Squeaky Shocks the World

To the Editors:

By placing Fromme on your cover [Sept. 15], you are supporting the second purpose of the Manson family as reported by Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi: "to draw attention to themselves and to shock the world."

Lois M. Megathlin Cape Elizabeth, Me.

You have confused the public's right to know with the psychotic's need to be known.

Valerie Aspinwall Palm Beach, Fla.

While you are accustomed to haste, I remain amazed at the depth and quality of your work on the assassination attempt only four days earlier. You have performed a valuable service.

Tom Goodale Gainesville, Fla.

The cover belonged to Secret Service Agent Buendorf.

Samuel Dance Marcellus, N. Y.

Could it be that the young woman used the gun to capture the media without firing a shot?

Mary Roberts Rowan Athens, Ga.

If a 27-year-old male had held the gun, would your headline have been THE BOY WHO ALMOST KILLED FORD?

Grace Welch Central Islip, N. Y.

The Robert Kennedy assassination, the Tate-LaBianca murders, the mass of buried farm workers, the Asian-American eye surgeon and his family slaughtered around their pool, Patty Hearst and her "army," the Zebra killings, and now an attempt to assassinate the President. Perhaps Californians should examine themselves to determine how it could all happen in their state in just seven years.

C.R. Hammond Silver Spring, Md.

Your cover featuring Squeaky Fromme shown in all her fresh-faced, tender-lipped vulnerability, gazing dreamily into history, strikes me as the epitome of irresponsible journalism. Where she may have failed in her attempt to make violence appealing, your cover certainly has not.

Roman Polanski Beverly Hills, Calif.

Ah, for less freedom of the press.

Nancy Lottman Villa Park, Calif.

Holding a gun that had not been fired and did not have a bullet in its firing chamber cannot be considered synonymous with almost killing someone.

James C. Daufeldt Greensboro, N.C.

An American President cannot be totally isolated from the public that elected him. There are a lot of sick people out there, but we have to take some risk if a President is not to stay locked up in the White House.

Billy Savich Atlanta

Sandra Good, Squeaky Fromme's roommate, is quoted as saying after the assassination attempt: "We're going to start assassinating Presidents, Vice Presidents . . ." Thereafter, Sandra Good was allowed to remain free. Do we have to wait until disaster strikes again?

Fred S. Molt Cincinnati

It is eerie that this social misfit, psychological cripple, social aberration and amoral freak comes up with the same conclusions I do. I also believe President Ford and big business are ruining the country.

Jerry Haas Tacoma, Wash.

The law, the Constitution and civil rights be damned; we must stop the daily slaughter of Americans by removing violent criminals from society.

Donald A. Windsor Norwich, N. Y.

In a country where violence is institutionalized, perhaps it would make some sense to examine the societal wombs that nurture the Manson cults.

David J. Ladwig Northville, Mich.

Bus Earlier, Later, Never

We've had busing [Sept. 22] down here for four years now and have had no problems whatsoever. Busing should have taken effect long ago; maybe students would have learned something other than prejudice.

Cathy Langley Tampa, Fla.

Stop all busing for the purpose of integration. Take the money saved--cost of buses, labor, oil, gas, etc.--and build great schools with great teachers in areas where they are needed, and perhaps even promote voluntary desegregation.

Helen S. Lee Mountain Home, Idaho

If parents, black and white, got together and forced the Boston school system to provide equal education, you could keep your children in your neighborhood and I could keep my children in mine. Instead, my children get up at 5:30 a.m. They leave at 6:30 a.m. to catch a bus out to the suburbs. They arrive home after 4 p.m. My five-year-old spends 2 1/4 hours in school and two hours in transportation every day.

Your fight has just begun. The black

race has been fighting for 400 years to

prove we're human beings, with the

same wants and needs of everyone else.

Joyce Sinclair

Boston

Busing is a cruel and an unusual punishment.

Robert L. Heleringer Louisville

Urge to Strike

With millions of college grads seeking employment, it should not be hard to replace dissatisfied teachers who feel the urge to strike [Sept. 22].

(Mrs.) Margaret Koehnlein Waukesha, Wis.

My wife teaches a mere 6 1/2 hours a day in an elementary school classroom. She also leaves for work at 7 in the morning and rarely arrives home before 6 at night. She works two to four hours on school work every night. The entire day on Sundays is usually spent in school or at home doing school work. She not only tutors her own third-graders after school but other students from previous years as well, for which she refuses to accept compensation. Most, if not all, school vacations during the year and all but three weeks of her summer vacation are spent preparing materials for her classroom.

Richard Brown West Hartford, Conn.

On the Gay Way

I would not trade my way of life as a homosexual [Sept. 8] for anything in the world.

Jack Pattinson Denver

The ashes of Sodom and Gomorrah remain as mute evidence of the judgment of God on this sin.

Laura Chandler Tacoma, Wash.

What would people suggest that the gay guy do when he discovers he's not with the majority--put a bullet in his brain?

Rich Evans Ballwin, Mo.

Homosexuality is just one more epidemic invading this country. Isn't anyone interested in restoring morality? We are going to fall harder and faster than the Romans ever did.

Candis Siatkowski Reading, Pa.

Your article "Gay on the March' was excellent. Our gay son is 22. We are a conservative, law-abiding, military family. Our sons were raised in the Catholic church and we were active in church services and projects. There was no room for homosexuality in our lives, but it is here.

Our son is part of us, and because of us. We cannot reject him.

Jean Smith Pensacola, Fla.

Developing Energies

Before simplifying the Kissinger/Moynihan statement as a "Marshall Plan for the Third World" [Sept. 15], we would do well to recall the observation of George F. Kennan 25 years ago that "in Europe, it was a case of releasing capacities for self-help that were already present. Elsewhere . . . it [is] a matter not of releasing existing energies but creating new ones."

Glenna Brink Modesto, Calif.

Those 200 Civilians

Mike Mansfield's ability to equate 200 civilians monitoring the Sinai truce with "another Viet Nam" [Sept. 8] is symptomatic of a national failing. Too often, Americans have overreacted to the lessons of history rather than learn from them.

Mark Jurkowitz Scranton, Pa.

No wonder a third of my paycheck goes to taxes: now I have to pay Egypt and Israel to get them to sign an agreement.

Ted Serrenho Lexington, Ky.

Political Scents

Your article "How to Succeed, 1975" [Sept. 15], with its reference to The Prince by Matchabelli, lends a fragrance to politics that is long overdue.

Bob Caughey Portland, Ore.

I don't like that book The Prince by

Matchabelli, but it sure smelled good.

JoAnne Wilson

Columbus

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