Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 10

Op union Press Sun-Bulletin pressconnects.com PAGE 10A WEDNESDAY MAY 1,2002 Press Sun-Bulletin A member of the Gannett Group KAREN HUGHES, WHfiT ABOUT THE SraUTYOFTHE PRESIDENCY? TO MAKE SURE HE D0E5NT GET INTO BERNARD M. GRIFFIN President and Publisher RICK JENSEN Executive Editor FRANK W. ROESSNER Editorial Page Editor DAVID G. ROSSIE HEATHER HARE Associate Editor Features Reporter The editorial policies of the Press Sun-Bulletin are established by the editorial board above. Published by Binghamton Press Company Division of Gannett Satellite Information Network Vestal Parkway East, P.O.

Box 1270, Binghamton, N.Y. 13902-1270. iHt rKtUtla AGAIN? I H-K 1 life Ji AW NWTT Editorial 'Re-settlers' on the Avenue i'M -i- Endicott's Washington Avenue may never again be a major commercial hub, but it remains a viable and vibrant place to work and to shop and to live. And if the conversion of the upper floors of buildings there into apartments attracts university students and others, "the Avenue" would once again thrive. Mary Louise Bratt and her husband, Floyd Bush, are two of the "re-set DAVID ROSSIE Commentary Music gives radio much of its charm "People aren't listening to classical music anymore, at least not during the i i day.

They want talk." The New York 77w.v, April 17, 2002. Well, that's it. The barbarians aren't at the gates. They're over the walls and rt sacking the city. I got the feeling a few days ago that I the end was near when we carried a story about an enterprising fellow who i was trying to sell a wad of used chew- ing gum that he retrieved after ah over- paid baseball player had spit it out.

I i was further persuaded when we ran a later story hmmhmm reporting that someone had If we, as a society, actually paid i several thou- givenachoice iarnsdSforf dthe between listening used gum. to a Haydn Now I'm i i convinced. No symphonyanda further evi- radio babbler dence is nec- essary. if we, choose the latter, ginSoSe' then we should, in between lis- Tom Lehrer's words, tening to a Haydn sym- fold our agendas phony and a radio babbler andadjOlHTl. choose the latter, then we should, in Tom Lehrer's words, fold our agendas and adjourn.

Who are the people who have decided listeners want more talk and less music? If these danger signals were coming from radio stations that already cater to conspiratorialists and the perpetu- tlers" who have taken up residence on the Avenue. They operate two businesses The conversion of upper floors into on lower floors and live in Student apartments the apartment of a fourth Write to us We welcome letters. They must include your name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit letters tor brevity, accuracy, ciarity and grammar, Edited letters typically address a single idea and do not exceed 200 words. We do not print anonymous letters or poetry.

Letters co Press Sun-Bulletin P.O. Box 1270 Binghamton, N.Y. 13902 e-mail: use form at pressconnects.com Letters to the Editor i where no live victims are involved, no I crime is committed. I I The probability is that a person sick I enough to view child porn is likely sick i enough to engage in it. Never mind the I vulnerable children, so long as these pedophiles have their rights.

An abyss is a deep black hole. I hope Americans take a stand against this immoral tide, before we fall into it. i JOHN MURPHY VESTAL Wickhara went too far I've had manyseriousdisagreements with DeWayne Wickham's columns, but his April 4 column on the Middle East was the topper. He equates aver- ages and forgets who is doing what to i whom. I I wonder what tack he'd have taken i I were President Bush a Democrat I instead of a Republican.

I Let's do his arithmetic once more: i I Palestinians killed, 1,269. Israelis killed, 4 16. Now add in the World Trade Cen- ter atrocity of close to 3,000 that the same sort of terrorists killed. It would i suit Wickham well to remember that he who lives by the sword shall perish I by the sword. I By the way, what are his thoughts about the Arafat terrorists taking 1 hostage the Church of the Nativity in Jerusalem? JAMES PFISTERER i BINGHAMTON 'Wall Street Week' lives I The recent cancellation of I Week with Louis Rukeyser by PBS was short-sighted.

Its popularity was shown by the decision of CNBC to carry it immediately. The first program was an i I indication of the probable success, with i I many of the regular panel members I i present. As a fringe benefit, the program is aired at the regular time that it was i I previously shown on nearly all PBS stations, except the local outlet, which 1 had it scheduled at a later hour. I WALTER SMITH i ENDWELL i Court should address causes of drug addiction The Tioga County Drug Court cur-! rently under consideration is definitely a step in the right direction, but an arrest should not be a necessary pre-; requisite for drug treatment. Fear of criminal sanctions compels many prob-I lem drug-users to suffer in silence, i Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to I confessing to criminal activity? Ton-i ing down the tough-on-drugs rhetoric I would encourage the type of honest i discussion necessary to facilitate effec- live drug treatment, Mandatory drug tests do nothing to address the underlying causes of addic-j tion.

When contemplating drug courts, I Tioga legislators need to remember I that relapse is part of recovery. Coerced treatment strategies that rely on jail I cells as health interventions may do i more harm than good, Imagine if every alcoholic were i thrown in jail and given a permanent criminal record. How many lives would be destroyed? How many families torn apart? How many tax dollars would I be wasted turning potentially produc-I tive members of society into unem-j ployable ex-cons? ROBERT SHARPE I PROGRAM OFFICER DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE WASHINGTON, D.C." I Headed for the abyss Is American society heading down a moral abyss where even the intelli- i gentsia can't tell right from wrong? Recently, the Hi ppocratic oath, wh ich has guided physicians for centuries, has i been flipped over and the prevailing approach is to assist the sick in dying, Then there's the Supreme Court decision, which permits "computer image" child porn, making it extremely difficult to prosecute those who exploit I children. The court determined that Opinion poll pressconnects.com Is a calendar that contains tasteful photos of nude women a proper vehicle for raising funds for a charity? Results of last week's poll: Was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo right in criticizing Gov. Pataki's leadership after the Sept.

1 1 attacks? Yes 30.2; No 66.2; No Opinion 3.5. votes: 311 Go to the opinion section of www.pressconnects.com and cast your vote. Watch for a new question every Tuesday afternoon at pressconnects. Results of the previous question will be posted Tuesday afternoon and printed Wednesday morning in the Press Questions: If you have a comment about items on the opinion pages, call Editorial Page Editor Frank Ftoessner between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

weekdays at 798-1124. Editorials on this page reflect the opinion of the editorial board of the Press Sun-Bulletin. Columns and letters reflect the views of those writers. Could help floor, having relocated from a home in Chenango Forks. EndlCOtt "Reports of the death of Washington Avenue Washington Avenue are a bit premature, said Bush, thrive once again.

Bratt, meanwhile, said she likes the idea of being close to things, noting, "Everything is so convenient." And when they retire, the couple said they plan to rent their building to Binghamton University students. "We renovated our building with that sort of in the backs of our minds," Bush said. It's a notion that other building owners and developers along the Avenue are pursuing as well, and village Fire Marshal Thomas Murphy thinks the buildings are well-suited for that kind of use. "Most of them are strong, rugged buildings. They're certainly good enough to be renovated for a use like that." Will the students come? It's likely that they will, so long as there are stores and restaurants nearby that can supply their needs.

There are no university-operated "blue buses" running there now as they do to Binghamton, but BC Transit offers a bus to campus, and if the demand increases it's likely the service will. Binghamton and Johnson City also have attractive old buildings that could be converted to student housing, but the up-front investment has discouraged some developers and the university isn't inclined to develop such housing itself. It's up to the landlords to create the hew apartments and let the university community know they're available. The creation of student housing on Washington Avenue wouldn't detract from Binghamton's student population but would serve to provide students with more choices when they decide to move off-campus. Nor would a small student enclave cause problems in Endicott; it would in fact bring new life to a community that could use an infusion.

This strikes us as a positive situation all around good for the Avenue and the village; good for the building owners and apartment developers; good for the students; good for the university; good for the region. We wish the "re-settlers" well in their return to the Avenue. Other Voices: Los Angeles Times Guatemala's kids cry out (April 39) A Reuters reporter recently asked Guatemalan farmer Luisa Vazquez how many children she had. "Three dead and four living," she answered. What killed them? The answer could be seen in the telltale swollen belly of the toddler clinging to her leg: easily preventable illnesses brought on by malnutrition.

Vasquez's story is far from unique. Between last September and February, at least 126 malnourished Guatemalan children have died of common colds or because they were too weak to swallow. The United Nations World Food Program says that 60,000 children under 5 in that Central American nation suffer mal-nourishment so severe that it threatens to kill 6,000 of them in the coming months. Guatemala stands out in the region for two reasons: the severity of the hunger and the lack of government response. These are mostly poor rural families beset by natural disasters like Hurricane Mitch, which hit in 1998, and serious droughts in the past two years that have wiped out their meager subsistence crops.

Also, a sudden drop in coffee prices has caused more than half a million people to lose their jobs picking coffee in the highlands. The U.N.-sponsored World Food Program has appealed to the international community for food and cash. Almost 9,000 metric tons of food about 400 boxcars is needed to feed the children for six months. This would cost about $5 million. So far, the only government response has come from the U.S.

aid agency. Today in History This is Wednesday, May 1, 2002. On this date: In 1931, New York's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.) Points of View QUESTION: Do you think Binghamton's new tip line will help reduce crime? ally irate those poor fish who draw inspiration from talk radio dervishes there would be little cause for concern.

But according to the Times that's not the case. This is National Public Radid talking, as well as New York City's lead-'('' ing public radio music station, WNYC, NPR says it is cutting back on its broadcasts of Performance Today. To be replaced by what, one or more of the right-wing whoopers and shouters-'1' who make the air hideous each day on too many commercial stations? Probably not. The people who run 't public radio stations are too civilized for that. But if not, then what? Lefty talk shows? Let's hope not.

Liberals, leftists, call them what you will, are, with rare exceptions such as James Carville, too serious or, worse, take themselves too seriously, to be enter- taining. They are given, like the gas- bag Limbaugh, to pontificating. But Limbaugh at least has a sense of humor. Perhaps a daytime equivalent of Jim Lehrer? God save us all. Imagine the spike in motor vehicle accidents with scores of drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

All right, enough doom shouting. Chris Norton, program manager at WVIA-FM, an excellent public radio station in Scranton, pointed out during a recent telephone conversa-1 tion that NPR does not mandate pro- gramming for member stations. It offers a menu from which members choose. There's something there for just about every taste provided it's good taste. What is more, Norton noted, NPR has long offered talk shows such as Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation and Car Talk.

Which is true, of course; it's just that I never thought of them as talk shows, in that they are not aimed at listeners who think global warming is a plot con- cocted by communists to distract us 1 from the 34 Chinese infantry divisions 1 waiting to pounce on us from their hid- ing places just north of the Canadian border. In other words, they don't fit the popular definition of talk radio. WVI Norton said, has no plans to reduce its 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., classical 1 music offering. And that is good news.

But he also said public radio stations, like commercial stations, must respond to the wishes of a diverse audience. The Times story said public radio stations have recently become concerned about the need to attract more young lis- teners, which would, in turn, attract more underwriters who. let it be understood, are not to be confused with advertisers. True enough, I suppose, but let's not go overboard. "Music," the poet William Congreve wrote, "has charms to soothe a savage breast." That was a good prescription 400 years ago and it's still good today.

CHARLES LITTLE, 93, VESTAL Retired. I SHAMEKA JORDAN, 16, BINGHAMTON. Student. Yes. People will be less likely to do crimes if they know other people will report them.

fCj Yes' 11 would be 9oc) to have a way to report a tin lie aiiuiiyinuusiy without being implicated later for reporting it. i VINCE TURR1GIAN0, 62, ENDICOTT. Retired. Yes. More people would call a tip line rather than call the police or go the police station to report a crime.

ANGEL BARRY, 39, ENDWELL Real estate agent. Yes. People are more apt to call and report a crime if they can do it anonymously. BINGHAMTON. Student.

Yes, it will help, but it might cause problems. Some people are nosy, and there's reward money involved, so they're more likely to get into everyone's business. JAMES LAVINE, 17, RICHF0RD. Student. Yes, because people would be more willing to report crimes they see.

But police might have extra work checking out all the tips to see if they're correct. illHl fll.lil Compiled by My-L Nguyen I I MliliiniiiiUinWOTiiL ARB you I -3 ue'e 7kzT ANPH1HO COULPBLAMB- THEM? siNce me uprisin63bgan, OVER 30OINNOCM5HAVB FAUNI1CVM I'M NOW IN AN ISRAELI PIZZA PARLOR, N6RV0U5 QUICKLY ANP P5TBR, ODMMO- A MACS HS5 WEARING AN OVERCOAT, He'S V5RV THICK IN 7H tW. IHH15 MAN WOK5 I I 7 STtHKUN. II CAFttBlSOF GRBATVIO- 0 0 Rossie is associate editor the Press Sun-Bulletin. His column appears on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

Write i to him co P.O. Box 1270, Bingham- ton, N.Y. 13902-1270. I.