Bill Gates' Microsoft is not the best target for antitrust lawsuit

The stakes are certainly high in the government's effort to protect us from a supposed Microsoft monopoly ("Microsoft antitrust trial opens with scrutiny of Gates' role," Oct. 20). However, it is a shame that more worthy competitive products could not have been chosen as a vehicle for this suit.

Please understand that while not a great fan of Microsoft, I recently had occasion to try some of the other programs, and Netscape, for example, is far below the quality of the Microsoft browser.

Even assuming that anti-competitive practices are used, why not construe it as being for the protection of society rather than for its detriment? What the competition is trying to accomplish in a court of law is just what it could not do in the marketplace with inferior products.

Morton M. Mower

Baltimore

W. Maryland is optimistic about economy, lifestyle

The article "Officials promise aid for W. Md." (Oct. 17), concerning the closing of the Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. corporate offices in Cumberland and the task force meeting held to discuss job replacement and economic development for the area, was well-written and accurately reported.

However, the statement accompanying the picture of restaurant owner Gino Giatras and his father, Louis Giatras, while correct in stating they had concerns about the Kelly-Springfield closing, did not go far enough.

I was sitting on a nearby stool, enjoying a couple of Coney Island hot dogs and listening intently to the questions asked by your reporter and the answers. Father and son were very upbeat and optimistic about the area's future.

They spoke about the fact we have Frostburg State University and Allegany College nearby as well as a number of good companies occupying space in our industrial parks, plus the Kelly-Springfield Office Building soon to be available to a new long-term tenant.

The Giatras family reflects the feelings of many of us in the Cumberland area. We look to the future with great hope and expectation. We have a new gem -- Rocky Gap Lodge and Golf Resort, which helps showcase to visitors from the United States and throughout the world the quality of lifestyle and the great economic opportunities in Western Maryland.

Frederick J. Hill

Cumberland

Suit to stop absentee ballots works against democracy

Citizens for Democratic Elections should be renamed Censors for Undemocratic Results ("Judge delays mailing of ballots to residents of nursing homes," Oct. 14).

I am appalled and shocked at the Citizens for Democratic Action, an arm of the so-called Voter Integrity Project, filing a suit on Oct. 13 to prevent absentee ballots from being sent to nursing and convalescent facilities.

The organization filed the suit under the pretext of protecting the electoral process. Since when does supressing the senior vote constitute protection of voting rights? What a scam and truly undemocratic attempt this group is making to weaken the senior vote. This lawsuit is an affront and vicious attack on the foundations of democracy.

This lawsuit is a travesty and a complete attack on the foundations of our democratic system. All good citizens should resist such right-wing groups that attempt to break down the building blocks of our democratic electoral system.

Thomas E. Quirk

Timonium

In life and death matter, Sauerbrey voted wrong

I have watched the Sauerbrey campaign reach out to senior citizens for their votes by promising them tax relief. As a registered Republican, I am chagrined that the Republican leadership has recently taken two stands adverse to the rights of senior citizens.

Seniors have fought for the right for their families to make life-and-death decisions. In Maryland, a law was implemented in October of 1993 to allow a health-care agent to make all health-care decisions, including the right to die.

In Virginia, a conservative governor and state senator invaded the Finn family's privacy and attempted to keep Hugh Finn alive in a persistent vegetative state after his family chose to let him die peacefully ("Brain-damaged man dies after feeding tube removed," Oct. 10). Seniors should remember that Ms. Sauerbrey initially voted against Maryland's living-will statute.

Now a conservative watchdog organization is questioning the right of senior citizens in assisted-living and nursing home facilities to vote by absentee ballot. Are we to believe that a senior who is in need of long-term care should be denied the right to vote?

Maybe the Sauerbrey conservatives want the health and well being of senior citizens jeopardized by forcing them to go to the polls to vote.

Before voting for Ms. Sauerbrey, our senior population should question whether it wants to put someone in charge of this state who has fought against two key senior issues, the right to vote and the right to die.

Michael C. Hodes

Towson

State should have no role in car terminal at port

It appears that the Glendening administration strongly believes that the state knows more about importing and exporting automotive vehicles than successful companies specializing in that business.

Greg Garland's story "Sauerbrey attacks plan for car terminal at port" (Oct. 14) reports that the state will invest $18.6 million to subsidize the construction of a vehicle importing terminal to provide 300 new jobs that would service 125,000 additional vehicles imported annually through the port.

I suspect that if this were such a promising venture, the port's existing vehicle importers would have jumped at it.

Ken Mayhome

Lutherville

Governor's gun proposal can prevent child deaths

I must disagree with Gregory Kane's claim that Gov. Parris N. Glendening's support of stronger firearm safety laws is mere political posturing ("Glendening ads attacking Sauerbrey liable to misfire," Oct. 17). I applaud the governor's courageous stance.

It is ironic that Mr. Kane's attack on reasonable gun-safety proposals came in the week when a 2-year-old was tragically shot to death by her 4-year-old brother. Child-proof guns would greatly reduce the likelihood of this kind of tragedy.

The governor's advertisements promoting firearm safety are not "attack ads" -- they merely show how his vision for Maryland's future differs from that of Ms. Sauerbrey. It is unfortunate that Mr. Kane has joined the loudest critics of the governor's firearm safety policy, namely the state's gun dealers, the people most adversely affected by the proposal. The dealers are shortsighted and show a lack of respect for our children's safety.

By supporting child-proof or personalized handguns, the Glendening-Townsend administration continues to lead Maryland in becoming more child-friendly and a kinder and gentler place in which to live and work.

Matt Fenton IV

Lutherville

The writer is the founder and a board member of Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse Inc.

Try as she might, Ellen R. Sauerbrey cannot escape her 16-year legislative record against gun control. Not only did she vote against laws like the Saturday Night Special and assault weapons bans, she was one of the gun lobby's primary advocates in Annapolis.

For example, in 1994, Ms. Sauerbrey was the gun lobby's floor leader against the assault weapons ban. As a proponent of the ban, I listened with horror as she proposed amendment after amendment designed to kill the ban, and she almost did. We will never know how many Maryland citizens, including children, might have been gunned down by Tec-9 and Uzi guns if Ms. Sauerbrey had succeeded.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening, on the other hand, has been a longtime leader in the struggle for effective gun legislation. Before he won state office, he helped build public support for measures such as the assault weapons ban. In 1996, he championed our state's landmark one-gun-per-month law that has dramatically curtailed illegal gun sales.

Gun dealer association official Sanford Abrams was right in his recent letter to gun dealers that their industry would be on "easy street" if Ms. Sauerbrey becomes governor. But where would the rest of us be?

Vincent DeMarco

Baltimore

The writer formerly was executive director of Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse Inc.

Pub Date: 10/26/98