Sound plans are being made for Mayview patients

I was distressed by a recent letter regarding anticipated problems connected to the Mayview State Hospital closure ("The System for Those Displaced From Mayview Is Inherently Flawed," July 3). When my son was admitted to Mayview, I became very involved in mental health advocacy. Because of my intense involvement in this area, I can answer unequivocally that the plans being made to provide services for those being discharged from Mayview are many and detailed, and they are reviewed regularly for validity.

It is true that the community cannot guarantee that no one ever will have problems. But none of us can guarantee that in any area of our lives. I now am friends with many people who, at one time, would have been considered unable to live in the community. Like my son, they live and work in the community and lead full and productive lives. A community atmosphere where people can succeed is as important as caring for those who find success difficult.

Interestingly, the sale of Mayview State Hospital offers an opportunity to ensure that people with mental illness receive the supports needed to live healthy and safe lives in the community. HB 1448 guarantees the Mayview property will be sold at fair market value and the proceeds used to create a Mental Health Community Services Account. These dollars will help people in current need of mental health services, as well as people needing mental health care in the future.

In a county that celebrates many warm and inviting neighborhoods, I hope that we all can welcome community-based supports into our communities.

EVA BEDNAR
Kennedy

The writer is a member of the Allegheny County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Advisory Committee.

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Police, help us

In light of the recent rash of shootings and burglaries in the once-pleasant community of Mount Washington, the pressing question is, where are the police? Mount Washington is a prime destination for Independence Day festivities, yet the only police activity I saw was retired cops directing traffic. This certainly helped the criminals who burglarized the many vehicles in my neighborhood.

And when a friend called to report a crime in progress, the response time was more than four hours. This is unacceptable. What are these men and women paid to do? It is an embarrassment to our city to let the crime that is now abundant atop Pittsburgh's most visited neighborhood go unanswered.

Get with the program, city police, before one more neighborhood becomes unlivable in America's "Most Livable City."

JEFF HEISKELL JR.
Mount Washington

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Unneighborly action

There is a new miscarriage of justice taking place in Lawrenceville. This time it involves the confiscation of parking spots from local merchants to create a new access way for Children's Hospital.

The small shopkeepers in the area between Main Street and 42nd Street along Penn Avenue are marginal businesses and the loss of even a single parking space will have a negative impact on their operations. Somehow this brutal reality is lost on City Council, as well as the zoning and traffic commissions. At this point, the political establishment appears more concerned about the vested interests of UPMC than in supporting the rights of the small shopkeepers, who are an integral part of the Lawrenceville community.

For many years, St. Francis Medical Center operated one of the largest facilities in the state and was able to provide ambulance service for patients without confiscating parking spots from the local merchants.

Ask the people of the Penn Avenue business community and they will tell you that St. Francis was a good neighbor. Somehow, at this point, no one can say the same for Children's Hospital.

JAMES WUDARCZYK
Lawrenceville

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Iraq war says it all

There have been several stories recently concerning the respective qualifications of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to lead and be commander in chief. More specifically, a number of his supporters believe Sen. McCain is inherently qualified due to his military service and his ordeal as a prisoner of war. On the other hand, Sen. Obama has no military background.

These arguments are a smokescreen. To determine which candidate better exhibits the leadership and judgment for military and national security matters as president, simply look at the record. John McCain has unerringly supported the totally mistaken, misguided, even immoral or illegal Iraq war of President Bush that has been so damaging on so many different levels. Sen. Obama, in contrast, has always been on record as opposing the war, though he was not a senator at the time it began.

Sen. McCain's military experience commands respect. His record as senator on this most important military issue shows complete lack of good judgment.

DAVID HAMMOND
Westover, W.Va.

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Voted for Obama

In response to the Penn Hills woman who is a thoughtful voter, but with whom I disagree in regard to Hillary Clinton ("Hillary Clinton Showed Us She Was Ready to Be President," July 8 letters): I, like many others I know, voted for Barack Obama, not against Hillary.

The writer mentions Hillary's intelligence (yes), grace and humility (no -- she waited until June 7 to concede and humility can't even be put in the same sentence with Bill Clinton). Stamina? Don't all the politicians have that in one form or another? How many speeches did she write for herself? I don't carry any rose-colored glasses for any of them.

I remember just a short year ago, when it was all but assumed that Hillary Clinton was the nominee, until Barack Obama came along. No misogyny then from the press, but she saw opportunities from that name of his. Remember the "60 Minutes" interview, in which said said, "As far as I know [he's not a Muslim]"? Nice try. How about the "3 a.m." ad, made famous because it plays exactly out of a Karl Rove handbook? Maybe bad advice from staff, but she still had to OK it.

What also helped do it for me was that Hillary Clinton supported the Iraq war, but backstepped and tried to make it sound as if she was duped by President Bush, yet Barack Obama is supposed to be the inexperienced one. He showed more wisdom with his early opposition to the war and his reasons why, and that is someone who can sit with world leaders.

We won't see the last of Hillary Clinton. I am hopeful that she is taking the high road of late and reasoning with some of her more angry voters to calm down.

C. HUTSON
West Mifflin

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Market forces

In "Energy Fantasies" (June 29), Jack Kelly argues that "no one thing" can be a solution to the energy crisis. He is wrong. While it is true that no single form of energy can save us from rising prices and that the goal is to "produce more oil at home, and use less of it," he has failed to recognize that there is, in fact, one solution to this problem: the free market.

The universally unconsidered problem with these well-intentioned solutions is that good or bad, they are congressional policies subject to the arbitrary unpredictability of the political process, the death-knell of progress. It is anybody's guess whether the popular proposals of today will be passed or discarded, let alone the policies of the next administration.

How effective are tax incentives when the potential for profit overcoming risk is entirely dependent on the whims of Congress? In a free market, consumers and the law of supply and demand determine a company's fate, resulting in competition to provide us with what we want -- cheap, clean energy. In Mr. Kelly's system, individuals are expected to invest in ventures that could be banned tomorrow, and should success ensue, Congress could decide that the profits are not the earners' to keep or invest as they see fit.

Until Congress lets go and allows each of us to legislate with our wallets, our ability to produce more and consume less will remain a pipe dream indeed, and even the best-intentioned policies will prove fruitless.

MICHELLE POTTER
Wheeling, W.Va.

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How can we risk executing the innocent?

Too close for comfort! Texas was about to execute Leroy Bower ("Execution Stopped for DNA Test," July 6) for a 1984 crime where no fingerprints put him at the scene, no witnesses saw him, no weapon was found and Mr. Bower continues to claim innocence.

The judge has agreed to consider his request for DNA testing (not available in 1984). After 20 years, this seems late in coming, but thank goodness, not so late as to risk providing us with a documented case of executing an innocent man.

That is the risk we accept as long as we align our nation with those, like China and Iran, that support state-sanctioned killing.

NANA W. WILSON
Upper St. Clair

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