SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 2010


KLMNO FREE for ALL A setback for candor about race MARK GAIL/WASHINGTON POST


An Aug. 19 caption said flooding was “forcing” these vehicles to drive through water in Laurel.


‘Turn around, don’t drown’ The Aug. 19 Metro article about Wednesday morn-


ing’s heavy rains showed a photo of cars driving over a flooded road with the caption noting, “The Patuxent River overflowed in Laurel, forcing vehicles . . . to drive through water.” The drivers were not forced to drive through water — it was a choice, a foolish and dangerous choice. Be- sides the possibilities of flooding an engine and in- curring expensive repair costs, the more serious dan- ger is being swept away and drowning. Each year about 100 people drown in floods, and more than half are vehicular-related. It takes only six inches of water for most motorists to lose control, and two feet of moving water will sweep most vehicles off the road, including sport-utility vehicles. The National Weather Service has a simple, direct


message for such situations: “Turn around, don’t drown.” The public is urged to heed this advice and avoid an avoidable tragedy. Mark Glaudemans, Silver Spring


The writer is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service.


Let ’em splash


Carolyn Janac thinks a couple of young people dan- gling their feet in the World War II Memorial pool de- files it and is disrespectful of veterans [Free for All, Aug. 14]. As a combat veteran of that war, I was de- lighted to see those young people in this nation’s cap- ital and at that pool. Dangle away, youngsters. Enjoy the liberty so hard won. Don Junior, Chevy Chase


Garfinckel’s back in the day All that palpitating excitement in the Aug. 14 Style


article “Clyde’s jazzing up its menu with plan for D.C. nightclub,” and nary a nostalgic nod to an earlier nota- ble Washington destination at the same address: Gar- finckel’s flagship store. The intersection of 14th Street and F Street NW has been many things over the years, and part of its former glory was our late, lamented emporium — a first-class act for natives and those of us who came to town for another exciting time, the age of JFK’s New Frontier. Julius S. Levine, Washington


Abe Pollin overlooked I read and re-read Susan Kinzie’s Aug. 15 front-page


article about charitable work by professional athletes thinking that perhaps I missed a reference to the late Abe Pollin and the wonderful things he did for us and our area. How could such an article not mention him even once? Is your collective memory that short? Leonard Koenick, Fort Washington


Disguised as empty seats The Aug. 14 Post reported that the crowd at the


Washington Redskins game the night before was “an- nounced” at 69,578. Maybe the Redskins were playing another game somewhere, but attendance at FedEx Field was not even half that number. Attendance is defined as “the act of attending. The persons or number of persons attending.” It’s not the number of tickets sold. Season ticket holders are re- quired to buy tickets for preseason games, but they don’t have to attend.


I thought a mention in The Post of the relatively small crowd size would have been appropriate after the “announced” statement.


Bennett Gold, Reston Overrun by Terrapins


Must we endure another college football season reading primarily about the University of Maryland? Surely your readership is more heavily, or at least equally, populated by fans of Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. The Terps’ campus may be clos- er to Washington, but I’m sure readers would appreci- ate a more balanced approach to coverage. Jeff M. Murphy, Ashburn


The younger of the two Are the Post’s editors on strike? In the Aug. 16 news


story “Not all work, no play for Obama,” Michael Sav- age referred to the Obama’s “youngest daughter, Sasha.” The grammarians among us know that when comparing the ages of two people (i.e., Sasha and Malia Obama), “younger” is the proper word. Chip Watkins, Arlington


Those beguiling shop windows


As I read the caption under a photo of butterfly art- work [Arts briefs, Aug. 15], I learned that what were re- ferred to as “community butterflies” really liked store- fronts: “Six butterflies adored storefronts along the 14th Street Cooridor.” What a difference an “n” makes! And you’ve changed the spelling of “Corridor.” I sup- pose that proofreading captions is becoming a lost art. Greg Ryan, Reston


Anonymity ‘run amok’ Granting anonymity to sources


vexes reporters, but your paper abused the practice in two stories [“Democrats want Kennedy’s widow to run for his seat,” Aug. 15; and “Mosque stance gets an aster- isk,” front page, Aug. 15]. By what standard was anonymity grant- ed to someone saying that political appear- ances by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Ken- nedy, are “intoxicating” and “flat- tering”? Or quoting the source saying “it’s an ego trip” and “that’s where the flirtation will end”?


Victoria Reggie Kennedy in 2009.


Anonymity was granted to a Capitol Hill “senior Democratic aide” who said President Obama’s statement on an Is- lamic center pro- posed near New York City’s Sept. 11 Ground Zero “is going to play poorly.” The aide should have been pressed to go on the record or ignored. These pieces were on politics rather than sensitive na- tional security mat- ters. Exploiting ano-


nymity for political gain has run amok in Washington and needs to be curbed.


Herb Linnen, Washington Memories of Bobby Thomson Minimizing Kagan’s moment d


Submissions for the Free for All page should be sent to letters@washpost.com. Letters must be exclusive to


The Post and should include the writer’s address and day and evening telephone numbers. Letters are subject to editing and abridgment. Please do not send letters as attachments. Because of the volume of material we receive, we are unable to acknowledge submissions; writers whose letters are under consideration for publication will be contacted.


The Post’s Aug. 8 front page found honors bestowed on retired Washington Redskins offensive lineman Russ Grimm, who hasn’t played in 19 years, and the story of a debt-ridden chef with legal problems to be more important than the swearing-in of the na-


tion’s fourth female Supreme Court Justice. This is shameful. History was in the making, and The Post hid its head in the sand. You are encour- aging and pandering to the dumb- ing of Americans. Jenifer Mackby, Washington


Saddened to hear of the death of Bobby Thomson, I was dis- appointed that The Post’s Aug. 18 obituary called him the New York Giants’ “lanky third baseman” — nev- er mind the gratuitous remark that his Staten Island home was “a ferry ride from the sta- dium”; a trek from the dock in Lower Man- hattan to Coogan’s Bluff would have tak- en considerably longer than the ferry ride. Hank Thompson was the regular third baseman on those Gi- ants teams. While Bobby Thomson played a few games at third including the fi- nal game of the histor- ic National League playoffs in 1951, he was primarily an out- fielder, the “striding Scot” who patrolled the massive center field of the Polo Grounds. One may be forgiven for forgetting that, since he was re- placed there by the incomparable Willie Mays. For me, though, and for per-


Read me (insert link) in The Post


Dear Washington Post, (Read other letters to The


Washington Post) I am becoming increasingly annoyed by your practice of parenthetically inserting links into your online articles. (Find out how annoyance contributes to high blood pres- sure)


When attempting to read an


article and get into the rhythm and flow of the argument or the reporting, I now find my- self repeatedly and violently jerked out of the piece by this rapidly spreading editorial practice.


(CDC presents report on po- tential spread of deadly flu) Is this to generate more ad


traffic revenue, based on the idea that adding such links will lead to more page views? Because if that is so (How


are news organizations weath- ering falling revenue?), really, if that is so (Celebritology won- ders: Is Justin Bieber bald?), I would suggest that you find another way. Andrew M. Kerr, Atlanta


Post ombudsman Andrew Alex- ander noted on Sunday that “Al- though The Post’s coverage . . . did not specify the racial makeup of those involved” in the Aug. 6 fracas on the subway, “many readers as- sumed they were black and offered racially insensitive online com- ments” [“Brawl on the Metro: Where was the coverage?” Aug. 15].


Well, if The Post won’t report the


facts, readers are bound to make assumptions. If The Post finds some of the re- sulting assumptions distasteful, then The Post will just have to start telling readers the truth. This ap- plies to race just as much as it ap- plies to anything else. Terence Kuch, Falls Church


The ombudsman’s Sunday col- umn was one of the most interest- ing and truthful that I have ever read in The Post. First, we learn that Post manag- ers want their newspaper to be our “indispensable source for news.” Next we learn that there was very


little coverage about the brawl on the Metro because Robert E. Pierre,


the weekend editor for local news, was “worried about hyping a story that involved race.” What is the definition of “report-


ing” and “hyping,” and who would be doing the hyping? Where should I go for news stories that involve race, without hype, of course? Terrence H. Scout, Chestertown, Md.


R


A11


Newcomers vs. the relics


I had to read only a few lines of the story on the new genera- tion of federal employees [“Next Gen finds its place in federal workforce,” front page, Aug. 7] to figuratively smack my head against the keyboard. It took the cake for glib gener- alizations and stereotypes. I’m sure that these whiz kids are aching to change the world and take over the reins from their broken-down elders, but the stale story line that this “new movement” is somehow different was quite irritating. Those previous generations of federal employees weren’t all “authority-driven” and “pay-your-dues” types. Many came into government service with high ideals and ambi- tious goals, just as these young people do. Every generation, in every profession, thinks it’s going to change the world. But as a group they’ll be just like the ones who came before; many will quit after a few years, some will plod through their careers “as GS-9s forev- er,” some will actually perform the jobs they were hired to do (what a concept!) and a select few may make a difference. Maybe we don’t all have


Tranquil? No


In an “Eat Pray Love” fea- ture in the Aug. 15 Travel sec- tion, Molly Moore spoke of liv- ing three years in India as a Post foreign correspondent. As a way to inner tranquilli-


ty Moore recommended drift- ing on the enchanted Dal Lake in Kashmir. But she failed to say a word about the ongoing clash between the Kashmiris and Indian forces. The same edition of the paper reported that two people were shot dead by security forces Aug. 14 “as deaths continued to mount during weeks of defiant pro- tests against India’s rule over the predominately Muslim re- gion of Kashmir.”


Kashmir is no place to look


for tranquillity anytime soon. Scott Blair, Bethesda


Is it really possible for you to write a story on the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq [“ ‘A truly historic end to 7 years of war,’ ” front page, Aug. 19] without ac- knowledging the role of the Bush surge in making that exit possible? Does The Post really believe that troops “thrust into the front lines of a brutal sectarian war that ulti- mately ebbed” is a complete depic- tion of events that facilitated Wednesday’s withdrawal of com- bat troops? Is intellectual conceit so manifest that a simple acknowl- edgment of the historical record would have been out of place, at


goatees and bike to work with our laptops in our backpacks, but at least we respected those who came before us and didn’t see ourselves as the saviors of government.


U.S. ARMY PHOTO VIA REUTERS


Army Sgt. Kyle Schmidt rolls up rounds of ammunition after his regiment crossed from Iraq into Kuwait on Monday.


The president who won the war


the obvious risk of leaving egg on the faces of cynics who were cer- tain that President George W. Bush was wrong and that the surge would fail? This responsible, phased with-


drawal is a victory for America and vindication for our 43rd presi- dent. It is a relief that you write the


news but not the history. Christopher Coughlin, Arlington


The writer was vice president of external affairs in the Overseas Private Investment Corp. throughout the Bush administration.


Sour note Once again, an article about


cupcake shops [“Swooning for the sugar,” Metro, Aug. 16] ap- peared in The Post. As a nation we are battling the assaults of both obesity and diabetes. I don’t understand the popu- larity of cupcake shops in gen- eral and, particularly, respon- sible family newspapers giv- ing these shops free publicity. Marilyn H. Paul, Washington


Phil Kelly, Lake Frederick, Va.


ASSOCIATED PRESS


Bobby Thomson selects a bat before the first game of the 1951 World Series.


haps others with long memories, the image of Thomson’s defensive skills is as vivid as the historic home run. Neil D. Isaacs, Colesville


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