Olympians Without a Home

To the Editors:

Your Olympic preview [Feb. 2] was beautiful.

Isn't it a shame that the speed skaters will have no facility to return to? The only 400-meter U.S. Olympic rink was closed last month by the Wisconsin State Fair Park Board. This rink is located near Milwaukee, where Peter Mueller and Sheila Young trained to represent the U.S. Too bad America can't spend some money to keep the rink and the sport going.

U.S. Olympic hopefuls and little speed skaters now have no place to train. The National Championship races were held at the Winter Carnival in St. Paul on Feb. 1, but most Midwest skaters entered with little practice.

Mary Maegli, Secretary West Allis Speed Skating Club Milwaukee

Isn't it interesting that the Russian hockey players accepted $200,000 but still remain "amateurs" and will go to the Olympics?

Thomas Cobb, Jr. Rome, Ga.

Finally, a major publication has pointed out the difficulties American amateur athletes have trying to compete with those who are fully or partly subsidized by their governments.

Now, can we interest our legislators in providing similar support for our young people?

Margery M. Bloom New York City

Thanks for giving Dorothy Hamill the recognition she has long deserved. In the U.S., figure skaters, even the great ones (and we have many), seem relegated to obscurity--their accomplishments buried under other sports. Yet, American skaters have played a great role in revolutionizing skating--in some cases, changing it into an art form.

Vicki Kaywood Glenview, Ill.

How refreshing to receive TIME with Dorothy Hamill featured in the article on the Olympics. Aren't we all somewhat weary of hearing about the lives and loves of politicians?

Carole Schetter New Orleans

Presidential Love

Where has TIME been? It was common knowledge in the late '50s that the CIA film on President Sukarno's bedroom abilities [Feb. 2] was taken by Dr. Sukarno as so complimentary that he tried (unsuccessfully) to get copies for public viewing in Indonesia, and thereby gain increased respect among his countrymen.

Park Howard Reno

Having lived in Asia some years, I find it interesting to see the difference in reactions to revelations of Jack Kennedy's other women. Here people assume that this is part of a continuing effort to deify him.

Dennis B. Block Manila

The Dye Is Cast Out

In your requiem for Red Dye No. 2 [Feb. 2] you say: "Without it, instant chocolate pudding would be greenish, artificially flavored grape soda would look blue," etc. Perhaps banning of all such food-cosmetics would spur a more critical look at the oddly colored subtances that we accept as food.

Dick Leavitt White Plains, N. Y.

Anyway, what is so bad about green chocolate pudding?

Joel S. Levine Hampton, Va.

I am convinced that only when children born with birth defects, cancer-stricken young and middle-aged adults, etc. reach the point of impairing industry's productivity and profit, will the giant corporations say stop the pollution--and then it will be stopped.

David Seulean Anderson, Ind.

Since Red Dye No. 2 has proved to be carcinogenic to rats, we suggest that manufacturers of the dye donate their surplus stock to cities with rat-poison shortages. The rat problem will be disposed of, the dye will be disposed of, and the corporations will be able to write off the loss as a charitable donation.

Anthony W. Riley Carlo W. Tanzi Ithaca, N. Y. i

Oh, great. The same fine folks, Allied Chemical, who gave us Kepone, own the patent on Red No. 40.

(Mrs.) Diane Church Los Angeles

Kepone's Kin

Your back-to-back articles on the Kepone poisoning incident and cancer risks [Feb. 2] are disturbing and frightening. The Kepone tragedy emphasizes the disgraceful manner in which we regulate and monitor hazardous chemicals. The burgeoning cancer problems reflect the terrible consequences of this sloppy system. Most are unaware that Kepone has a sibling named Mirex, which has been dumped onto vast areas of the Southeast for fire ant "eradication."

Mirex and Kepone are much more toxic than registration-labeling criteria indicate, because these criteria only require 24-hour mortality data, whereas the slow-acting poisons reach maximum toxicity in about two weeks.

There is cause for concern in theSouth, where the countryside is laced with a dangerous nerve poison that is going to be around for a long, long time.

Robert van den Bosch Division Chairman and Professor of Entomology University of California Berkeley, Calif.

Sex and the Services

Ensign Berg [Feb. 2] "thinks he should be judged solely on . . . his ability to keep his sex life separate."

Would you please ask the ensign how soon he wants us to stand up and applaud his "ability to keep his sex life" apart from his daily duties? I for one find nothing redeeming in this, as we all (or almost all) manage not to seduce each other during the work day.

June M.A. Titcomb San Francisco

During the Korean War I once heard a discussion among a lieutenant colonel, a major, two captains and five lieutenants--all West Point men--at the Colonial Club in Tokyo. Mention was made of a warrant officer who had recently been "found out" and shipped home. One of the lieutenants remarked that no homosexual or bisexual would ever get through West Point. . .he would be discovered in short order and sent packing. As it happened, and unknown to him, all of the other officers present were in that category. Four were graduates in his class and all had placed higher than he. Two of the officers had been awarded the Silver Star and others held lesser decorations.

John Phillips Los Angeles

Robeson's Problem

It was with deep regret that I read of the death of Paul Robeson [Feb. 2]. "My problem," he once said, "is not to counteract the white man's prejudice against the Negro. That does not matter. I have set myself to educate my brother to believe in himself."

John E. Mitchell Sacramento. Calif.

Rita Undone

Rita Hayworth [Feb. 2] must have had her hair done by the guy who did mine last week.

Patty Elder Mayo Newark, Del.

She is no longer public property. Why not concentrate on the Burtons?

Robert B. Watson Los Angeles

Soldiers' Union

The military is the one place the unions do not belong [Feb. 2]. Who would want to depend on men in a war, or at any other time, who might go on strike because conditions do not exactly suit them? The defense of the U.S. would be jeopardized.

Cadet Nicholas Coleman, U.S.A.F. ROTC, Ohio University Athens, Ohio

So the Government union leaders say "if soldiers won shorter hours at the bargaining table perhaps future wars would be shorter, too [Feb. 2]."

Do these jerks really believe that the armies of the U.S.S.R. and those of the Peoples Republic of China will really entertain the luxury of unions?

Meade A. Cole Ajo, Ariz.

Wise and Foolish

Saturday Night [Feb. 2] is the most "living" thing since "living color" started. SN is sophomoric--from sophos (wise) and moros (foolish). It is wisely foolish and foolishly wise.

Richard K. Beebe Litchfield, Conn.

The warped-left, hip-chic political philosophy written into Saturday Night is typical of the gulf between most Americans and the axis media-entertainment people.

Bill Davidson Alamosa, Colo.

Knowing about SN does not say much about the social activity at Purdue (we use it as a study break), but the show in itself is one of NBC'S better ideas.

Patricia Roth West Lafayette, Ind.

As a result of one SN skit that was in poor taste, the president of the local NBC affiliate, after receiving calls, canceled this program. Many are now unable to decide for themselves what they should and should not watch. But do not fret, we in the Wichita area now have the pleasure of viewing old Wagon Train reruns. So eat your hearts out.

William Romenius Derby, Kans.

SN?PU.

James B. Walsh Oyster Bay Cove, N. Y.

Credit Due

In your otherwise well-written article on Mr. Boris Aronson [Jan. 26] this distinguished scenographer is given credit for designing South Pacific. It was designed by the undersigned.

Jo Mielziner New York City

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