Police leader acting on behalf of force, citizens

In the article "Judge delays ruling on order for troopers to undergo testing" (March 12), reporter Eric Siegel quotes the federal judge as saying that state police "just don't get it." I am not sure what that unnecessary comment is supposed to mean, but I would hope that it was not intended to be a shot at State Police Superintendent David B. Mitchell.

I have been a member of the Maryland State Police for 35 years and am extremely proud of the men and women of what I consider to be the finest organization of its type anywhere in the world. More important, I am equally proud of the leadership provided by Colonel Mitchell. Since being appointed superintendent four years ago, he has worked tirelessly to ensure that we have the requisite resources and personnel to provide the quality of police services to the citizens of Maryland that they expect and deserve.

As superintendent, he has instituted strict guidelines in our department to guard against and respond to race-based or gender-based bias. He has reformed our promotional system to make it fair and equitable for all. He, more clearly than anyone I know, understands the need for diversity and equal opportunity in the workplace.

Jesse N. Graybill, Pikesville

The writer is a lieutenant colonel and chief of the field operations bureau for the Maryland State Police.

In response to your editorial "Wrongful Retaliation" (Feb. 27) concerning the litigation surrounding the Family Medical Leave Act in H. Kevin Knussman vs. the State of Maryland, the Maryland Chapter of the National Flight Paramedics Associations (NFPA-MD) offers the following opinion.

NFPA-MD strongly supports the Maryland State Police in its position that all persons working as crew members aboard Aviation Division aircraft be fit for duty. In response to recent testimony given by Mr. Knussman, the Maryland State Police is requiring Mr. Knussman to undergo an evaluation of his mental stability before returning to duty as a flight paramedic.

NFPA-MD believes that in doing so, the Maryland State Police is acting in the best interest of safety and not as a retailiatory act against the lawsuit brought on by Mr. Knussman. The administration of the Maryland State Police should be commended for its commitment to high safety standards in the aviation industry. Selecting personnel who are physically and mentally fit for duty is a key component of this standard.

NFPA-MD supports Mr. Knussman in his quest to return to duty. However, the citizens of the state of Maryland and his fellow crew members deserve to know that personnel aboard responding MedEvac aircraft are the most highly qualified and healthy individuals available. Their lives depend on it.

Donnie Lehman, Keith A. McMinn, Baltimore

The writers are president and vice president, respectively, of NFPA-MD.

Kazan doesn't need honor unless victims get reward

I am writing in response to Chris Kaltenbach's article "The Oscar and the Blacklist" (March 13) concerning the honorary Academy Award given to Elia Kazan, the director who "named names" before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Because conservatives view naming names as "a public service," as Mr. Kaltenbach's article says, perhaps we can call upon them to perform this highly important public service: Name so much as one individual in the Communist bloc countries who was aided in any real way by the testimony of Mr. Kazan or the work as a whole of HUAC.

I expect that the silence will be deafening. It may even equal the silence that was brought to the careers, and even the lives, of many members of the Hollywood community who refused to cooperate with HUAC -- not because they loved Communism, but because they correctly saw the committee as a different form of the same menace.

Frankly, there seemed to be no pressing need to honor Mr. Kazan in this way. As noted in Mr. Kaltenbach's article, he had already won two Oscars, which put him ahead of such distinguished colleagues as the late Stanley Kubrick (who should surely get the next such honorary award).

But if Mr. Kazan must be honored in this way, let it also be an incentive to further repair the damage he and others did to their peers.

Belated screen credits for blacklisted writers and other forms of compensation are little to give at this late date. Forgiveness, however, is a mercy that should be extended to all, and not just those who are "politically correct" in the eyes of the far right.

Stephen R. Rourke, Baltimore

Sun's crossword puzzle becoming too difficult

I used to look forward every day to doing the crossword puzzle in The Sun, usually with success. It helped to make my day.

Lately the puzzle has been so difficult I imagine a pro would have difficulty doing it.

A puzzle should give you pleasure, not frustration. My friends agree, I might add.

Steve Sharp, Havre de Grace

Different method needed to determine pure gold

I enjoyed the article "Pure gold" (March 11) by Richard O'Mara about the attempt by the Walters Art Gallery to preserve a treatise by Archimedes. It was well-written and interesting.

But in the final paragraphs, Mr. O'Mara made an error. He was relating the well-known anecdote about Archimedes' figuring out whether a crown was pure gold by immersing it in water. To quote from the article:

"He must put the crown into a vessel filled with water, then capture the water it displaces in a second vessel. He then must melt an amount of gold equal to the volume of the displaced water. When it hardens he puts it in the first vessel. If the water level rises to the top of the vessel it proves the volume of gold in the crown and the gold brick are equal and the crown is pure gold. If not, the goldsmith is in trouble."

Under this procedure, the water level is guaranteed to rise to the top of the first vessel no matter what the crown is made of. Archimedes would be testing whether the crown has the same volume as an equal volume of gold. Instead, Archimedes should melt an amount of gold equal to the weight of the crown. This way the immersion test finds out whether the crown has the same volume as an equal weight of gold. If it doesn't, it must be made (at least in part) of something other than gold. Archimedes doesn't need the second vessel at all.

Thomas H. Shields, Baltimore

Voters support tobacco tax though officials backtrack

Regarding the article "Higher tax on tobacco in trouble" (March 17), it is important to note that a majority of members of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee pledged in writing to support at least this level of tobacco tax when they were running for election. This includes Sen. Ulysses Currie of Prince George's County and Sen. James DeGrange of Anne Arundel County.

We are expecting victory ultimately because of strong support by a significant majority of Maryland voters. This measure will dramatically reduce teen-agers' addiction to tobacco, a gateway drug.

Dr. Joseph Adams, Towson

The writer is president of the Maryland Children's Initiative Education Fund Inc.

Pittsburgh's skyline lacked Wright vision

Here is a footnote to Edward Gunts' article on a Frank Lloyd Wright room built in the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show and a photomural revealing the architect's 1947 concept of the Pittsburgh skyline ("Life may be brief for timeless design," March 14).

The mural's futuristic appearance is all Wright except for a single 19th century edifice, that of the Allegheny County Courthouse, designed by H.H. Richardson.

In that year, Wright was invited to speak to architecture and art students at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. The only Pittsburgh structure he praised was Richardson's massive, granite-faced building.

At the end of the presentation, an architecture student asked: "If the Allegheny County Courthouse is the only Pittsburgh building you feel is noteworthy, what should we do?" The white-haired speaker paused, then replied in a dramatic and sonorous tone: "Move away."

Bennard B. Perlman, Baltimore

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Pub Date: 3/23/99