Motorists’ Role in a Woman’s Suicidal Plunge

Regarding “After the Leap, Soul-Searching in Seattle,” Sept. 3: The vocal transgressions of a few impatient latte-drinking motorists held captive on the Seattle bridge is only symptomatic of any large metropolitan city where time is a precious commodity.

I’m sure those urging the woman to jump really meant something such as, “Please don’t jump, lady, but if you do, please do it quickly because I want to get on with my life.”

RICHARD M. RUBY

Woodland Hills

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In her article on Seattle-ites’ heckling of a suicidal woman, staff writer Kim Murphy writes: “Forget Los Angeles, the city that Seattle always agonizes it’s about to turn into; the awful words ‘New Jersey’ have started coming up.”

What point is Ms. Murphy making here? That New Jersey is the national center of emotional cruelty? I think your reporter’s been watching too many episodes of “The Sopranos.”

I grew up in a beautiful, leafy suburb in New Jersey, and never once witnessed the kind of behavior that occurred in Seattle. I often escape L.A. for the balm of Jersey people. The ones I know are generally kind, straightforward and decent, a great relief from the snake pits of Hollywood.

MARYANNE MELLOAN

Los Angeles