BUCKHEAD MANSION
Reduce spending, but leave archbishop alone
As a lifelong Catholic and an African-American, I, too, am upset about the local and national stories about Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s home (“Buyers likely if archbishop sells mansion in Buckhead,” Metro, April 2). However, my concern is not about the size and cost of the of the Habersham Road residence. It is about the fact that the living quarters of this bishop, or any other in the nation, never makes the national news until the bishop is an African-American. Catholic bishops live very well in every major-city diocese in the country. The job requires a lot of meetings and entertaining that any COO of a major company would engage in if running an enterprise like the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
I am aware of the fact that Pope Francis is about a new agenda. The church leaders should scale back unneeded spending. They should look for every way they can to help the poor. However, this bequest from Margaret Mitchell’s nephew does not take any money from the church. It was a gift. The archbishop should be able to live in a home commensurate with the job he must do for the diocese. “Stand your ground, Archbishop.”
CURTIS M. GRAVES, TUCKER
SECOND AMENDMENT
Mental illness, guns difficult to reconcile
Mary Sanchez (“How to keep guns from dangerous mentally ill?” Opinion, April 1) is correct in saying that easy access to guns by the dangerously mental ill is a problem. But identifying who is mentally ill, much less who is dangerously mentally ill, poses an almost intractable problem. Andrew Solomon, in his article on Adam Lanza (of Sandy Hook infamy) in The New Yorker describes this problem succinctly. The tools available to psychiatrists and psychologists cannot reliably identify those at risk of becoming murderers. Moreover, even if they did have those tools, there is no effective means of gaining access to the general population for screening. The people who should be of most concern to us are the severely mentally ill who have not been identified. Adam Lanza had professional treatment, yet no one was able to predict his violent actions. Restricting access to firearms is the only way to prevent more Sandy Hooks.
SHELTON JONES, DECATUR
ROLE MODEL
Son of the South stood for the downtrodden
Watching the late-night talk shows last month, I realized that my favorite fictional American, Atticus Finch from “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and my favorite living American, Jimmy Carter, are in many ways the same person. Both were sons of small towns in the South. Both were often seen as pariahs by their neighbors. With unadorned eloquence, each stood up for decency and the downtrodden — the kind of men I wish I had become, the kind of men I wish my sons will become. On Oct. 1, President Carter will celebrate his 90th birthday. I intend to send him a card and make a donation to one of his favorite charities. As was supposedly said about another Jimmy (Durante): “You can warm your hands on this man.”
JIM VESPE, LARCHMONT, N.Y.
