Because of an editing error, a passage in a letter to the editor from Robert A. Seidel published Tuesday was given incorrectly. Mr. Seidel wrote, "Ms. Hess says that race is an issue in what she calls the decline of Belair-Edison."
In another passage, part of the sentence was omitted. Mr. Seidel wrote, "Mr. Blum's example is just one that shows that race is not necessarily the issue in the sense that Ms. Hess meant it."
FOR THE RECORD - CORRECTION
The Sun regrets the error.
Life in the City
I am writing in response to the July 8 letter from Linda M. Hess of Sykesville, "Reality, Not Racism, in Belair-Edison."
She wrote that she was born and raised in Belair-Edison and raised two children there before leaving Baltimore City. She reminisces that she and her children frequently walked to Herring Run Park to watch a ballgame or ride bikes through the trails.
But she wonders, "[H]ow many residents feel safe enough to do that today?"
My wife and I were also born and raised in Baltimore City and, for nearly eight years, have lived in Lauraville, another neighborhood quite close to Herring Run Park.
We love the area, walk with our dogs in Herring Run Park at least a couple of times a week and are pleased that so many people, both black and white, use the park without fear. The very fact that the park is popular helps to keep it safe.
We don't feel, as Ms. Hess does, that it is a "shame" to live in the neighborhoods around here today.
Ms. Hess said race isn't the issue in what she calls the decline of Belair-Edison.
If it is an issue, I believe that it is largely because of unscrupulous speculators in the real estate market who care nothing for the neighborhood and have tried to profit from the anxiety that many whites have about living in a racially integrated community.
The day after Ms. Hess's letter appeared, there was a letter from Eugene Blum (July 9, "A Nostalgic Trip Back to Ruxton Avenue"), who wrote about Ruxton Avenue in West Baltimore, near Coppin State College.
He grew up there 50 years ago when the neighborhood was mostly Jewish. Now it is a predominantly African-American neighborhood, and Mr. Blum says that he finds it "every bit as beautiful and well-kept as it was" when he lived there, maybe even better.
Mr. Blum's example is just one that shows race is not necessarily the issue.
In fact, in Belair-Edison and nearby communities, the Northeast Partnership of churches, businesses, and community neighborhoods is working to promote stable, pleasant and safe neighborhoods.
Part of that effort is an attempt to welcome new African-American residents into what have been mostly white neighborhoods in the past.
We believe that the neighborhoods around here have a lot going for them. We have certainly not solved all our problems, but we are trying to face them directly rather than run away.
Robert Seidel
Baltimore
Excellent Writing
It is not often one puts down a newspaper with a smile and the knowledge that an excellent piece of writing has been experienced.
Such was my reaction to Tim Baker's essay on the Opinion * Commentary page of July 10.
He paid homage to one of our time's classic books (made into a classic movie), Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird".
The references to the characters we knew and loved brought that smile of recognition and a feeling of gratitude that someone still values the quality of writing that makes us glad to be members of the human race.
M. Schiavone-Hill
Baltimore
Rabbinical Edict
The article by Doug Struck, July 13, and editorial, July 16, about a recent rabbinical ruling in Israel follow from the same flawed premise.
Both assume that the ruling -- telling religious soldiers that it is prohibited for them to withdraw from permanent military installations -- challenges Israel's secular authority. It does not. The tone of the ruling was plaintive, not provocative.
The rabbis requested that the government not force religious soldiers to choose between their duty to the army and their religious obligations. In other words, it established a new class of conscientious objectors.
If The Sun did not object to members of the leftist "Yesh G'vul" refusing to serve in Lebanon in 1982, it should have no problem here.
There is no reason for this edict to lead to anarchy as the editorial charges. The United States military has accommodated objectors for religious reasons either by assigning them to non-combat roles or by not drafting them. This accommodation is a function of democracy not an assault on it.
The edict is not as simple as portrayed by Mr. Struck. It is not simply a matter of prohibiting Jews from turning over the land of Israel to non-Jews. The first two paragraphs emphasize that the ceding of territory further endangers life.
The rabbis, many of whom live in Judea and Samaria, are aware of the increased dangers facing their neighbors since September 1993.
