Nitpick Me Not
I read the article "Sobriety in a Bottle" with great avidity. I have a younger brother with a serious drug problem, and I have seen that counseling, behavioral modification, Narcotics Anonymous, and jail are not always enough to break an addiction, no matter how bad the addict wants to be clean. With that said, I don't mean to disregard the importance of clinical testing to determine a drug's effectiveness. However, if the people featured in the article are able to get and stay clean, who cares how it works? Whether it's actually altering brain chemistry or just a placebo, the point is that the people in the article feel like they now have the power to stay off drugs. And, really, isn't that the goal in the end, regardless of the road taken to get there?
Maggie Scarborough
San Antonio, Texas
Asphalt Level
Fascinating story and a blast to read ("Mi Casa Is Not Tu Casa," Deirdra Funcheon, May 8). I won't delve into politics like every other commenter on news stories. I'm just here to say this was a great portrait of a city and its people, for better or worse. Good show.
Rene Basulto
Pembroke Pines
Those illegals have driven down the wages of all construction jobs to half of what they were in the 1980s. I loved my jobs in the construction industry, but I can't live in an apartment with 20 guys from my hometown. So I can't afford to live anymore on the wages being offered. I have changed specialties several times to keep up with changes in the industry since I started in 1987. I've been doing Venetian plaster work of late. One of my recent employers laid me off after he had his day laborers learn through me how to do my job. When I heard the last guy who hired me (supposedly for permanent position) tell his day laborers to watch what I was doing so they could learn, I quit.
I wasn't being paid what I was worth, thanks to these people. I'm definitely not getting paid enough to teach them so they can take my job. Anyone who says (like our president) that they're only taking jobs that Americans don't want to do, they're lying.
By the way, in what city in America is it legal to drive with your license plate inside your car? That guy should have been given a ticket. Also, if you think these guys are paying all the taxes they should be for these day laborers, you're sadly mistaken. And if one of these guys gets hurt on your property, it's the homeowner who's gonna be sued. Imagine having a lien put on your house by some illegal alien and his ambulance-chasing attorney.
Rich Mullen
Miami
Have Some Respect
I hope Tom Francis finds himself doing good. I am writing with regard to his article "Lambs to Slaughter" (April 17). I found that the article and cover that your newspaper posted was completely disrespectful to the Catholic community.
Name withheld by request
Via the internet
I thought you might like to know, the edition that had the Bible on it a few weeks ago was ripped from the stands by some crazy heathen hunter people up on Singer Island, Florida.
Randall Halton
Lake Worth
Easy Money
I read your story about the Sun-Sentinel with great interest ("Desperate Times," Tailpipe, March 27). I've subscribed for many years and typically will renew for a couple of years at a time, so I rely on them to send a renewal notice when the subscription is about to expire. I didn't receive my paper one day last year and called the number to report nondelivery. I was forwarded to a customer service representative who informed me that my paper was stopped for nonpayment. I told her I never received a renewal notice. She claimed I had been sent three.
Well, I hadn't at that point, but a couple of them miraculously appeared in my mailbox over the next week. The problem is that they also claimed that I owed the Sun-Sentinel for a year of papers already delivered — at full price, natch.
That just ticked me off. I would have continued my subscription, but now I refuse on principle. I too was getting hounded by their collection agency. It's interesting to hear that I'm not the only victim of their little scam. I wonder how many people have paid up. Maybe car dealerships should just start parking new cars in people's driveways and sending them a bill. I'll bet they never thought of that. "Well, sir, our records show that you bought an Acura six years ago, so we figured you would want to replace that old car by now."
Name withheld by request
Via the internet
