Cutting budget won't cure woes of prison system

I work in a correctional setting and I certainly agree with the authors of "Prison spending needs lockdown" (Dec. 1) that to reduce recidivism changes need to be made to make laws more fair and, ultimately, to have fewer people in prison and more in treatment-oriented facilities. Who would not agree with that?

Unfortunately, Timothy Roche and Vincent Schiraldi go about their crusade in the wrong way. They seek to cut a budget that is already overwhelmed.

Correctional officers have had their overtime cut and their pay is already low. Turnover is a huge problem. State correctional employees will not get a raise this year.

And the parole-probation system into which the authors intend to dump nonviolent drug offenders is so overwhelmed that it can't supervise those now in the system or find a bed for any extended time in a drug rehabilitation facility.

These are the real problems. However, the solution is not to cut a budget that supports thousand of employees and helps protect public safety.

Rather, the legislature must help change the parts of the system that need fixing.

Larry Lynn II

Jessup

Campaign financing fosters perks for rich

Molly Ivins asks why Republicans granted many large corporations the ability to exploit tax loopholes by setting up off-shore tax shelters ("There's nothing patriotic about helping tax cheats," Opinion Commentary, Dec. 2).

The answer is simple. It has nothing to do with economics, the will of the voters or the common good.

Since these same corporations make massive campaign contributions, they get what they want. Because middle- and lower-class Americans can't make such lavish donations, they get stuck paying a larger percentage of our taxes.

Unless we adopt a system in which candidates can finance campaigns from tax revenues and not from the donations of large corporations and the wealthiest Americans, we can only expect more tax loopholes for the rich.

David Chipkin

Annapolis

Choosing Sauerbrey sends wrong signal

The recent nomination and confirmation of Ellen Sauerbrey as ambassador to the U.N. Committee on the Status of Women sends a frightening and bitter note to women around the world ("Sauerbrey still has fire, but out of fray," Nov. 30).

Our government's position on, and lack of support for, U.N. population programs has been anything but sensible or compassionate. And Ms. Sauerbrey's record in regard to women's health and welfare is pretty dismal and poses an ongoing threat, particularly for poor people in underdeveloped countries.

Knowing President Bush's agenda, this selection comes as no surprise. However, perhaps when our new ambassador sees first-hand the tragic, desperate lives of those burdened with unwanted pregnancies she will see the light.

E. Kaufman

Cockeysville

Let nature control deer population

The Sun's article "Women lured by challenge to hunt" (Nov. 30) and the accompanying photo were absolutely appalling.

How anyone could find pleasure and sport by killing a beautiful deer, or any animal for that matter, is beyond my comprehension.

The hunters say killing has to be done to thin out the population. But that response won't do.

Nature can take care of the problem. Survival of the fittest has been in effect from day one. Let's leave this as it has always been.

Barbara Barry

Baltimore

Founder of the KGB merits no memorial

The Sun's article about the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky was very interesting ("Russian nostalgia feeds struggle over monument to KGB founder," Nov. 30).

It seemed peculiar to me at first that the founder of the Soviet KGB, who supervised the murder of millions of civilians, would also be the founder of the country's orphanage system. Then it all made sense: Mr. Dzerzhinsky exterminated so many parents, then took their children away to be trained as "proper communists."

Mr. Dzerzhinsky was a butcher on the scale of Adolf Hitler. It's an outrage that there is a memorial to him anywhere.

Trent Tschirgi

Columbia

Focus relief efforts on needy Americans

Can anyone explain why America continues to ignore its own poor people in need and while it imports refugees from halfway around the world ("A refugee couple finds much to be thankful for," Nov. 28)?

Why isn't the well-intentioned congregation of Westminster Church of the Brethren targeting its charitable efforts at taking care of Americans first? Why import yet another Third World family with no marketable skills, no money, no education, no English skills and no prospects?

Importing refugees seems to be a Christian thing to do. But people such as the Sudanese refugees in this article can only survive in the United States if they are subsidized by local church members and, ultimately, these refugees will be subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.

The Church of the Brethren seems to have forgotten that charity begins at home. American taxpayers should subsidize needy Americans first, not foreigners imported from 10,000 miles away and imposed on American society in the name of Christian charity.

Michael Holden

Chestertown

Taft-Hartley law can't always deliver

Joseph R.L. Sterne's column "Taft-Hartley delivers on the docks" (Opinion Commentary, Nov. 29) was far too dismissive of the symbolic importance of union organizing and the right to strike.

We may like the outcome of the invocation of Taft-Hartley in the Pacific Coast port dispute. But using that fact to support the law is a little like condoning the fact that the Supreme Court gave us the wrong president in 2000 because, by gosh, President Bush has done better than expected.

J. Russell Tyldesley

Catonsville

Heritage turkeys on view at the zoo

The Sun's recent article about heritage breeds of turkeys being raised on family farms was very interesting ("These turkeys are old-style from egg to Thanksgiving," Nov. 27). And readers might be interested to find that some of the heritage breeds are available to see in a place nearby: the Baltimore Zoo.

One of the turkey breeds shown in a photo accompanying the article, the Royal Palm Turkey, may be found in the barnyard in our award-winning Children's Zoo. However, these attractive birds are to be watched, not eaten.

Our zoo is not only the home of exotic wild species, but some interesting domestic breeds as well, and visitors shouldn't miss them.

Alan L. Katz

Owings Mills