Letters

KIDS AND RITALIN

"Great advances in society have frequently come from the so-called misfits. Where will such ideas be found in the world of Ritalin?" MICHAEL M. MAKIEVE Alamo, Calif.

Your article on Ritalin as the wonder drug for the hyper child is not only scary but also sad [THE AGE OF RITALIN, Nov. 30]. Throughout my successful academic years, I was surrounded by a variety of students, many of whom were deemed hyperactive at a young age but each of whom managed to get into a top college. Strict parental discipline was the daily medication: no TV, no video games. I do believe there are children who have problems that require drug intervention, but forcing children to be dependent on a drug to regulate their behavior merely reflects society's unwillingness to take responsibility for its actions. There are too many unknowns to be prescribing this drug so broadly to children. PRADNYA PARULEKAR Troy, Mich.

Our son has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder for which he receives Ritalin. It is difficult to list the ways a lack of impulse control can affect a child and his family. Our son was one month away from his fifth birthday when we realized we needed help. He incinerated food in the microwave, turned off the hot-water heater and opened the water-release valve, forced several steak knives through a wooden fence and finally bloodied a pet. Does this sound like an unsupervised child? I am home full time with him, and vigilance was the key word. Even with all the unanswered questions and skepticism surrounding this disorder, our son has done extraordinarily well since taking Ritalin. JANET TAYLOR Pismo Beach, Calif.

Every time I hear the name Ritalin I do a slow burn. My parents put me on the drug when I was eight. It was pretty much the doctor saying, "He's hyperactive," my parents agreeing and the doctor whipping out the prescription pad. For the next six years, my parents told me I was taking a vitamin supplement. I'm still paying for what this garbage did to my system--and I'm 38. I've seen true, medically hyperactive kids. I wasn't one of them. What kind of society is it in which so many of us take the easiest option and drug our children with a substance we don't yet fully understand? THOMAS WHEELER Tucson, Ariz.

I am a 36-year-old adult who has only recently discovered the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder model. It completely explains so many lifelong obstacles and difficulties and some successes. I believe that I most certainly would have benefited from this tool of chemical therapy during my childhood. It could have greatly diminished the emotional turmoil suffered by me, my parents and my siblings. My advice to parents today: consider all options; keep looking for solutions until you find something that works for you. ERIK CLARK Myersville, Md.

Today's brave new world has its own version of Soma: Ritalin. The list of behaviors that help determine if a child is hyperactive and a candidate for Ritalin is a list of behaviors all children exhibit at one time or another. Our job as parents is to teach our children to listen, sit still, concentrate and be patient and responsible. I fear what sort of adults these medicated children will become. MARY MANCINELLI South Lyon, Mich.

Ritalin works for our son. It was the best thing that could happen to us and to him. He became a new child. He was able to focus, stay on task, didn't get as frustrated and angry and could enjoy going to school. I am so thankful for Ritalin. As long as my son needs it, I am going to see that he gets it. DANA WOOD Portland, Ore.

As a pharmacy student, I found your report on Ritalin and hyperactivity fascinating. I'm glad Ritalin is available for those who truly need it. But at the same time, I'm concerned. If we give children a drug to modify their behavior so they will "fit in," what are we saying about our tolerance for other people's actions? What if these kids get the message that it's acceptable to use drugs to change their behavior or to fit in? Won't that undermine other messages, such as, It's O.K. to be yourself? ALEX STRONACH Surrey, B.C.

Looking over the list of behaviors that could define hyperactive children, I was struck by the fact that they describe what we used to call an obnoxious little brat. Pity the poor parents who have to resort to drugs to replace good old-fashioned parenting. Do any of the kids who take Ritalin learn, through some weird chemical process, good manners, politeness, kindness and altruism? Are parents that naive, or do they just want to turn their kids into zombies and avoid the whole problem of parenting? RICHARD ORLANDO Montreal

CLINTON'S WOES

There's something fundamental missing in the U.S. impeachment process [NATION, Nov. 23]. It is a reversal of the will of a majority of the electorate who voted the accused public official into office. There should be a public referendum in which the voters either reject or authorize impeachment. RICHARD E. ZEIMET Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

President Clinton is being exquisitely railroaded out of office. All the Republicans are seeking is to enlarge their power base and get rid of Clinton. But the Republican Party's Contract with America may be expiring soon, as it should. CARL KAMMERMEIER Arthur, Canada

Why do U.S. politicians, journalists and lawyers give the impression that they are all just little kids out in the playground of Washington? For me, an American living in France, perhaps the hardest thing to explain to Europeans has been American womanhood. Monica and Linda are, I hope, definitely not typical. Both are to be pitied. The results of the November elections were the first sign of sanity in an insane America. ALISON MARAILLET Chambery, France

A STARR APPEARANCE

In his presentation before the House Judiciary Committee [NATION, Nov. 30], independent counsel Kenneth Starr did not lose, as you said. He won! And his was an even greater victory than may be implied by the standing ovation he received from Republicans. Your report was a self-serving and condescending portrayal. Starr brought to the hearing room uprightness and integrity. Not too long ago, these virtues were common in our society. Today the masses regard them as a joke. JACK W. CARTER Elizabeth, Colo.

Why did Ken Starr have to be thanked endlessly for appearing before the Judiciary Committee? He should be eager to assist the U.S. in this crisis. RALPH C. POTWARKA Kitchener, Ont.

A WOMAN'S PLACE

I am mystified by people who choose to be confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church and then demand that it drastically change, as described in your article "Not Doing as the Romans Do" [AMERICAN SCENE, Nov. 30]. When Mary Ramerman joined the church in 1983, I'm sure she knew what its beliefs were. If all she wanted was a church that ran itself to her liking, she had many to choose from. If she wants to be a priest, the Episcopalians should be happy to accommodate her. But Ramerman may not be going to church to worship; she may be interested only in making waves. G. BARRY HILLARD Medina, Ohio

I am a female, a "Cradle Catholic" and ineligible for the priesthood. I believe that when the dust eventually settles on the issue of female ordination, the church will need to publicly reassess its treatment of women, as it has done for so many other shameful episodes in its history: the Inquisition, Galileo and its conduct during World War II. As for the Vatican official quoted in your article who said, "Some of these women are well intentioned, but the bulk of them are power-hungry witches," someone needs to tell him that using witch as a derogatory term for women perceived as troublemakers by the Catholic Church went out of vogue a long time ago. CHRISTINE ALLAMANNO St. Petersburg, Fla.

MORE ABOUT CORPORATE WELFARE

Your series on what corporate welfare costs Americans [SPECIAL REPORT: CORPORATE WELFARE, Nov. 9-Nov. 30] comes at an opportune time for those of us who have been challenging these wasteful taxpayer giveaways for decades. House Budget Committee chairman John Kasich has told me he will hold comprehensive hearings on this issue early next year. These will be the first such hearings to cover the broad spectrum of government subsidies, bailouts, giveaways and other assorted upward distributions of income from working families to corporations. Your series has provided a greater public understanding of this neglected dimension of Big Government in advance of the congressional inquiry. RALPH NADER, CONSUMER ADVOCATE Washington

SUGAR AND SPICE

The article "Sweet Deal" on sugar production in Florida, part of your series on corporate welfare [Nov. 23], leveled numerous false charges against all Florida sugar farmers. Far from polluting the Everglades, sugar farmers have made their runoff water twice as clean as the legal standard. The $3 billion-to-$8 billion Everglades repair cost is for replumbing the entire water system of South Florida, where the population has grown tenfold since the system's construction in the 1950s, with suburbs pushing out farmland. Sugar farmers have spent millions meeting one of the nation's toughest water-quality standards. Rather than sparing sugar, the 1995 farm bill ended domestic acreage allotments, restricted low-risk loans and created a domestic free market in sugar. The industry has seen radical restructuring since the law passed. Today sugar prices in America are lower than anywhere else in the developed world. ROBERT H. BUKER JR. Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs U.S. Sugar Corp. Clewiston, Fla.

Here in the area of Michigan where I live, big artificial support payments for sugar beets are ruining the family farm. The foreign-owned sugar plants give contracts to a certain few corporate farms, paying them enormous sums per acre. Small and midsize family farms are disappearing at an alarming rate as land rents and property taxes skyrocket and the few corporate farms fight over every acre. The megafarms are pushing the fast-disappearing topsoil to the absolute limit. All this while the local sugar plant locked out longtime employees to force wage cuts. Here too we have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to pump lake water to four or five of the wealthy corporate farms. ERIC WASHBURN Pigeon, Mich.

In "Sweet Deal" you stated that the cultivation of sugarcane is connected to environmental problems in Florida Bay. However, the summer 1996 edition of the Florida Bay News, an Everglades National Park publication, reported that "nutrients from agriculture runoff do not make it to Florida Bay." Additionally, your article incorrectly implied that the sugar industry has created much of the current need for several billion dollars of restorative measures but omitted the well-known cause for the condition of the Everglades--the massive plumbing system installed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide flood control and water supply for the millions of new South Florida residents. The state's population boom and the attendant development, runoff and water demands have played a critical part in the Everglades story--but not in your one-sided account of the situation. JORGE A. DOMINICIS, VICE PRESIDENT Florida Crystals West Palm Beach, Fla.