The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 10

040 l.rcx;? The Pittsburgh Press Saturday, iviay opinion ThePittsburgh I II II XX II MADELYN ROSS Managing Editor J. BRUCE BAUMANN Asst. Managing Editor Graphics RUSSELL L. BROWN Aotttant Managing Editor Sports BARBARA J. GRIFFIN Asst.

Managing Editor Features RON ROYHAB Assistant Managing Editor News ISADORE SHRENSKY Editorial Page Editor A Scripps Howard Newspaper Established June 23, 1884 Published Daily and Sunday ANGUS McEACHRAN Editor JIMMY E. MANIS General Manager Offices. 34 Boulevard of the Allies. Pittsburgh. Pa.

15230 P.O. Bon 566 Telephone (412) 263-1100 Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way i Rebuilding attitudes cww, kcwp--we VReatftf wiute You LETTERS If it's not belaboring the obvious, the Los Angeles riots exposed again the tragically inadequate socialization of many poor urban youths. Smashing windows, looting stores and beating passers-by is uncivilized behavior. These young people's families, schools and communities are failing to inculcate the inner restraints that for most people make such actions beyond the pale. In the aftermath of the riots, there is wide agreement that this complex, festering prob-.

lem has no easy solution and must be addressed from many angles at once. Incen-. tives to spur job creation in cities, for exam- pie, must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that young people emerge from school employable. It goes without saying that schools alone cannot reverse the effects of family breakdown, poverty, drugs and the youth culture's glamorization of promiscuity and violence. Nevertheless, it is fair to insist that schools pose a determined counterweight to these corrosive trends.

Especially in troubled urban neighborhoods, schools need firm priorities. Starting in the earliest grades, they must make it their mission to teach what has been called the "invisible curriculum" of personal responsi bility. Discipline must be seen not as a tool for crowd control but as a form of training essential to prepare the young to get along in society. Lax discipline is not a kindness on the part of school managers but an abdication. For what it's worth, social science research corroborates this common wisdom.

In "High Schools With Character," three scholars at the RAND Corp. set out to identify "school features that motivate low-income children to learn and develop into mature adults." From their study of 13 inner-city high schools in New York and Washington, both public and Catholic, Paul Hill, Gail Foster and Tamar Gendler concluded that the successful schools were those with "clear, uncomplicated missions" and "a strong commitment to parenting." They "aggressively mold student attitudes and values; they emphasize the secular ethics of honesty, reliability, fairness, and respect for others." As Jesse Jackson never tires of telling high school audiences, society can open the door of opportunity, but each individual must walk through it on his own two feet The convulsion in Los Angeles screams the urgency of giving the urban poor a hope of decent jobs but also the attitudes needed to make good. King, riots and stereotypes A letter intended for publication must be signed and should include the writer's full address and daytime phone number for verification. The Press reserves the right to condense or reject any letter; none can be returned or acknowledged. FAX letters may be sent to 263-2014.

Politicking with Crawf ord They watch all this iunk on TV and in the movies and think they should act accordingly. BETTY LANGE Ross Wrong on animals The April 25 story about Kathleen Marquardt founder of Putting People First, was not believable. It said she closed her hand in a steel-jawed trap for a few minutes; smiling and saying it was not painful or cruel. If caught like an animal three days or more, she would feel extreme pain as ice cold steel bites into the bone. She said we are omnivores.

No, we are not Canine teeth, particularly at the front of their mouths, are bluntly pointed to tear apart the flesh of prey. Our teeth are rounded, helping us to chew leafy vegetables into pieces. Her sadistic and perverse attitude shows her misguided concept of understanding liberty. She thinks it's humane for hunters to kill, torture and maim animals for fun because they buy a license. PEGGY FRYE Houston Sinking low Kathleen Marquardt's anti-animal group shows its true colors through its bumper stickers priorities: People 1st Animals 2nd," April 25).

With slogans like "Save a Skunk, Roadkill an Activist" they show how low the group is willing to go. Ms. Marquardt and her cohorts are taking a stand not for the downtrodden, but for the greedy and callous. CHRISTINE JACKSON Washington, D. C.

(The writer is on the staff of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.) The not-guilty verdict in the trial of four police officers who beat Rodney King and the ensuing rioting both demand that we rethink the nature of race relations in our society. I suggest one way we could improve how we understand race relations. Often we hear the phrase "white fear of black violence." This phrase itself is racist We need to stop thinking about crime and the fear of crime in ways which stereotype ethnic groups. In news stones on the King verdict, I heard the not-guilty verdict rationalized in terms of white fear of black violence. This rationalization, regardless of its role in the minds of the jury, is a prevalent but misguided belief in our society.

In truth, such representations signal racial xenophobia, not the fear of crime in our society. Individuals, both white and black, commit violent crime. It is racist, inflammatory and irresponsible to couch this fact in terms of law-abiding white people fearing black criminals. All ethnic groups contribute to the ranks of those who abide by and those who break our laws. As televised scenes of the rioting and looting showed, those who took the verdict to sanction criminal behavior were not exclusively from the African-American community.

The majority of African-Americans abide by the laws and desire government protection from crime. Insofar as we represent the fear of crime in our society and order legal protection in terms of ethnic differences, we perpetuate racism. We obscure with racist and divisive categories the fact that members of all ethnic groups follow the laws and fear crime. The fear of crime and the demand for legal protection is not the exclusive domain of the white community. CRAIG W.

PETERSON South Side We've become convinced, and apparently so has City Council, that complaints coming from some circles in the Hill District about minority participation in the. Crawford Square housing development are so much political hot air. Council this week hosted two executives of McCormack Baron Associates, the firm that is building the $50 million complex that promises renaissance for the Lower Hill. They came with a stack of documents that showed: Thirty percent of the dollar volume of all contracts awarded up to Wednesday ($5.6 million of $18.6 million) went to firms controlled by minorities or women. Of the nearly $12.5 million spent on construction contracts, some $4.8 million was awarded to minority- or woman-owned companies.

That's 38 percent. Last month, the numbers of minority workers on the job site fluctuated between 39 percent and 63 percent. The numbers seemed to persuade council, which has been sensitive to claims that black people, women and Hill residents aren't drawing a fair share of the construction activity. President Jack Wagner said the firm has demonstrated an obvious commitment to hiring minorities. Because of the importance of maintaining community consensus for this vital project, we recently suggested independent monitoring of minority participation.

It would be ironic and unacceptable for this project to fall short of its goals. We still think such monitoring is a good idea. But it is becoming clearer that the project's detractors, led by the Rev. Gregory Greene, are not willing to accept "yes" for an answer. Rev.

Greene denounced the developer's report as "a joke" and "a lie." The minister is said to be gearing up for a challenge next year to Councilman Jake Milliones, whose support has helped the project along. Apparently, Rev. Greene believes that he can build a foundation for his campaign by tearing down Crawford Square. Seeing negatives In response to last Sunday's letter from Mike Call terrible I disagree with his reasons for racism. Racism exists, largely, because some people only acknowledge the negative images of a people.

Did he not also see the black men and women who came to the aid of the motorists who were beaten in the Los Angeles riots? Did he not see the black men and women who participated in nonviolent, peaceful protests? Did he not see the black men and women praying in their churches as a way of expressing their anguish? Was it ONLY black people looting and destroying? When we fall prey to stereotypes, we seldom see anything that deviates from that misconception, even if it's right in front of us. DEBRA YOVANOVICH Butler Matter of control The abortion rights activists who claim a woman has a right to her own body should realize that right starts with sex, whether it be for lust or love. It is about time the boys and girls and men and women start controlling their bodies instead of their bodies controlling them. It would also save the taxpayers a lot of money. A losing guessing game Adding spice to the stew "Guess what?" says the voice on the telephone.

'You've just won a trip to Hawaii for $99. Send us the $99 by next Friday and we'll take care of everything." Incredibly, gullible Americans go along with such scams. In some cases, the huckster disappears and so does the $99. Or the plane is fully booked. Or the hotel has nothing left but luxury suites.

Sorry, no refunds. Welcome to the world of telemarketing fraud, where fancy vacations cost only a few dollars a day if you act now, before the offer expires. "Ten out of every 70 fraud cases involve travel," says Lydia Parnes, associate director of the Federal Trade Commission. And, with the vacation season fast ap-, proaching, new scams appear almost daily. None of this pleases the American Society of Travel Agents, which has some suggestions for coping with fraud: Do not give your credit card number over the phone to a company or person with whom you are not familiar.

Get all the information you can. Ask that written material, such as brochures and contracts, be sent to you before you pay. Do not accept fuzzy generalities like "all major airlines" and "all major hotels." If the seller says reservations are booked through another company, ask for the name, address and phone number. Many cut-rate resort vacation offers are made by companies trying to sell time-share options on condominiums. Ask whether your vacation time will be spent inspecting any properties.

High-pressure sales tactics usually accompany these presentations. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. One final suggestion: If the caller says "Guess what?" you can always reply you'd rather not and simply hang up the phone. if MARY McGRORY MHEFLY SAID Berry's World budget crisis he says propelled him into considering being drafted for the presidency. Instantly, the boardroom tyrant of his detractors, the Texas tycoon who brooks no questions, sprang into action.

He got hot under the collar. He got nasty. He blamed someone else: "Basically, I got bad information." He all but accused Mr. Russert of dirty pool in pinning him down on figures that he, after all, had volunteered in the first place. Mr.

Perot growled about "an interesting game It would have been nice if you had told me you wanted to talk about this and I'd have had all my facts with me, but you didn't." If he's going to be this shirty this early in the proceedings, it is hard to see him keeping cool during a presidential debate when a rival charges him with being all wet. This is Mr. Perot's moment Presidential politics have paled in the light of tragedy in Los Angeles. A little stranger who says he would have gone to the stricken city the minute he heard the verdict and would have filed federal charges hang the grand jury system strikes a chord. He radiates conviction, concern, purpose.

After Mr. Perot's speech to the Salvation Army, the crowd thronged to the head table for handshakes and autographs. Two Midwestern women stood in line, too. "We're all for George Bush," one of them explained. "But we hope Mr.

Perot will get into it. He adds so much spice." Spice or staple in the campaign? He'll let us know by June. All that is certain is that he won't be a bore. (Mary McGrory is a syndicated columnist who writes from Washington on politics and national jif-fairs.) Ross Perot, the possible presidential candidate, is doing fine with the music. It's the words in his message that are giving him trouble.

He says he could stand a national campaign, citing tight spots he's been in before "that was pressure, this is pingpong" but anyone watching him sputter and alibi when challenged on his own figures has to wonder. The capacity audiences who flock to his speeches, his sharply rising numbers in the polls, attest to the appeal of an amateur who speaks his mind without George Bush's caution or Bill Clinton's six-point answers. Who is going to hate a billionaire who funded a program for ghetto 3-year-olds out of his own pocket who annually pays the shortfall in the Dallas Salvation Army funds, who wants to talk about the deficit that Mr. Bush never mentions? Mr. Perot is hasty and highhanded; he's a wand-waver who would explode on the pad of campaign hurly-burly, voters are warned.

In this year of the impasse, this impatient impulsive rough rider looks like the Somebody Else of almost universal longing. He is much better at projecting his person than his programs, which could mean that while he may do famously in May, he could fare less well in November. It's true that people vote more on character than on issues, but convention demands that a contender display a grasp of the statistics he is putting forth as reasons for his election. Last week, Mr. Perot was in Washington to take Mr.

Bush's place as a speaker for a Salvation Army convention. In an interview, he discoursed about his life, his childhood with poor but princely 3 parents, his wife "I married way over my head, you can ask anyone who knows us" his adventures in business and government the isolation of fellow Texan Bush and his inability to cope with the federal budget deficit. His wife's description of Ross Perot given almost 40 years ago after she, a Goucher College undergraduate, met him, an Annapolis midshipman, on a blind date still holds: "He looks so clean." It is when Ross Perot gets to the talk shows and the fine print that the cracks in his candidacy show. Take, for instance, his appearance on "Meet the Press last Sunday. He sailed through queries about gun control the Brady bill is too timid for him, "aspirin for cancer." He was sensible and pungent about enterprise zones and job training.

But moderator Tim Russert walked him through the specifics fce has offered on the deficit thbl "This is just wanton lawlessness." President Bush, viewing the devastation of the Los Angeles riots. would certainly suggest they compare favorably to any Job done In Pittsburgh and any job we've done anywhere in the country." Richard Baron, whose firm is building the Crawford Square housing community in the Hill District, on figures showing minority participation ranging from 30 to 63 percent in contracts and jobs related to the project. "We've already found apartment buildings, ho-dels, ships, art collections, physical assets of various kinds." Jules Kroll, head of an American company hired by the Russian government to track an estimated $100 billion in cash and commodities allegedly spirited out of the country and hidden in banks or investments abroad. WILD CARD.