Two Views of FloJo’s Death

I am canceling my subscription to the L.A. Times effective immediately.

As the wife of an NFL quarterback, I am used to reading mean-spirited, ugly and senseless barbs and comments about my husband. I have developed a thick skin over the years because, as they say, it goes with the territory.

But I cannot stomach the way The Times and its sportswriters treated the tragic death of the incomparable, beautiful and legendary Florence Griffith Joyner. I was particularly disgusted at the Randy Harvey column of Sept. 22, where he issued a dare to her grieving husband Al Joyner to come forward and admit her steroid use only a few days before her funeral service.

In light of her autopsy reports, it is the obligation of every journalist, not only Harvey, to come out with as much vigor to clear her name as they did to tarnish it.

HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE, Beverly Hills

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I am simply amazed at the unjustified comments in the press on the autopsy report on the death of Florence Griffith Joyner.

The fact that there were no findings indicative of chronic use of known performance-enhancing substances means just that. A negative finding in a scientific investigation does not prove anything one way or the other. It simply means that nothing was found by the methods employed. I am gratified that there was no indication of known effects of chronic use of known substances. However, statements to the effect that this settles the question of whether she ever did use performance-enhancing substances are completely unjustified. The fact of the matter is that the issue cannot be proved or disproved.

ALLEN K. MURRAY, Newport Beach