Flunk all pupils who cannot make the grade

The Sun's article "City students promoted despite not meeting goals" (June 15) seemed to suggest that the schools' 87 percent attendance rate for ninth-graders was acceptable, while its 78 percent attendance rate among the ninth-graders in a transitional program was not.

But 87 percent average attendance means that the typical child misses about 23 days of school per year. Acceptable? I think not.

What employer would tolerate such abysmal attendance? These kids are being set up for a lifetime of disappointment.

I want to blame the schools, but I must start with the parents. It's the parents who must step up and ensure their children go to school and do their homework. Anything less condemns these kids to repeat the lives of their parents.

But the Baltimore schools have the power to influence parents' collective apathy. It's time to draw a line in the sand: Stop worrying about Junior's precious self-esteem and flunk every kid who does not meet the requirements to advance to the next grade.

If that means 46,000 kids repeat a grade, so be it. Most of them will thank us one day.

Let's teach these kids to value hard work and accomplishment. If that requires stigmatizing the whole city, it would be worth it.

Tom McIntyre

Ellicott City

Vote the wealthy out of Congress

On June 15, The Sun reported on the assets of certain congressmen and senators ("Clintons' income $12 million last year"). It appears that none of them is poor.

On the contrary, most of them are either very well-off or very rich, having assets in the millions.

How can a body of very well-off people answer to the needs of the poor?

Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake," and her head was cut off. Being less barbaric, we should just vote these representatives out of office.

Philip R. Grossman

Baltimore

Israeli settlements block path to peace

"Palestinian gunmen shoot pregnant settler, husband," screamed a Sun headline on June 9. However, when one compares the number of Palestinians killed with the number of Israelis killed, just think how many such headlines you could have as regards Israelis killing Palestinians -- and, yes, even pregnant women.

If Palestinians had the military means the Israelis have, they would not resort to suicide bombings. And it is not fair to judge a people because their lack of tanks, missiles, helicopters, submarines and the like forces them to rely on whatever means they have.

Palestinians are constantly criticized for failing to comply with the Oslo accords because they have continued to use violence. But the Israelis are given almost a free pass for their violation of not only the Oslo accords but also the Geneva Conventions by settling their citizens in occupied territory.

Yet the one action begets the other. Get rid of the settlements, and you would very likely have peace -- at least it's worth a try.

Doris Rausch

Ellicott City

Push Sen. Miller to resign his post

The GOP speaker of Virginia's House was recently accused of bribing a woman not to bring sexual harassment charges against him. His own party pushed him to step down, and as a Republican, I'm proud the party did the correct thing and that the speaker did step down.

Now we have state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. His offense is not about sex, but a very serious offense dealing with interference in the judicial process.

Mr. Miller has apologized ("Miller makes apology for court contact," June 15). But his party should be demanding he step down, and out.

For once the Democratic Party should step out of "spin" mode and show that it still has some semblance of a moral rudder.

James M. Althoff

Phoenix

A management style state doesn't need

The writer of the letter "Townsend solved the problems at hand" (June 14) believes the definition of management is "dealing with problems once they are discovered."

I don't know the letter-writer's background, but almost any student of business could tell you that an organization with such management would be doomed to failure. Effective management requires, among other attributes, the ability to anticipate difficulties and prevent them from occurring.

The lieutenant governor's abysmal failure in managing the state's juvenile justice system is, unfortunately, just a preview of what we could expect if she were to assume responsibility for the entire state government, a task for which she is woefully unqualified.

Robert West

Ellicott City

Warn the fishermen of Back River's woes

Dan Rodricks' column on contaminated fish highlights the distance between Annapolis and the fishing docks ("Fresh fish? No thank you, not on your life," June 14). And here in the Herring Run watershed, we have been working with our members to lobby for effective signage warning anglers of the PCB contamination in the Back River section of Herring Run.

Last summer, the Maryland Department of the Environment found very high levels of PCB contamination in carp from this area. And carp are vegetarians -- so the toxins are penetrating directly through the scales, not just moving up the food chain.

The problem is that many fishermen here don't know they shouldn't be eating the fish, because neither Baltimore County, the MDE nor anyone else has posted signs suggesting the Back River is too contaminated to fish.

Richard S. Hersey

Baltimore

The writer is executive director of the Herring Run Watershed Association.

Report the levels of area reservoirs

Each morning during this extended rainy period, I have checked the official precipitation recorded at Baltimore Washington International Airport. It has invariably turned out to be a small fraction of the rainfall in my area.

This makes me wonder if the "official bucket" has a hole in it, or if accumulation is being prevented by a ledge or a strong wind current.

For those of us trying to determine the continuing severity of the drought, regular reports on the water levels in area reservoirs would probably help more than these official measurements.

Peter E. Dans

Cockeysville

City deserves better than Mitchell threat

Did I miss the furor when state Sen. Clarence Mitchell IV threatened to implement "Druid Hill" justice against unspecified "punks" (presumably employees of The Sun) ("Parren Mitchell sues Sun, 2 reporters," June 8)?

Don't the citizens of Baltimore expect and deserve more from our black leaders?

Stephanie King

Baltimore