Presumptuous Intercession?

Sir: As a Roman Catholic, as a supporter of the free expression of ideas, and as a believer in the virginity of Mary, I offer Ti-Grace Atkinson my apologies for the outlandish behavior of Patricia Buckley Bozell [March 22]. Never before has the Virgin Mary required the use of arms--or hands--to defend her. Mrs. Bozell was rather presumptuous to think that Mary now needed her intercession.

RICHARD J. ORLOSKI Ithaca, N.Y.

Sir: Both Ti-Grace Atkinson and Mrs. Bozell have missed the point. As every Spirit-filled Christian (man or woman) knows, nothing is more thrilling or fulfilling than to be "used" by the Holy Spirit.

(MRS.) KATHERINE W. RUTT Wilson, N.Y.

Sir: Hooray for Ti-Grace. The Catholic Church doesn't worship Mary the enlightened, wise mother-person, but Mary the submissive, pious, baby maker--the receptacle for the great He-God.

The church Mary sounds like a gold-plated goddess. Mary the receptacle is not the representative of the very real female force alive on this planet.

ROYETTA RULE-BOYD

Portland, Ore.

Sir: Too bad the slap did not connect, worse that it was Pat Bozell who was "hustled outside," and worst of all that TiGrace Atkinson was a speaker at Catholic University in the first place. My anger gave way to nausea before the Atkinson pose of phony compassion for "that face," which she claims to have seen in churches! Does Ti-Grace read hysteria and desperation in the face of the Piet`a?

ANDRE HUMBERT Westwood, N.J.

Ego Showing

Sir: Your story on George C. Scott [March 22] makes him sound like nothing so much as a spoiled and self-worshiping brat. Why should he be so ornery? It is just his egotism showing.

LAURENCE K. FRANK, D.S.C. Grove City, Pa.

Sir: George C. Scott is the most imperative, intense and provocative actor since Humphrey Bogart. I look forward to watching Mr. Scott play every great figure in history and legend from Little Bo-Peep up--and don't tell me he can't do it.

WALTER T. GODDARD JR. Melbourne, Fla.

Sir: It's a shame that Mr. Scott is refusing the Oscar. The award would be a boost to the egos of the people who worked with him, and I gather, they do deserve a pat on the back after that experience.

(MRS.) CAROLINE PARDY Yonkers, N.Y.

Aggressive El Monte

Sir: I must protest the gross misconception perpetrated in your article on suburbia [March 15]. El Monte has many faces, and TIME is unjust in describing the least desirable attributes of our city.

El Monte has a $500,000 recreation budget, a $175,000 park maintenance budget and a community center that includes a gym, Olympic swimming pool, auditorium and numerous rooms for all ages to use for hobbies and leisure-time activities. Within the city's boundaries can be found an airport, a three-par golf course, riding stables, the all-new Flair Industrial Park with multistoried Aerojet General Building and other leading industries. The downtown Valley Mall, which is both attractive and practical, has maintained its stores and was one of the first of its kind.

The city is aggressively pursuing programs to attract new business and to upgrade its residential and commercial areas; now the damning influence of TIME'S article will make the job doubly hard.

DONALD L. RUSSELL

Assistant Administrative Officer

El Monte, Calif.

Sir: I have lived in El Monte since 1938 and have raised my three children here. Not one of them was ever a delinquent. You make it sound as if this isn't a fit town to raise a dog in.

HELEN TURNER El Monte, Calif.

Sir: Your article on El Monte was not fair. Other communities have no colleges, and what would a town like ours do with a symphony orchestra? As far as the way we feel about blacks, last year the vice president of our student body was black. The most popular teacher in our school is black.

LISA SOLARIO El Monte, Calif.

Sir: Having lived in the suburbs, the exurbs and the big city, and having read your article, I would appreciate any data you can supply on living conditions in Tierra del Fuego.

WARREN A. SUGARMAN San Francisco

> Anyone wanting to emigrate to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America should have at least $200,000 and an affection for sheep, the chief industry. About 8,000 of them would give him a good living. He should like eight months of snow a year and temperatures as low as -15DEG. He can watch I Love Lucy or Mission: Impossible on TV during the long nights.

Sir: Louis Harris and his polltakers (sounds like a rock group) found that three-fifths of suburbia's teen-agers are bored; like their parents they want to live "somewhere else," "the open spaces." These kids are being raised with the belief that if things are getting bad where you are, the solution is to move farther out, rather than work to improve things where you are. Sooner or later, obviously, there won't be any more "open spaces" left. How in hell can these kids possibly grow up equipped to live in a world where most people are not like themselves?

THE A.C. JESKEY FAMILY Chicago

The Real Patriots

Sir: In your article "All or Nothing for C.O.s" [March 22], you miss the point in not recognizing that if with all the propaganda resources a nation has, it cannot "sell" a particular war as being "just," and there are so many conscientious objectors to that particular war, then it just should not be fought. I believe it was Eisenhower who said that the urge for peace is so great that some day governments would have to get out of the way of the people. It is not only those ready to fight and kill without personal judgment who are patriotic. Those with the courage to refuse to fight in an unjust war may be judged by history to have been America's patriots.

MIRIAM F. SCHWAG Havertown, Pa.

Changing an N

Sir: You should be aware that the President of Guatemala's name is not Carlos Arana Osorio but Carlos Arana Osorio [March 22], with an n and not an n. The Spanish word arana means spider, and has some unsavory connotations.

JOHN E. PUELLE, Pastor

Trinity Lutheran Church

Manhattan

Cotton and Cheesecloth

Sir: I was interested in your article on the new bags to keep premature babies warm [March 1] as I had a three-pound daughter born at eight months. There were no incubators, so a tiny bag was made for her from absorbent cotton covered with cheesecloth. It had an attached hood, something like a parka, and the bottom was closed. She wasn't bathed for six weeks, but was oiled daily by opening the bag. This was 40 years ago.

(MRS.) MILDRED LAMBLY Penticton, B.C.

Rough-Hewn, Yes

Sir: Your article on Australia [March 22] is a well-written, well-informed piece of news on current Australian politics. But your heading, "Fall of the Larrikin," is very unfair to John Grey Gorton. He may have some faults and would be quick to admit them, but a larrikin [hooligan], no. Rough-hewn and outspoken, yes. He is a tough, typical Aussie.

WILLIAM E. STOKES Echuca, Australia

Asparagus at Ten Paces

Sir: Unless you retract a statement in your article "Europe's American Tastes" [March 15], I shall be forced to challenge you to a duel at ten paces. My choice of weapons, asparagus spears. It is unthinkable that anyone, even wearing Coke-bottle lenses, could have the audacity to refer to the magnificent Israeli strawberry as scrawny. A bowl of six has to be eaten with knife and fork, for only Martha Raye could possibly eat a whole one.

MRS. M. SINGER Laval, Que.

Fathers and Sons

Sir: Regarding the article on fathers and sons [March 22]: my own concept is that you give your children a first-class education and after that it's up to them.

I see nothing attractive in a group of young men who are prepared to advertise the fact that they do not enjoy a harmonious relationship with their male progenitors. What these youngsters are saying, in effect, is that their fathers are self-made men who didn't have the problem in their day and don't know how to handle it now.

FRANK C. WESTCOTT Santiago, Chile

Sir: The picture I saw reflected through TIME'S eyes was that of a highly unappreciative, spoiled lot of young men who, having been promised the gift horse, come together to bitch about its breath.

Admittedly, this organization does provide a forum for the release of frustrations engendered by some very trying father-son business relationships. But it should be noted that it was formed by those who have accepted the system, and would like merely to improve it--for their fathers' sakes as well as their own.

ANDREW J. PETKUN

Program Director

The Sons of Bosses

Boston

A Punishing Nomination

Sir: Let's hope that justice is not blind in the case of the "Billboard Bandits" [March 22] in Michigan. My verdict would be to "punish" the youths by nominating them for the Golden Fox Award being sponsored by Environmental Action, Inc., and to "sentence" the state highway officials to comply with the law by removing the remainder of the illegally situated billboards.

DON FISHER Davis, Calif.

Distressing Theater Economics

Sir: I am pleased that your distinguished critic, T.E. Kalem, had such a jolly time at Oliver Hailey's play Father's Day [March 29]. I agree that Mr. Hailey is a very talented writer. I await his next play with sympathetic interest, and like my colleague, I am distressed at any system of theater economics that can cause a play's demise after only one performance.

However, I must take issue when Mr. Kalem suggests that the real reason that I personally did not like this particular comedy is because of my English birth and upbringing. Of the major critics covering the play, according to the tally of the New York Times, three liked it, six disliked it and one was mixed. In a similar, but slightly wider tally, Variety notes that four critics liked it, three were undecided and eight were unfavorable.

Of course, that Mr. Kalem is in a minority does not mean that he is necessarily right or wrong. Nor does it mean that the majority of the New York critics are either English born or bred or willfully indulging in un-American activities.

It is, I think, always dangerous when you start to make ethnic or racist generalizations. Dangerous--and, some people would say, reprehensible.

CLIVE BARNES Manhattan

Sir: You have restored my sanity, and I begin my new play today--in honor of T.E. Kalem. My wife would like to marry him, or whatever. That goes double for my mother. Our deepest thanks.

OLIVER HAILEY Beverly Hills, Calif.

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