Mayor wise regarding park protesters
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to let the members of Occupy Atlanta remain in Woodruff Park a little longer was good one.
He realized that as long as it was a peaceful protest and there was no threat to public safety, there was no reason to create a confrontation with police to enforce an ordinance.
The biggest problem in other areas where you have had confrontations with police is that protesters have caused a ruckus.
When you have a protest (regardless of what it is about), when police show up, they are typically not seen as public safety officers who are there to enforce the law and to protect people.
They are, instead, often viewed as representative of what people are protesting against.
David Jenks, Interim Chair, Department of Criminology, University of West Georgia
Thankful for regular prostate-specific tests
The recent debate about the merits of PSA tests prompts me to comment regarding my successful experience.
In the early 1990s, my PSA tests led to a biopsy that indicated cancer cells.
After six weeks of external beam radiation, PSA numbers continued to climb — which led to another biopsy in 2000, followed by implanted radioactive seeds and weeks of radiation.
Again, PSA numbers continued to climb over the next five years. Another positive biopsy led to intermittent hormone therapy, started in 2005.
If I initially had believed the risks associated with biopsies were prohibitive, I would not be alive at age 81 to write this letter — thanks to my knowledgeable and compulsive urologist, who has been examining me regularly.
Jack Bona, Chamblee
Columnist plays skin game not candidate
Regarding “Cain uncomfortable in own skin” (Opinion, Oct. 20), this discouraging slur on Herman Cain reflects the sort of problem that we must somehow overcome as a society moving through difficult times.
Pitts is simply unable to accept that an African-American politician may have conservative political views, without descending to such a regrettable attack.
He concludes with the comment, “For what it’s worth, I suspect black folks aren’t real happy about it, either.”
I don’t think his opinion is worth much. African-Americans (Pitts and his ilk excepted) have long passed beyond such thinking.
In fact, most African-Americans may much prefer the message of a successful, decent, conservative politician such as Cain, to the predictable and regrettable rants of Pitts.
Leo Reichert, Stone Mountain
