty comes not from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms but from guys like Koresh and their private arsenals.
Daniel Rosen
Baltimore
Pub Date: 7/17/98