LETTERS

Oh, well, what's a few percentage points?

I have been reading all the letters about Hitler and how Pat Buchanan is wrong about him, and I agree. My father fought in Germany during World War II and was wounded. Needless to say I have no great love for Hitler.

Mr. Buchanan is wrong, not only about this issue but also about 70 percent of other issues. such as NAFTA, GAT, WTO, education, Social Security and many other issues. I do agree with him on one or two issues.

The sad part is that when he runs as the Reform Party candidate in 2000 he will siphon off just enough votes so that once again we will have a president (either Republican or Democrat) elected with less than 50 percent of the vote.

Boy, I am sure glad we don't have anything like that happening here in Mississippi.

LIONEL BLUM
Saucier

Quick thinking made the most of a mess

On a daily morning walk on Beach Boulevard, I saw the results of the accident in which a cement truck failed to negotiate the turn at the end of the I-110 exit. It was a mess, with the curbs torn up and concrete spilling onto U.S. 90. I wondered how long it would take to repair the damaged curbs.

To my surprise, the following morning I discovered that some enterprising individuals had used the spilled concrete to immediately repair the broken curbs.

Well, there is an old saying, "If the world hands you lemons, make lemonade." Kudos to those who took advantage of a nasty situation.

Of course, I have to wonder, will the concrete company bill the highway department for the used concrete?

MILTON GUSSOW
Biloxi

Leaders aren't leading on connector road issue

The most recent development in the proposed north-south connector road in Biloxi is a fine example of government acting as if it suffers from a computer virus. It doesn't work.

Our Southern District highway commissioner, is wasting more time and taxpayer money studying the ridiculous: a bridge not across the bay of Biloxi north to south, but diagonally, east to west, through it. This is idiocy.

In the presence of such stupidity, our elected representatives with two exceptions remain silent. The Biloxi City Council, while voting for resolutions endorsing the Cedar Lake-to-Rodenberg route, which has been in every growth plan for the last 30 years, approved the mayor's committee to re-invent the wheel.

State Rep. Michael Janus, the only clarion voice in elective office on this issue, has stood firm for Cedar Lake-to-Rodenberg.

Beyond this there has been only silence.

The mayor, by avoiding taking the lead, prolongs the debate. He is a leader who fails to lead. Why? Does he disagree with the legions of Biloxi voters who have attended public meetings and overwhelm- ingly expressed a desire for the Cedar Lake-to-Rodenberg route?

The county supervisors have been silent, costing an incumbent his seat in District 5.

The rest of the state legislative delegation is silent. Where is state Sen. Billy Hewes on this issue? It will go through his district no matter which route is chosen.

Where are our federal elected representatives? Do they favor of something other than the least costly and most efficient route sup- ported by the voters and taxpayers?

And then there is Keesler, using scare tactics to hint at base closure as if employees of the Air Force have the power to close Keesler and not the U.S. Congress.

It is time for a little old-fashioned politics. The kind practiced by Americans in 1776 when the idea of throwing out King George III was thought radical. In future elections, we should vote according to the service performance of the officials who are failing to do their jobs.

BOB CARROLL
Biloxi
RACarroll@aol.com

America has fallen, and it can't get up!

Remember "Contract With America"? It was a concept that many of us prayed might be our last big hope for America. This revolutionary Republican plan to downsize "big government" and reverse the appalling degradation of our congressional representation amidst a disgusting presidential values meltdown has sadly become a "Contract On America," exactly that which it was politically tagged by its opponents at inception.
To many, it now appears to have been just another skillful ploy to gain entrenchment of a different power mob, but of the same scandalous ilk. This same degeneration of our leaders' values and integrity permeates our present-day "bought and paid for" candidates for political monarchy.

What can the electorate do about it? Are we too far down the slippery anarchical slope that was the way of Rome? I don't have a clue. Entering the voting booth, no matter the political choices staring back at me, I'll see only "Mafia" vs. "Cosa Nostra." With coin in hand, I'll vote. Exiting the booth, I'll observe the line of my obedient, subservient and ignorant fellow voters going through the motions of a sad futility.

Bartender! Another double!

ARMOND 'SI' SIMMONS
Pell City, Ala.

psysim@voy.net

We'd much rather bring health care back home

I've followed postings regarding Mississippi's need for physician assistants, and there seems to be a great deal of confusion about what PAs do and how they're trained.

This profession began when a group of physicians recognized the skills of combat medics returning from Vietnam. These veterans provided the only medical care available to servicemen in the field, with the nearest physician a helicopter ride away. Realizing that this mirrored rural health care, these physicians created a program modeled after the accelerated medical training used during World War II. They prepared these veterans to serve in rural and under served areas as an extension of the physician's practice.

Physician assistant training today routinely produces a health professional with a bachelor's or master's degree. Most students enter training after years of experience in a medical field - many with nursing experience.

PAs are not nurses. They're trained in medicine and serve as an extension of a physician's practice. The physician/PA team concept is endorsed by physicians groups throughout Mississippi. And, while our legislators have had repeated opportunities to pass laws allowing PAs to care for Mississippians, they have failed to do so.

I'm a physician assistant who calls Biloxi home. My wife, retired after over 21 years of military service, is a native of Hazelhurst. I will soon retire from the military. After over 40 combined years of missing family Christmases, graduations, and even funerals, we still can't come home. We'll be caring for Arkansans while Mississippians go without.

RANDY ULLENDORF
Cabot, Ark.

Councilman's words bluntly prove my point

It really saddens me, at this date in history, to experience the reality that people of color are at times treated with disrespect and of no value.

On Nov. 9 at the Gulfport City Council meeting, it was like a flashback to the days of segrega- tion and the dehumanization of people of color, to have Council- man Billy Hewes say to me, "Get the hell out of my face! I don't want to have anything to do with you."

I say this because the sewer line issue, for the most part, affects poor African-American citizens. Therefore, when the city has been exposed for consistently and historically not being fair and respectful to this sector of the community, this matter seems to intentionally - or unintentionally, due to ignorance - reek of, at least, environmental racism.

The truth, especially with reference to this matter, is that overall, the citizens have been treated like garbage. Treated as unimportant, disposable people who are used for tax revenues and disposed of, as is garbage, by not valuing the citizens by extending to them the full and deserved services of the city of Gulfport.

Therefore, in view of the fact that Councilman Billy Hewes, who is really my servant, said to me, "Get the hell out of of my face! I don't want to have anything to do with you," proved that I, a citizen, was treated like garbage. I rest my case.

ANTHONY TOLBERT
Gulfport

How could a judge allow such behavior?

I would imagine that much justice will be dispensed in a courtroom where the judge allows spectators to call out that one of the lawyers is a liar ("Suit trumps bridge club; Card group takes dispute to court," Nov. 17).

Had Boyce Holleman been the target, do you believe he would have been treated as my son, Briley Richmond, was - and that no action would have been taken by the judge?

The Gulf Coast Bridge Club removed its president at a board meeting where there was no quorum. When a group has such little integrity as that, perhaps it is better that they hide behind the antics of Mr. Holleman and the vulgar shouts of a crude woman rather than let the world know the truth.

I hope the attorney general does investigate. This group is supposed to be a tax-exempt charitable organization. I would like to see a list of their charitable acts and donations.

IRIS ELEUTERIUS RICHMOND
Ocean Springs

A park is fine, but not a storage facility

A Sun Herald article published Nov. 16, headlined "Developer, officials may reach agreement," was about the placement of a boat-storage facility on the old Popp's Ferry causeway.

I am compelled to write this letter because, after reading the story, several people approached me and wanted to know why I was in favor of a boat-storage facility on that property. Somehow I was misunderstood. So, for the record, I am not in favor of anything being built on that property but a park.

PATRICK COLLINS
Biloxi