Carter Memoirs

To the Editors:

After reading the excerpt from Jimmy Carter's memoirs, Keeping Faith [Oct. 11], I felt that the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize should not have been shared by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. The award should have gone to Jimmy Carter. Alexandra C. Heavey Natick, Mass.

I voted for Jimmy Carter twice and I'd vote for him again. He brought unparalleled wholesomeness to the presidency that has been unappreciated.

Mary F. Hadley New York City

For two years I have been ridiculed and argued with for having voted for Jimmy Carter. I was for a man who wanted the U.S. to be more than a symbol of its ideals. Carter wanted our country to exert its influence to achieve those ideals.

Alan R. Church Woodstock, Ill.

This country laughed at Carter in the last election. Now the laugh's on us. Charisma and sophistication are no match for simple integrity.

Viola M. Lynch Weston, Mass.

Whenever I hear the charge "incompetent" laid on the Carter Administration, I reflect on our present situation. I long for the Carter years.

Terry Graunke Grandville, Mich.

Read Jimmy Carter's memoirs? Surely you jest. Living through them was punishment enough.

Mrs. ,Ray Anderson Portland, Ore.

Whom would you rather be in a foxhole with, Carter or Reagan?

David Stewart Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

Since Jimmy Carter's presidency was one of the most disastrous in U.S. history, there is no reason for President Reagan to take any of Carter's views seriously.

Dan O'Neill Los Angeles

Jimmy Carter's self-serving rationalizations are sour grapes, proving just how right the electorate was to dump him.

Michael S. Lofgren Akron, Ohio

Considering his record, former President Jimmy Carter offering advice to President Reagan on the Middle East is like Liz Taylor authoring a book on The Secret of a Successful Marriage!

Breck M. Swanquist Sugar Grove, Ill.

West German Ins and Outs

It's a slap in the face to the German voters as well as West German democracy [Oct. 11] when a minority party like the Free Democrats, with 53 members in parliament, is allowed without a general election to topple a government that has been voted into office. The Christian Democrats and F.D.P. should get what they deserve in next year's ballot.

Bernd Reutlinger Sydney

Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the Free Democratic Party pledged themselves to four more years of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's government and rode his coattails to victory in 1980. Then the F.D.P. started maneuvering toward a coalition with the Christian Democrats. By violating the trust of the voters, the F.D.P. displayed a lack of character. This breach, more than any yearning for stability, has caused our political emotions to rise.

John Weaver Koenigswinter, West Germany

The election in Hesse showed that the confidence vote in the Bundestag was not justified. Although the polls predicted an absolute majority for the Christian Democrats, they won only 45% of the electorate.

Arno Koch Bermatingen, West Germany

Poisoned Pills

Regarding the Tylenol tragedy [Oct. 111, FDA Deputy Commissioner Mark Novitch says there is no way to protect the public from having drugs tampered with. What happened to the sealed container? Liquor bottles are covered with a paper tape. If it's broken, don't buy it.

Edna S. Weiss London

One of the tragedies of the Tylenol deaths is that the same strictly enforced system of manufacturing dates, lot numbers, batch codes and shipping routes applied to Tylenol is not used for cyanide. It would be easy for an electronic chemical-spectrum analyzer to take a "signature analysis" of a particular batch of cyanide to reveal its distribution and possibly the person or company that finally received the chemical.

Mike Stoddard Buena Park, Calif.

All medications for ingestion should be sold only in pharmacies and kept under a watchful eye, as was once the case in apothecaries.

Dorothy Speedy Havertown, Pa.

Church and Homosexuality Your report on the Roman Catholic Church and the San Francisco gays [Oct. 11] correctly observes that the Catholic tradition has never swerved from condemnation of homosexual behavior. Then you solemnize that "this teaching has laid the church open to charges that its attitude is out of step with the times." I do not find this an unfortunate situation. The times are rotten, and the church is out of step with them. That speaks well for the church.

Barbara Nauer, President

Catholic Writer and Artist Guild

New Orleans

Archbishop John Quinn has taken a courageous step in allowing a painful but crucial dialogue to develop between the lesbian and gay communities and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Homosexuality and Social Justice is a historic document that we hope will lead to further reconciliation between a richly spiritual people and the Catholic Church we love.

Tom Murray

Dignity/Bay Area

San Francisco

Hawaii's Bagasse

We in Hawaii were delighted with your article on "Cooking with Bagasse," covering our alternative energy activities [Sept. 20]. However, the discussion of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) confuses several separate projects. You note the success of the mini-OTEC facility and then state: "But a larger plant built in 1981 off Kailua-Kona, on Hawaii, was a $50 million failure." The larger plant you refer to was a Federal Government project, which was terminated owing to lack of federal funds. Contrary to your statement, Hawaii has not ordered designs for four new 10-megawatt OTEC plants. Rather, the Federal Government has granted awards to General Electric Co. and Ocean Thermal Corp. for the conceptual design of two 40-megawatt OTEC plants on Oahu.

George R. Ariyashi, Governor State of Hawaii

Honolulu

TV-less Life

Your review of Breaking the TV Habit [Oct. 11] ends with the author's advice, "To reconnect yourself to the world, disconnect the set." To shut-ins and the handicapped, the good provided by TV is endless. Through my imagination I have been to sports arenas, enjoying every game. The pleasure of turning the dial to find the outside world makes my nights and days normal.

Grace F. Smith Groton, Conn.

To say that families should be deprived of all the varied benefits of television is as inane as much of the mindless junk that is on the tube. The answer is not to disconnect the set but rather to exercise judicious control over the On switch.

Katherine Newman Cedarburg, Wis.

As a TV addict, I find the problem is beyond a cure. People like me cannot be rehabilitated to enjoy a few hours of social watching just as an alcoholic cannot reform to the point where he can drink socially. The only remedy is not to watch television at all.

James W. D'Acosta Lynchburg, Va.

Religion in School

Re your article about prayer in public school [Oct. 4], I wonder if Americans want the Christian church to have so much control of their day-to-day lives. Here in Israel the ultrareligious have a stranglehold on the country, reaching into almost every aspect of our affairs. While prayer in the classroom looks harmless, I doubt if that is where the Moral Majority wants to stop.

Ami Yehuda Haifa, Israel

End of Ghotbzadeh

I remember how angry I used to get with Sadegh Ghotbzadeh [Sept. 27] and that smug smile of his. After reading about his execution, however, I had to feel sorry for him.

Florence DiGiacinto-Layton Woodbine, Md.

Ironically, Ghotbzadeh was killed not on the orders of the Shah, whom he so bitterly hated, but by his spiritual father, Khomeini, whom he so respectfully admired and assisted. What a strange destiny.

Abdolhossein M. Kafai Ottawa

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