LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Ignoring facts leads to doubt

In his Perspective commentary, Tom Strickland disputes any negative environmental impact as a result of drilling for gas in Arkansas' Fayetteville shale formation. He also states that a "really dedicated environmentalist would live in a tent and ride a bicycle." Using that reasoning, I may as well throw my McDonald's bags out the car window; after all, I don't live in a tent.

He states that because environmentalists got DDT banned in the 1970s, billions of people in the Third World contracted malaria and millions died. It is important to note that DDT was banned not for its use against malaria but for its agricultural purposes.

True, supplies of DDT plummeted and cases of malaria skyrocketed, but that had more to do with marketing realities: There just isn't much money to be made killing mosquitoes in Third World countries. He might just as well blame chemical manufacturers for not making DDT and giving it to those who couldn't afford to buy it.

DDT was banned here because its accumulation in soils and waterways was doing irreparable harm to mammals, fish and birds, including nearly eliminating the bald eagle in the lower 48. No one at the time could have imagined the ban as a choice between saving life in one world and contributing to deaths in another.

This makes me wonder about the veracity of his statements if Strickland feels that he must make selective use of facts to damn all environmentalists. To borrow from his last sentence, I would "be very skeptical." ROBERT MARTIN Midway Curb inclination to war

Surely it is time for Congressman John Conyers to consider putting Congressman Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment for George W. Bush forward to the whole House.

It appears that neither Bush nor any of his advisers can understand that the United States cannot dictate to the rest of the world, especially due to our positions in Iraq, our total lack of diplomacy and our warlike posturing over Iran. If we have a solid ally left, it surely cannot be in favor of his actions.

He has impoverished our economy, enriched his oil cronies, allowed contractors to enrich themselves by giving them unencumbered lack of supervision and never learned that diplomatic sentences seldom end in "or else." He apparently cannot see that the rest of the nations in the world do not feel that we have the right to boss them.

I sincerely hope, for the sake of my grandchildren, that he can be curbed before he starts another war.

BUZ BOSWELL Harrison

Price of lottery too high

Current efforts to establish a statewide lottery as a means of creating significant financial support for our schools motivate me to urge readers to read an important news story published in The New York Times recently, "For Schools, No Lucky Number."

Two factors point to the importance of this story: serious research dealing with lottery programs in 42 states and placement in the middle of the Times' front page. Points of import in the story: Examination of lottery documents plus interviews with lottery administrators and analysts find that lotteries accounted for anywhere from less than 1 percent to 5.3 percent of the total revenue for K-12 education last year in the states that use this money for schools. Most of the money raised by lotteries is simply used to sustain the games themselves.

States eager for more players are introducing games that emphasize instant gratification and more potentially addictive forms of gambling. At least 10 states and the District of Columbia are considering privatizing their lotteries despite assurances decades ago that state involvement would blunt social problems that might emerge from an unregulated expansion of lotteries.

For example, in fiscal 2006, Missouri had $914 million in lottery sales ($156 in sales per capita); 63 percent of the revenue was spent on prizes and 29 percent was profit. The portion that went towards K-12 education was 1.8 percent.

After reading about the performance of state lotteries, I can't believe that a state lottery in Arkansas would prove to be in the public interest.

GEORGE H. THOMPSON Conway

Mayor getting job done

I took exception to your recent editorial regarding Rogers Mayor Steve Womack's attempt to actually do something about the illegal alien problems we Americans face.

It has become apparent that our federal and state officials cannot come up with a workable solution. Too many companies have an unfair advantage in the bidding for jobs because their cost of labor is so much lower than the companies that hire legal workers.

Womack actually had the guts toattempt to put something in place that would at least try to reduce the illegals, and what do you do? Write an editorial that ridiculed this effort.

You indicated that the program would likely lead to profiling. I'm sorry, but what exactly is wrong with profiling? I meet the profile for an overweight American female. I've been requested to show my passport, driver's license, proof of insurance and even on one occasion my marriage certificate. None of this offended me. I say attaboy to Womack and truly wish state leaders had such courage.

The recent column by Dana D. Kelley on the ills of a lottery was such a crock. Arkansans by the thousands are giving their money to surrounding states for gambling, be it a lottery or a casino. Bill Halter recognizes the opportunity to keep some of that money in state for the benefit of Arkansas. This isn't a moral issue, folks. You cannot restrict Arkansans from gambling. You can, however, keep some of that money within our home state. Atta boy Halter.

JERY PAYNE Bigelow

Next time, do research

Re the letter from Dorothy Meyer, "Postal system inefficient": If I may quote William F. Buckley, "I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence."

She should not judge "him, her or it" until she has researched all the facts that would support her accusations.

SANDRA ROGERS Maumelle

Feedback

Packaging overdone Are manufacturers overreacting? The blister packing on medicine bottles is simply overdone. The point in the beginning was to keep small children from opening the bottles. My grandchildren and great grandchildren can open most of today's packing better than I and most other older people. I have used a sharp pocket knife, the wife's scissors and more recently my hacksaw to open some packages.

I am sure that I am not the only person who has discontinued buying certain products because of the difficulty in opening. Some 80- to 90-year-old people have quit taking some of their medicines because they have problems opening the containers.

The manufacturers may make a few more dollars, but they need to see just how many consumers resent today's packaging and sealing.

W.T. LITTLE Little Rock

Estimate impossible

Tom Strickland sounds pretty factual and believable in his special Perspective section essay about environmentalists who want us to practice what they preach-until he says that 14 billion people in Third World countries have contracted malaria and some 95 million have died.

I don't think that 14 billion people have lived on the earth since creation, much less in Third World countries.

Another thing: The outdoor writer, Bryan Hendricks, is an interesting read, but why does he always have to brand-name every piece of equipment he uses in his pieces?

TIMOTHY CLEARY Tumbling Shoals