Letters to the Editor

Just reading the headline sickens me. Since when is murder an art form? Would we call it art if it were men who were being raped, beaten and strangled, not women and young girls?

Then to tell "in their own words" how they got away with it for so long is deplorable. Telling other would-be murders how to evade being caught is disgusting.

Having been the victim of rape, I find this type of sensationalizing reporting reprehensible. Have you nothing better to do than exploit these victims once again? Have you no sense of what this does to family? Or are the deaths of women just a curiosity? You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Sue Koeller
Seattle

P-I publishes 'how-to' book for serial killers

I am a fairly liberal person. I abhor censorship. The Lewis Kamb article on what killers need to know to keep from getting caught is crazy. I know Kamb's intent was to show how killers think, but it truly tests my belief in non-censorship.

Was it really necessary to publish a "how-to" book for future serial killers? It's not the kind of article I care to see again except in a psychology class at the university.

Gary-Paul Reinke
Seattle

Description of teenage girl angers Poulsbo reader

I have never been so incensed by a publication in all my 80 years as I was reading a sentence in your Feb. 17 front-page story, "Without a Trace" by Lewis Kamb: "Fourteen-year-old, full-figured Michelle; not too popular, not especially pretty. . ."

How in the world could you be so insensitive as you plaster her face on your front page? Not very pretty by Hollywood's standards? What was she supposed to look like to be acceptable?

Michelle had a lot going for her; if she had only had some encouragement from the right people. Even worse are the remarks of the Mattawa police chief: "She ran away, she wound up dead. End of story." The sympathy overwhelms me.

Ruth Brown
Poulsbo

Missing adult cases rife with complexities

Those of us working in the advocacy field of missing persons know all too well the tears and heartaches endured by families searching for their missing loved ones.

Gaps that exist within our system have left far too many families without answers. In society when we hear the word "missing," we commonly think of a child and it pulls at our heartstrings. Unfortunately, those same sensitivities are not present when we think of adults. As adults, we have the right to come and go as we choose, even irresponsibly failing to inform our families. All too often families who attempt to report their missing loved one are just told they will come home when they are ready or that maybe they just took a little break. Realistically, many do. Unfortunately for those families whose missing loved ones are never found or discover their loved one became a victim of homicide, those words are not consoling. In regard to serial homicide, killers base their decision to repeat their actions upon our assumptions and lack of action.

We must understand the many complexities of investigating a missing adult case. Initially, investigators have the difficult task of determining if the missing adult is at risk by establishing whether the individual has a diminished mental capacity, a physical disability, a need for medication, issues with substance addiction, domestic violence, financial woes or other factors that can contribute to their disappearance that are not always clear. Add limited funding, a lack of manpower, minimal training and outdated systems, and even the best of efforts can be hampered.

Though the issue of missing adults is nearly 20 years behind the issue of missing children, with the recent federally funded establishment of the Center for Missing Adults, the problem is now being addressed through use of technology, advocacy and training. We know we have a huge job ahead of us, but victims and their families depend on our efforts.

Kym Pasqualini
President,
The Nation's Missing Children Organization and Center for Missing Adults
Phoenix, Ariz.

ILLEGALS

State residents should get priority in universities

Substitute House Bill 1079 would allow illegal aliens to attend state schools of higher learning as "residents." Should these slots not go to citizens and legal residents? There are only a limited number of positions available in our colleges and universities. To whom do they belong? Surely not to people who are here illegally.

By acknowledging illegal status and providing something of value, would this not constitute aiding and abetting an illegal practice?

George G. Tranberg
Blaine

MERCURY

Legislation would keep sea life and humans safer

Mercury present in industrial waste commonly leaches out and finds its way into Puget Sound where it harms marine life from whales to crabs and clams and other edible seafood.

I recommend that the Legislature pass HB1002 and SB5125.

John Monk
Seattle

SPACE VERSUS WAR

Signs tell us humanity 'aspires to the stars'

After reading Ted Van Dyk's Feb. 20 column "Scuttle the shuttle program," I wonder if similar thoughts were voiced in Spain in the late 1400s. The Atlantic Ocean surely has claimed more lives than space has.

The technology of that era was pushed to its limits. I think the benefits to humanity of the efforts of Christopher Columbus, the Vikings and anyone else who set out to cross that unknown ocean have far outweighed the cost.

Van Dyk says we have "misused the power of the atom" and "murdered one another out of hatreds based on race, nationality, ethnicity or raw territorial instinct" and further suggests that any "guiding intelligence" in the universe surely wishes us to be "kept near our own planet."

My figures are approximations, but I believe that the annual U.S. defense budget is on the order of $380 billion, while NASA's annual budget is near $14 billion. Rather than investing in tools to murder one another and misuse our resources, the investment in space should be expanded, not cut.

The people of the world reacted with sympathy and mourning when Columbia's astronauts were lost and, on Feb. 15, they marched, telling their leaders that they did not want to be party to another war. I think that is a sign that humanity as a whole aspires to the stars. It is a unifying aspiration. In a world that is increasingly tribal, anything that unites us and inspires us is surely beneficial.

Keith Slawson
Seattle

BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Expect more signs that media are mere lapdogs

The marketing capabilities of the Bush administration are, again, being displayed as exemplary. We are hearing the term "unfettered access to the military" being bounced around like a racquet ball, in reference to the media. The media have been lapdogs to the administration and the Pentagon for the past two years and the "access" that they will have to the operations in Iraq will be strictly as cheerleaders for the Pentagon.

If there are any tactical errors on the part of our military and things start going badly, the media will be the first ones to help the military cover it up.

Thomas Robert
Redmond

STATE LIBRARY

Memo for Sam Reed about a pet project

It is understandable Secretary of State Sam Reed is concerned about a reduction of funding for the state library, but I'd like to raise two points before we all get too weepy about Reed's problem.

First, libraries and librarians in general adamantly resist citizens' requests to install filters in public libraries to prevent children's access to pornography. It's time for Reed to take on that issue on behalf of families all over the state.

Second, temporarily close down the state library in Olympia during the current budget crunch. All those state archives can enjoy a rest until his fellow bureaucrats in Olympia figure out how to live within their budgets.

Lloyd Gardner
Auburn

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