Copyright 2000 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
MAY 15, 2000, MONDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A22; LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LENGTH: 1428 words
HEADLINE:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
BODY:
SMOKE A JOINT, LOSE
YOUR LICENSE
Editor -- I'm appalled to discover that AB 2295 would
suspend a person's drivers license for activities done while NOT driving. It
would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend or delay the license
of any person for six months upon receipt of a court abstract showing that the
person was convicted of any specified controlled-substance offense.
Driving while under the influence is already an offense. What a person
does off the road should not be linked to having a license to drive.
SUSAN STEFFENS
San Jose
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AIDS DRUG COSTS
Editor -- President Clinton's
executive order, which was an endorsement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's now defunct
amendment to the African Trade Bill, was the best news of the year. The basic
right to life, to human existence itself, overcame corporate lobbying for
profit.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President
Alan Holmer committed a serious error in stating that the basic issue at hand is
"the discriminatory approach to intellectual property laws."
Holmer may feel that the pharmaceutical industry's right to reap profit has been
unfairly curtailed by the executive order, which now permits African nations to
buy, import and manufacture generic versions of AIDS drugs
without threat of economic retribution, however, it should be stressed that
there are already many pharmaceutical companies in the United States who are
willing to donate other urgently needed medicines to various regions of
Africa.
In contrast, those corporations, which have an
active policy of withholding vital AIDS medicines from some
countries because they cannot achieve a targeted market price, are engaging in a
form of socioeconomic warfare. The very real casualties are American prestige,
the AIDS victims themselves and/or the related worker who must
support the AIDS patient. The executive order President Clinton
has signed should alleviate much pain and unnecessary suffering.
KENNETH
RICHARD
San Mateo
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ROADLESS PLEDGE
Editor -- When President Clinton pledged to
permanently protect wild, roadless areas in National Forests, he took a giant
step toward cementing a conservation legacy on par with that of Teddy Roosevelt.
Unfortunately, the roadless-area plan recently unveiled by the U.S. Forest
Service is a betrayal of the president's promise and of the American people.
Despite receiving nearly a quarter of a million public comments on the
policy -- the vast majority of which called for lasting protection for wild
forests -- the agency merely recommended a ban on constructing new logging
roads. The plan would still allow logging, mining, grazing, off-road vehicle
use, and other destructive activities, in roadless areas.
The proposal
also exempts the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the largest roadless forest
in the National Forest system. Roadless areas are our biological links to the
past and hope for the future. Their economic worth as recreational assets far
outweighs their value for timber production. But they are quickly disappearing.
It is encouraging that the Forest Service wants to stop bulldozing its
way into roadless areas. But under the agency's plan, the call of the wild in
our National Forests would still be drowned out by the whine of the chain saw,
roar of the motorcycle and moo of the cow. The Forest Service should adopt a
final plan that achieves President Clinton's vision of permanently protecting
all roadless areas on all National Forests.
BRIAN VINCENT
American Lands Alliance
Nevada City
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WATCHDOGS ASLEEP
Editor -- Crying for comment is the third
paragraph of a story nicely buried on Page A14 entitled "Mass Protest in
Thailand Over Development Bank Meeting" (Chronicle, May 8):
"The United
States and Japan also ruled out membership in (the Asian Development Bank) for
North Korea, rebuffing a South Korean appeal. Seoul's finance minister had asked
for help in bringing the reclusive North into the international financial system
as a way of possibly increasing stability on the Korean Peninsula."
No
reasons were given for opposition to South Korea's practical desire to lessen
tensions between the two Koreas. The reader is left in ignorance as to why his
country refused to pick up a sensible suggestion. Could it be the United States
doesn't want to ease tensions, because that would lessen its control of Korea?
A few days earlier, columnist Debra Saunders ridiculed those concerned
about genetically modified food (she apparently eats junk food from the office
vending machine, and reads the wrappers), practically declaring that ignorance
is bliss. She is not a scientist, nor am I, but the point about labeling is that
the buyer is given the right to an informed choice.
In the first case,
the reporter doesn't ask a crucial question; in the second case, the columnist
ridicules those who do ask. Of course, highlighting the U.S. refusal of South
Korea's sensible request would also highlight some unpleasant thoughts about
U.S. imperialism that relies on military might and economic bullying rather than
diplomacy and foresight. Ridiculing American (and much stronger European)
questioning of genetically modified products may be a way of obscuring a kind of
federal imperialism that our government, fronting for large corporations,
practices on its own citizens, possibly to the detriment of their health.
Conspiracy? Nah. Just the watch-dog press not doing its job toward
creating an informed citizenry.
STEPHEN PETTY
Santa Rosa
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WEBBY'S WORTH
Editor -- As the Nob Hill Association's liaison to
the Webby Awards, I was disappointed by your coverage of the Webby Awards'
presence in Huntington Park ("Squabble on the Hill," May 10).
Although
the association spent many hours reaching out to our neighbors in anticipation
of the Webbys, your reporter didn't bother getting our perspective. Virtually
every comment and call we've received has been positive.
We also would
have been happy to tell him how professional and considerate the Webby
executives have been -- including the $10,000 pledge toward
restoring the park's Tortoise Fountain. They have proved the Webby's worth to
San Francisco in more ways than one.
DANIEL FINNANE
Chairman,
Huntington Park
Committee
Nob Hill Association
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MODEL SCHOOL
Editor -- Although academic achievement is on the
rise at Mission High School, the school continues to be the local media model
for what is wrong with San Francisco public education.
Yet, consider:
-- 10 percent of the senior class has been accepted at University of
California campuses.
-- 35 students in the Cisco Information Technology
Academy will hold networking certificates by June, affording them the
opportunity to obtain jobs paying upwards of $60,000 a year --
funding future education.
-- 18 of the 19 students who have taken the
S.F. State entry-level math exam have passed -- eight earned perfect scores.
This rate of success radically surpasses the state average (50 percent).
-- Incidents of violence are rare at Mission. In the last two years, no
gang-related fights or other incidents have taken place on campus. We no longer
are the benchmark for public school violence.
I urge you to eliminate
Mission from the database of bad public schools. High achievement and safe
education now define us.
ANTON SABIEV, SUSAN CHANG, JUAN GARCIA, NADINE
YEE, BISSA ZAMBOLDI, MARK ALVARADO, TED ALFARO AND ALTHEA FOSTER
Mission
High students, staff, teachers and administrators
San Francisco
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OF A
CERTAIN HEIGHT
Editor -- Now that the supervisors have outlawed
discrimination against fat or short people, will it be against the law for women
to request a "tall" man when looking for a man in the personal ads?
BOB
MARSHALL
Santa Rosa
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SHE'S SO PC
Editor -- Dana, Dana, Dana (Letters, May 12). It
sounds like you've been indoctrinated. Maybe my 16-year-old daughter could
respond to your letter better -- yes, second-hand cigarette smoke is harmful,
but you can easily avoid and walk away from it. And if you're scared of being
offered drugs and cigarettes, "just say no."
RON LOWE
Nevada
City
LOAD-DATE: May 15, 2000
