Columnists wrong

To the editor:

Jessie Handy, Frank Rossi and others seem to think the Confederacy has no redeeming qualities. In fact, it is not so much your criticism of the Confederacy that has caused me to write, but your refusal to acknowledge anything positive about it.

Many cultures that practiced slavery have made

positive contributions in other areas. Rome and Greece are but two I can think of offhand. Yes, the practice of slavery is an abhorrent one and certainly not something to glorify or emulate.

If all that the old South represents to you is slavery, you should

consider attempting to expand your vision of it. If you allow the

sin of slavery to overshadow everything, and blind yourself to the good accomplished by Southern society, you have indeed narrowed your sights.

I challenge Rossi and Handy to each present an article about what the Confederacy has done to benefit society.

Although slavery is an ugly, disfiguring blemish on the history

of the South, it is not all that the South was. If you cannot see the

good of the South for the sin of the South, then you may also

be unable to see the good in any individual. As I have heard it said

before, "Before kingdoms can change, men must change."

Deran Allen

junior/business

Shocked

To the editor:

I literally became stricken with grief when I read of the unimaginable torture inflicted upon an innocent, helpless creature as The Houston Chronicle described how three members of East Bernard High School's championship baseball team put a gray striped tabby named Tiger, which served as the school's unofficial mascot, into a bag and mercilessly hit the cat with baseball bats.

If that is not enough, a fourth member of the team then ran over the mutilated body, which was probably lifeless already, with a pickup truck, while the other three players watched without remorse.

My question to these devil incarnates is, "What in the world possessed them to commit such a violent and unforgivable crime? And what reasonable gratification did they receive by taking away the life of a friendly, well-loved pussycat?"

Secretly, I would like to put these savage brutes through exactly what Tiger went through, but I know that won't do any good, nor bring her back. But I don't think they should come away with a meaningless, routine, slap-on-the-hand scolding.

My recommendation for punishment is lifelong service at an animal shelter, dedicating themselves to helping and enhancing the lives of other cats, to make up for the one whose life they snatched away.

I hope people don't brush off this crime as just an everyday occurrence by kids who were looking for fun. Many behavioral psychologists believe this kind of senseless violence is a sign and warning that larger targets with louder screams will be next, to pacify the boredom of people who commit such malicious acts.

Tamara Lo

junior/communications