Grocery store would enhance Cross St. Market

The Sun's editorial "Market daze" (Dec. 9) was quick to dismiss the idea of a second-floor grocery store above Federal Hill's Cross Street Market, without considering the compelling reasons to pursue it.

There is no full-scale grocery store in the business district, so shoppers cannot get everything they need in Federal Hill. They can, however, take their business elsewhere. A grocery store would keep them in the neighborhood.

None of the grocery stores Federal Hill Main Street approached had an interest in the challenges of an urban market. Adding a second story to the Cross Street Market is a creative way of rising to the challenge.

A grocery store elsewhere in the neighborhood would take shoppers away from the market. But locating it on the second level would cause more and more shoppers to walk through the market to shop.

The increase in customers would more than outweigh the increase in competition. It would benefit the market vendors as well as the rest of the business district. And improving the building would beautify the neighborhood.

It is hard to imagine why anyone would refuse to explore the possibilities.

Bonnie J. Crockett

Baltimore

The writer is executive director of Historic Federal Hill Main Street.

Stokes verdict only encourages violence

The members of the Baltimore jury that found Dontee D. Stokes not guilty of attempting to murder the Rev. Maurice J. Blackwell probably feel they were compassionate and wise in taking into account Mr. Stokes' allegations of abuse at the hands of his priest ("Stokes found not guilty," Dec. 17). But what they have done is remove an important link between an action and its consequence.

Here's an interesting legal idea: Let's hold both Father Blackwell and Mr. Stokes accountable for their actions.

Raymond F. Saunders

Towson

While I am sympathetic with Dontee D. Stokes' emotions, the verdict in his case was not a good day for Baltimore. It sends the wrong message.

We should not take guns into our own hands and shoot people who have wronged us.

L. Dell

Baltimore

Another Baltimore jury has struck again.

And by convincing 12 people that Dontee D. Stokes shot the Rev. Maurice J. Blackwell because of an out-of-body experience, attorney Warren Brown has set a new standard of absurdity for the city justice system.

This verdict is an open invitation to criminals everywhere - come on down to Charm City and wreak havoc. At trial, argue that you briefly lost your mind, and a city jury is likely to set you free.

Morton D. Marcus

Baltimore

Verdict gave victim genuine justice

Something very satisfying and joyful happens when justice is done.

And the not guilty verdict in the case of Dontee D. Stokes prompted about the happiest headline we have seen in some time ("Stokes found not guilty," Dec. 17).

Elke Straub

Baltimore

Consider the trauma the abused suffer

As I read the headlines about the outcome of the Dontee D. Stokes trial, I could not help but think of all of the women sitting behind prison bars for killing an abusive partner ("Stokes found not guilty," Dec. 17).

Murder is a crime. But is self-defense a crime? Many of these women were battered enough to wind up in emergency rooms with far more than bruises. They were threatened with the loss of their children or with being killed themselves and have been hounded and hunted down like animals. In some cases, even court orders failed to protect them.

I am not advocating vigilantism. But I am advocating that courts treat abuse seriously the first time it occurs - before an abuser kills someone or is killed by a victim.

And that when a victim of abuse is on trial, all of the evidence of his or her history should be taken into account.

Myra B. Welsh

Cockeysville

Let populist regimes try to help the poor

Poverty in Latin America has reached alarming proportions. Yet when a new government like the one in Venezuela is chosen in a democratic election to address the issue, the opposition - composed of the upper classes that own all newspapers and radio and TV stations - brainwashes the middle class into believing they don't have a future ("Chavez opponents strive to paralyze Caracas," Dec. 17).

The poor, who in Latin America often comprise about 80 percent of the population, are then left without a voice and unable to fight back.

The United States will soon have to decide if the peoples of Latin America will be allowed to find their own path - one different from the capitalistic orthodoxy that prevails in this country and among the institutions our government supports (such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) and which dictate how things should be done.

But the way things are going now it looks like new populist governments such as the ones in Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil will be overthrown, with the approval of President Bush and company.

Jaime Lievano

Baltimore

Saudi Arabia isn't our friend

Saudi Arabia never was a friend of the United States ("Saudi Arabia goes on diplomatic offensive," Dec. 4).

True friendships are based on mutual respect and sensitivity to each side's values and culture. Friends of expediency are not true friends.

The Persian Gulf war found us defending the Saudis with our lives and being sensitive to their culture; yet many Saudis still considered us infidels. And the roots of Arab hatred of the West, the United States and Israel can be found in the teaching of militant Islam in Saudi schools, mosques and media - as these lessons spread to the rest of the Muslim world.

The Saudis' covert encouragement of hate makes them far more dangerous than other Muslim countries that are openly hostile to us.

Fred Tepper

Baltimore

Use inaugural money to aid state treasury

I voted for and support Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., but I strongly disapprove of a $1 million inauguration party in light of our state's perilous financial state ("Ehrlich's inauguration to be hearty GOP party," Dec. 12).

In lieu of a week's worth of ostentatious parties, why not have all these wealthy contributors to this unnecessary entertainment donate their money to the state's treasury?

That would surely be a step in the right direction and prove to all the Democrats and naysayers how serious Mr. Ehrlich is about righting Gov. Parris N. Glendening's wrongs.

Gail Householder

Marriottsville