With gambling, we need top-notch police leadership

Michael Fuoco's Jan. 9 story on changes within the Pittsburgh police department sounds a timely and appropriate note of caution to the incoming O'Connor administration ("Police Chief McNeilly's Tenure Saw Wrenching Changes").

Mayor Bob O'Connor's pat "safest city in America" rhetoric gets its first reality check with his appointment of a new police chief. A return to pre-Murphy policies of winks, nods and all-too-familiar cronyism will send a quick and dangerous signal through police ranks. We need to sustain and even raise, not lower, police standards and practices in anticipation of casino gambling, ripe with opportunity for malfeasance and corruption.

Naperville, Ill. -- one of the nation's fastest-growing cities and ranked by Money magazine as the country's "third best place to live" -- offers a model for building and operating the police department of the future. Key to Naperville sustaining its professional police culture is a willingness to submit to a national accreditation process.

When it comes to public safety, we can't afford for Mayor O'Connor's often Pollyanna-ish "why can't we all just get along" approach to rule the day.

R. TODD ERKEL
Swisshelm Park

---

Never again

On the matter of the tragedy involving Taylor Allderdice students last week ("4 Teens Charged in Killing With Brick," Jan. 2; "5th Suspect Arrested in Beating Death of Lincoln Place Teen," Jan. 4), I as a parent have great concerns about the future relationship between the two neighborhoods involved. I live in Hazelwood, so I am in the middle of the geographic map. My son is an 11th-grader at Allderdice and was best friends with the victim in this tragedy, and also rode the bus with three of the accused and played football last year with Ken Warywoda, one of the teens charged.

In talking to the parents of the Lincoln Place students at the funeral, the consensus was that something must be done to stop this from ever happening again to a child in either neighborhood. I, as an outsider, have pledged my time and support to help with any solution. We also have to get the Greenfield parents involved in coming up with a solution. I knew all the kids involved, and it brings tears to my eyes to see so many young lives wasted.

A senseless act such as this must never happen again.

BILL BOYLE
Hazelwood

---

No PG apology?

The fact that the Post-Gazette did not print an apology on the front page for peppering Pittsburgh on Jan. 4 with a dead wrong "Miracle at Sago" headline and an accompanying article containing no official police or company statements indicating that the miners had survived -- just amplifying what turned out to be a tragic rumor -- is completely bush-league.

Yes, you corrected later editions (but my store's stack of papers arrived with the wrong headline nearly six hours after the tragic truth was out). Yes, you weren't alone in hopefully jumping on the misinformation -- numerous papers including USA Today did so as well. Yes, mistakes happen (although usually not this blatant or poorly corroborated). I could live with that.

However, shipping a stack the next day that made no apology to the misled readers who may have seen it while uninformed of the truth at that hour was a disrespectful lack of contrition. You owe the readers an apology.

J. HOGAN
McKees Rocks

---

Schenley successes

A championship soccer team with players from 12 different countries. A school record in the number of International Baccalaureate students. Spirited participation in numerous extracurricular activities by a diverse student body. A highly touted basketball team seeking post-season glory.

The stuff movies are made of? Perhaps not, but nevertheless the alumni and friends of Schenley High School would do well to remember the Spartans. Decisions that could be made by the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education over the next two months threaten the Schenley High School we know.

The board's theory concerning the East Liberty Reizenstein property, "If we renovate it, they will come," is not without flaws. A growing number of people believe a move from the Oakland site will adversely affect the balance, chemistry and safety of the Schenley student body.

As we address the many failures of the past, it is imperative that we are diligent in preserving the successes of the present.

PAUL DOUGHERTY
Highland Park

---

Postal disservice

Regarding the Jan. 10 article on the U.S. Postal Service running short of 2-cent stamps in local branch offices ("2-Cent Stamps Hard to Come By"), I had to laugh and shake my head. Last Friday I stopped in the Squirrel Hill branch after work on the off chance that the lines would be short, or that the stamp dispenser might have either 1-cent stamps, 2-cent stamps, or -- wonder of wonders -- the 39-cent stamps.

I was not surprised to find that none of the stamps I needed was available in the machine and the line was more than 10 customers long. This is the branch I regularly patronize and it was the first time in months that three windows were open at the same time, but no one was staffing a "stamps only" station.

On the weekend before a rate increase, wouldn't that have made sense?

MARYANNE LOEBIG
Point Breeze

---

Lynn Swann offers Pa. voters more than celebrity status

I read with a great deal of interest the Jan. 6 editorial "Helmet in the Ring: Lynn Swann Must Be More Than Fame and Football." The implication of popularity as opposed to experience does have a certain amount of credence. I, however, believe we have to analyze Mr. Swann's candidacy a little further.

First, where does it say a potential candidate has to "pay his dues" and possibly be considered a good ol' boy to be viable for any political office? At some point, any elected official had to be a neophyte. There is no question celebrity status plays an important role, and your points concerning Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger are well taken. I guess you could add Sonny Bono to that list. In reality, though, this certainly falls into the proverbial Monday morning quarterbacking scenario.

In retrospect may I add the names of former Reps. Steve Largent, NFL hall of famer; J.C. Watts, who was a quarterback at the University of Oklahoma; and Jack Kemp, former quarterback for the Buffalo Bills?

One of the key elements of a successful candidacy is for candidates to surround themselves with good, loyal, knowledgeable people who can aid and enhance the candidate's performance capabilities. I am of the understanding these characteristics are already being addressed relative to Mr. Swann. As far as pertinent issues are concerned, not too many candidates go into explicit detail on initial announcements. I'm sure over the ensuing period prior to May and November, these issues will be addressed via media interviews, debates and public speaking engagements.

Mr. Swann's credentials can be considered impeccable ranging from integrity, morality, family values and unselfish community involvement. Sheer logic would dictate he would not walk away from a lucrative long-tenured ABC sports commentator's position just to keep an incumbent governor honest. His intentions are genuine, committed, honorable and heartfelt.

BUD GASTGEB
Bethel Park
Editor's note: The writer is a member of the Bethel Park Republican Committee.

---

Star power fizzles

I am deeply disturbed by the recent trend of political parties parading out so-called "star power" candidates for public office. The Jan. 8 article "GOP Caucus Gives Swann Green Light" clearly outlines the GOP intent of bypassing well-qualified candidates for one with no qualifications other than big-name recognition.

I loved Lynn Swann as a pass-catching Super Bowl hero for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he hasn't done a single thing since that would convince me he should be our next governor. Are we as voters so shallow as to think that a man who has spent a better part of his life playing a child's game would be a more qualified public servant in Harrisburg than a person who has spent 30 years working and understanding the intricacies of that high office?

If so, then the American public deserves what it gets and, based on the events of recent years, that hasn't been good!

MICHAEL J. KOZY SR.
Crafton

---

Think beyond sports

It seems likely that having a football player become governor of Pennsylvania is about as appropriate as the faux-election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California. Voting for celebrities makes a pathetic statement about the civic education of most Americans.

Maybe if Pittsburghers turned their minds to something besides professional sports, we might not be one of the most pathetic backwaters that dares to call itself a major American city. And you all wring your hands about why young people don't want to stay here. Is it really any wonder?

DAVID BROWN
Renfrew