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PrintLet's all try to make sense of Jena -- and do better
Throughout the last few weeks I've heard of the problems in Jena, La. Not until this week was I able to get a complete rendition of the events via your editorial ("A Tree in Jena: America Needs to Strive for Justice That's Colorblind," Sept. 24). Thank you.
I wanted to begin with the tree, of course. Why did one student feel the need to ask permission to sit under a public tree? Was there an ongoing problem, and if so, why hadn't the school district looked into it before these events erupted?
Hanging nooses is definitely offensive to some if not all blacks; however, school districts usually have individual policies pertaining to so-called hate crimes. When a district needs to use these policies, it's not always up to their discretion as to how far they can go. Surely, if I were the superintendent of any school district, I would have wanted those students expelled immediately.
Finally, I would like to express my regret that these sorts of incidents are happening in any state within our great nation. We have to restructure our school districts, our legal system and, most important, our minds!
Congratulations to the Post-Gazette for providing such an understandable view of past events relating to this story.
DAPHANNY WHITE
Braddock
Pray for him
Awhile back, John Lennon wrote a masterpiece called "Imagine." I could not help thinking about the realities of imagination the last few days while the president of Iran was in our country.
With all the words written before, during and now after his stay, and with many protesting, I imagine what could have happened if each and every one of these people took their energy (and hate) and turned it into prayer for that man.
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. ..." Maybe in prayer we may someday be as one.
CECELIA L. MAZZARINI
Mount Washington
Abusers are cowards
If he is found guilty, authorities should throw the book at the man accused of shooting Buju, the dog, in the torso, cutting off his paw and attempting to decapitate him ("Man Arrested for Killing Dog," Sept. 21).
Anyone who is capable of such cruelty apparently hasn't grasped the preschool concepts of empathy or self-control. Animal abusers are cowards who take their issues out on "easy victims," and they rarely limit themselves to harming other species.
The FBI has found that a history of cruelty to animals regularly appears in its records of serial rapists and murderers. Psychiatrists, too, know that cruelty to animals is often an indicator of a disturbed and dangerous individual; the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for conduct disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion.
For everyone's safety, people who hurt animals need prison time, counseling and a ban on contact with animals. To learn more about the animal-human abuse connection, visit www.HelpingAnimals.com.
MARTIN MERSEREAU
Casework Manager
Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue and Information Department
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Norfolk, Va.
Childhood cancer
September is nearly over. This means another Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is likely to pass with no acknowledgment by the media, government leaders or anyone else in a position to promote broad awareness of the leading disease cause of death for people under 20 in this country.
As a mother of one of those children, this causes me overwhelming pain and frustration. We have hours of airtime and pages of paper to discuss drug-addicted celebrities, hypocritical politicians and, of course, O.J. Simpson, but no resources to inform the public about the fact that enough kids are diagnosed with cancer every day in this country to fill two elementary school classrooms.
How can we allow ourselves to behave as though what amounts to nothing more than useless gossip is more important than supporting children with cancer? We need to do better for these kids and their families. Being informed about childhood cancer would give us all the power to do that.
KELLY A. JOHNSON
Collier
UPMC's money
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center ran a full-page ad in the Sunday, Sept. 23, New York Times, extolling the virtues of its psychiatric research and services. Presumably the ad (one of many similar UPMC ads in The New York Times and other publications) cost a great deal of money. Add to these print ads all of the TV ads that show a UPMC hand in every pocket and the advertising budget must be immense.
UPMC pays its head far more than the chancellor of the university; it makes huge profits (more than $600 million last year); it seems to see as one of its missions putting out of business (or taking over) all other hospitals in the region. All of this we help pay for out of our health insurance and copayments if we use UPMC services.
All other industrialized countries have a universal national health plan that keeps per-capita costs far below ours and which in some countries contributes to a longer average life-span than here in the United States.
UPMC is a fine conglomerate, but as a service organization it might well take another look at its fiscal and development priorities. One suggestion: Largely a tax-free organization, it should raise its voluntary contribution (which it pays in lieu of taxes) to the city, which is desperate for funds for other community services, including those that benefit and serve UPMC employees, buildings and facilities.
SETH SPAULDING
Oakland
Just a number
Last week my wife received a letter from UPMC Shadyside asking for a donation, or if she would consider having UPMC Shadyside becoming a part of her will. The richest money-grabbing monopoly in the state is asking people to give it money. In the letter, the words compassionate and caring were used many times.
What this "caring, compassionate" institution never bothered to research was if the person from whom it was soliciting the money was alive. My wife died in UPMC Shadyside a month ago. UPMC, with the touch of a finger, can tell you if you owe it a $3 copay from 2003, yet information such as this is not in its database.
UPMC can hide behind its mission statements, but as the letter to my wife proves, we're nothing but a number.
ROBERT E. NARDOZZI
Swissvale
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