Use the city surplus to wire public schools with more 0) computers
Fortunately, we as Baltimoreans have been afforded a surplus that can be used by the city for a one-time investment. What greater investment could we as a city make than to the education of our children through the purchase of computer equipment for the Baltimore public schools?
To meet Maryland's goals for the year 2000, the school system must have one computer for every 10 students. In 1989, Baltimore had one computer for every 57 students. The figures have improved over the past few years, partially because of school-centered initiatives but are still far from the goals projected for the rapidly approaching millennium.
Computers are no longer just a favorable option, they are a necessary tool in the education of a student at every level.
Increasing the technological capability of the classroom is a step toward affording our students the opportunity to acquire necessary skills, knowledge and abilities. It also prepares our children for the future, by at least allowing them competitive equality with their peers from other school districts.
Sending a student to schools with inadequate computer resources is like continually feeding someone an unbalanced diet. It may not show up immediately, but you can rest assured that the deficiency will eventually manifest itself, to the detriment of the body.
This is not frivolous. This is an investment that brings immediate dividends.
`Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr.
Baltimore
The writer represents the Fourth District in the Baltimore City Council.
Perspective section, editor are highlights each Sunday
When I pick up the Sunday Sun I turn first to Perspective, the section that consistently offers the most thoughtful, well-written and interesting articles in the Sunday paper. I've long been a fan of Perspective section editor Mike Adams, but my admiration for him tripled when I saw the March 29 article "Cigar fad going up in smoke." Unlike every other Sun story that even mentions cigars, this piece did not credit the paper and its January investigative series for bringing about changes in the cigar market. Apparently, Mr. Adams is willing to leave the self-aggrandizing to the front sections of the paper. Thumping one's chest is rarely attractive.
Eileen Murphy
Baltimore
Columnist out of his league nitpicking O's and owner
I would have thought Ken Rosenthal learned some lessons last year. After he knocked and second-guessed the Orioles and Pete Angelos, the team stayed in first place wire to wire in the toughest division in baseball.
L Now, Mr. Rosenthal seems to be setting up another straw man.
He writes on March 27 about "whether Angelos fully grasps the importance of keeping his top baseball people." He implies that Mr. Angelos is not qualified to make these decisions but that he, Ken Rosenthal, is.
Pete Angelos and his partners paid $173 million for the team five years ago, with the pledge to do whatever it took to bring a championship team to Baltimore. To date, not one penny has been returned to these investors, and the team now has the highest payroll in baseball. Nobody can argue with the commitment made by Mr. Angelos and the other owners. This makes Mr. Rosenthal's constant carping, nitpicking and gloom-and-doom predictions seem very strange.
Jerry Menapace
Bel Air
Mayor's Cuba commentary elegantly hit U.S. embargo
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's understated denouncement of the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba ("Let the Orioles play ball in Cuba," March 22) was elegant, sensitive and deserves positive recognition. Unfortunately, thanks to the embargo, only those baseball fans who claim citizenship outside the United States would be able to legally attend an Orioles goodwill exhibition game in Cuba, to smell the fine cigar smoke in the tropical air and intimately enjoy the game. But then, who is living in the land of the free?
P. Birch
Baltimore
Reading billboard is eyesore in neighborhood
Sun staff photographer Nanine Hartzenbusch's photograph of March 29 titled "Words to read by" shows proof of the desecration a billboard can cause to an otherwise attractive location at 41st Street and Hickory Avenue. How can the residents of Hampden take pride in their neighborhood when the Maryland International Reading Association Council chooses to advertise in such a blatant and disgraceful manner?
The people of Hampden take pride in their neighborhood as evidenced by the Christmas photographs your paper publishes each year showing the decorations that are so beautifully displayed by the residents.
Advertisers wouldn't dare put this billboard monstrosity up in Baltimore County neighborhoods. Why should they be able to do so in a lovely, well-maintained city neighborhood like Hampden?
Don't Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and the City Council members have enough loyalty to their constituents to protect them from this demeaning injustice? This billboard cannot do anything to encourage anyone to read. It can only damage neighborhood pride.
Walter Boyd
Lutherville
