LETTERS

FLYER’S FREE-FOR-ALL



“COME FLY WITH US” [November] should be titled “Observations of a Typical Passenger (who wants to have his cake and eat it too!).”

●You were “outraged” to be bumped from a flight because of overbooking. Yet you encourage travelers to deliberately overbook themselves in an effort to be bumped and thereby receive the “windfall” of a free round-trip ticket as compensation.

●You complain endlessly about delayed departures. Yet when one airline tries valiantly to maintain an on-time departure record, you criticize it for its “rushed, let’s-move-it atmosphere.” Another cause of the “amazing disregard for punctuality” you found could be due to some crafty passenger taking your advice of “boarding at an airport other than the one at which you’re ticketed.” That’s worth about a 20-minute delay while gate agents and flight attendants scramble around trying to unscramble the seating problem you’ve caused.

Last of all, there are all those “callous flight attendants you met on your journeys. The vast majority of airline employees make a real effort to be courteous, efficient and helpful to the traveling public. They are often met with rudeness, surliness, unreasonable demands and verbal abuse from passengers.

Carol Darwin

Dallas



THE DALLAS CULTURE



WILLARD SPIEGELMAN, author of “The Seeds of Culture” [November], discussed several unfortunate facts about the general Dallasite attitude that frustrate and depress me. I am a violin performance major in SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, and I free-lance professionally. I, too, see not a love and admiration of art in Dallas, but a love and admiration of prestige, or a need to “own” art. Dallasites want to have their names on the symphony programs as being on the patrons list, as long as they don’t have to attend performances. I greatly admire those patrons of the arts listed as anonymous.

Lee Anne Chenoweth

Dallas



I HAVE READ Willard Spiegelman’s article twice very carefully to be sure I understand exactly what he was saying. It seems he is not satisfied with the artistic quality of Dallas and thinks we should try to be more like New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

Admitting that there is always room for improvement, maybe we like things our way. As I heard an old-timer in Austin say a short time ago, “There’s just getting to be too many people around here that talk funny.”

Martha Smith

Dallas



HOMEOPATHY: HEALTHY OR HOKEY?



Despite the assertions in “The Happy Homeopath” [November], homeopaths and naturopaths are not the same thing. The normal course for those who wish to qualify as homeopathic physicians is to attend a conventional medical school and, after graduation, serve an intensive apprenticeship with a practicing homeopath. Such physicians are licensed, and they do practice in several states. They must master a complex and comprehensive theory of healing and a painstaking and thorough method of practical diagnosis. The competent homeopath spends a great deal more time with the individual patient than is normal among regular physicians.

There is a renaissance of interest in homeopathy, and in progressive states such as California, the number of practitioners is growing.

Kathe Callaway

Ladonia



WADLEY: BANK ON IT



AFTER ALMOST 10 years’ association with Wadley Blood Bank and having donated more than five gallons of blood, I feel I must come to the defense of their fine program. My association with them has always been extremely professional, courteous and compassionate, and I take great pride in it.

In Eric Miller’s article [“The Politics of Blood,” December] I find no evidence of his having interviewed Dr. Hill or of Dr. Hill’s refusal to be interviewed. Perhaps I should have reasoned this from the article’s headline.

Instead of pointing the finger at any one blood bank, perhaps we should consider the source: the Dallas people.

Dennis Hogeland

Dallas

I READ YOUR article on blood banking in Dallas, and I would like to call your attention to some important facts. Wadley services the blood needs of 49 hospitals in a five-county region. This list of hospitals includes every major hospital in Dallas and the other four counties.

Wadley’s research department is very aggressive in the development and implementation of safety tests and standards for blood. For example, through its research, Wadley was one of the first regional blood centers in America to routinely test blood for hepatitis B. This was years before such testing was implemented for all blood donations in America. Today, our commitment is still to a safe, sufficient volunteer blood supply for all our citizens.

Hanne Klein

Director of Public Information

The Blood Center at Wadley

Dallas



SHOPPING BY NUMBER



AN ARTICLE ON personal shoppers that appeared in your December issue [“Inside Dallas”] contained a segment that had incorrect information.

I am the owner of Executive Gift Purchasing Service and have been for three years. In your December 1982 issue, you printed a great story about what we offer. My name is Pamela Leonard, not Trenda VanHorn. She obtained my old answering service number, and the Dallas Yellow Pages never removed my listing when my number changed to 328-8629. This certainly was a bad time to make such an error.

Pamela Leonard

Executive Gift Purchasing Service

Dallas



Correction: Our December story, “Empire in Arlington,” incorrectly identified former U.S. Rep. Tom Vandergriff as a state representative.