We need to set proper priorities. That means we need to make sure the state fulfills its basic responsibilities first -- building roads and bridges, educating children and ensuring public safety.
If Marylanders want a governor who will continue the liberal spending policies of the current administration, or who will seek to buy votes with tax dollars, I am not their candidate.
I believe Maryland citizens know better than Maryland government how to spend their own money.
Ellen Sauerbrey
Timonium
The writer is a Republican candidate for governor of Maryland.
Is Caning Less Humane Than Prison Time?
This letter is submitted in response to Margaret Kempf's letter, published May 12 under the heading "Obscene Maiming." While she is certainly entitled to express her opinions as
TC member of Amnesty International, I resent her comments about those of us who supported the right of Singapore -- a sovereign nation -- to administer justice.
She says that those of us who supported this action behaved as a "medieval lynch mob" because we are "frustrated with crime." I would like to offer a few thoughts for her consideration.
First, I'm not as "frustrated with crime" as I am frustrated with the fact that "juveniles" know that they are virtually immune to punishment for any crimes committed until they are 18; and that after that, their past crimes will not be revealed in court.
They also know that neither they nor their parents will even be identified -- which would at least permit their neighbors and friends to protect themselves.
Second, does she really think that locking someone up in a cage for 10 years without chance of parole with hardened criminals for the possession of small quantities of drugs is any less "maiming" than four lashes? Does she have any idea the degree to which our "humane" treatment of lawbreakers has on their total lives and the lives of their families?
As I recall it, Baltimore gave wife-beaters and some other criminals the choice of 10 lashes or 30 days in jail until the mid-1950s.
It is also my recollection that most of the prisoners choose the jail sentence, rather than the personal humiliation. I think that there is a message there.
From the foregoing, it must be obvious that I believe the appropriate use of corporal punishment, particularly on young offenders, would provide a very effective deterrent to a life of crime.
Perhaps the punishment should be extended to the parents (including "absentee" parents); albeit, a legal secretary once told me that the attorney she worked for said that his fees were punishment enough for the parents of kids he got off on drug or drunken driving charges.
With regard to the use of "corporal punishment," I believe the Bible also speaks well of the concept.
Finally, I'm not an "arch-conservative," and I can't stand Rush Limbaugh.
William F. List
Linthicum
None Too Soon
Stronger enforcement of red-light laws comes none too soon.
I have been stopped at a red light and have seen as many as four cars speed through on red. Their drivers appear to be in such a hurry to go to their grave.
I am happy to see that the state is taking action on this very serious problem. Hopefully it will be strongly enforced.
Nancy A. Johnson
Parkville
