THUMBS DOWN WHITE AND WRONG

Thumbs down to the four white officers, Larry D. EDDINOTON, PATRICK T. BURKE, RICKY JAY HENRICHS, and CLIFFORD E. LEWIS, who have sued for more than S10 million in punitive and compensatory damages, claiming that the city’s year-old affirmative action policy kept (hem from being promoted to sergeant despite having better records than minority officers who were promoted. “Reverse discrimination” is not strictly fair, but neither were the decades during which white skin was the universal union card on the police force. The city has a legitimate interest in trying to correct the imbalance.