Letters to the Editor
Fifth Grade Class Wants Bay Weekly
Dear Bay Weekly:
I am planning a major Bay project with my fifth graders this year. We will either be planting a quarter mile or larger meadow in our school yard or planting Bay grasses in our storm drain to create a wetland area. Both of these projects will be presented at the beginning of the year. I am going to have the kids research each habitat and write to persuade as to which project our class should do.
The whole point of this is to get my students to appreciate the Bay. I think your newspaper would be a great resource and another connection for the students. Is there any way for me to get a subscription for my class? I would need about 30 copies and we are located in Charles County. Is this possible?
— Alesha Simon, [email protected]
Editor’s note: We like nothing better than to help introduce young people to the Bay, so we’re quite agreeable to setting aside papers cost for your students. Our distribution, however, doesn’t extend to Charles County, so getting them to you is the issue. Perhaps there’s a sponsor out there willing to pay postage?
We’d also be delighted to publish some of your findings in Not Just for Kids.
Tobacco Is Culpable as Any Terrorist
Dear Bay Weekly:
In his letter of rebuttal [Cigarettes Are a Choice, Not a Weapon, Vol. XI., No. 34: Aug. 21] to my letter of Aug. 14 [Cigarettes Are Weapons of Mass Destruction], Benny Gonzales tries to defend the tobacco cartel and the Bush administration. He states that I am insensitive to the innocent victims of 9/11 and that I deserve censure.
Mr. Gonzales is simply using the standard tobacco cartel technique of blaming the victim. From the cartel’s own secret documents, we know that they purposely engineer their deadly product to be addictive and to hook children before they reach the age of reason. This addiction is forcing the smokers to perform the act of smoking, thereby causing their disease and death. This makes the tobacco executives and those defending them as culpable as any terrorist.
A person killed by the tobacco cartel is just as dead as a person killed by the 9/11 terrorists. In most cases the smoker’s deaths are more agonizing. Perhaps Mr. Gonzales’ lack of sensitivity to the innocent victims of the tobacco cartel deserves censure.
— John O’Hara, Bowie; President: Maryland GASP
Thanks from Captain Murphy
Dear Bay Weekly:
Thank you for M.L. Faunce’s nice words about my skipjack Rebecca T. Ruark. Her words and sentences were very eloquent. We plan to have an official dedication in Annapolis or Baltimore or wherever, once Gov. Ehrlich’s office sets a date and location. I’ll let you know.
— Capt. Wade H. Murphy Jr., Tilghman, Island
Department of Corrections
The organization that issues a 100-point score card on Chesapeake Bay each year was incorrectly identified in Politics Is Killing the Bay (Vol. XI., No 33: Aug. 14). Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the scorekeeper.
We welcome your letters and opinions. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, P.O. Box 358, Deale, MD 20751 • E-mail them to us at [email protected].
