Susan Straight was right to be concerned, and right to get out of that environment. I've been around guns all of my life. I own a few now, and the primary reason I keep them around is for defense. However, I do not leave ammunition lying around. Any weapon not in my hand is unloaded, locked and put away. With the right to own a weapon comes responsibility -- the responsibility to make sure that the ownership and use of that weapon does not constitute a greater threat than the alternative. Anyone who would leave unsecured and possibly loaded weapons lying around has abdicated that responsibility.

-- Andrew Templin
Dublin, Calif.

This guy Dwayne, as described in the story, is irresponsible for not telling his wife that he has a shotgun. He had children running around his apartment and guns that are stored improperly. If, God forbid, one of the children should shoot themselves, the parent will feel guilt that will most likely ruin their life. But Susan Straight is also irresponsible for possessing, fearing and not learning how to safely handle a firearm. Guns do deserve respect, just like any dangerous tool or animal. Fearing guns, and pretending they don't exist, is the worst treatment of this issue.

-- Jonathan Hastings

Waiting room
BY SCOTT HARRIS
(10/21/99)

I, too, work in an emergency department, several hundred miles north in San Francisco. Like L.A. County, we have a problem of long waits, but part of the problem was revealed in your story. You mention Mr. Funk, of the ear infection and clogged sinuses. What is the "emergency" in that condition? Another gentleman complains of a "stomach virus." That's an emergency?

Far too many people use the E.R. instead of primary care. In San Francisco, a number of community health centers (set up in the late '60s and early '70s) exist to treat the uninsured and the poorly insured; they get some use, but are not filled to capacity. Most county hospitals (San Francisco General Hospital included) run outpatient clinics, also treating those of limited means. In short, there are alternatives to the emergency department.

Next time you're in a waiting room in an E.R. with deep cuts, bleeding copiously and wondering why it's taking so long to be treated, look around the room at the number of sniffling kids and muttering adults. Ask them about their ailments. Assess their medical urgency in your own mind. Then ask yourself if at least part of the problem of long waiting-room times might be easily remedied.

-- Michael Treece, M.D.

Sharps & flats: "Woodstock 99"
BY ANDY BATTAGLIA
(10/21/99)

Any sentient music lover who has spent time with Bruce Hornsby's latest work, "Spirit Trail," knows that Hornsby's compositions are imbued with a rhythmic, melodic intricacy that few possess. Andy Battaglia is apparently incapable of grasping such subtleties, and instead dismisses Hornsby and his music as "offensively bland." Hornsby's appearance at Woodstock 99 may have not been a good match for a crowd that was looking for Neanderthal histrionics à la Fred Durst. Battaglia could have made that point, however, without trashing one of the coolest musicians alive.

-- David Maland
Tyler, Texas

Was this intended to be inflammatory? I didn't get any sense of what the CD is like, only that it offended the reviewer's chic and hip sensibilities. The review itself was of little use to someone intending the buy the CD. Isn't that the purpose of a review? Or are we only to marvel at how profound the reviewer is?

-- Jackie H. Walsh

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