OUR VIEWS

Major issues unresolved

To be sure, it is worth several hurrahs that the two sides agreed to dispose of a total of 68 tons of plutonium, a sufficient amount, when converted into nuclear bombs or warheads, to destroy something on the order of 8,000 metropolises.

An important issue is that this deadly material not end up in the hands of a lot of militarily ambitious nations that don't yet have a nuclear capacity or that may be started down that road and would like to be a more intimidating player in international affairs.

But getting rid of this stuff or converting it for energy uses is not so easy as dumping trash in a landfill. It will cost billions, and the question of who will pay has not found a definite answer, although help will be sought from European nations.

Another achievement was an agreement to establish a joint U.S.-Russian center in Moscow that would signal when missiles had been sent flying towards either nation. This is a good idea for any number of reasons, a chief one being to help keep some terribly stupid mistake from being the cause of terribly massive destruction.

Russian President Vladimir Putin would not budge an inch, however, from his support of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, even though it was negotiated almost three decades ago by a power that no longer exists, the Soviet Union.

American critics of deploying a missile defense system argue chiefly that the technology just isn't there yet, but the Russians apparently believe that what the United States wants to build, it can build.

Even though President Clinton argued that a defense system would protect the United States from rogue nations, the Russians fear it would negate the effectiveness of their own armaments and force them to enlarge their arsenal.

Clearly this issue — and the issue of reducing nuclear weaponry on both sides — will not move forward during what little remains of the Clinton administration.

The summit had some value, including Clinton's televised, mostly reassuring speech to Russian legislators in the Duma, but will not merit much mention in the history books.

Kosovo still troubled

Where he didn't walk illustrates that nearly one year after NATO's 78-day bombing of the province that all is not well — or safe.

Robertson's stroll took him down a central shopping street where he was met with cheers from ethnic Albanians. He also toured parts of Kosovska but bypassed the northern, predominantly Serb, part of the city.

Tensions between Serbians and Albanians remain high. Robertson stressed that the violence has to be reduced or there is danger that ethnic Albanians could lose the sympathy of the international community.

Robertson's comments came a few days after an attacker opened fire on a group of Serbs gathered in a store in Cernica, killing a 4-year-old boy, his 60-year-old grandfather and another man. Cernica, 28 miles southeast of Pristina, is patrolled by U.S. peacekeepers who were just 200 yards away when the gunman, an ethnic Albanian, opened fire and escaped.

In another unsolved case, a 25-year-old Serb United Nations translator was found stabbed to death. The translator was murdered after a newspaper closely tied to Kosovo Albanian leader Hashim Thaci accused the translator of membership in a Serb paramilitary unit — a rash accusation made without any formal charge or much less even an investigation.

As the Canonical Conference of Orthodox Christian Bishops in America rightly observed recently, the international community must not allow the cycle of violence, ethnic cleansing and retribution to continue in Kosovo.

NATO's troubles are not limited to ongoing atrocities in Kosovo.

Three teachers at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point have raised the issue of whether NATO violated the rules of land warfare by using tactics that protected combatants by placing civilian bystanders at greater risk, resulting in a corrosion of the professional military ethic. And another military study has shown that NATO had overstated — roughly by a factor of 10 — the effectiveness of its attacks against Serb forces during last year's war.

The 78-day bombing campaign did accomplish its goal to end Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's dictatorial grip on Kosovo, but this has not brought the promise of better times.

NATO entered this fray to help the ethnic Albanians, but unless they are now kept from taking the law into their own hands, the aftermath of Kosovo will only see more 4-year-old boys dying at the hands of assassins.

YOUR VIEWS

Bad drivers should be kept off road

Trucks have become larger and heavier. A 70,000 pound vehicle going down the road at 70 mph is an accident waiting to happen. Usually the truck driver is not at fault. He has an impossible situation when some one stops or cuts in front of him or when fog or snow covers the road.

A lot is said about human rights. Don't you agree the average motorist has a right to go to the store, to school or to church without the likelihood of death or serious injuries?

Should we store the vehicle for a while after the driver has had several accidents where he or she was clearly at fault? Should we pull the vehicle off the road for a long long time after the driver gets three DWI tickets?

A vehicle is actually more deadly than a loaded gun. In fact, we kill 40,000 to 50,000 ever year, We should treat this as a national emergency and take steps to stop the disgrace.

W.H. Sims
4345 Overlook Drive

Not safe

The reality: Last year 3,420 grade crossing incidents occurred throughout America, resulting in 1,360 serious personal injuries and 399 deaths. An additional 467 deaths and 433 injuries involved unauthorized pedestrians on railroad rights-of-way. Since 1990 more than 5,300 people have died because they made poor choices that put them on or near the tracks and rail trestles.

It's illegal. Your newspaper can help avoid these tragedies by letting people know it is illegal to walk on or near the tracks, rights-of-way or rail yards. They can be arrested and/or fined for being there. Few people think about the overhang of the train — at least three feet on either side of the rail. The illusion of the "slow-moving" train doesn't match reality. Today's trains do not look, move, sound or smell like the steam trains of the 1890s. That's the reality.

At Operation Lifesaver, a highway-rail safety organization, we work to prevent death and injury on railroad crossings and rights-of-way.

Nancy Hudson, state coordinator
Alabama Operation Lifesaver
1400 Norfolk Southern Drive

Paid more

What does this tell you about the Legislature? The abortion industry has paid them more money than the tattoo industry.

Donald Dulnlap
1335 Montevallo Road
Irondale

Leeches

Leeches? Break-through in the medical field? Hirudo medicinalis rediscovered! This time by the office staff collections people. The very same ones who handle insurance claims, Medicare forms and Blue Cross-Blue Shield claims. These are the people who double bill the insurance companies, file claims for services that were never performed, at the same time billing the patient, hoping the poor, long suffering fools will just say to heck with it and remit payment.

They are using the newly rediscovered tool much more effectively than the physicians ever did. Patient bleeding was stopped after the physician decided it was enough. With the collection people, it is never enough. Once these bloodsuckers are attached to the patient the only way to remove them is by dying, and often it is some time after death that they finally drop off.

Usually parasites in nature do not kill the host. They seem to know instinctively that it is in their own best interest to allow the host to continue its existence.

George C. Riley
137 Newport Drive
Hueytown

What a deal

As of June 2, GTE's new "Enhanced Local Calling Area Plan" limits our access to 60 hours per month "long distance" and will charge us 4 cents a minute for every minute over 60 hours.

Let's see —- At the present $20 per month calling plan, I figure that if I used my computer on line for the "unlimited" period offered per month, I'd pay .0463 cents per minute during the month. $20 per month. Not bad!

Using my computer on line for the same period (unlimited) under the new plan that offers 60 hours free per month plus 4 cents per minute thereafter, it would cost me $1,725.60.

$1,725.60 per month.— Bad! What a deal!?

Armond "Si" Simmons
104 Wadsworth Lane
Pell City

LOOK BACK

50 years ago, June 7, 1950:

Southern Railway says it will abide by any Interstate Commerce Commision order to end segregation of dining cars.

25 years ago, June 7, 1975:

Leaders in state Senate agree in secret meeting not to support Gov. George Wallace's plan to divert $85 million from education-financing sales taxes to General Fund.

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