Readers Find Injustice, Irony in Schafnitz Attitude and Coverage
Re “Charity Work Still a Goal for Tina Schafnitz” (May 4):
My co-worker and I are astounded that Ms. Schafnitz, a convicted drug dealer and user, can seriously talk about a 15-carat diamond ring that she hopes to receive from her husband upon her release from jail. She sounds like a naughty little girl who was sent to her room but knows deep down she will once again manipulate those around her to get her way.
She committed a crime! Most people would be humbled, ashamed or at least embarrassed.
With all the coverage on Tina Schafnitz, she has yet to say “I was wrong and I’m sorry.”
JANE BOVE
MELINDA CHAPMAN
Huntington Beach
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I am shocked that The Times would print such drivel. Who is more disturbed here--poor Tina who is in quasi-incarceration with no beautician or her husband who is going to give her a 15-carat diamond ring when she gets out? There are many Newport Beach women who daily wear $200,000 worth of jewelry and don’t pack a gun in the car. She is a common criminal who got really, really soft time.
RHODA FRIEDMAN
Newport Beach
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I feel the need to draw attention to the tone of this article. Columnist Ann Conway apparently believes it is perfectly acceptable to be a dealer in narcotics as long as you are also a rich white Orange County socialite. As for Schafnitz’s claim to only use cocaine twice a month, “because it gave me a lift,” I suggest she see one of her Newport Beach plastic surgeon buddies to take care of that problem.
We are all aware of O.C.’s and L.A.’s rampant drug problems, and, frankly, it is disgusting to see column inches wasted on a drug dealer like Schafnitz. What would public opinion be had Schafnitz been caught dealing narcotics to the teenagers in her own neighborhood? Had Schafnitz been caught dealing to the kids, which is where these drugs inevitably end up, she would be spending 10 years waiting for the next Newport Beach cocktail party.
JAMES BISHOP
Newport Beach
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I am having trouble feeling sorry for Tina Schafnitz for selling drugs to an undercover police officer. Did she ever think that if this were not a police officer and it was a real drug deal, maybe this person would have resold the drugs to young children?
I find it ironic that she does charity work for kids’ groups but indirectly could have supplied kids with drugs. It’s good to hear she has God in her life; I will pray for her and her family.
TIM WALLER
Newport Beach
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I read your “Tina” column with great interest. You left out one thing. Your glamorous Tina was caught selling poison to your children and mine. Do you really think that if a Newport Beach babe sells cocaine to your kids it’s OK, but if someone in the barrio or in Watts does it, that it is a bad thing?
JAMES W. TAYLOR
Laguna Beach
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Enough already! Tina Schafnitz is a criminal. The media are making her a celebrity (and a victim), and she is soaking up the attention. I am a working mother of two and I have done more than my share of volunteer work. I am appalled at her behavior and the example she has set for her boys.
Poor Tina; she will have to wait until she is out of prison before she will get her 15-carat diamond. Oh, please! Instead of being so anxious to return to her social life, she should be more concerned about what she has done to her children. In the meantime, do us all a favor and keep her face out of the paper.
SUE STEWART
Laguna Niguel
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What possibly could have been your motivation behind publishing the Tina Schafnitz interview by Ann Conway? If I had not known better, I would have thought she was describing the floral arrangements at an afternoon garden party.
Tina Schafnitz is in jail, not by mistake, but because of choices she made. Regardless of whether her use of cocaine occurred twice a month or twice a day “for a lift,” this column tragically points to someone in complete denial. I’m sure Tina misses “her life,” but she doesn’t understand that this is her life now. Not only is she cooking and chopping for fellow inmates, some of whom gave birth to the very children charities assist, she has, by choice, become one of them. Pray as she might, that reality, God cannot change.
ANITA J. ZIEBE
Newport Beach
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Ann Conway and The Times are both guilty of resorting to sensational journalism by continuing to elevate Tina Schafnitz, cocaine user-pusher, to a position of glamorous victim.
Do your readers really need to know that she carried more than $200,000 in jewelry on her person, or that her husband might give her a 15-carat diamond for their anniversary when “I get out” or that, “Oh, yes,” she has “the Lord in my heart and I’m praying to get through this?”
Why this grotesque coverage in the face of real drug problems among impressionable teenagers and drug pushers who really need the money?
JUNE MAGUIRE
Mission Viejo
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My friends and I were astounded by Ann Conway’s glitzy, up-tempo, gushing story on Tina, the gun-toting drug dealer. Apparently this convict plans to continue her charity work when she gets out of the slammer. I am associated with several children’s charities; we conduct background checks, and I guarantee you she will not be allowed near our young people. Tell us your article was a bad joke, or are you thinking of promoting the Menendez brothers in your next column?
BRIAN GRAY
Huntington Beach
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My friend and I felt identical surges of embarrassment when we read the interview with Tina Schafnitz. It is embarrassing that the worst stereotypes of women who live in our communities are reinforced due to the shameless and desperately painful comments of Ms. Schafnitz, who is anticipating a new diamond ring when she gets out of jail. As a mother, she has two invaluable diamonds at home--her children--who are suffering tremendously due to their mother’s cocaine problems.
We hope that Ms. Schafnitz will take the next 10 months to develop a more introspective side. Hopefully, she’ll decide no to return to her starring role in the old familiar charity stomping grounds, but to serve and learn in other ways. She could go to a shelter for abused women and read to their children, or serve food at a soup kitchen.
All her material assets didn’t make her happy enough to keep from using and selling drugs. Another ring, even a 15-carat one, won’t either. We wish her the best in her recovery, not only from drug involvement but from a lonely and skewed perspective on life.
CHRISTINA ADAMS ANTHONY
Newport Beach
SALLY BURBACK SMITH
Corona del Mar
* Letters should be brief and must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Letters are subject to editing and condensation. Mail to Letters in Life & Style, The Times, Orange County; 1375 Sunflower Ave.; Costa Mesa, CA 92626. By fax: (714) 966-7711. On the Internet: <ocletters@latimes.com>