Boy Scouts’ settlement has been a long time coming
The proposed settlement agreement between Boy Scouts Of America and victims of sexual abuse committed by Scout leaders has been too long in arriving.
Many victims have already died - some by suicide. Psychological harms to victims and people later involved with them, in families and beyond, have reached into and through generations. Sexual abuse of people under authority, by those people in positions of power over them, have brought harms beyond measuring. Some victims have been rendered dysfunctional for years, or even permanently, thereby hampered from developing proper, healthy relationships afterward.
Some organizations (including religious) have effectively shielded said “leaders,” by only relocating them beyond victims’ reach. Coercion by leaders in business and entertainment has been outrageous, (such as by Harvey Weinstein.) A cash settlement of about $1,600 to $1.25 million per victim does not heal all of the wounds. A statute of time limitation against criminal prosecution favors criminals over their victims.
TOM STREETS, ATLANTA
Delta CEO needs to help improve operations
Last Sunday, my daughter and I were returning home to Atlanta from overseas via JFK in NYC. We arrived at JFK at 6:30 a.m. and were scheduled to fly out at 8:30 a.m.
What we encountered instead was a grossly understaffed nightmare. We were herded with a couple hundred or so passengers into a common queue where we stood- without food, or water, or toilet breaks, or seated rest- for eight hours! During this time, there was virtually no communication from any Delta employees on our status, or offers of some relief. Many attempts to call Delta by phone for information were greeted with 90 minutes on hold or with deliberate disconnects by them. We endured this treatment for eight hours and at last departed at 3:50 p.m.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian needs to redirect his efforts to get headlines for his company’s various crusades. Instead he should exert his time and energies to make Delta’s operations efficient and effective to provide normal travel for his customers, and eliminate the indecent and outrageous treatment we just experienced.
KATHLEEN DONOHOE, ATLANTA
Cheney puts country before her party
A recent letter criticized the House Select Committee to examine the events of Jan. 6 as being a waste of money (”Jan. 6 panel a waste of taxpayer money,” July 7). My reaction is the money will be well spent if we determine how and by whom the attack on our democratic election process was planned and conducted. The House panel would have been unnecessary if the GOP had put country ahead of party and supported an independent bipartisan commission.
The writer’s charge that Liz Cheney is a “closet Democrat” is not supported by her voting record. During Trump’s term Cheney supported his position almost 93 percent of the time. She is a conservative Republican who, inconveniently for the former President, takes her oath to protect the Constitution seriously and refuses to support his efforts to undermine it or accept his lies about the 2020 election.
JOHN TITUS, PEACHTREE CORNERS
Reader: 2 congresswomen might need separate sections of House
For the record: I am a Jew, born and raised in Brooklyn. For the past 30 years, I am a “damn Yankee.”
I am also a Trump supporting Republican. I hereby call upon the leader of the House of Representatives, one Nancy Pelosi, to create a separate section in the House with two seats; one for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and one for her partner in hate, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. They are two of a kind and deserve each other.
DAN SIEGEL, DRACULA
