To The Editors:

Re: "No Longer Taken For Granted" by Tara Servatius (October 3), Ella Scarborough seems to be the "I told you" candidate for Democrats via the Black Political Caucus. McCrory continues to demonstrate he has no vision for the city, only to remain as the front-man for the deep pockets that actually run this town. Ever since the two first met for the job a few years ago, neither has been able to communicate to the citizens as a whole. Serving only fragments of our population appears to be Platform Item #1 for each candidate.

Hell, since Rudy can't run again in NYC, maybe we should write him in here. Now, that's a mayor!

Floyd Prophet

Charlotte

Shannon's Shoddy Journalism

To the Editors:

Shannon Reichley did a shoddy job in "Reality TV or Workplace Drama?" (September 26). As a so-called journalist with many years spent in local TV news operations (which she mentions more than once), it seems like she would have made a few calls to substantiate her allegations about Beatrice Thompson in the five-part PBS series "Local News" on WTVI. Reichley never called Beatrice Thompson (the subject often mischaracterized), nor did she call any of Ms. Thompson's supporters (potential sources to verify allegations).

Tackling all of the errors would be too lengthy, but I must point out a few facts.

- Reichley begins with a comment about Ms. Thompson not liking a contract offer and was fired. Who did she talk to? She didn't talk to Ms. Thompson to verify anything and WCNC claims to never discuss personnel issues.

- Reichley mentions that Ms. Thompson is very familiar in the Black community ­ wrong! Ms. Thompson is very familiar to the total community. The letters I read in WCNC's public file praising her work were from all sorts of folks in the ADI.

- Reichley purports that Ms. Thompson led the PBS crew to cover how the community supported her in her battle with WCNC ­ wrong again! The crew was in close contact with me and other supporters to cover our activities. By the way, the supporters were more than friends and family and they were not all black. A few calls to verify Reichley's claims would have corrected her false assumptions.

- Juxtaposing Sonja Gantt is typical for shallow journalists and proves further that Reichley missed the point.

- It's also noteworthy to mention that Reichley's comments about Sterlin Benson-Webber were low blows. Ms. Benson-Webber has proved to be a valuable asset to WCNC. This piece should have been entitled "Shannon's Personal Gripes About a Few Folks in The Media."

I know the real truth about how Ms. Thompson was treated and so does WCNC. Charlotte television viewers lost a talented, award-winning journalist who made history in this market. You don't treat people the way WCNC treated Ms. Thompson and come out on top. The ratings still show that. After watching all five episodes of "Local News," I can agree that it is complete with human characters that tell a story of a modern news station. Unfortunately, some parts of the story will never come to light.

Shannon Reichley should honor herself with her own "Brass Balls" award for the nerve to write such a piece of shoddy journalism.

Charlene Price-Patterson

Charlotte

Editor's Reply: Perhaps Ms. Price-Patterson missed the clarification which we ran in last week's issue which corrected a couple of her main complaints about Shannon Reichley's critique of the series, namely the fact that Ms. Thompson wasn't offered a contract and did not personally organize meetings and pickets to protest her treatment by WCNC. As for Ms. Reichley's opinions of other elements of the series, including Ms. Benson-Webber's contributions, the article in question was a critique and not a news story about the making of the series; thus, Ms. Reichley had much greater leeway in terms of offering her opinions.

Reagan Fueled bin Laden

To The Editors:

Sorry, Sean Blest ("Don't Blame Reagan," Letters, October 10), but Reagan has much to atone for by betraying the American tradition of helping its post-war allies and even its worst enemies (WWII). He used the Afghan people and, when he had no further use for them, left them, our allies, with his "finger in the air" in the remnants of wartime devastation. Is not this the rationale used by the Taliban to mobilize innocent Afghan citizens to hate us? By bin Laden's own statements of justification, Reagan supplied the fuel for his mobilization. Imagine the world today if Harry Truman and George Marshall had done the same to the allied nations of Europe and even our enemies, Germany and Japan. Would they be our allies today? I think not!

Nelson Benzing

Charlotte

Maturity Is Key

To The Editors:

Tara Servatius' open letter regarding the "Sacrifices needed for life" ("Letter To The Future," October 10) was incisive and heartfelt but a little too vehement for this guy's palate. I agree that far too often guys will disappear at the first sign of responsibility with never a backward glance and, yes, of course the greater sacrifice is that of the female. But there are a few issues that were raised that need to be addressed.

The responsibility for safe sex applies to both sexual partners. In this day and age no one is ignorant of the need for contraception. As the saying goes it takes two to tango.

Not all guys are fly by nights. This is a sweeping generalization and one that makes my blood boil. I am father to a 10-year-old son who lives with his mother in England. I moved here not too long ago to be with my fiancee who, incidentally, has three girls of her own from a previous marriage. I am also very close to my son and have a very healthy relationship with him. I am involved, and have always been involved, in every aspect of his growing up and take my paternal responsibilties extremely seriously and you can bet that, if he wanted it, he would be here with me. He also has a loving mother and I see no reason to rip him from her arms to prove a point. My girlfriend's children will be treated with love as if they were my own, and their natural father sees them once every six months. . .if he can be bothered.

Lastly, there is nothing to be ashamed of in being a mother. The piece was written with a very bitter outlook, and some women actually choose to give birth. . .they are not all forcibly impregnated and then thrown to the curb to fend for themselves.

There should also be no stigma attached to being divorced these days. Maturity is the key here. If a guy, or couple for that matter, is mature enough to understand the bigger picture, then all will work out. From what I have experienced, especially in the USA, fatherhood and maturity are not comfortable partners. Sadly, Tara would appear to have got that right.

Steve Torrens

Charlotte