A Saga of Evil
As a longtime subscriber and faithful reader of your magazine, I am disappointed in your Nov. 4 cover (“The Sick World of the Snipers”). By choosing to publish the photo of the two sniper suspects, you’ve given them preference over the innocent victims and the many unsung heroes of this terrible episode. Your cover could have featured the victims or Police Chief Charles Moose and the other officials who worked tirelessly to bring this incident to an end, or the truck driver whose call resulted in the apprehension of the suspected individuals. Instead, your choice will give more fuel to losers John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, who are looking for quick fame and what passes for power. Virginia B. Levy Rockville, Md.
Your article on the snipers was stunningly good reporting, right up to the minute with the scuttlebutt about the jurisdictional melee. A big thumbs up to NEWSWEEK’s team of crack reporters. T. J. Pierce Oakland, Calif.
I have been a resident of Montgomery County for nearly 30 years, and I am extremely proud of the job our law enforcement has done in apprehending the snipers. What I am not proud of is the way local and federal prosecutors have been arguing over who can kill the suspects the fastest. My question to prosecutors is: did anyone ask the victims’ families what they want in terms of justice? Jodi Finkelstein Olney, Md.
Your article revealed the answer to the most puzzling–and saddest–mystery of the sniper shootings: why the Alabama police had not identified Malvo from the fingerprint they had found at a murder site weeks before the killings in the Washington area. They were not able to do that–and thus were unable to track the men who would become the serial killers–because Alabama does not subscribe to the national database of fingerprint records. This seems unconscionable: something done just to save money, regardless of the lives it costs. T. R. Martin Worcester, Mass.
I really don’t care whether these murderers and terrorists were or were not victims of a bad childhood, and I don’t really care anything about their past. When you appropriately say that John Allen Muhammad was a “run-of-the-mill loser,” it is enough said. Tell us about the victims. Susan Grauer Denver, Colo.
Our nation was relieved to hear the news that the snipers terrorizing the D.C. area had been caught. Life could return to normal–to the days when, on average, 30 people in this country were murdered by firearms. Most of these occurrences would not have received live, round-the-clock coverage, but instead would have been relegated to small news articles or brief mentions on the local evening news. It took less than a week after the snipers were caught for another random shooting to take place–this time at a college campus in Arizona. Until this country stops confusing civil rights with giving any madman the right to easily obtain high-powered weapons, and our politicians find the wherewithal to stand up to the NRA, the snipers will be right: our children will not be safe anywhere, at any time. Valerie Weber Danville, Pa.
Congratulations on a well-reported cover story about the Beltway sniper. However, it is important to note that John Muhammad was a member of the Nation of Islam, an American sect not affiliated with mainstream Islam. I am a Roman Catholic, and believe it is important for the media to get such nuances correct, since there is so much demonizing of Islam right now. Aly Wane Chicago, Ill.
What Innocence of Childhood?
I am one of the “Young in a Year of Fear” that Anna Quindlen writes about in her Nov. 4 Last Word column. I watched the events of September 11 in my classrooms, and debated their effect on my life. I’ve been disturbed at the thought of people’s receiving letters by mail and dying when exposed to their contents. Most of all, I’ve been enraged by the number of children kidnapped. Yet while awful, these events have served to strengthen my generation. We know what it’s like to feel unsafe and to wonder if somebody we know and love will be hurt next. We understand–whether adults like to admit it or not–what it’s like to live in fear, just as previous generations have. We remain steadfast in our beliefs, and we love and admire our country with as much zeal as any WWII veteran. Don’t mark us as scarred or as psychologically disturbed. We are the future and are going to make it great because we’ve been tested. Sherstin Creamer Richfield, Utah
Given our daily media diet of corrupt CEOs, mudslinging politicians, indiscriminate snipers and the gassing in Russia of terrorists and their hostages, it’s difficult to believe that man is intrinsically good. Some days I’m tempted to unplug the television and cancel my newspaper and my NEWSWEEK, but I don’t. My world–and that of millions of others–is engaged, enlarged and enlightened by writers like Anna Quindlen. But Quindlen should not forget to remind America’s children that these aberrations of humanity are eventually singled out and brought to justice. Such wanton acts of violence are not allowed among civilized peoples. Michael S. Bryant Rockford, Mich.
I agree that the children of America have had a rough year. They watched close to 3,000 people die last year in a horrible act of war. We’d better not tell them, then, that nearly 6,000 children die of malnutrition every day worldwide, or that thousands die in less televised wars in places like Congo, Sudan, Chechnya, Angola and Sierra Leone. Over the years, an estimated 6,000 children in northern Uganda have been abducted by rebel warlord Joseph Kony and sold as slaves or used as human shields. Parents here cuddled their children more closely as they watched the coverage of a dozen or so child abductions. Our children have to deal with the prospects of an impending war with Iraq. Maybe it’s a good thing if we don’t tell them about the thousands of Iraqi children our country would be putting in danger. Elizabeth Karman Seattle, Wash.
Gone: An Uncommon Touch
I wept as I read your wonderful tribute to Sen. Paul Wellstone ("‘Without Trying, I’m Different’," Nov. 4). I’m 22, and this election was to be the first in which I could vote for a politician who had inspired me and so many young Minnesotans to believe in the positive power of politics. With Wellstone’s death, scores of young voters are left bearing a grief comparable to our parents’ loss of JFK. Amid a generation of cynics, Wellstone was genuine, and dedicated to his convictions and to the people of Minnesota. My only consolation is that his legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of Minnesotans. As Senator Wellstone once said, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, “The future will belong to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Allison Miller St. Paul, Minn.
Thanks to Eleanor Clift for her poignant tribute to the late Sen. Paul Wellstone. As a Minnesota native and an alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wellstone’s alma mater, I am doubly saddened at the loss of this singular personality in national politics. Wellstone was among the most American of heroes. Would that we all had such strong convictions, and the strength and courage to uphold them. Senator Wellstone and his signature green bus–for all that it represented–will be sorely missed. His memory will always make me proud of my home state and of my university. April Jones Prince Shrewsbury, Mass.
Paul Wellstone was not just any old politician; he was a truly warm human being. I know firsthand how he cared about young people and human rights. Seven months ago I met Wellstone in his office to discuss U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court (before President George W. Bush “unsigned” that treaty). He was warm and compassionate, and he wouldn’t give up on any cause he believed in, no matter how lost it seemed. The fact that this 18-year-old had never lived in Minnesota did not matter; he was still my senator. Now, tragically, he is gone. Even when someone takes his place in the Senate, in my heart his chair will always remain empty. Eli Shirayanagi San Mateo, Calif.
A Question of Piercing
I’ve had my ears pierced four times and have had an industrial bar put in the top of my left ear (“An Earful at the Mall,” Tip Sheet, Nov. 4). The regular piercings were done with a gun, and the bar was done with a needle. Needles are much cleaner and gentler than a piercing gun. The woman in your article, Nicole Maye, believes that there’s “more chance of an infection” with a needle, but all the piercings I’ve had done with a gun got at least somewhat infected, and the industrial bar never has. From my experience, a needle is much safer and cleaner than a piercing gun. Katherine Garrigan Rochester, N.Y.
“An Earful at the Mall” avoids addressing the real issue. People will continue to get cartilage piercings regardless of the fact that they are likely to cause infections. However, they should not get the procedure done at a mall kiosk. Not only do piercing guns “rip apart the delicate upper ear,” but they cannot be sterilized because they are plastic. A trained, reputable piercer will pierce only with an autoclave-sterilized needle (and do so wearing gloves). He or she might charge a lot more than a mall kiosk would, but the cost would be less than paying for reconstructive surgery. M. L. Liu Chicago, Ill.
Quick Lessons in Handwashing
When teaching nursing students about handwashing, I showed them two techniques (“The Real Dirt on Antibacterial Soaps,” Nov. 4). First, make lots of bubbles while scrubbing all surfaces of both hands. Second, the washing should take as long as it does to briskly hum the entire melody of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” It is the proper technique of handwashing that counts, not the brand of soap. Wendy Stevens, R.N. Port Townsend, Wash.
Accumulating Less Stuff
I, for one, doubt that “American Materialism” will somehow subside and be a reason we purchase less in the future (“Consumers’ Last Hurrah,” Nov. 4). Our whole existence has been built on the basis of overconsumption. Whether we need it or not, we have to have the latest trendy thingamajig–a new car or SUV (even if our “old” one works well), a newer or bigger house and the latest upgrade of everything–even though what we have perfectly serves our needs. The prospect of losing one’s job is, of course, a prime reason to cut back on purchases. But also important is that we are simply running out of room at home and in our three-car garages to display, use or store all the stuff we’ve accumulated. Claude M. Gruener Austin, Texas
McCall and Neal
Your Nov. 4 Periscope item “N.Y. Dems: Money Well Spent–Or Wasted?” incorrectly states that Carl McCall was the Democratic Party’s “only African-American gubernatorial candidate.” The Democratic candidate for governor of Nevada was state Sen. Joe Neal, also an African-American. His candidacy and his endorsement of an African-American Republican candidate for U.S. Congress caused somewhat of an uproar here in Nevada, with the state Democratic Party’s refusing to endorse or support him against incumbent Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn. John Mason Zephyr Cove, Nev.
Detroit, Corrected
Your article about Brittany Murphy refers to the movie “8 Mile.” This “famed city street” does not “divide the black and white sides” of Detroit (“Winner by a Mile,” Nov. 4). Rather, Eight Mile is the road that marks the northern boundary of Detroit and the southern boundaries of its nearby suburbs. Please don’t make it sound as if people in southeastern Michigan still practice Jim Crow. Juliane Marie Asher Rochester, Mich.
Marijuana Matters
Thanks for covering the marijuana ballot initiative in Nevada (“Condoning Cannabis,” Periscope, Nov. 4). While I’m not a marijuana smoker, I think it’s important to remember that we’re running a democracy here. If the majority of Americans want marijuana decriminalized, then that should be made into law. It’s interesting how the Bush administration keeps talking up state’s rights but steps in when an ideology different from its own is involved. The opinion that matters is that of the voting majority, and politicians should not forget this. J. Virgo Dayton, Ohio
There are many good, upstanding, kind and, most of all, responsible users of marijuana. These are not people who end up in jail or take up the time of law-enforcement officers whose efforts could be better spent on more hurtful crimes. The war on drugs is a war that can never be won. It seems obvious to me that relaxing marijuana laws and even going so far as to control and tax its distribution would be of double benefit: the money now spent on law enforcement and the funds raised from taxation could be used to educate the public about drug use. Keith Crusher Oakland, Calif.
Decidedly a Woman’s College
In “The First Families Square Off” (Nov. 4), you say Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton “reverted to the Wellesley coed she once was.” If, as the article asserts, the senator has advanced her career by exploiting the insecurities and immaturities of certain senior male colleagues, why is it she who is portrayed as reverting to near adolescence? Moreover, as the senator and thousands of other alumnae can attest, Wellesley has been a woman’s college throughout its 126-year history. As such, it has educated a host of competent women, including Clinton and former secretary of State Madeleine Albright, but it has yet to graduate a “coed.” Nancy M. Simons Newton, Mass.
Clog Hoppers
Where I live, clogging is morecool than ever (“It’s a Shoe-In,” Tip Sheet, Nov. 4). It’s creative, communal stomping and a sweaty way to let off steam and stay out of trouble. Gene Horn Winter Haven, Fla.
It’s a Dangerous World
In “A Wide World of Trouble” (Oct. 28), your writers accurately identify the global threat we face in the effort to wipe out terrorism, but they emphasize the daunting challenges facing us rather than the national resolve we possess. Being “stressed out” is a logical state of being for a government trying to fight an unseen enemy. But this continued state of emergency is necessary in order to reach our objectives. Our resolve as a nation is our great weapon and should never be overlooked. It is what will get us through a possible war and help us defeat the evils of terrorism. Jake Chandler Lake Forest, Ill.
I’ve found another discrepancy in how the Bush administration is handling the threats posed by Iraq and those by North Korea. North Korea is known to be selling its weaponry to rogue regimes and allegedly funding terrorist groups. While it is a struggle to convince people that Iraq is developing nuclear weapons and poses an immediate threat to global security, there is little doubt that this is true of North Korea. If Bush were truly serious about ridding the world of security threats, Iraq would not be his first choice. There are more dangerous state sponsors of terror and instability. Obviously Iraq is a danger, but the case made thus far does not adequately demonstrate why it must be dealt with first. Aliza Rudner Ottawa, Ontario
