Consider aid for automakers and governments

I read about the auto-industry bailout plan and the budget shortfall in Pennsylvania in the same edition Nov. 20 ("Auto Aid Plan Heads for Defeat as Big Three Teeter" and "Rendell: Falling Revenues to Force Cuts").

Among other things, Gov. Ed Rendell says he is putting a freeze on all departments for buying new vehicles. Instead of the U.S. Congress handing Detroit a $25 billion check for the automakers to basically pay off interest on short-term loans, why not allocate the same money to states and municipalities to purchase needed vehicles from the Big Three auto companies?

This would seem to help state and city governments across the country struggling with slashed budgets and would also directly increase revenues (and stock prices) for the Big Three through increased sales.

MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN
Edgewood

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Don't give it

After passing a $700 billion plan to bail out the housing and banking industry, how can Congress ask for $25 billion more for the auto industry? It wants the same (Dodd, Frank, Schumer) congressmen who oversaw Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be in charge of the deal. Did the government bail out the steel industry or airlines?

Throwing more money at the problem will not solve it. The industry has had years to retool and make a better product but hasn't, so how can another $25 billion help? Maybe it would pay for a trip to a spa for its CEOs.

Try to purchase a car or truck without a radio, air, GPS or some other gingerbread.

D.A. LAPISKA
Mars

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Who needs help

In response to Richard E. Zimmer Jr.'s letter ("GOP Disconnect," Nov. 21): Yes, many do have closed minds to the realities of taxation and White House policies. However, please allow some clarification.

Perhaps those needing financial assistance the most are those who worked all their lives, saved prudently and now when planning to retire find that their savings have diminished by almost half. They didn't default on a mortgage or bundle bad loans or lie to loosely regulated banks.

Truly these are the new class of Americans who need assistance. Those whose earned income falls below the poverty line continue to enjoy programs that lift up their status, providing food, clothing, shelter, education, transportation and even limited medical care. And, yes, those of us who pay tax on earned income appreciate their plight and are willing to help. It's the right thing to do.

A small tax-rate reduction is not a mechanism to "spread the wealth." Taxpayers are forced to pay tax. The wealthy earners pay the most as well as giving much in charitable donations. Charity does not come from the impoverished or low-income workers. Anyone doing the research will see who truly pays and who truly are recipients of redistribution. At the same time, we must continue, as Mr. Zimmer has, to speak out against CEO bonuses for failing institutions.

Finally, when will people learn that, while no one was in favor of an Iraq invasion, the White House and Downing Street acted on bad intelligence from multiple international sources? More than a dozen domestic attacks have been thwarted, including the reality of Fort Dix where several soldiers' lives were spared.

DAVID MARKS
Duquesne

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It's a dog's life

Your wonderful story about Tootsie, the lost dog who was returned to her owner after five years by the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, is just one of hundreds of unsung acts of kindness that organization's staff and volunteers perform in any given week.

Cheers for Tootsie and his family, cheers for Pittsburgh-area folks who support the Animal Rescue League and other shelters by giving time and money to protect, shelter, train and find good homes for animals like Tootsie, and cheers for the good people who provide those homes.

BECKY BURDICK
Lancaster Township

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Icy road

It's high time someone attends to treacherous conditions facing city residents on Commercial Avenue, just past Beechwood Boulevard. As is commonplace in the winter months, on Nov. 21, a steep and windy portion of Commercial Avenue froze during the evening rush hour. The city's Department of Public Works had not salted the road.

A police officer at the scene stated that a salt shortage was to blame for the lack of salting. A salt shortage on Nov. 21?

I have traveled down Commercial Avenue in inclement weather many times. Each of the last three winters, I lost control of my 4WD sedan going down the unsalted road after work. One night I witnessed a seven-car pile-up in the ice, leaving people with physical and emotional injuries.

In particularly rough weather, I've left my car parked atop the hill and walked down a steep, narrow, non-railed sidewalk. This winter, I will have my newborn in the car and cannot trek down the treacherous hill.

There is a solution for this problem and it must be implemented. Commercial Avenue is a city-owned road. Due to the road's steep grade and windy terrain, and because it's the only access home for the growing Summerset at Frick Park community, as well as a large apartment complex, the public works department must categorize Commercial Avenue as a primary road. City residents deserve to know that they can get home safely. The city must do more to make this road a safe way home.

BEVERLY BLOCK
Squirrel Hill

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Smoke-free facts

Regarding "New Snuff Marketing Makes W.Va. Spittin' Mad" (Nov. 20): Several anti-tobacco extremists at the West Virginia health department and West Virginia University are deceiving smokers and the public about the health risks of different tobacco products, about nicotine and about a new smoke-free and spit-free product called snus.

Cigarettes are 100 times deadlier than moist snuff or chewing tobacco, while pasteurized snus poses even fewer health risks (similar to nicotine gum and lozenges).

By switching to smoke-free tobacco products, smokers can sharply reduce their health risks (almost as much as by quitting all tobacco) and eliminate secondhand smoke risks for others. Smokers also can reduce health risks for themselves and others by using smoke-free tobacco/nicotine products as every dose of nicotine obtained from a smoke-free product otherwise would be obtained by inhaling toxic cigarette smoke.

R.J. Reynolds is now marketing Camel Snus (stored in small refrigerators at convenience stores) to adult smokers as an alternative to cigarettes, and other new smoke-free and spit-free products are available in tobacco specialty stores.

All cigarettes and smoke-free tobacco products are addictive, regardless of how much nicotine they contain. Nicotine lozenges, gums and skin patches, marketed as smoking cessation aids, also contain different levels of nicotine.

Smokers have a human right to be informed that smoke-free tobacco/nicotine products are far less hazardous alternatives to cigarettes, and public health officials have an ethical duty to inform smokers of this lifesaving fact.

BILL GODSHALL
Executive Director
SmokeFree Pennsylvania
Swissvale

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Let the teachers and students be heard

I thank David Morris for his well-written and insightful article ("In Defense of the Classics," Nov. 23 Forum). Like Mr. Morris, I agree that we English teachers should continue to introduce the classics to our students.

Yet, as a former middle school English teacher, I rarely had a voice in the selection of the novels I taught. I could decide how to teach, but what I taught was determined by a curriculum committee whose members had not entered a real classroom in years.

Furthermore, I had to find relevant and exciting ways to engage my students in "deep" discussions of literature because I was accountable for ensuring their reading comprehension on state standardized tests.

Yes, Mr. Morris, we English teachers can always do better, but we need school systems that allow us -- and our students -- to be heard. We need school systems to no longer see literature as a means to an end: higher test scores.

We also need parents to stop coming to conferences with the following request: "Please find a way to turn my child into a reader." Parents and educators together have the responsibility of sharing with our children literature that "penetrates everyday fads and banalities, and ... challenges our complacency."

RONNA L. EDELSTEIN
Oakland

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