An editorial rant to the adult [population] at large: I have been trying to understand for quite some time why Seattle has such disregard for its under-legal-drinking-age population. A few years ago, I was a homeless teen on Seattle's streets. As a result of places like the Orion Center, I had somewhere to go during the day that gave me structure, goals, and guidance. Because of services like Street Links, I did not starve. It saddens me that yet another youth center — the Capitol Hill Drop-In Center — is being shut down ["Nasty Neighbors," Samantha M. Shapiro, June 3].
Most of the kids on the street come from abusive situations. By closing down the places where we feel safe and accepted, you are telling us that you would rather have us abused and possibly killed than have us clutter up your pristine sidewalks with our need for help.
Yours is a world where anyone under 18 has no rights, and anyone under 21 has nowhere to go and nothing to do. You tell us that we should stay in school, yet you continue to allow the conditions to be intolerable. Classes are enormous; many students never get the help and attention they need. Teachers are underpaid and overworked. There are so many people in one school that one small group of students could be the focus of an entire school's hatred, and no one could stop it. But we should "stay in school."
You want us to stay off drugs, yet offer us no appealing alternatives, except "Be brainwashed by organized religion, and all your troubles will disappear!" A lot of us have tried that, and it doesn't work. What would you have us do? Skateboarding is a crime; the all-ages music venues that are still left are cramped, dingy pits that only cater to a certain type of musical interest; drop-in centers are evaporating; arcades won't let you in before three p.m.; under 18 means "no job for you"; and even sitting on the sidewalk is ticketable.
You want us to act like adults? You want us to be mature and responsible? Then give us the right to change things. Give us somewhere to go and things to do that are worthwhile. Annika Maxwell
Seattle

To the Editor: As past president (1996-'98) of the Capitol Hill Community Council (CHCC), I am personally saddened by the closing of the Pilgrim Youth Center. While grossly mismanaged at times, the Center did meet the needs of many disenfranchised youth on the Hill. I hope that another organization will step up to the plate and help the youth, because they are not going to disappear. I am also appalled at the treatment of the Broadway Improvement Association (BIA) and [Kevin] Guertin by the city and the CHCC. In the past, the two organizations worked very well together.
When the dust clears from this fiasco, I hope that the neighborhood leaders can agree to disagree, and work together on issues facing the neighborhood.
Tim Baker
Seattle

Dear Mr. Jacklet: It's too bad we didn't connect before your deadline, and your news bite "Uncooperative Cooperative" [In Other News, Ben Jacklet, May 27] appeared in The Stranger before you could verify the statements made to you by proponents of the China boycott initiative here at PCC. Just to set the record straight:
1. Every single letter we received regarding the China boycott was printed in the Sound Consumer. The sponsors of the initiative were informed in late February of the April 10 deadline for submitting a statement for the ballot issue of the paper, and they did not submit any statement.
2. Two current staff members [were] paid to inform the membership about management's position on the ballot issue. Between them, they stood outside PCC stores a total of about 16 hours a week, just over two hours per store per week over the course of the month of May — hardly a major presence.
3. Early on during the election, PCC staff removed some pro-boycott fliers without contact information, as is done anytime contact information is missing. Initiative sponsors were contacted and told they could pick up the fliers and add the contact information or print new fliers. Then we discovered that the fliers had been inadvertently thrown away. PCC reimbursed the initiative proponents $25 — more than enough to make more fliers to replace those that were tossed.
4. Management did not overrule the boycott. All boycotts at PCC, without exception, sunset in two years unless explicitly renewed. After several months' review and member involvement, the PCC Board of Trustees voted not to renew the China boycott when it expired in June 1998, instituting the Voting With Your Dollars program in its place.
You imply that 35,000 PCC members signed petitions to place the China boycott on the ballot. If PCC's board had received such a petition, that would have carried some weight! Under our current bylaws, a petition signed by one percent of the active membership of PCC is sufficient to place the issue on the ballot — that's 350 members, and that's about how many signatures were turned in.
Kathy Blackman
PCC Natural Markets
Seattle

Dear Editor: Thank you for Charles Mudede's passionate and thought-provoking review of Marcel Proust in "What Sickness Is Good For" [June 3]. It is some of the most brilliant writing to come out of the NW in a long time. (I'm assuming Mr. Mudede is local.) Too bad that woman from Cle Elum who found your publication so vulgar ["Suite 1225," May 27] won't be reading or benefiting from such exquisite prose.
I feel better about my own love sickness already! Bravo!
Carolyn Street LaFond
Olympia

Editor's Note: Mr. Mudede hails from a small town southeast of Tacoma, a charming little place named Zimbabwe.

To the Editor: During this whole Mark Murphy thing at On the Boards ["Quick Fix," Eric Fredericksen, June 3], something has been nagging at me. Finally it hit me, while reading the most recent issue of The Stranger: All of that energy was focused on getting Murphy his job back, but is it really where our energy should be focused?
Reading an article about the cops in this city practicing racial profiling and intimidating "suspected gang members," even beating them ["Gang Banging," Samantha M. Shapiro, May 27], on the page before the story about Murphy's reinstatement, I have to wonder: Where is all of that activism when it really matters? Will any of your arty, liberal readership (the people who dropped everything for one of their own) do more after reading this article than saying "Tsk, tsk, something really should be done about that," before heading off to their next oh-so-suave alternative gallery opening/hip film screening/cool show at the Croc?
Yes, Mark Murphy does great work, and a lot of people obviously believe in that work. But where is everyone when there's another Asian kid being forced to walk back to Rainier Valley from downtown, or bleeding in the back of a cop car? Where's the full-page ad in The Stranger calling for an end to the police scare tactics? People and the media in this town (your paper especially) need to stop whining about all the problems and start trying to fix them. We all need to start donating time, energy, and money to the issues that really count, and let an educated, well-respected, and connected man fend for himself in this big, bad world.
Charles Redell
Seattle

Dear Stranger: I would like to commend you on your recent article concerning the police harassment of gang members. It is unfortunate that we are forced to live in a society where our nation's gang members are unfairly singled out by fascist cops. It really saddens my heart to know that somewhere out there, some poor gangbanger is probably being victimized by a big ol' mean police officer. I mean, where do we live in — Nazi Germany or something? It's time we take a stand against this type of behavior and stand up for our country's gang members. Thank you, Stranger, for bringing this problem to light.
Brad Holden
Seattle