Libya should get no reward till it fully pays for Lockerbie

The May 19 editorial in support of normalized relations with Libya ("Living With Libya") states that Libya has "more or less tidied up the aftermath of its deadly 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103." As someone whose daughter, Beth Ann, was aboard that flight, I could not disagree more.

For almost 18 years, I have sought to bring all involved to justice, only to be stymied by the Libyan regime and our own government time and again. In 2003, Libya admitted its responsibility for that terrorist attack, and to avoid further embarrassing investigation, entered into a settlement to compensate the victims' families.

Libya has paid 80 percent of that settlement to the families and promised to pay the remaining 20 percent when diplomatic relations with the United States were restored. That time has come, but the final settlement has not.

It is outrageous that our government has sided with the terrorists over the victims of terrorism. President Bush must insist that Libya honor 100 percent of its obligations to the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombing before it is rewarded with fully normalized diplomatic relations.

GLENN P. JOHNSON JR.
Greensburg

The writer is board chairman of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 organization.

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Promote treatment

Opioid dependence is a chronic medical condition. While the recent news regarding deaths related to fentanyl-laced heroin has brought attention to opioid dependence in our region ("Potent Type of Heroin Kills Users," June 6), many more patients realize too well that addiction is not a sporadic disease. A clear and present danger regarding this addiction happens year-round.

Sensationalizing and criminalizing this disease obscures the real danger: the critical need to improve and provide treatment and harm reduction to those afflicted. It may be surprising for some to know that proven nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments exist for opioid dependence in treatment facilities and office-based settings.

Unfortunately, public outcry regarding methadone facilities ("not in my neighborhood") and needle exchange programs discourages treatment and encourages over-regulation of this disease by the commonwealth and city. The lack of adequate and sustainable funding for treatment programs and health-care providers to treat this disease are also impediments for treatment.

If we are to confront this public health problem, we need to encourage and provide sustenance to opioid dependence treatment.

ADAM J. GORDON, M.D.
Highland Park

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Why so threatened?

I have been married for almost 45 years. Not once in all that time did either my wife or I feel threatened by the gay people we knew. What I need is protection from people like the "jubilant" state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry ("Pa. House Passes Gay Marriage Ban," June 7).

The protection that marriage would afford gay couples is the right to share health benefits and be the person with whom medical information can be shared, have life insurance protection and the right to share raising children. This latter item seems to spook the "jubilant" numbskulls when, in fact, the most important aspect of raising children is loving and caring for them.

Homosexuality is not, as some seem to think, contagious. The present move by the Pennsylvania House (voting 136-61) in favor of a ban on gay marriage leads me to believe that there are at least 136 numbskulls in the Pennsylvania House or at least that many people who are willing to have the wool pulled over their eyes.

DONALD J. GILBERT
Mt. Lebanon

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Wait for the facts

Just when I thought it was safe to read the PG again, instead of just buying it to wrap rotten fish, Tony Norman reappears with his same old Marxist tripe about how bad America is and what murderers our men and women in uniform are ("The Atrocities of Civilians Back Home," June 6 column).

The investigations are ongoing, Mr. Norman, even if you still believe facts don't carry any weight in America, only accusations. Let's wait for the Marines and the Pentagon to complete their reviews before shooting off your mouth and rendering your usual "shoot from the hip" conclusions.

And, by the way, I'm still flying the American flag and still proud to do it.

FRED YENKE
McCandless

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Essential police tool

We need to wake up in America, and we desperately need to take back control of our communities from those who seek to empower themselves through the exploitation of our fine men and women in police uniform.

Police today have an almost impossible task of protecting us from the thugs within our society due to the complications and restrictions we place on them at the hands of these self-serving individuals. They stand on their pulpits and banter about police racism and other such nonsense just so their voices can be heard, when they should be thankful that would-be "gangbangers" (whether gun-toting, drive-by shooting, drug dealing) have been removed from their streets.

The tragic loss of the lives of the Michelle A. Rankin and Jerome D. Smith is heart-wrenching to the community, to say the least, and thankfully such deaths occur in rare instances ("Police-Pursuit Crash Kills 2 in Homewood," May 26). But this loss is also an intangible cost of ensuring the safety of that same community.

People, do not let others take away the ability of our police to seek and capture lawbreakers, because when this is removed from the police bag of tools, it will mean that the first and best choice for a lawbreaker is to flee the police. Once a suspect is lost in the first few moments of a chase, police radios become meaningless. This only extends the necessary manpower and time necessary in capturing these thugs. This job is already too difficult.

KEITH D. CRAWFORD
West Deer

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Ineffective spectacle

As a vegetarian, seeing two nearly naked people encase themselves in larger-than-life plastic-wrapped meat containers in a staged "Meat Is Murder" protest in Market Square on Monday afternoon didn't particularly please me.

While I'm thankful the city of Pittsburgh continues to keep the square a welcome place for people to publicly voice their concerns, as I've heard a few during my daily lunch excursions, rarely do any of the platforms in and of themselves spur any immediate constructive conversation.

What exactly was Goveg.com (the event sponsor and a project of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) trying to convey other than an unusual bit of product placement? Is it trying to rid the world of carnivores?

The guy in the hotdog suit who arrived shortly after the event began surely has some cause for concern about that. Or, hey, maybe Goveg is just trying to cultivate a little awareness. If that's the case, I much prefer explaining my reasons for being vegetarian should someone, say in the office, after I've made sure the pizza order has some veggies in it, ask me, "Oh, how long have you been a vegetarian?"

In the 10 minutes it takes us to have lunch I can easily relate more rational information about agricultural practices and policies than we got from the "Meat Is Murder" display in two hours.

People are naturally curious and certainly enjoy a friendly conversation more than any barking political harangue.

SEAN MacINNES
Uptown

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What could be more pressing than our health?

Our new promotional bumper sticker should be "Visit PA -- the Smokers' State," after a state House committee wimped out, voting against a bill to make every workplace in our state smoke-free ("Tie Kills Smoking Bill," June 7). The PG article said, "House leaders have said they want to first consider issues they consider more pressing."

Let's be realistic. Members of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association are paranoid about losing smokers in their establishments. Don't they realize what they would gain? Is everyone still not aware that secondhand smoke kills people? I'm surprised that lawyers have not gone after restaurants and bars due to adverse effects from smoking to their clients (maybe that is already in the works). If New York City can go smoke-free and survive, why not Pennsylvania?

In 1998, all of California's restaurants and bars banned smoking. Their statistics show that sales of beer, wine and liquor increased after that. So what are we waiting for? The smoking population that can't go an hour during lunch or dinner without a cigarette would whine and complain and refuse to go anywhere -- for a couple of months. I have many considerate friends who don't smoke in restaurants, without having to pass a law.

The association should be more concerned with people who aren't spending money at bars or restaurants because of their smoking policies. There are a lot more of us than there are of them. We need to vote for people who are willing to make our public health a "pressing issue."

SALLY DAVIS
New Kensington

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