Soccer team has women on a roll

The Sun's front-page article on the victory of the U.S. women's soccer team in the World Cup ("U.S. soccer fantasy comes true," July 11) said: Brandi Chastain "might not have been thinking about being a role model as she stripped off her jersey in celebration after making the winning penalty kick."

That made me laugh. She is the perfect role model. She is breaking the mold that society has cast, and girls everywhere are on a roll. Nothing has impressed me more than the heart and soul and the skill, determination and commitment of those World Cup athletes.

To women around the world, the World Cup final was much more than a game. It was an awakening, a turning point.

I was a sophomore in high school when Title IX, the federal law which requires equal funding for boys and girls athletics, came into law.

I played on the girls basketball team before that law really had an impact. Since we had no organized practice sessions or learned skills, we sheepishly walked onto the basketball court.

Feeling embarrassed by our lack of knowledge and skill, we were thankful that at the time we played -- three hours before the gym would begin filling for the sold-out boys' games -- the vacant bleachers assured us that no one would see our torture.

In contrast, my 10-year-old daughter began playing soccer at age 4. By the time she was 5, she was skillfully dribbling the ball past her father in backyard play, but she was still timid on the field.

At age 8 she moved from a co-ed to a single-sex team -- and, like a wild filly, she tore out of the gates -- as did but all the girls. Their time had come. Together they would gel into a team that worked together, supported each other and won games.

Ms. Chastain and her World Cup teammates are amazing. They are the type of role models we need for our girls.

But, at a grassroots level, we also need more female coaches in recreational leagues and schools and coaches who are trained to understand female development.

Tracy J. Hannah

Baltimore

I was amazed to read Marc Starnes' letter, "Soccer team's triumph doesn't herald a new era" (July 13). I don't believe Mr. Starnes should dismiss the impact of this sport, this event and these athletes.

The Women's World Cup, and especially the U.S. women's soccer team, have given us many things. Young girls and women have a source of hope and inspiration in soccer and life.

For young boys and men, the U.S. team is an unprecedented source of women to respect and admire. Athletes of all ages and genders have a renewed love of the sport of soccer.

And everyone can respect that most of these women successfully juggle family and work.

Mr. Starnes, however, blows off the excitement and support for the U.S. team, saying that "everyone loves a winner."

However, this statement is unsupported. In fact, most of the tickets for the final rounds were sold last winter, before anyone knew which teams would be playing.

In addition, tens of millions of soccer fans even watched the games on ABC and ESPN that did not include the U.S. team.

More than 90,000 fans traveled from all corners of the United States to see the championship game and more than 40 million Americans watched the game on television. Also, dozens of websites are dedicated to the U.S. team and its players.

Our society is constantly changing. Until recently, sports were predominately for men. However, more girls are playing sports than ever (visit any local playground on a weekend) and women athletes are becoming more and more popular.

Over the last couple of decades, we have seen many successful women athletes -- Chris Evert, Florence Griffith Joyner, Jackie Joyner Kersey, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Picabo Street are just a few examples.

I trust that, in time, there will be many more.

Maria Ruark

Eldersburg

Maryland Pride soccer deserves coverage

As a teacher and a "soccer mom," I am puzzled by The Sun's lack of coverage of the W-1 soccer league, the country's premier women's soccer league.

Our home team, the Maryland Pride, is one of the league's most successful teams, having won the national title in 1996 and reached either the finals or semi-finals in 1997 and 1998.

The W-league has been so successful that it has split into two divisions (W-1 and W-2) to accommodate 35 teams from the United States and Canada.

The Pride is a regional, semi-professional team that draws players with extensive international experience.

As the excitement generated by the Women's World Cup makes clear, women's soccer is an extremely popular sport.

The skill determination, and charisma of these players captured the attention of the American public.

As a result of the World Cup experience, we hope a women's professional soccer league will be born. Meanwhile, national team players are playing in the W-1 league and competing against our Maryland Pride.

Still The Sun refuses to cover the Pride's games in any depth. Occasionaly, a sentence appears in the "Sports Digest" section giving the results, but no full articles about the Pride. And the paper hasn't published their scores in the "For the Record" section or listed any upcoming games.

Because of this oversight, many Baltimore-area women's soccer fans are unaware the team exists. This denies many young girls the chance to see quality women's soccer on a regular basis and to meet these superb role models.

This is a regional team, the female equivalent of Major League Soccer. These women play hard and well. They deserve coverage and support and the reading public deserves to know about them.

In light of the fantastic support of the womens national team and in fairness to female athletes, I ask that The Sun begin to cover the Maryland Pride the same way it covers men's sports.

Neither the paper nor it's readers will be disappointed.

Barbara Macfarlane

Monkton

BSAS offers new hope for city's addicts

The drug addiction treatment delivery network that the Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems (BSAS) is building is one of the most exciting developments in Baltimore ("At BSAS, the good is growing," July 3).

Contrary to the impression The Sun's two-part editorial on addiction in Baltimore gave (June 27-28), this treatment system is recognized nationwide for its comprehensive, innovative and ambitious approach.

It is reason for citizens to feel optimistic and to contribute their resources and ideas, to further strengthen the system.

Baltimore's addiction treatment system is also one of the prime reasons that the Open Society Institute, the private foundation funded by philanthropist George Soros, opened its first U.S. field office in Baltimore.

Under the creative leadership of city Health Commissioner Dr. Peter Beilenson, BSAS is thinking big -- as the scope of Baltimore's addiction problem requires.

Along with San Francisco, Baltimore is the only U.S. city that has established the objective of providing its residents addiction treatment on request, within 24 hours.

BSAS is raising public and private funds to offer a range of treatment options, strengthen existing programs, and to draw in hard-to-reach populations.

To accomplish this objective, BSAS has taken steps to strengthen itself organizationally, to evaluate the impact of its programs and streamline access to treatment.

Guided by a Scientific Advisory Committee comprising internationally recognized addiction treatment experts, BSAS is drawing on research findings and best practices throughout the country to ensure that all city residents have access to high quality treatment.

Its work is enhanced by its unique board, which brings together public and private agencies that offer the services and support citizens in treatment need.

Given the great potential of this initiative, the Open Society Institute has awarded a $2 million grant to BSAS, which must be matched 2-to-1 by other private funds.

This challenge is a call to the private sector to take concrete steps to loosen the stranglehold addiction has on this city.

The literature is clear: Treatment works and is cost effective.

Let's put our resources together to build a comprehensive treatment network that allows all of our drug-dependent residents -- whether incarcerated, on parole or probation, or in the shadows of Baltimore's neighborhoods -- to rebuild their lives, families and communities.

Diana Morris

Baltimore

The writer is director of U.S. programs - Baltimore for the Open Society Institute.

The Sun was right to examine the Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems Inc. (BSAS) in its editorial series on addiction in Baltimore (June 27-28).

Unfortunately, the paper focused on BSAS' small shortcomings instead of the major advancements it has made.

BSAS is raising millions of dollars in private funds so that it can provide treatment to all who need it, when they need it.

Its much-criticized strategic planning process, while imperfect, is a clear indication of the willingness of BSAS and its board to re-examine its operations to improve outcomes.

The Sun's series pointed out that insufficient outcome measures are currently in place at BSAS. But it failed to note that no other jurisdiction in Maryland, and few in the nation, has better measures; or that BSAS is currently developing outcome measurements with the assistance of a nationally recognized scientific advisory panel.

These measures should be in place early next year. They will put Baltimore at the cutting edge of drug treatment outcome measurement.

The editorials noted that Baltimore's treatment programs have some of the worst outcomes in the state. Unfortunately, that's not surprising given the number of hard-core, poverty-stricken addicts in Baltimore.

While the Greater Baltimore Committee believes BSAS needs to improve, Baltimore's citizens should know that BSAS is working to do just that.

If funding can be found to support the treatment system BSAS is working toward, the entire region will be safer and healthier.

Donald P. Hutchinson

Baltimore

The writer is president of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

A 'nutty' vision for the region's future

Many ideas that are commonplace today ideas were once considered nutty.

Or, as Tom Horton put it his article on the bay, "Vital restoration not happening," (June 25) they were "outside the box." And Mr. Horton is right: Nutty, out-of-the-box ideas often are the ones that move us forward.

But are they truly lacking when it comes to the Chesapeake Bay?

Once upon a time the idea of removing significant amounts of nitrogen from sewage treatment plants was considered nutty. It would cost too much. The technology wasn't available.

That was in the early 1980s. Now that nutty idea is the most successful single effort to date to protect the bay from pollution.

Later dreamers came along who said, "Let's mimic natural oyster reefs when we are seeding oysters."

Skeptics said the idea was absurd. Now inter-tidal reef construction is commonplace in Virginia and seems to be the most promising idea in decades for restoring oysters.

Heck, once folks said a rockfish ban would never work, or that we couldn't live without phosphorus in our detergent.

Back in 1980, the idea of nutrient management plans on farms was mainly an academic concept, applied on university farms. Farmers all over the region apply these plans now.

And who expected to see chicken manure manufactured into pellets and shipped to Midwestern, phosphorus-hungry markets, before Perdue Farms Inc. decided to do it?

Mr. Horton is right when he notes that we have just barely scratched the surface in our efforts to save the bay. But he is too pessimistic in his forecast. We at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have a vision, 20 years into the future, of a bay and region that has been drastically changed by todays nutty ideas.

In the Chesapeake region of 2020, we see a bay with a crab migration sanctuary, where for years female blue crabs have been protected in deep waters as they migrate to their spawning grounds. Aided by such measures, the crab population is large and stable. Chesapeake Blue Crabs have become a recognized brand, demanded at premium prices.

The shortage of chicken manure that began about 2010 has gotten much worse as many new markets for the material have been developed. Prices for the raw manure are at an all-time high.

Fuel cell and electric vehicles have become commonplace and now make up 20 percent of the region's auto fleet. The aging internal combustion engines are on the way out, hurried by legislators interested in cleaner air and water and advancing technologies that created vehicles more economic than current gas-guzzlers. A retro-reunion of SUVs is held annually.

Sewage treatment has advanced to the point where the nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in their discharges are half of those considered advanced at the turn of the century.

Composting toilets have replaced septic systems.

Ecotourism has brought many visitors to the area. Two popular highlights are diving on oyster bars in the southern bay and snorkeling through the amazing grass beds in Tangier Sound.

The region's population has stopped growing so quickly -- partly as a result of slowed global population growth, but mostly as a result of public policy. The region finally decided that quality of life and the environment were more important than growth for growth's sake.

The Baltimore regional government has gotten a strong start on redeveloping large sections of the older suburbs and the city, using shared tax bases to improve education and protect open land and regional culture.

None of this came about easily. But the ideas, all nascent in 2000, got a toe-hold with the help of a motivated citizenry and bold political leadership.

In this vision, this region isn't a utopia in 2020. But it is a great place to live, with rich diversity and culture.

Today's Chesapeake Bay may be troubled, but it's far from dead. In fact, it's gaining strength and health.

Many in this bay region deserve credit for driving forward an environmental rescue effort of unprecedented complexity.

The past suggests that new ideas that will make a difference will appear. In fact, some of them may already be here.

William Baker

Annapolis

The writer is president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

An oasis in the city

Cylburn Park, on Greenspring Avenue just south of Sinai Hospital, is one of Baltimore's hidden treasures. It was a stroke of genius for the city to buy this property from the Tyson family in the 1940s.

In the park are paths for walking and hiking, many birds and butterflies and a magnificent and varied array of gardens.

The park is a wonderful example of what can be done with a small piece of land, an old mansion, very little money, a few dedicated volunteers and some creativity.

It is open seven days a week, all day -- and something is always happening there.

The mayor and city council of Baltimore should be congratulated for contributing to the support of this green oasis. But more is needed.

The mayor and city council should visit the park, then look into city coffers to see if they can't find just a few more dollars to help maintain and restore the mansion and preserve this bit of exotic wilderness in our troubled city.

Bernice S. Seiden

Baltimore