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The San Diego Union-Tribune

Readers' letters

April 1, 2004

In Marilyn Salisbury's "Abilities" column (March 29), she opens with a paragraph espousing her proposed intent to look at the nice things about Petco Park. She devotes one paragraph to the terrific seating accommodations provided to "handicapped" fans, then spends the rest of her column whining about the lack of online reservations for "handicapped seating." She concludes by indicting "able bodied friends sitting comfortably at home" making reservations, as if they were doing something wrong.

Get a grip. The world doesn't owe our "impaired" friends every comfort known to man. We're sorry you can't do everything we can, but it isn't our fault. Thank heaven for the marvelous accommodations Petco has already made for you, thank them for it, and spend a little of your time giving them some credit, instead of carping about one silly thing you don't have.

David E. Cisek, Pacific Beach

Regarding "Suite Dreams" (March 28) about the "high-end" hotels near Petco Park, and the extravagantly expensive suites: How disgusting!

I almost lost my breakfast. I'm surprised that Jimmy Carter, the respected advocate for Habitat for Humanity, would not only give the Omni San Diego Hotel his permission to name the "President Jimmy Carter Suite" after him, but actually reserve the suite. Hopefully the hotel owner is contributing generously to Habitat, or some other worthy cause, in return.

Stephen Beck-von-Peccoz, Solana Beach

I was dismayed to read Peter Rowe's "New tack by 'Peacemaker' battles oldest profession" (March 25). I am profoundly irritated in our society by this continual reference to prostitutes' lifestyle as the oldest profession. It is endlessly repeated, to the great detriment of women.

Prostitution is not nor ever has held the position of our oldest profession. That is a falsehood perpetrated on us by patriarchal pundits dominating this world for more than 5,000 years. I believe the oldest profession is artistry, and perhaps hunting and gathering are high up there, along with healing, divination, cooking, etc.

Ascribing the world's oldest profession as that of women's prostitution degrades all women all the time.

Kathryn Kosmeya-Dodge, Jacumba

I read with interest the "God and gays" article in Currents (March 11). What you essentially have is a group of people who claim dedication to God, but choose to ignore the teachings of his word.

God specifically spells out that homosexuality is wrong, and condemns it in the strongest terms. These people find this inconvenient, so they decide it doesn't apply to them.

To those who are homosexual: Yes, God loves you, just as you are. Yes, God accepts you, just as you are. But because God loves you, he doesn't want you to stay just as you are. He wants you to change, because he has something better for you.

This is true for everybody, no matter who you are or what type of life you live.

Daniel Starnes, City Heights

To see the 9/11 quilt (recently displayed at Cuyamaca College) was such a soft shock, filling the space in absolute, motionless silence. We have come to expect sorrow made visible, as endless lines form at the wall (honoring Vietnam vets) in our capital. But this tactile, this totally compelling expanse of sorrow, loss, family, passion, it throbs with the pain of it remembered.

I came to see the faces, to stand and look into those eyes. They do not look away. They are there, frozen in youth, in beauty, in age, in destiny and in dedication to duty. Each piece of that stunning gigantic quilt is handmade, shaped with such care and depth of feeling.

Those who did this seemingly simple task come from many nations. And no two pieces are alike. These are fragments of people, their image, family names, their jobs, their hobbies, their loves and silly habits. Each face compels you to look, to see what terror can do. Fragments of cloth carry words that try to give you some piece of history of men and women who are just memory now.

Young, oh God, so many young. Poems by little girls about their father. Poems by fathers about their once-upon-a-time little girls. The name of a once wife, now widow stitched in two pieces of a broken heart. A fabric garden stitched by the friend of a lovely, dead girl.

This magnificent quilt should move softly across America. It should fill many college gyms with truth and that undeniable thing called love. Then it should be given a home, a quiet, holy place where everyone with a heart must go – and feel that heart break.

Rita Micklish, La Mesa

Seasonal gas hysteria has arrived. The media solicits angry comments from patrons at the highest-priced station, instead of asking why they do not price-shop. UCAN makes another probably incorrect forecast of $3, often near the top as in previous years.

Driving 10,000 miles per year at 25 mpg requires 400 gallons of fuel, $200 per year more at the recent 50-cent price increase. This is an insignificant amount of money, easily recovered by spending less time on cell phones or drinking lattes while driving. Move closer to work, seek work closer to home, buy a more efficient vehicle, only buy gas at the cheapest stations, or even use public transit.

After you have accepted personal responsibility for poor economic decisions, then feel free to criticize oil companies who have discovered, refined and distributed your gasoline, at a price still less than a gallon of milk.

Robert Johnson, La Mesa


© Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.