President Clinton never had a right to lie to the nation
William J. Clinton should have a personal life, all to his own and his family. The president of the United States should not lie to the American people.
More importantly, if perjury is found not punishable, our whole judicial process will fail. The oath would mean nothing and the truth or a lie would be of no consequence.
Where will we go from here? How will we ever have justice?
William Downs Sr.
Baltimore
The only person whom Mr. Clinton did not apologize to is Monica Lewinsky. Because he did not tell the truth the first time around, seven months ago, that woman has been put through the wringer.
If Mr. Clinton had told the truth, Ms. Lewinsky would have faded quickly away. Instead, we have had seven months of Monica-bashing, and her life will never be the same.
She deserves an apology.
Diane Olsen
Parkville
Although many feel the president is only a man and we should not pry into his personal life, he asked to be put in this position as the most visible person in the free world.
The president of the United States should represent everything about our country. Is this how we want other countries to view us?
When he asked to become president, he knew he would be under a microscope. He knew he should be above reproach. He should be held responsible.
Wasn't it he who in 1974 declared that "any president who would lie to his people should resign."?
Steve Gray
Glenwood
Let's get one thing straight. Bill Clinton did not mislead people about Monica Lewinsky; he lied. There is no gray area there; he lied outright.
I'm so tired of hearing polls that show most Americans don't care and think he should be left alone. If Bill Clinton can't uphold the most holy covenant to his wife and then lies after he gets caught, how are we supposed to respect him?
I don't know what low-lifes are being polled, but call my house or anyone in my family and we will tell you that he is a disgrace to our country and he should be impeached.
Tricia Zenger
Owings Mills
Clinton's action deplorable, but he was entrapped
President Clinton's indiscretion with the opposite sex is deplorable, shows a lack of moral fiber and has brought shame and disgrace to the presidency.
However, in the matter of Monica Lewinsky, I believe he has been sand-bagged and entrapped. Why else would she have kept a dress allegedly stained by her encounter? Perhaps she wanted to save it as a memento.
James E. Haines
Baltimore
'The Sun' should endorse presidential candidates
Andrew Ratner's Opinion Commentary column ("Facts we can endorse," Aug. 10) was a well-crafted discussion on the process used by The Sun to "publish endorsements for political candidates on the editorial page."
What the article failed to mention is The Sun's long abstinence from doing the same for presidential candidates. I have already forgotten the weak rationalization for avoiding this most important of all political competitions.
Perhaps it is time to rethink this ill taken position. The Sun need only to read Mr. Ratner's article to convince it to do so -- and there are two years left to change its mind.
Howard K. Ottenstein
Baltimore
Playing doctor on TV pays better than life
Pretend "ER" doctor Anthony Edwards, just signed a contract worth about $35 million, or $400,000 an episode ("ER raises rates for docs Edwards and Wyle," Aug. 5). The real emergency physician who saves your child's life earns about $160,000 per year.
You've just got to love those American values.
Thomas Dolan
Baltimore
Student groups should not have to pay for recreation
I read the article "School groups to be billed for utilities" (Aug. 4) about Anne Arundel County student groups having to pay for utilities for after-hours use.
Local and state governments have money for new stadiums but they don't want to pay for recreation for students.
If children would have a place to participate in athletics, drama and music, we would have a decrease in crime.
Helen Dvoskin
Baltimore
First lady of fun and games taught us childhood magic
When I heard that Virginia Baker had died, I was on a recreation center playground. It was in the parks and playgrounds of this city where the feisty woman with a gentle heart taught the magic of childhood games to a generation of kids.
To meet "Aunt Ginny" or "Queenie," a Department of Recreation and Parks legend and a genuine Baltimore character was to meet a person you would never forget. I was a fresh-faced college intern at this paper when I received my first assignment to interview Ms. Baker.
She was a restless woman of a million stories, a tornado of ideas and energy and gritty charm.
Although she knew the mayors and lawmakers, the power brokers who moved money and legislation and commanded instant attention, it was the children she loved. Her heart and spirit lived with neighborhood kids of the city whom she taught to take a stretch of asphalt and, with a special sprinkle of imaagination, convert it into a wonderland.
A savvy marketer who could attract crowds and national media attention for her famous frog hops, turtle derby and frog-calling contests, Ms. Baker told me on that first interview that all the awards and attention she received over the years took a back seat to something bigger.
"No matter what you do, you have to be a good person first," she said, with her straightforward East Baltimore style that always carried a simple wisdom.
Most of the children at the Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center in Patterson Park have never heard of the woman whose name graces the building. Ask their parents, and there is a memory from childhood that will keep them young at heart until they meet her again in that great playground upstairs.
John Gehring
Baltimore
'Super-pious' and patriots have big supply of surliness
Civility in public discourse has been championed by George F. Will in the past, but his heart really isn't in it, as evidenced by his slur against Richard Suhre, a North Carolina litigant ("North Carolina case shows nation's slide into secularism," Aug. 9). Suhre, Mr. Will helpfully informs us, rhymes with "surly."
What next? Perhaps a counter-thrust pointing out that "Will" rhymes with "swill"?
Names aside, surliness is in plentiful supply among the super-pious. The theocratic rulers of colonial Massachusetts were rather surly when they cast Roger Williams into the wilderness for preaching that the civil magistrates should not be entrusted with enforcement of religious correctness under the Ten Commandments.
Also rather surly were the flag-salute and Pledge of Allegiance enthusiasts of the 1940s who burned Jehovah's Witnesses meeting places while a local judge threatened to put the victims' children in institutions where they would be taught the values of Americanism.
Stan Lichtenstein
Bethesda
Eileen Rehrmann is doing job she was elected to do
Now that her campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor is over, the pictures and article about Eileen Rehrmann being back on the job as Harford County Executive were reassuring. This is what the good citizens of Harford County have been paying her to do.
Benjamin F. Casole III
Bel Air
Pub Date: 8/20/98