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D Letters

By D Magazine |

Worsts & Bests

We are not Perot fans, but we are horrified by your publishing the ugly caricature of the man on your cover of the January 1993 issue of D Magazine.

Under no circumstances do we wish to receive further issues of D Magazine– please discontinue delivery at once-and take a good look at yourselves.

KATHARINE K. MILLER

NACOGDOCHES



The “Perotism” I most appreciated was Mr. Perot’s saying, in referring to the creation of the deficit and national debt, “There aren’t any bad guys in this thing,”

Taking this attitude clears the decks for problem-solving, whereas judgmentally hunting for perpetrators has not and will not contribute anything.

Susan E. Frensley Richardson

Thank you for the recognition {Best Effort in a Losing Cause) in January’s Best & Worst edition, but the campaign to land the Class 1 race track in Dallas was truly a team effort and this recognition must be shared by Carol Reed and her superb crew.

Lisa LeMaster

DALLAS

I was incensed to read in your Best & Worst issue that you would in any way criticize the Jack Boles Parking Service at the Crescent Hotel. On Mondays through Fridays for 48 weeks of the year, I use the facilities of the Crescent Spa and I have never waited more than one minute maximum to receive my car.

I have been a member of the Crescent Club and Spa since its inception and privileged to have die services furnished by Jack Boles Parking Services at the Mansion and other functions in Dallas for 33 years.

Mrs. John R. Watson

Dallas

Rights & Wrongs

We were glad to see your article on “Protesting Too Much” (January). We find it reprehensible that such fanatics can cause such disruption to doctors who are only performing medically safe, legal procedures. However, in the interest of “freedom maximizing.” may we suggest you publish Thomas Cyr’s and Philip Benham’s homeaddresses and phone numbers. Since they seem to find it acceptable to harass the doctors and their families at work, home and school-perhaps it’s time for “turnabout is fair play.” P.O. box numbers don’t accomplish much.

M AULA AND LEE BEIKMAN

DALLAS



Editor’s reply: Philip Benham’s home address was printed; Thomas Cyr’s P.O. box was printed because we could not gel his home address.



For a long time I have searched my heart and mind trying to understand the vicious and tireless campaigns to destroy the abortion clinics as well as doctors who do only occasional necessary abortions in the course of their practice.

Admittedly, the abortion business is not an attractive one but considering the “crack babies,” diseased and unfit mothers and unwanted babies for any reason, there really is no choice. For the women with problem pregnancies who do not choose abortion then, thank God, they have other options.

If the protesters are getting some special kind of “charge” from the power they feel in destroying a good doctor’s reputation and his practice, they are indeed “Soul Sick!” They look so foolish waving their placards.

M.W. MARIS

KEMP



I am not surprised that (Cyr and Ben-ham) are both men and that D could only obtain a post office box, as opposed to a home address, for Mr. Cyr, who apparently believes in his own privacy, but not in like rights for others.

CHRISTINA GEISER WOOD

DALLAS



Your story on the Dallas Pro-Life Action Network campaign to expose abortionist Norman Tompkins was an exemplary work of media bias attacking those who oppose the killing of children. Perhaps you are comfortable that your subscribers are homogeneous and in harmony with the lack of value you place on innocent human life. You openly advocated confronting only the leaders of the protests and so you prove your lack of journalistic integrity. Had you been sensitive to any pro-life readers, you would have printed address information for abortionist Tompkins so that they might confront the man responsible for the slaughter of thousands of babies.

Our sign with Tompkins’ picture on it does not read “murderer,” as you say. It reads “Abortionist Tompkins”-like a picture of the author might read “Journalist Celeste.” The fact that you printed “murderer” suggests that even through denial, you really know what an abortionist is. And that is why our telling the truth is so powerful. It’s not an “aggressive intrusion” into Tompkins1 life nor an “all-out war.” It is simply giving away a doctor’s dirty little secret.

Flip Benhaim

Tom CyR

Dallas Pro-Life Action Network

Celeste’s reply: The story says “the protestors…have mode [Tompkins ’J photograph into a placard labeled ’murderer. ’ ” This is accurate because I saw it. The sign in the picture, of course, says what it says.



Bill’s Bill

Re: “Thumbs Down to Rep. Bill Carter” (January): I wish-I really wish-that you people would at least not lie through omission when presenting your opinions. Rep. Carter’s bill to allow Texans to carry concealed handguns stipulates, among other things, the following restrictions for holders of such permits: That they be very thoroughly background-checked at local and national levels; that they be fingerprinted as part of said check; that they undergo very complete classroom and practical instruction and proficiency demonstration with the single firearm for which they would be licensed; that they carry said firearm responsibly (with ’’reckless carry” resulting in revocation of licensure); that concealed carry would not be permissible at polling places, in secure areas of airports, at schools, or in places that serve alcohol; that renewal of the permit must occur every four years; that licensure and renewal would cost SI50; and that the licensee’s driver’s license would carry notice that its holder is a concealed-carry permit holder.

Thirty-four states have such laws. Florida. which passed such a law in the last couple of years, has seen a drop in violent crimes of over 50 percent since such passage.

CRAIG MERRELL

DALLAS



Lost in Cultural Deprivation

While I am sorry to hear of Patsy Swank’s departure from the city of Dallas. I am not surprised (“Lost in Cultural Isolation.” December). Budget constraints notwithstanding, we all must realize we live in a city in which the prevalent belief among the power structure is that culture exists merely to advance our public image and to bring in business.

What that means is that artists must become decorators, writers propagandists, and actors entertainers of the lowest possible common tourist denominator. In other words, the creative and the intellectual must become props according to the whims of a multitude of farmboy-cum-business executives who brandish their money the way heathens do battle axes.

Virtually everyone I have ever spoken with about art and artists in Dallas sees just as clearly as I that these bush-league emperors have no clothes. Need an example? Just look at the paintings on the office walls of just about any business leader in Dallas. With a few exceptions, I have seen better excuses for art and culture at Denny’s.

Gordon Hilgers

Dallas



Sex in the Real World

As a volunteer for the AIDS Resource Center and a “Condom Guerrilla,” I felt compelled to respond to the letter [in the December issue] from P. Sanders attacking the work that we do. Unlike Sanders, I have chosen to live in the real world. While it is obvious that abstinence is the only completely effective way of preventing sexual transmission of HIV, we would be foolishLETTERS



to realistically believe that we could completely stop people from having sex. and using only scare tactics would reduce their chances of even trying to protect themselves when they do have sex. As to the pronouncement that sex within marriage is safe, tell that to the thousands of people who contracted HIV from their spouses whom they inaccurately believed to be monogamous.

None of the training I received as a volunteer suggested that condoms are 100 percent effective, but die failure rates generally cited are most often due to improper usage, something our program is trying to rectify. As to the claim that several “responsible” articles suggest that condoms are porous to HIV. if they are referring to latex condoms, the only ones we recommend, that claim is bunk, and I would love to know Sanders’ sources. My guess is that they are the same ones that claim Elvis is still alive.

John E. Wimberley Dallas

In his response to “Making War on AIDS” (October), P. Sanders champions sex within marriage or abstinence. In this, Sanders is right. If everyone practiced this ideal, AIDS and all sexually transmitted diseases would be eradicated within a generation. However, we live in a real world. A world where many engage in sex before marriage, many enjoy extramarital affairs and damn few are chaste. Until Sanders’ ideal world is realized, condoms and safe sex education is the next best thing, period.

P.B.JOHNSON

DALLAS



Shades of David Duke



I have been trying to think of a way to respond in some meaningful way to Jim Schutze’s “The New Houses on the Block” (November), but I am finding it very difficult. It is too simplistic to say that he has taken a shotgun approach to the complex questions of residential opportunities. Instead it appears he enlisted the help of a multinational platoon with shotguns firing in every direction. He is all over the place. There is, however, one core element that does emerge. Schutze’s world-or at least his neighborhood-is neatly divided between “them” and “him.” And more importantly, all of “them” fall somewhere on the continuum between really terrible and “least dangerous.”

What does he mean when he says, “These [people with mental retardation] are generally regarded to be the least dangerous of mental patients.” Surely after all his research he has learned the difference between being developmentally disabled and having an illness, between halfway house and community home, and between Specific Use Permit and “By Right.”

How do you respond to this type of material?

I did consider writing a multiple choice test. Can you identify which quote came from Schutze and which came from David Duke? 1. “…we could do little to keep them out of our midst.” 2. “Your choice is not whether to accept them, but which kind you’re going to take,” 3. “In state capitols and in Washington for the last 10 years, the people who wanted to make this sort of thing happen have been the insiders.” 4. “…is it fair or reasonable to expect all neighborhoods to lay themselves prostrate before all comers?”

Then on Dec. 2, 1992, 1 got a call that reminded me that Schutze and his friends are wrong. The call was from a man whose daughter had recently given birth to a child with Down’s syndrome. The family was completely unprepared. This grandfather talked about not knowing what the future held for his 6-month-old grandson.

Funny, Schutze already knows that the kid is the “least dangerous of mental patients” who “one day will be headed into the community for care, housing, for containment, therapy and control.” And who one day may live in a “nice little MHMR group home.” This little guy’s neighbors will be thrilled because everyone knows that a “neighborhood that already had a care provider in its midst will have better luck warding off the next one than a neighborhood that has not taken a hit yet at all.”

This young man may only be a few months old now, but what a world he has to look forward to.

Drew Dixon

Director, Information Group

Association for Retarded Citizens of Dallas



If in response to Jim Schutze’s “The New Houses on the Block” I referred to him as a typical tabloid journalist, I’m certain he would feel compelled to separate himself from the generalization. As a long-time advocate for people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities, I must make a few points.

People with mental retardation are not mentally ill. There is no medical treatment to cure mental retardation.

People with mental retardation do not have addictive personalities. They are not substance abusers.

People with mental retardation are not routinely or habitually clients of the criminal justice system. Lumping people with mental retardation together with the mentally ill, substance abusers and released criminals promotes an unjustified fear of a large segment of our population.

HELEN B. CROW

CARROLLTON

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