Kin in U.S. Reach Out to Detained Crew Via Internet

“Ken, I need you home. The grass needs cutting.”

If e-mail is the sole way to reach her son at the moment, then Marjorie Richter wants to make him laugh. She hopes it will help him cope, just as it is helping her and the rest of her family.

“Trying to keep a sense of humor is getting us through this, and I hope it will help him too,” she said of Cryptologic Technician 2nd Class Kenneth Richter, one of the 24 U.S. crew members being held as the standoff between the United States and China continues.

“Ken loves what he’s doing, and he has a sense of humor, so I hope he’s finding ways to keep laughing,” Marjorie Richter said in Loxley, Ala.

Tom Crandall of Loves Park, Ill., has been sending his son, Cryptologic Technician Collection Seaman Jeremy Crandall, the latest Chicago Cubs scores, knowing that if the young man was at home, he would be avidly following the team.

“I’m being pretty generic in my e-mails, because I don’t want to write anything that will offend the Chinese,” Tom Crandall said.

Indeed, when the families of the detained crew members were told that they could send e-mail to their loved ones--through a special e-mail address provided by the Navy--they also were warned to remember “that these messages are probably going to be read, and censored,” said Richard “John” Bensing, father of Ensign Richard Bensing.

Some began writing immediately. Others, who don’t own computers, sought help from relatives who do. The Richters’ daughter came from New York toting her laptop.

Donna Comerford of Westchester in Los Angeles, grandmother of Lt. j.g. John Comerford, said family members “wanted to know what I wanted to say. I said, just the old inane stuff--that I love you, I miss you and I want you to come home.”

While the e-mail has been flowing from the families, many have so far received none in return.

“It’s like talking to a wall,” Richard “John” Bensing said.

But White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters Tuesday that the men and women being held on Hainan island do not have access to computers and were not writing out messages. They have passed messages orally through Army Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, who has been meeting with them, Fleischer said.

“I think it’s fairly plain to understand how that would work,” he said. “The general meets with all the service men and women. They say, ‘My son has a birthday.’ We convey birthday greetings, etc.”

In the days since the drama began, the emotions of the families of the 24--which began with fears for their loved ones’ safety--have shifted to impatience and frustration.

“Can you imagine what it’s like to get a phone call and hear, ‘Ken’s plane went down’?” Marjorie Richter said of that first call, which came from their daughter-in-law, Jan. “Your heart plunges. . . . Now all I want to hear is my son on the phone saying, ‘I’m back with Jan and Patrick [their 8-year-old son], and I’m OK.’ ”

President Bush stressed Tuesday that the U.S. “is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. . . . We are working hard to resolve the situation.”

Bush added that Sealock had met for a fifth time with crew members and reported “that spirits are high, that the troops are patient.”

After Sealock’s 40-minute meeting, he reiterated that the crew members were in good physical and mental health. They have been allowed to exercise, and those who smoke have been given cigarettes by some of their Chinese guards.

Earlier, Sealock described their living conditions as similar to “officers’ quarters”: a hotel-like atmosphere, clean and air-conditioned. They are said to be eating catered meals and passing the time playing cards, doing crossword puzzles and watching Chinese television.

Senior U.S. officials said most of the male crew members are sleeping two to a room, while the three women are together and the commander has his own room.

As the standoff has continued, U.S. officials said, the rules governing the crew have been relaxed, and they have been allowed to talk to one another and wander among the rooms.

Bensing, who lives in Sun City Center, Fla., said his family is growing increasingly eager to be reunited with his son.

“I’m sure this is all going to end well,” Bensing said. “I’m just not sure when.”

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Times staff writers Robin Wright in Washington and Henry Chu in Beijing contributed to this report. Times researcher Cary Schneider and The Times’ library staff also contributed.