The sad tale of Andrea Curry-Demus ("Trouble Began at 12 for Suspect: Woman Accused in Kidnap-Killing Had Miscarriages, Major Depression," July 23) should be a wake-up call to the professional people responsible for the care of these unfortunate, mentally ill victims. Closing the hospitals (the latest is Mayview) is a serious mistake for the patient and for our communities.

Instead of closing these places of refuge for the unfortunate and protecting the public's safety, we should be expanding and modernizing these facilities. Drugs to control these illnesses are proving not to be the answer.

Both the patient and the community are at immediate risk, as we see by this latest example. We all should be ashamed of ourselves for the apathy about mental illness and the terrible price we're paying for that uncaring attitude. Instead of apathy, the public should be outraged. As it is today, every one of us is vulnerable and has the possibility of being the next innocent victim.

MARY L. KIENTZ
Collier

Pa.'s shame

How curious, how sick, how sad to read about the charges against former state Rep. Mike Veon and others ("Veon, State House Democratic Staffers Charged in Bonus Probe," July 10).

What makes me ill is to read the July 16 Hope & Healing column by Monessa Tinsley-Crabb ("Effort to Win State Funding Falls Short"). This beautiful lady and her husband went to Harrisburg with the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) Association director and others to almost plead for help in the amount of $800,000 for about 800 Pennsylvanians with the disease. Their request was denied!

Why was Mr. Veon able to get millions for bonuses to healthy people for work that prosecutors believe was for election campaigns?

What are we in this state? A politician has no problem getting access to the taxpayers' money, but a cause so important as the ALS Association, which can help so many in need, is turned away.

It's time to revolt again in Pennsylvania.

HELEN MARENCHIN
Farrell

Bad move, city

Regarding "South Side Police Station Moving to Hilltop" (July 19): Another stupid move by the powers that be in the city of Pittsburgh. Don't any of our elected officials have any common sense?

Moving the South Side No. 3 police station to Allentown to the former youth hostel building doesn't make any sense. Where are they going to park all of the police cars and private vehicles? If they feel they have to move the station, there are much better sites.

At the top of Eleanor Street on Arlington Avenue there sits a perfect building, formerly a dialysis center, with its own parking lot. That's just one spot that's better suited than Allentown.

Don't they put any serious thought into these decisions or do they just rubber stamp any suggestion?

ALBERTA and RALPH STOUGHTON
South Side Slopes

Cover backfired

I've subscribed to The New Yorker magazine for more than 25 years and have always enjoyed its unique style of satire. Nevertheless, my shock upon seeing its cover portraying Barack and Michelle Obama as terrorists and followers of Osama bin Laden was akin to discovering that a beloved family member has performed in blackface -- to make the point that blackface is offensive ("What Was The New Yorker Thinking With That Cover?" July 15). The line between satire and its subject is delicate but essential, and in clumsy hands can be erased, so that the satire ends up serving the same master as the subject it purports to challenge.

I suggest that The New Yorker entreat the Obama family for forgiveness. Following that, perhaps it can explain how it came to be so far off course. No doubt, its well-deserved reputation for intellectual integrity will ultimately sustain it, but there needs to be some profound soul-searching in the meantime.

REBECCA FORD AUBLE
Regent Square

Fix what we have

Rep. Joe Markosek ("Forget the Turnpike Lease," July 16 Perspectives) and Jim Courtovich ("Lease the Turnpike," July 18 In Rebuttal) seem to agree that Pennsylvania's roads and bridges need all the help they can get.

As either man could tell you, neither Act 44 nor the turnpike lease actually promises to close the $1.7 billion gap in our state's annual transportation budget. Really makes you wonder why the turnpike is proceeding with the Southern Beltway projects (which will cost upward of $2 billion to complete), and why Rep. Markosek is still shilling for the Mon-Fayette Expressway (with bond costs, upward of $7 billion).

Gentlemen, please: Let's fix what we have first.

ANDREA BOYKOWYCZ
Outreach Coordinator
Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture)
Downtown

Principled Israel

Sometimes the true strength of opponents is not told on the battlefield, but rather later in the aftermath. No matter how one feels about Israel's costly and controversial 2006 war with Hezbollah, it is important to note how each side reacted to the exchange last week ("Israelis Mourn, Lebanese Celebrate Controversial Exchange," July 17).

In Lebanon the returning prisoners and militants were hailed as heroes and their return was seen as a new victory. Samir Kuntar, whose final victim was a 4-year-old girl whose head he smashed with his rifle butt after killing her father in front of her, was treated to a walk on the red carpet among jubilant supporters.

Israel on the other hand had no reason to be jubilant. The exchange made it even more clear that the war was not worth it while potentially creating a bad precedent for future kidnappings. Two soldiers whose fate was pretty obvious were exchanged for five militants and nearly 200 Palestinian and Lebanese fighters killed over the decades. Israel, however, proceeded with the exchange because of the strong moral belief that "no soldier be left behind." The decision to go ahead with the exchange underscores Israel's value of human life and even that of a corpse.

Why is this noteworthy beyond the tragedy? Because the next time Israel is accused of racism, fascism, illegal occupation, etc., pause and think if a nation so devoted to ethic and moral principles also could be any of the above. Moreover, how many nations would have agreed to such an unbalanced exchange of prisoners?

CHANA BRODY
O'Hara

Gaming board folly

What are Sens. Jane Orie and Jim Ferlo thinking? By asking for rebidding on the casino project ("Revoke Barden Casino License, Senators Urge," July 15), they would be giving the Gaming Control Board a second chance to screw things up. Remember, the board didn't get it right the first time!

The Gaming Control Board should be fired for gross incompetence.

EDDIE CLARK
Jefferson Hills

In regard to the July 16 editorial "Drilling Fever": Sure, there is an element of politics in any presidential or congressional action, but the fact remains that President Bush's action to lift offshore drilling, if enacted by Congress, would, over time, add to the overall world output of oil.

Demand for oil has grown to nearly 90 million barrels a day, and the world's largest fields (none of which are in the United States) are declining at a rapid rate. Although it is correct that every area of our energy supply -- nuclear power, alternate energy, conservation, etc. -- needs to be addressed, it is also clear that there are no substitutes for petroleum products in the transportation area that will anytime soon greatly diminish the world's thirst for oil. Getting busy drilling, anywhere, is just a reality of today's supply dilemma.

Don't like your view at the beach spoiled? Maybe in a few years you'll like it better when you are biking or walking to the beach!

ART CANTRELL
Cranberry

The Pennsylvania Constitution states:

Article III: Section 14. Public School System

"The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth."

Can anybody consider the current system of public education at any level in Pennsylvania to be either thorough or efficient? Is it not time for the General Assembly to rethink the current structure and funding of public education in Pennsylvania from pre-kindergarden to postgraduate? The money should be going into classrooms, not into perpetuating an inefficient administrative structure.

MICHAEL P. HORNICK
Ohioville

Thank you for writing about Penn Brewery ("The Nightshift: These Brewers and Their Yeast Work All Night to Produce a Batch of Liquid Refreshment," July 7). It is great to give credit to a small Pittsburgh company that is producing a top-quality product that Pittsburghers should be aware of.

Lately, the only brewer in town you hear of is the big one producing less-than-mediocre beer, not paying its water bills and getting handouts from the state and county. Unfortunately, our town is linked to this "icon" brand, when we have a great brewery in town making top-notch products, as well as many quality beers made by local brewpubs.

Pittsburghers should take note and drink only quality local beers! I know that whenever I am at PNC Park or Heinz Field, I take time to locate and patronize the Penn Pilsner stand. Drink good local beers, Pittsburgh!

BOB ABOEY
Dormont

As a displaced Pittsburgher, I read the Post-Gazette online and want to say thank you for the July 7 article about Penn Brewery by Monica Haynes. Looks like those guys really work hard.

I used to go to Penn Brewery's Oktoberfest every year (what a blast!) and even took a tour once. The brewery makes my favorite beer, and unfortunately, I can't get it here in Georgia. Your article made me feel a little closer to home. I'll have to visit soon. Thanks again.

BOB PAULSON
Cataula, Ga.

I thought when the stimulus package was enacted and passed by the president that it was not a very good idea. I still feel the same way, but with humbleness. Our beer-and-soda cooler (refrigerator) of 50 years in the basement had to be replaced. The dehumidifier has to have work or be replaced. On top of this our dishwasher went kaput. All this happened in a 10-to-15-day period, and the stimulus was a very nice cushion. We are spending it the way it was intended, to stimulate the economy.

Again I say: Thanks, George

THOMAS WORRALL
Turtle Creek

I am not a radical person. But I, like so many other moderate people, am becoming "radicalized" by my government. The administrative branch of said government continues to lie and collude with its powerful monied friends, all the while flaunting its "privilege" and "immunity."

Meanwhile, the legislative branch, meant to keep such abuses in check, must simply be pretending to protect me -- otherwise I would see someone being called to account for this effrontery.

On Voting Day I'll remember ? and return the favor!

GERARD ROHLF
Edgewood

In response to the July 11 letter rom Rebecca Sylvester ("Web of Destruction?"): I understand how she feels. I agree with her; there is nothing like reading the morning paper, and on Sundays, it was great to spend the morning going through the news! I have read the paper going back to the 1950s, when I sold the evening two- and four-star PG in the many bars of Homestead, at the corner of Eighth and Amity streets, at the mill gates, and delivered it to the several cat houses along Sixth Avenue.

However, I understand the economics of the times. And the PG, along with many other great newspapers around the nation, is facing the same dilemma. Sadly, there is a light in the tunnel: It is the light of a technological train bearing down on the last of us hard-copy readers. In truth, I don't read the hard copy paper any longer -- I have low vision and can't read standard type, so the Web is a blessing for me. But I nevertheless miss the hard copy, greatly!

There may be a last gasp for paper papers. The United States and the world are facing an economic collapse not unlike the Great Depression of the 1930s. And for a time, a few years perhaps, the Web may fall from grace, and it would become cheaper and profitable for newspapers to remain as hard-copy papers -- and even for a time bring back newspaper boys and girls delivering the news door to door.

FREDERICK J. ROKASKY
Banksville

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