City churches should take to the streets to help combat crime
Thank you for publishing the informative column by Clarence Page "Taking the church to the streets reduces Boston's homicide rate." I only wish it had been on the front page for city leaders, clergyman, police and city dwellers to consider the facts it presented.
The statistics testify that this area of Boston "dropped to only one juvenile homicide per year from more than a hundred per year." What is the secret? Simply bringing the churches back to the streets and unifying forces with the mayor, probation officers and police.
Why does this simplistic, low-budget strategy work? When you're lonely, scared or in trouble, shouldn't there be an alternative presence other than the drug dealer to go for aid? The city and suburban churches need to stand firm and be in the center of the social and political arena, but they need to be firmly supported by city leadership.
Doubters need to study the statistics that tell the story of God's power and love.
Jean A. Jacobs
Annapolis
President is only human, his scandal is not treason
The most important thing to remember is that the president is a man. If we were held to the same scrutiny, I wonder how many of us could handle it as well.
The real truth behind the Lewinsky matter is that Mr. Clinton has done too much (as viewed by some) for minorities, and people have vowed to try and destroy him. Mr. Clinton has made many powerful people unhappy.
The president has not committed treason, he has not had persons break into outside offices to steal documents, he has not started a war in another country and he has not turned a deaf ear to America's cities.
Cameron E. Miles
Baltimore
Arts & Society section does not make the grade
What a disappointment the Arts & Society section of the Sunday edition of The Sun has been. Where is the improved and expanded coverage that was promised when you discontinued publication of The Evening Sun and reformatted your newspaper?
"The street game" (Aug. 9) is an interesting article, but how can you justify giving it most of the front page as well as the entire middle spread of the Arts & Society section?
Other than routine coverage of films, books and television, the less than half-page article on Jerome Robbins was the only other article remotely associated with the arts.
It's ludicrous that you publish personals -- women and men seeking companionship of the same or opposite sex -- in Arts & Society. Place them in the Classified section if, in fact, they belong at all in a family newspaper.
The Sun does a superlative job of investigative reporting. Why don't you focus on bringing your coverage of the arts up to the standards of a major metropolitan newspaper?
Robert S. Gist
Towson
Distractions don't ruin Gettysburg's attraction
I am writing in response to Kevin Cowherd's column ("Tourism's relentless march on Gettysburg," July 30) about his recent trip to Gettysburg. While I agree with Mr. Cowherd that the commercial encroachments on the Civil War battlefield are a detraction as well as a distraction, one can choose to ignore the periphery and appreciate the military park with minimal cost.
The museum at the visitors center is free. The National Park Service runs a wide array of free programs throughout the day during the summer. Recently, my family took advantage of several of these presentations, and they were excellent.
If you do elect to take a two-hour tour of a Civil War battlefield, it seems logical to expect to hear about slaughter and devastation and the effects of weaponry because these were paramount issues of the war.
If Mr. Cowherd cares to tour the battlefield again, there is a men's room located conveniently at the visitors center and one gift shop, which is an extraordinary book store. But next time he might want to consider a trip to the beach.
Linda S. Trout
Etters, Pa.
Using other outlet's sources undermines your reliability
A front-page article by Susan Baer ("Lewinsky testifies to encounters," Aug. 7) reported the following: "testifying for six hours, Lewinsky told of numerous sexual encounters with the president inside the White House, according to the Associated Press, which cited an unnamed legal source familiar with her testimony."
In my view, this is irresponsible reporting, worthy of one of the trash magazines as prevalent today. Your reporter doesn't cite what she was told by a source, but what was told to someone else by an unknown person.
Is it any wonder that people don't trust the media, even old, established papers such as The Sun?
When a reporter uses an unnamed source, shouldn't he or she at least have an idea of that person's reliability? Of course. Simply saying the AP reported this is not sufficient. Next you will be citing CNN and the Boston Globe as reliable.
Thomas H. German
Baltimore
Doctors know best cure for teen-age smoking
It is good to see that organized medicine is prescribing a healthly ounce of prevention by giving a ringing endorsement to the Maryland Children's Initiative's plan for a significant rise in tobacco taxes as a public health measure.
In fact, this is likely to be the single best way to decrease youth smoking, according to the National Cancer Institute, National Academy of Science, the U.S. surgeon general and others.
The endorsement by the Baltimore City and Baltimore County medical societies, the state medical society and a hundred other state health organizations may help stem the hemorrhage of nearly a half billion dollars spent by Maryland taxpayers every year in direct health care spending attributable to tobacco.
This is not to mention the pain and suffering from addiction responsible for one of six of all deaths each year in Maryland. It all depends on whether legislators listen to tobacco lobbyists or doctors.
Joseph Adams, M.D.
Towson
The writer is president of the Smoke Free Maryland coalition.
Israel's rescuers show its humanity toward world
Among many nations responding with humanitarian assistance in the wake of the horrific bombings at the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, it is most remarkable that the small and far-away state of Israel had taken the lead in providing a substantial delegation of specialists in rescuing people from destroyed buildings ("Hunt for bombers and search for life," Aug. 9).
The presence of 170 soldiers was acknowledged to have provided the necessary organization and expertise to find many of those trapped beneath the rubble as quickly as possible.
The Israeli government's immediate act is a sterling testament to her commitment to the Jewish precepts of tikkun olam (healing the world) and petuach nefesh (saving of a life).
Joshua Mauer
Baltimore
The writer is executive director of the Baltimore Zionist District.
Baltimore back in NFL, but we've lost the game
So the new football stadium is here. And it costs only $223 million. We can finally hold our heads up high again to the rest of the NFL and say, "Yes, we have a football team again, so what if it cost nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in a time when the city is falling apart from the inside out." In the end I fear that not only did we lose to the NFL, but we also lost to ourselves.
Edward Hood
Baltimore
Blount has served well, now he should pass torch
I agree that Sen. Clarence W. Blount has served his constituents well for seven terms ("Blount for Senate in 41st," Aug. 10), but he is getting on in years now and deserves to retire from public service. His community would be better served if he would pass his knowledge and wisdom on to a younger senator.
Christine Worsley
Baltimore
Pub Date: 8/18/98