My immediate reaction on seeing "Identity Crisis" by Jay Cheshes in the December 24 New Times was "Who gives a damn?" Certainly not the majority of your publication's white readers. Their primary interest vis-a-vis Haitians would much more likely be "How can we send the Haitians who are here back to Haiti yesterday?"
Hey, Tom [Walsh, editor]! Here's a story idea we won't see in New Times: Why don't we show some testiculos [sic] by sending Jay Cheshes down to Haiti to report on the dreadful overpopulation in the country? Oh, and we could do a sidebar on how it was democratic politics and the black vote that got them into the United States in the first place.
Yawn. I just woke up. I dreamt I was reading New Times and it had started showing a little guts in its reporting.
Richard P. Ryan
Pompano Beach
Noah Looks For the Union Label
Wow. Someone in the media covered a union win (Undercurrents, December 17). Congratulations to the workers of Avante for overcoming fear and unlawful intimidation to exercise their right to organize. And congratulations to New Times. I may not always agree with the bent of your stories on labor -- but damn, you actually have stories about labor! May we see more?
Noah Warman
via the Internet
Separate but Unequal
It's truly sad to see the laudable goals of Mr. Bill Laurie corroded by his obvious megalomania ("Emerging Elitism," Paul Belden, December 10). I was in public school in South Florida around the time he broke from the system and began forming his private school enterprise. The conditions [in public schools] were atrocious. The ills of society at the time seemed magnified significantly in an environment where teachers and administrators cared simply about policing the students and containing violence rather than enriching minds and honing natural talents.
If people of like minds choose to bind together in any legal enterprise, they should be able to do so within the strictures of their society. It is obvious that the people at American Heritage School think themselves above the rest of Broward County. They have ignored the sanctity of their neighbors' environment, flouted local ordinances, and, it is quite plain to see, have bought off local government.
It's the oldest story of society: The rich dump from on high, and the rest of us must dodge the lumps.
Raymond A. Borgerson
West Palm Beach
Rowe Goes Long to Catch Marino
I have to say Sean Rowe's story on Dan Marino ("Chasing Danny," November 12) was the most long-winded piece of garbage I have ever read. Now I know why people like Marino would be mad at answering questions from someone like Mr. Rowe. He knows nothing about football or what real life is like.
I also understand why Sean Rowe works for a weekly paper. As long-winded as that article was, it must have taken him a month to write such drivel.
Mike Mingo
East Windsor, New Jersey
