Inconvenience

IF THE TRAGIC case of Terri Schiavo shows nothing else, it shows how easily "the right to die" can become the right to kill. It is hard to believe that anyone, regardless of his or her position on euthanasia, would have chosen the agony of starvation and dehydration as the way to end someone's life. No murderer would be allowed to be killed this way, which would almost certainly be declared cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Constitution, by any court. Mrs. Schiavo's only crime is that she has become an inconvenience - and is caught in the merciless machinery of the law. Those who think law is the answer to our problems need to face the reality that law is a crude and blunt instrument.

Regarding your recent editorial on the long wait gun buyers must endure while state police background checks are completed, I can agree that the Maryland gun community is very unhappy and that the government can't work miracles. But beyond that, there are a lot of problems with your view ("Background check backlog," June 11). They start with your comparing this situation to a supply problem. Comparing it to the wait times at the Motor Vehicle Administration is a bit more accurate, but the equivalent would be more like the MVA asking people to wait three or four weeks to get their tags, and then telling them they can't drive the car until they arrive (there are no temporary tags in the gun world)

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Nothing, besides the approach of a snowstorm or a rush-hour fender-bender on the Beltway, elicits more groans from Baltimoreans than the summons to jury duty, and I'm not sure why, except that we like to bellyache about stuff. When you think about it, we're not asked to do that much as citizens - separate trash from recyclables and set them on the curb, vote every couple of years, pay our taxes on time, sit on a jury once in a great while (more frequently if you live in the city)

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Because of a telephone system malfunction, our represtatives in Advertising and Circulation were unable to take calls periodically yesterday. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.Pub Date: 7/16/97

Many callers to The Baltimore Sun's classified sales representatives may have experienced trouble completing calls yesterday. As a result, the deadline for classified employment advertising in the Sunday Sun has been extended until 10 a.m. today. The phone number is 539-7700.The Sun regrets any inconvenience to its customers.

Adults who lose their hearing later in life also are more likely to have a hard time concentrating on a book or remembering a simple conversation, Johns Hopkins research has found. The same brain functions that affect hearing also may cause problems with memory and other cognitive function, according to the study, published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine. It is the latest to support a link between hearing loss and decline of memory. The Hopkins researchers said that many people view hearing loss as an inconvenience of old age but that it may also contribute to more serious health problems.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake defended the city's nearly $20 million in revenue from its booming speed camera program Wednesday, placing the blame on motorists who refuse to slow down. "It's a minor inconvenience for people who routinely break the law," the mayor said of the $40 speeding tickets triggered by the city's 83 cameras. She spoke after the city's spending board received documents showing a multimillion-dollar increase from the cameras. The city got $19.2 million in revenue from the program over the past year - a nearly tenfold increase in the three years the cameras have been operating.

It is depressing that supporters of Second Amendment rights seldom if ever mention the frequent tragedies, such as the recent killing of the 13-year old girl in Baltimore. Because they do not mention them, one is left to assume they regard them simply as inevitable collateral damage not worthy of mention in discussions of gun control. R.L. Hall

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For a jurisdiction that wants to grow but lacks adequate drinking water supplies to do so without relying on others, the Aberdeen city government's recent decision to permit the erection of underground gasoline tanks in an area close to water supply wells used by Harford County is ridiculous and downright shortsighted. The Aberdeen City Council last week voted narrowly to give the go-ahead to Royal Farms to build one of its ubiquitous convenience stores and gas stations at the corner of Newton Lane and Route 7, a half a block away from the busy Route 715 access corridor toAberdeen Proving Ground.

Late-night drivers should be forgiven for momentarily thinking they've hit extended rush hour along the Beltway near Charles Street. A little bit of traffic could turn into a big backup with a State Highway Administration project under way that will close westbound Interstate 695 at Charles starting at 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Closings and detours to install structural steel beams for a new bridge are expected to last about three weeks. They will be suspended on weekends.

Americans everywhere at home are in torment. They are being asked for what today seems to pass as the supreme sacrifice — undergoing intrusive body searches for their own and their country's safety. There was a time in not-too-distant memory when the word "sacrifice" meant something here — such as during World War II and the Vietnam War. Then, Americans had to lay their lives on the line in the tens and hundreds of thousands for it. That fact was particularly true in the 1941-45 fight against German and Japanese totalitarianism, in which 405,000 Americans died, literally in defense of our political and democratic system, as imperfect as it may be. It was true, perhaps to a lesser extent, in Vietnam from the early 1960s through 1975, when another 58,000 Americans lost their lives and many thousands more were wounded in a failed effort to deny communism another outpost in Southeast Asia.