SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 028

LENGTH: 681 words

HEADLINE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

BODY:
Homeless need help

Your story ("Homeless left out in the cold," Jan. 3) highlights that there is not enough support for homeless people in Boston. Shelters are overcrowded, which forces people to sleep in cars and on the streets. I used to live on the streets and it was no joy-ride. I used to worry about where I was going to sleep at night and whether it would be safe. I did not know what my next meal would be or even if I would be eating at all. I hope Boston will start providing more resources for the homeless.

- Kristen Carey, Boston

Second team for Hub In my view, Red Sox fans are the most sophisticated and knowledgeable. Unfortunately they have been taken advantage of over the years by Sox management. The cost of everything from admission to beer is outrageous. Fenway Park is a disgrace and I am surprised Major League Baseball didn't shut it down years ago. Now with the new owners, it is time to rebuild the place. Since the deal - shady or otherwise - has been made by the new ownership, now is the time for the other shoe to drop.

John Henry has to sell the Florida Marlins, and the Montreal Expos can be picked up for pennies on the dollar. Frank McCourt has the land, metro Boston has the fans and with the help of a few investors, Boston could have a successful National League franchise. Maybe the Herald would like a piece of the action. This is a great opportunity for a great investment in a great city and would be supported by the nation's greatest fans.

- John Nelson, Weymouth

Options for disabled

The Herald deserves credit for covering public transportation access issues confronted by individuals with disabilities ("T struggling with access for disabled," Jan. 7). Public transportation enables many individuals with disabilities to live as normal a life as possible.

Individuals with disabilities who work enjoy the feeling of contributing to society. After all, their tax dollars help fund public transit. Impediments to access, such as the difficulties that the disabled community has experienced on the Green Line, make holding a job more difficult.

WORK Inc., a nonprofit, has been dedicated to meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities for over 36 years. We know the role that public transit plays in helping the disabled become independent, and we applaud the Herald for calling attention to the Green Line's shortcomings.

- James J. Cassetta,

President and CEO

WORK Inc., Quincy

Dems deserve to be riled

President Bush need not make the same mistake his father did in dealing with the Democrats ("Riled Bush tells Dems: Keep mitts off tax cut," Jan. 6).

They are already campaigning to get the House back and will use scare tactics on the disabled and the elderly, play the race card, use deceit, lies and misinformation to accomplish their goal.

The only reason the Democrats supported President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks was that they could spend more of the taxpayers' money without question and build a bigger bureaucracy.

- Vin Burdziuk, Hanson

Sanctions justified

Our congressmen would be wise to understand the Cuban embargo was never aimed solely at the Cuban people as a punitive measure. Cuban trade and travel restrictions are an attempt to depose an avowed Communist dictator who continues to rule with an iron fist - the same iron fist he used in October 1962, when he urged Nikita Khrushchev to use nuclear weapons against the United States ("Congressmen view Cuba as it really is," Jan. 5). Later, he used the same intolerance in ordering Cuban MiG fighter jets to shoot down an unarmed civilian plane.

Today, Fidel Castro continues to be the unctuous gadfly in the ointment of harmonious Cuban-American relations. And he continues to support international terrorism, which makes him more dangerous than Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. He's just 90 miles away.

Castro will never give up his dictatorial throne. However, when he and his goons are finally ousted (by any means necessary), all U.S. sanctions will be immediately lifted by Congress.

- Donald Mills, South Boston



LOAD-DATE: January 10, 2002