DEAR EDITOR: Based on the photo of the two King County deputies cuffing a Critical Mass bicyclist ["Mass Attack," Josh Feit and Sarah Mirk, July 6], I have to say: Those guys look about as much like cops as somebody in Howard Stern's entourage. Without resorting to replaying the line from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, how often and when are we going to know who the real police are when they are so "undercover" they look just like criminals? My hunch is, if this trial goes to a jury, King County is going to end up paying out the big bucks. With all of this continuing bad press for King County's Keystone Kops, maybe Sheriff Sue should resign and run for Congress, when former Sheriff Dave is forcibly retired this fall? In the meantime, if I see some big guys who look like gangbangers telling me to get the hell out of the way, I'm doing it! But then, I don't plan on "corking" any intersections in the near future.

Terry Parkhurst


EDITOR: The root cause is clearly the arrogance of yet another group of typical Seattle Libocrites, who feel they can decide for themselves what laws they have to obey because "their cause is just." Maybe if people like this got their asses kicked more regularly they might learn how to conduct themselves like civilized human beings.

Blocking an intersection is effectively imprisoning another human being, who should not be forced to have their life imposed upon by another person's desire to make a political statement. It should be a felony with stiff prison time in and of itself.

I wonder how many of these champions of "civil disobedience" would support the rights of people with views diametrically opposed to their own using the same tactics? Maybe people with big SUVs should drive up onto bike trails and block them to "make a statement" about the lack of respect for the rights of auto drivers.

Bob Blakely


JOSH AND SARAH: Thanks for the great article. It's a pleasure to read a balanced article that doesn't simply repeat a press release.

Henry Rose


ERICA C. BARNETT: This is in regard to your pathetic bias for bar owners and their drunken "clientele," who either refuse or ignore their responsibility to the neighborhoods they defile ["Corralling Clubland," July 6]. Nightlife for adults doesn't include pissing in the streets at 11:00 p.m., breaking anything that isn't anchored down on the way to your next DUI, puking on the sidewalks, and generally being a complete drunken frat-boy asshole, even though you faked your way through school eight years ago.

As a longtime resident of Fremont, I've seen the neighborhood transform from someplace you could stroll on a warm summer night, to a place you have to take your shovel and dustpan out on a Saturday or Sunday morning so you can clean up the prior night's carnage to actually walk down the sidewalk to the local coffee shops.

I've tried to address the issue on several occasions with the bar owners, who have continually denied any complicity and signed "good neighbor" agreements only when their license renewal was threatened. Once renewed, they have immediately withdrawn from any promised obligations and continued to turn a blind eye, and pour another shot, to a bunch of drunken, arrested adolescents.

Here's a clue: Get drunk, puke in your car, piss yourself in the driver's seat, and drive home drunk (maybe you could run over one of your own neighbors?), but keep your fucking mouth shut, and maybe no one will complain.

Lawrence Kida


DEAR EDITOR: After reading "You Will Have a Mustache: A Tour of the One-Week-Old Lawrimore Project," [Jen Graves, June 29] I found the description of the Lawrimore gallery to be wonderful. However, just as the article revealed the "knowing spirit(s)" of Lawrimore's new gallery through vivid detail of its architecture, it also, in the final paragraph, cast a dark cloud over the entire affair. Lawrimore may actually be flamboyant, secret, unorthodox, and sexier than Right Said Fred but why should public audiences view these qualities as "dangerous" and why should these qualities be labeled "fearless"? Who is Lawrimore a danger to? Himself? And who should he be fearful of? The art world? Has Dick Cheney taken over Mimi Gates's job at SAM? Well, I guess the writer has a point there; stay strong, Mr. Lawrimore. In summary, if "fearlessness" becomes a questionable aspect of contemporary-art practices and institutions, then the complacency defining our current state of media reception will surely continue to thrive.

Boyd Richard


EDITOR: At the end of Charles Mudede's review of A Scanner Darkly ["On Screen," July 6], he offers backhanded praise for how much time was spent animating the film. While interesting, that does not affect whether the work in question is good or bad—and, according to the review, it is bad. But I'm unable to find anything in his review that tells why. There's an oblique description of the plot of the short story, and an attack on Mr. Linklater's films in general, but nothing else. Either this review was just written hastily, or it was painstakingly crafted to veil the emptiness.

Michael Bird


STRANGER: Sincere thanks to Annie Wagner for her article on the success of the HPV vaccine ["Savvy Science," July 6]. More articles on the scientific and intellectual contributions Seattle makes!

Jonathan Golob