June 09, 1996
Your editorial deriding Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett for his move to remove "girlie magazines" from military bases was way off the mark. I don't know if the writer was ever in the military however, I spent five years in the service, having enlisted at the age of 17 and know first-hand the vulnerability of young men away from home.
The men in our military are supposed to represent this country's finest. And yet we provide them with trash to fill their lonely hours and liquor at extremely low cost. I have seen naive young men destroyed by the accessibility of these trashy magazines, coupled with the plentiful booze. Is it any wonder bases have relationship problems with the local towns and we present a poor image of the U.S. citizen to our foreign hosts? The incident on Okinawa is one of the few which has been picked up by our news media. There are many which are diplomatically settled.
Our military should be providing an environment which encourages young people to improve themselves during their tour rather than provide degrading enticements to pull them down.
No only should the girlie books be dropped, but the accessibility of booze on base, too. However, this old soldier knows that money talks and pornography and alcohol are big bucks.
Ronald J. Proskey
Hanover
Mayors are right: County needs a charter
I was very much impressed by the eight mayors of Carroll County who all agreed and wanted development of charter government for Carroll County. They wanted the commissioners to appoint a committee to draft charter government. I have always been disappointed by the present commissioners and again I think they were definitely wrong by voting against a draft committee.
I was pleased to read that W. Benjamin Brown voted in favor of a charter board. I don't agree with the two votes against by Richard Yates and Donald Dell. I disagree with Mr. Yates thinking that a petition would be a more accurate measure of public sentiment and saying that "signatures from the public would be more democratic than a request from a bunch of mayors."
The towns of Carroll have knowledgeable mayors, in my opinion. I also very much disagree with the opinion of Mr. Dell against development of charter government. His proposal of expanding the board of commissioners to five members is not a reasonable resolution. I hope that 5 percent of Carroll's registered voters will provide signatures for a petition to appoint a charter committee.
I think my 72 years in Westminster, including 10 years with Westminster City Council, 10 with the Carroll County Industrial Development Authority and quite a few other positions, has generated much experience and knowledge.
Russell A. Sellman
Westminster
Sun is out of touch on housing issue
I can't believe The Sun's editorial page staff is so out of touch with its readers. For the last several weeks, you have been trashing Rep. Robert Ehrlich as being a racist and playing to the fears of his constituency. The time has come to stop playing the race card and take time to listen to and understand your readers.
The May 17 town hall meeting at Dundalk Community College was attended not only by residents from all over Baltimore County, but several other adjoining counties as well. Many working people, black and white, disagree with the Housing and Urban Development/American Civil Liberties Union settlement.
They are angry over the prospect of the government destroying something they have worked all their lives to achieve. The government has circumvented the legislative process, thereby suppressing the voices of the voters. Government by decree and ultra-liberal policies such as this latest example of social engineering have created deep-seated resentment and distrust of the government.
The fact is Mr. Ehrlich is a breath of fresh air. He actually does what he says and stands on principles without first checking to see which way the winds of political correctness happen to be blowing that day.
Roberta Strevig
Hampstead
Pub Date: 6/09/96
