Letters the week of 5/11/06

Angry white men

(Re: "José can you see," Wayne's Word, May 4.) I just read your interview of Mr. Wrege. I think the illegal alien issue is far more than just an adequate labor force, needed because the baby boomers decided not to have 10 children per family. I can't believe we need more than 11 million workers (with an added 3,200 arrivals daily—that's an estimated quantity). Even though we don't need them, Americans, being who they are, would probably welcome them if they went about trying to get into this country according to our laws. When they take to the streets with their protests, when they try to change our laws, when they fill our hospitals as uninsured patients, when they fill our schools to overflowing and then demand to be taught in Spanish—that is what is making the white men angry. If they are so outraged by their quality of life, if they are so determined to better themselves, why don't they protest in their own country? Why don't they change things there instead of this attempted mindless takeover of America?

Every nationality that decided to come to America has previously come the legal way. Waiting at Ellis Island was no joke, and people coming in later from Ireland, Poland, Germany, Norway, China, Japan, Vietnam, etc., came in quietly, went about their lives and assimilated into our society. The government set quotas so that we would not be overrun before they could make themselves useful and law-abiding citizens. They did not demand that we change our language or our national anthem. This is what is making the white men angry!

From the tone of your conversation with Mr. Wrege, I get the distinct impression that you feel he is totally in the wrong based mainly because you have a few Mexican friends named José. And don't be so indignant about the white men being angry when those who were protesting in the streets looked anything but happy!

I also noticed that when the protests first began, you could see many, many Mexican flags waving, but after a few days, the lawyers and instigators must have decided that looked too much like an invasion, so the Mexican flags were pretty much replaced with the American flag.

And, while we are at it, not everyone who came to this country was an immigrant, illegal or otherwise. Some came as settlers, and some were here to meet them!

A. Adams/Toledo, Ohio

Editor's note: Amid your generalizations there are few facts. Where did the settlers come from? Unless they were American Indians, they or their ancestors were immigrants. And both the Irish and the Italians had reputations for entering the United States illegally. Currently, the government of Ireland is negotiating with the U.S. government about the treatment of undocumented Irish immigrants.

Blatant disregard

("A SANE approach to rape," cover story, April 13.) This article bothered me long after I read it. First, as a newcomer to the Boulder community I was alarmed to realize a need existed for this program. However, I'm not so naive about the reasons Boulder Community Hospital's Foothills Hospital doesn't participate in the program. The $75-million campus which is "largely dedicated to women's health" is also largely dedicated to implementing sources of revenue. Forking out $100,000 becomes an issue when you lack a revenue stream to support it, unlike a new machine in ICU.

What I find so alarming is the blatant disregard for the very people they claim to be dedicated to. The message here is clear—we'll participate in programs we'll profit from. Sexual assault victims, despite being mostly women, must get help from other sources.

It's time for organizations like BCH, "dedicated to women's health," to broaden their investment in women's health programs like SANE—not just the profitable ones.

Jayne Darling/Boulder

4/20 toker hunt

You people at the University of Colorado police must be out of your minds spending taxpayer money giving rewards to people who turn in those who smoke pot. To think that you would waste my money going after a pot smoker when there are rapists, child molesters and other more serious crimes going on only shows the lack of control in your department, much like the way you handle other crimes on campus. You people are pathetic, and there needs to be some heads replaced there.

Mike Crow/via Internet

CU needs better legal advice

A Denver Federal Court jury did what CU administrators, former President Betsy Hoffman, current President Hank Brown, the Board of Regents and their lawyers failed to do and that is to compensate Dana Reuhlman for the unconscionable sexual harassment and abuse she suffered at the hands of former Professor Igor Gamow. The jury awarded her $285,000 in a verdict handed down Thursday.

For over 5 years CU chose not to believe Dana Reuhlman and refused to act on what they were being told by other women students also abused by this professor. The regents finally fired Gamow in 2004 for "moral turpitude" but failed to acknowledge his depravity by continuing to drag the Reuhlman case through the courts. When allegations are made, the administration, former and current presidents, regents and lawyers disrespect their students, staff and employees by their defensive, hostile and antagonistic posturing.

The approach CU took in this lawsuit was outlandish. They actually told a Federal Jury that Gamow was receiving "manual stimulation" for impotence from his lab assistant. Sound familiar? This is another one of those things that the CU lawyers think is done in polite company.

Meanwhile, Gamow (whose last problem seems to be impotence) continued to sexually harass others under the very noses of the lawyers who refused to end Dana Reuhlman's case with a reasonable settlement. Clearly CU needs better advice from its lawyers. Or, perhaps CU simply needs better lawyers.

It's time for CU to polish up that old tarnished image and a settlement and apology to Dana Reuhlman would be a very good place to start. We applaud Dana Reuhlman's courage and wish her well. And, we sincerely hope that the other women who have suffered in this way can begin to heal their wounds and that in some way Dana Reuhlman's hard-fought victory validates them.

Regina Cowles/Boulder NOW

Finally getting it

When I finally accepted the sad, unbelievable fact that the average American had an education below the 8th grade level it actually got to me emotionally, it was (still is) depressing. But lately I've been getting somewhat inspired. That is people, just "normal," non-ideological, nonpartisan, nonchalant—oh, let's just face it, non-anything—regular "folks" are beginning to see they were (and worst, continue to be) sold a bill of goods on Iraq, foreign and domestic policy.

I'm well aware that the mid-term congressional elections and 2008 presidential election could very well prove me wrong, but not if the intensity of the anger and passion somehow manages to sustain itself. Well, *Salud, and here's to that.

Grant D. Cyrus/Boulder

Unbreaking the American egg

In March 2003, Humpty Dumpty fell from his wall and into Iraq (some suspect

he was pushed). November, 2006 offers the best—and perhaps the only chance of putting him back together again. A Democratic midterm win and subsequent impeachment of George W. Bush could restore some of the post-9/11 worldwide respect and sympathy we've destroyed, along with so much of Iraq. Wholesale repudiation of Iraq policy may be our only chance to avoid a historical judgment akin to Vietnam; along with an otherwise-inevitable nuclear "event" here at home. It all depends on how seriously we take our "traditional values."

Travis Charbeneau/via Internet

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