Welfare reform has many roads to independence

The Sun's editorial "The Senate's challenge" (May 23) contained several misconceptions I would like to correct.

It is incorrect to state that the Bush administration's welfare reform proposal presents work alone as the key to success. In fact, recipients would be required to work only 24 hours of a 40-hour work week.

The remaining 16 hours could be spent in any mix of activities that help achieve the goal of economic self-sufficiency. These could include training in job readiness and job skills, higher education, substance abuse treatment, counseling, rehabilitation - whatever is necessary to complement recipients' work efforts and help them succeed.

The 40 hours of combined work and complementary activities are vitally important to preparing recipients for full-time jobs - the kind of jobs that offer the best wages and crucial benefits such as health care and child care. We expect states to use the flexibility inherent in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families to ensure that recipients are working toward this goal.

And it is important to remember that federal and state governments already spend more than $11 billion annually for child care. In addition to that, we have Head Start, a $6.7 billion-a-year program serving more than 900,000 children from birth to age 5.

Studies of welfare reform so far have shown no adverse effects and some evidence of positive effects on young children whose parents are moving toward economic independence. And we believe that building strong, self-sufficient families is the best way to ensure bright futures for all of America's children.

Wade F. Horn

Washington

The writer is assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Congress can't fix security agencies

Having the Congress "fix" the national security apparatus is like entrusting the restructuring of Enron to former CEO Kenneth Lay.

Messing something up in the first place hardly qualifies one as an expert on straightening it out.

M. Szymanski

Westminster

BGE isn't obliged to collect cash

The Sun's editorial about BGE stated that check-cashing services usually charge hefty fees and not everyone has the means to pay by check or electronically ("An aversion to cash," June 7).

But what is hefty? Most check-cashing establishments charge from nothing to $1 to pay bills such as BGE's and very little for a money order. And most check cashers are licensed and regulated by the state of Maryland.

Why should BGE be required to keep two payment centers open to accept cash? How many public or private businesses maintain offices to accept cash payments for services rendered?

Ronald Waltemeyer

Nottingham

Fossil fuels foul the air

Cal Thomas may be right in that the scientific jury on global warming is still out ("Don't succumb to warming hysteria," Opinion * Commentary, June 12).

Nonetheless, the burning of fossil fuels, especially by inefficient SUVs, cannot be defended solely on that basis, because we still have to breathe the air that is polluted not only by carbon dioxide but also by ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and other compounds.

And, as air quality declines, morbidity and mortality rates from respiratory illnesses increase. So, warming trend or not, the consumption of fossil fuels needs to be reduced.

Maryanne B. Budnichuk

Laurel

The point Cal Thomas completely ignores is that burning fossil fuels, especially combined with high temperatures, creates air that is unhealthy for everyone, especially the elderly, children and those with respiratory problems.

I realize it would cost money to correct this problem. But it is my opinion that the citizens of this country would pay to improve the air they breathe.

And, morally, we have no right to subject anyone to unhealthy air if there is a way to correct this problem.

Edgar Thost

Annapolis

Nixon's liberalism was always obvious

Richard Nixon was not a "closet" liberal ("Was Richard M. Nixon a closet liberal?" June 9). He was obviously one of our most liberal presidents, but the liberal press failed to see what was clear to anyone who looked.

He might have survived Watergate if he had not lost his conservative support.

In later years he became a conservative, but remember the old clichM-i, "A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged."

Mr. Nixon was "mugged" by his liberal friends and ultimately became a conservative.

Jim Kniss

Aberdeen

Why not build elevated trains?

Trams, trolleys, heavy rail - all of these forms of mass transit take up surface space. So why not go elevated?

Elevated monobeam rail can go up to 70 miles per hour and has nearly the hauling capacity of heavy rail. It's safer, more reliable, faster and less disruptive to build than a trolley system - and it's less costly to build.

Seattle is moving ahead with an elevated monorail system because grassroots people forced the government to give them $6 million to plan and design a monorail system and to set aside up to $200 million in bond authority to begin construction if the plan is approved in November.

The world is going elevated. So why not Maryland?

G. Stanley Doore

Silver Spring

Focus on city issues, not far-away herders

How could The Sun have at the top of its front page and in large type the headline "Yak herders of East Tibet follow grass" (June 5)?

In Baltimore, a city of more than one-half million people, are there not stories of more immediate interest than that of the Yak herders of Tibet?

What of those who have rebuilt city rowhouses? Or even interviews with dope sellers on the corners about what they do and what they think about the next five years?

Let's have a continuing emphasis on our city.

C. Clark Jones

Parkville

Victims heal when their grief is heard

Dan Buccino's crusade to encourage "accountability" among his patients is irrelevant to Dontee Stokes' nightmarish story ("When is abuse an excuse?" Opinion * Commentary, June 12).

The unaccountable Catholic Church used its usual hardball tactics, leaving Mr. Stokes emotionally tortured and his family without support from their Catholic community.

Mr. Buccino's ivory-tower theorizing misses an important point: Victims heal and contact their "inner adult" when their grief has been heard and validated. Mr. Stokes never had that chance.

Ellen Serrano

Leesburg, Va.