Roosevelt behaves like a school-yard bully

Regarding "City Schools Chief Is Pleased with Record" (July 26), I would think that Superintendent Mark Roosevelt should be pleased. All school-yard bullies feel that same way.

With regard to his statement that he is "not nearly happy with the atmosphere under which" much of his work was done, Mr. Roosevelt, you and the members of your staff created the atmosphere under which we, your partners in the No Child Left Behind Act, had to operate. Participation, Mr. Roosevelt, is not just being talked down to by your staff. Finally, as for the statement in the article about "'political agendas' that have nothing to do with the best interests of the students," that is the supreme act of the pot calling the kettle black.

You have treated the students, or as I prefer to refer to them, our children, as pawns in a high school reform plan that you have not had the courtesy to share with us, the taxpayers, your ultimate employer. While you are contemplating what to do with your $15,000 raise, we will contemplate how to reverse the damage you have done and restore the trust we used to have in our public officials.

For the record, I would hope that the board members who approved a program to merge CAPA ("Board Oks Merger Of City Arts Schools," July 24) without seeing the report from the consultant you paid $10,000 will heed this message. Furthermore, how could the board members approve the merger when the committee to review the merger was in opposition to it? Oh wait, the school-yard bully was for it, and since he is pleased with his record, you should be, too.

BRIAN DEL VECCHIO
Squirrel Hill

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Alternative to jail

With all this talk about sending a message to graffiti writers in the city (and in the country apparently), I offer up the suggestion that sending Daniel Montano to jail ("Graffiti Vandal Draws Stiff Sentence," July 25) is still the wrong message.

As it stands now, this is not a new message: commit crimes, go to jail, pay fines, etc. The real message can and should be: "You don't have to write graffiti." What is the point of putting someone in a cage when there are comparable punishments that the city could use to its advantage instead of paying another city worker to do the same thing?

The youth need a better message than "be bad, go to jail." The message the city should be urging is that the youth are the future, are talented, motivated and do not have to break the law to express themselves or benefit mankind. I wish I could say, "Just look at what Mr. Montano's up to now" with hope that he would be setting a real example for my children.

DYLAN PEZZULO
Morningside

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Mr. Carbon Credits

On the front page above the fold ("Gore Sounds Alarm," July 18), the PG once again genuflected at the altar of ignorance, a.k.a Al "The Hypocrite" Gore. In this, the veep who would be king ranted that we must do away with all carbon-emitting forms of electricity production within 10 years, or the United States as we know it is toast. C'mon Al, have you invested the tens of millions you've made on the global warming scare in nuclear fuel?

Does Al think his jive is gospel? Seriously, the ink wasn't dry from the Nobel Prize and Oscar pronouncements before Al had to mysteriously morph his gloom and doom on Global "Warming" to Global "Climate Change." Duh! The earth's average temperatures are showing a decline since 1997. So, Mr. Chicken Little has to tweak the message to "Look at how nasty mankind is causing change." (Mr. Obama, do you have a potential copyright infringement suit, here?) Jeez, oh man, will Mr. Gore exact his revenge for the 2000 election by next claiming that mankind's love for fossil fuels actually is causing global lightening every morning and, oddly enough, global darkening every night, too?

I am seriously thinking of officially changing my name to: Carbon Credits. That way all you liberal wonks out there, feeling the guilt for years of actually starting your cars at least 10 times a week and God forbid, running your ACs when the Starbucks in the cup holder is too hot, can write a weekly penance check for $100 to absolve you of all your "earthly" sins. Just make that check out to Carbon Credits and mail it to you-know-who instead of Weird Al.

GARY TOPOLOSKY
Brentwood

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Renew thyself

It's great that we're using less fuel in order to leave a smaller carbon footprint on our little blue planet.

But maybe we can apply the idea of "treading lightly upon the Earth" to other areas of our lives as well.

For example, we could go easy on the big meals and extravagant entertainment in order to share some resources with people who live in poverty.

And less chatter and hype would be nice, since we know that lying down in green pastures and being led along still waters can restore our spirits while we are renewing the Earth.

JOSEPH CARDUCCI
Mt. Lebanon

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Defeating cancer

Maybe I am the only one who feels this way, but I see the headline "Randy Pausch, Noted CMU Prof, Succumbs To Cancer" (July 25, Post-Gazette website) as a total disservice to everything he believed and did. I've never met Dr. Pausch, but I would say that if anyone ever defeated cancer, he did. Not because of something trivial like being famous or being seen by millions of people on YouTube, but because he lived his life to the fullest and took advantage of every moment. He defeated the evils of cancer by living out his last days knowing what was most important to him and embracing those people and aspects of his life.

ALEX OGLE
Franklin Park

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No to fear

In the Islamic tradition, the devil can make his way to people's hearts through fear -- fear of losing wealth included. So it seems the devil has found an inroad between us at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and our neighbors in Schenley Farms ("Schenley Farms Resists Islamic Playground," July 25). Alarmed at the prospect of a playground on our property, a member of the Schenley Farms Civic Association laments the inevitable drop in home prices that will follow. Very frightened indeed.

It is true that as a thriving, diverse community we bring a bit of traffic to this corner of Oakland. Yes, there are African Americans, Caucasian Americans, immigrants and refugees in our midst. It is also true that most of us are less privileged than the homeowners in Schenley Farms. But above all, we are proud citizens of this city and all we are asking is to grant our children the opportunity to play.

Our neighbors only recently thanked us profusely for actions taken to minimize our impact on the neighborhood. We hire a tow truck to remove offenders' cars and we pay the city for extra traffic police service.

We are confident that we will work this through with our neighbors as we have worked through other problems in the past. Once again, there is a need for dialogue and compassion. Pittsburghers know that acrimony and fear will lead us nowhere.

ALAA SHALABY
O'Hara
The letter writer is a board member of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh.

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Great trail news

I am glad to finally see some recognition of the rails to trails program in our area, which has been named "The Great Allegheny Passage." However, your article about the businesses along the bike trail ("Rite Of Passage," July 27) misses the larger picture, that we have been given this wonderful asset, a world-class bike trail and there is almost no public promotion of it. In fact, I have only seen information on the Web and at bike shops -- both of which you have to seek out.

Instead, the Great Allegheny Passage should be promoted in the Pittsburgh area as one of the great bicycle routes in the world. Indeed it is -- I know of no other route that links a great city to the nation's capital and passes through multiple towns along beside three wonderful and beautiful rivers (the Monongahela, the Youghiogheny and then the Potomac). It's a truly unique experience that should be widely promoted as an area attraction.

PATRICK GURRENTZ
Murrysville

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Holding bar owners accountable

A year and a half ago, my husband, the father of our three children, was killed by a driver who got drunk at a South Side establishment; four months after that, our son's friend was injured by a drunken driver; last week, our daughter's friend was killed while drunk.

Is anyone in Harrisburg doing anything to punish establishments that overserve?

There are accidents weekly -- property damage, injury, death. How many more will it take for Pennsylvania to admit that the dollar is not worth the human cost? People consuming alcohol lose the ability to know when they have had enough -- owners of the liquor license need to be accountable and take responsibility.

DONNA BIRD
Hanover

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