A three-strikes defendant; Ike and JFK; memories of a fifth-grade teacher

Too many strikes

You may be right that “unjust laws demean those who make them more than those convicted under them.”

But those “policymakers” and “voters” who demean themselves by making “unjust laws” are not thereby denied their physical freedom.

Short of torture, human trafficking and death, is there anything worse than losing your freedom under an “unjust law” or by an unjust conviction?

Valeree Lee
Los Angeles

I am comfortable with the decision to reduce Gregory Taylor’s sentence on humanitarian grounds. That said, Mr. Taylor has been portrayed as a man breaking into a church to steal food, and he was analogized by a dissenting state appellate court judge as a 20th century version of Jean Valjean from “ Les Miserables.” The facts of the case are inconsistent with this portrayal.

As The Times reported, St. Joseph’s Church regularly fed Mr. Taylor before the burglary. But he was usually fed in a kitchen in the rectory adjacent to the church, not in the church itself. The testimony of the head pastor indicated that Mr. Taylor was aware that the rectory had a doorbell for him to ring to receive food. There was strong evidence to indicate that he was aware that food was not stored in the church’s kitchen but that entering the kitchen gave him access to the church proper, where valuable items could be found. If this was the case, Mr. Taylor not only committed a burglary but also a betrayal of kindness and trust.

I hope that those who have used Mr. Taylor as a poster child for their cause will now see that he receives the help he needs, or recidivism will be the likely outcome.

Dale Cutler
Los Angeles
The writer was the prosecuting attorney in the case of Gregory Taylor.

He still likes Ike

Re “Lessons from Ike,” Opinion, Aug. 19

Andrew J. Bacevich correctly highlights the limitations of chief executives’ knowledge when making momentous decisions.

However, he errs in blaming President Eisenhower for the aborted 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion that took place nearly 90 days after Eisenhower left office. Bacevich faults Eisenhower for a plan he chose not to execute and dismisses President Kennedy’s role.

Richard Reeves, author of “President Kennedy: Profile of Power,” writes that Eisenhower was appalled by Kennedy’s decision and severely upbraided him privately at their Camp David meeting days later.

Eisenhower inquired if Kennedy had assembled his entire national security team and solicited all of their views before proceeding. Eisenhower concluded that this had not occurred.

Bacevich praises Eisenhower’s departing comments on the military-industrial complex, but Ike’s thorough and methodical decision-making remains a model that subsequent presidents should have emulated.

Gregory McCarthy
Arlington, Va.

I don’t think we have to go back 50 years to learn something about Afghanistan.

Wasn’t it just 30 years ago that we were telling

the Soviets to get out of Afghanistan, and boycotting the Summer Olympics to make our point?

It took the Soviets 10 years to learn their lesson. We’re following down the same doomed path. Ask yourself how much you have worried about the Russians since 1989.

Somewhere, Osama bin Laden is smiling. He knows his history, and it has not failed him.

Judith Baumhover
Thousand Oaks

Bringing the classroom to life

Re “The art of teaching,” Opinion, Aug. 19

Congratulations to Sue Horton. Her article does an excellent job of emphasizing the importance of creating an enriched learning environment while ensuring that students also master all of the basic skills. Test scores are only part of the picture, but an important part.

As a retired elementary school principal, I was fortunate enough to work with many educators capable of successfully integrating both.

Joanie Freckmann
Venice

Horton’s lovely memories of her fifth-grade teacher reminded me of my own wonderful memories of high school teachers who were both an influence on and an inspiration to me.

However, today’s robotic “teaching to the test” curriculum would never allow any of those lovely intangibles such as tea ceremonies or leaf pressing.

Sadly, there’s no room for people like Mrs. Gibbs and my high school teachers in today’s educational system, which views students as widgets and teachers as factory workers, and there’s a big “you’re not welcome” sign out to any kind of creativity.

Kathleen Resch
Temple City

For seven years in the ‘80s, I served on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. We often made assessment visits to schools. I recall one high school visit in Southern California where I was assigned to interview the chair of the history department, who turned out to be a real gem, not unlike Horton’s Mrs. Gibbs.

Thoroughly impressed with the description of the program and learning that many of the quite innovative activities were his doing, I indicated that my university had a large teacher training program and that I would be grateful if he could identify what he considered to be the greatest deficiency in beginning teachers.

“Easy,” he replied. “They don’t love their subject.”

It’s good to be bright, imaginative, organized and funny, but without love, one is sounding brass.

How do you test for that?

David L. Levering
Pomona
The writer is a professor of history emeritus at Cal Poly Pomona.

Music and their ears

Re “Maybe they aren’t ignoring you,” Aug. 18

I want to thank you for drawing readers’ attention to the findings of the recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. on teenagers and hearing loss.

The House Clinic treats thousands of patients each year for permanent high-frequency hearing loss; sadly, it is most consistent with noise damage caused by repeated exposure to extreme sound levels, often over the span of several years, beginning in adolescence. We are seeing the trend rising now because of MP3 players, cellphones and other personal devices that teens use at high volumes for long periods of time.

The House Ear Institute has long recognized and advocated that education about noise-induced hearing damage and its prevention need to begin in adolescence. In fact, we were the first in the U.S. to launch a major educational initiative focused on motivating the teenage population to protect their hearing through direct online outreach and grass-roots events.

Teens and parents can access our free nonprofit educational materials and services at earbud.org.

John W. House, MD
Los Angeles
The writer is president, House Ear Institute.