Hail Nero Shero and His Bullies!

To the Editors:

Hockey [Feb. 24] is a sport of grace and finesse--a flowing, whirling, incredibly fast spectacle of great beauty and only occasional explosions of violence. Fred Shero and his bush-league bullies are perverting this finest of games and transforming it into a scene of bloody brutality and mindless pugilism more suitable to the ancient Roman arena.

Hail Nero Shero!

(Mrs.) Ruth Racheter

Cold Spring, N.Y.

Violence can be construed as the "essence" of hockey only in the sense that it is the attraction for the multitude who do not appreciate. To the true fan, violence is simply an inherent and (to an extent) controllable byproduct of this highly charged game in which emotion often gets the better of one's social graces.

While I deplore the Forbes-Boucha incident and acknowledge the need to further clean up the game, I would warn also against creeping alarmism.

Jim Karas

Lansing, Mich.

Despite the recent indignation over violence in professional hockey, it should not be surprising that the spectator following should be so rabid, particularly in the congested metropolitan areas where legitimate expressions of violence are so limited. Many of the "silent majority" who feel so frustrated, angry and helpless today can readily identify with the beleaguered, assaulted hero of the "war on ice." They experience a vicarious satisfaction from the open aggression and mayhem on the ice, and indeed, it is powerfully exhilarating to let one's emotions "all hang out."

The ultimate question, of course: Is it worth the price--not only in terms of the ticket price but of the costs to the gladiators? Also, in terms of any greater social benefit, is there less violent crime in Philadelphia the nights the Flyers are playing in the Spectrum? Until enough people decide it is not worth the price, we may expect little change in the trend toward increasing violence in hockey and other contact sports.

W. Walter Menninger, M.D.

Topeka, Kans.

Dr. Menninger, of the Menninger Foundation, is clinical director of the Topeka State Hospital and a former member of President Johnson's National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.

Betty Ford's Equal Rights

Betty Ford's decision to become actively involved in the fight for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment [March 3] is to be commended. Considerable misinformation has been circulated by opponents of ERA, and it is good to know that Mrs. Ford is helping to set the record straight.

On the more general question of the proper role of a First Lady with regard to public issues, I believe our First Ladies should be free to enter the political thicket whenever they think it appropriate. Some First Ladies have shunned nearly all public involvement; others have concentrated on noncontroversial causes; and a few, like Eleanor Roosevelt, have been in the forefront of the struggle for social and political change. There is no right or wrong answer; there is only the personal answer each First Lady gives.

Eleanor McGovern

Washington, D.C.

Tory Margaret

For the first time in my life as an American, I envy something Britain has: Tory Margaret Thatcher [Feb. 24]. Her defense of "middleclass interests," espousal of rewards for skill and hard work, and resistance to the excessive power of the state strike a tiny bell of recognition, reminding us that we used to have representatives who spoke in this fashion. May I say, "We could use you here, Margaret"?

William P. Earley

Worcester, Mass.

For six years the British press has referred to Shirley Williams, Minister for Consumer Prices, as likely to be the first British woman Prime Minister. Mrs. Thatcher is not Prime Minister yet, and the other choice, encouraged by the press here, should not be forgotten.

Sir George Catlin

London

Sir George Catlin is the father of Shirley Williams.

Abortive Verdict?

Regarding the case of Dr. Kenneth Edelin [Mar. 3]: on Friday the judge charges the jury that for a guilty verdict they must be certain "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Dr. Edelin is guilty of manslaughter. On Saturday the jury is certain, the verdict "guilty." Soon a juror is telling reporters she regrets her "guilty" vote. Another juror is "clicking his heels" in happiness over the light sentence, and still another is "tickled pink" for the same reason. Since their verdict could have sent a man to jail for 20 years, isn't it imperative that we educate potential jurors to the meaning of "beyond a reasonable doubt"?

Barbara L. Perkins

Attleboro, Mass.

The conviction of Dr. Edelin is the beginning of a new sense of respect for human life. The question of survival was not an issue; the question of the right of life was. While abortion is a sensitive issue to many people, the idea that a woman and her doctor can play the role of God and decide when to terminate life is totally unacceptable.

Robert F. Kucbel

McLean, Va.

The Edelin trial proves nothing but that we are still trying to impose metaphysics upon the law when history has repeatedly shown that the result is nothing but a list of martyrs. Viability is for the physicians, the godliness of a seed for the theologians. While a fetus is still a part of a woman's body and the birth certificate is unsigned, the state has the rights of only one citizen within its jurisdiction: those of the woman patient.

Muriel B. Rosenberg

Cambridge, Mass.

To condemn a fetus to death because it is "only potentially a person" is like condemning the dawn because it is only potentially a day.

(The Rev.) Gregory Chamberlin, O.S.B.

Saint Meinrad College

Saint Meinrad, Ind.

The world's best fetologists cannot agree among themselves when viability begins. Pathologists with the evidence in their hands cannot agree on the exact gestational age of this particular fetus. But the jury in the Edelin trial can agree. So certain are they, that they convicted a man of manslaughter.

The antiabortionists who began this farce don't give two hoots in hell for the life of that fetus. But they needed a goat, and on a certain day in October 1973 it just happened to be Dr. Edelin.

Steven B. Sitzman, M.D.

Lexington, Mass.

States' Rights and Oil

Because of our proximity to the Georges Bank oil and gas leasing tracts, Massachusetts has a deep interest in the exploration and development of the Outer Continental Shelf [March 3].

Current federal policies have virtually ignored the potential economic, social and environmental impacts of offshore and onshore development of OCS reserves.

The all-important estimates of the location and amount of OCS reserves are hopelessly inaccurate. There are no guarantees, at least in New England, that lower fuel costs will result from development off our shores. And there is no federal program compensating the states for the potentially grave social and environmental costs involved.

The 50 states and the Federal Government must fashion a coherent national energy program that addresses these problems. We must develop the Outer Continental Shelf in an orderly fashion. Exploration must be separated from leasing and development. It should begin promptly, and it should involve both state and federal governments.

The exploration period will permit states to complete their coastal zone management plans so that Outer Continental Shelf resources can be developed without serious disruption of social and environmental goals.

Michael S. Dukakis, Governor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Boston

The Watergate Three

The sentencing of the "big three," John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman and John Mitchell, to prison [March 3] will be of no benefit to society if this means paying for their room and board and allowing them leisure to write their lucrative memoirs.

Serving the public without compensation in their various fields of law would seem more just for all concerned. The poor would have the benefit of their expertise, and our tax money would be better spent than on their incarceration. Humility will come to these men only while working among those faces that were blurred while the three were seeking the power that ironically brought them down.

Bette Evans Pieman

Westland, Mich.

Bye-Bye, Blackbirds

The Army has once again overlooked the obvious solution to the Kentucky "birdbath" [March 3]. If my mother's singing was correct, four-and-twenty blackbirds can be baked in a pie.

So there are enough birds for some 208,333 pies, a welcome alternative to the Army's traditional SOS cuisine.

Alan H. Ebenstein

New York City

Where is the humanity in the slaughter of 5 million blackbirds in Christian County, Ky.? Surely in all of man's so-called advanced technology there exists a more compassionate way of controlling these birds than spraying them with detergent and leaving them to die of exposure. What became of the Christian in Christian County?

Wendy A. Burgess

Hackensack, N.J.

What's the big deal with the blackbirds? The surplus should be harvested, not controlled. We took a starling pie to Thanksgiving dinner, and it was the hit of the day. Starlings are a very tasty bird.

Al and Jeanne Freshwater

Charleston, Ore.

Recession Note

What a great commentary on the present state of the U.S. economy--a photograph of Alan Greenspan, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers [Feb. 24], displaying a hole in the sole of his shoe.

Betsy Twigg

Arlington, Va.

The Alexian Way

To your comments concerning the Menominee Indians and the precedent that we Alexian Brothers set in acceding to the violence of pressure groups [Feb. 17], we have a reply: we already had precedents to follow in the terminating of violent or potentially violent social dissent: Orangeburg, Kent State, Jackson State and Attica.

We wanted to set a new precedent--a nonviolent and reconciling one. To "deed or death" we wanted to say "life and peace."

Brother Warren Longo, C.F.A.

Alexian Brothers

Chicago

Watt Price Glory

Eating by candlelight [Feb. 24] may be a good publicity stunt to dramatize the rising cost of electricity, but it is no way to save money. Even after the recent rate increases, electricity costs no more than about a dime per kwh.

From a little experiment in which I measured the burning times of different candles bought at a local store, I have concluded that candlelight costs on the order of 40 per hour per candle, i.e., 40 times more than electric light from a 7 1/2-watt bulb. Electricity thus remains an excellent buy for lighting purposes.

Thomas Laaspere, Professor of

Engineering, Dartmouth College

Hanover, N.H.

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