Tasteless Ode

Your choice to print “The Ballad of the A’s Bandit” in the San Diego at Large column (April 24) reflects an extreme lack of sensitivity and served to glorify a crime defined as a felony by our criminal justice system.

To print lyrics such as “He’s got a style you just gotta love” and “He’s the mild-mannered bank robber” ignores the 25 bank tellers he has permanently harmed; the fear and terror created by someone threatening your life, if you do not give them what they want, never goes away.

What constructive, newsworthy point was conveyed by this tasteless piece of prose? Let’s save our “paeans” for real heroes.

BILL SOMMER, San Diego