In response to Daniel Rothschild and his comments in the April 12 letter "Floating Eyesore": Unfortunately, we live in a digital age where everything is cropped, air-brushed, nipped and tucked. Hence there is never a match between the real world and "postcards" anymore.

When I turn on any live video the day after a nice rain looking at the confluence, I observe a murky brown Monongahela River meeting the Allegheny River. That has nothing to do with pollution. Right?

I have lived all across the country and recognize the beauty of Pittsburgh. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful city. I feel we need to focus more on the litter that lines our streets and the people who haphazardly discard items daily from their cars. I observed three people littering just today.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs. Perhaps we should get rid of the eyesores on the PNC Park outfield walls and those ketchup bottles at Heinz Field. Wait ... all these things make Pittsburgh home for me. Maybe we should replace all our deciduous forest with palm trees? That would make our city more picturesque.

Or, let's all pick up our trash and put it in the proper receptacle. That would do wonders for our great city. If we are worried about "eyesores," why do we litter? Littering is something we all can control and it does not take an act of government. Let's start simple.

JOHN PLATT
Moon

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Editor's note: A letter titled "Nonstop irritation" has been removed from this page because it was not intended for publication.

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In his informative article "Staying in School Just to Stay Insured" (March 23), PG staff writer Bill Schackner has stirred the cauldron on issues more subtle than insurance coverage itself.

When parents advise their children to attend a community college solely so that they may be retained on the parents' health insurance policies, the wrong signals are sent. Parents are thus encouraging their sons and daughters to avoid responsibility for their own insurance if they are not bona fide students; they are teaching them how to "work" the system.

Recognizing the importance of education in society, insurance companies have in good faith permitted this special coverage on parents' policies for legitimately enrolled students. Those who attain coverage under false pretenses are guilty of insurance fraud; they are receiving coverage to which they are not entitled. Aren't good citizens expected to report such alleged fraud? Instead of doing so, community college personnel wring their hands and talk to each other; in fact, they show sympathy for such students when they flunk out.

Community colleges, according to the article, don't seem upset that these phony students are taking up space and utilizing valuable faculty time toward no purposeful end. For this group, faculty members are cast as high-priced baby sitters. Since community colleges are funded by taxpayer dollars, such students are enjoying a free insurance ride while defrauding the public.

Aside from uncovering these shortcomings by families and community colleges, Mr. Schackner's article has dramatically revealed how urgently Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed insurance reform is needed for this segment of the population.

JAMES A. KEHL
Brentwood
The writer is a professor emeritus, University of Pittsburgh.

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Every Saturday my daughter takes a class and I wait in town for several hours. Street parking is very difficult to find and garage parking is costly. On March 29, I was lucky and found a street spot. I had enough quarters (8 minutes per quarter!) for about 40 minutes of parking. As I exited Brueggers, I noticed a meter officer near my car. I ran toward her yelling, "I'm here, that's my car!" When I got there, her words were "Too bad, too late," as she walked away. What a charming impression she made. I had timed myself and was not more than a minute late to arrive at my car!

Pittsburgh claims to be promoting development and trying to get us Downtown after business hours and on weekends.

I have been in town spending money at various businesses every Saturday for eight months. The issue here (often discussed, never solved) is fair, cheap, accessible parking. Until that is available, you can build it, but they won't come. There are many similar classes available in the suburbs with free parking. That will be our choice hereafter. Mayor and City Council, are you listening?

LAURA LOWE
Oakmont

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I believe that U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan has every right to retry Dr. Cyril Wecht ("Wecht Supporters Criticize Prosecution Decision to Retry," April 9). The trial ended in a hung jury. It did not end in a conviction. It is important to remember, however, that it also did not end in an acquittal. He was not found not guilty. It just needs to be done again.

Every person needs to be held accountable for what he does at work (especially when it involves the public trust). Everybody does (or should) have someone above him, to whom he is accountable. This includes Dr. Wecht.

Lastly, just because this is a trial for a white-collar crime, doesn't mean that it isn't worth the cost.

KAREN WRIGHT GIFFORD
Beechview

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When are people going to realize that this Marriage Protection Amendment (SB 1250) is going to do nothing for protecting the "institution" of marriage and "traditional" families? The same Constitution that protects the churches from the will of the people allows the church to push its agenda on the people.

There is a variety of legal, social and economic issues that we have to deal with as unmarried spouses, but that is unimportant when it comes down to the basic fundamental treatment from society. I have viewed several of the Pennsylvania marriage protection Web pages, and they use the argument that the public schools would have to change their curriculum to reflect the changes in society and to view gays as productive members of society. Can you imagine having to teach children to respect an adult?

If it wasn't for school, where would most children have the opportunity to meet "different" people? Who wouldn't want them to be respectful to others? We wouldn't want to have the opportunity to erase the bigotry that parents so often instill in their children.

This is a hot-button issue that is easy to use to invoke fear and anger with the general population. What should have been a debate to protect citizens has become an issue to mobilize a segment of society and to get them involved in politics for all the wrong reasons. As taxpayers and citizens of the commonwealth, we demand equality!

DANIEL GULASY
Crafton

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Regarding the April 9 column "A Network of Truces" by David Brooks: Mr. Brooks justifies the continuing occupation of Iraq by downplaying a goal of "grand [political] compromise" among the Iraqis in lieu of "nurturing" a "fragile network of truces."

In reality, however, this is his own grand theory to put a self-serving, paternalistic spin on the fact that Iraqis are fearful and well aware that they have few options but to navigate the reality that our misguided invasion left them in. The fact is that the Iraqis will have to continue this process whether we stay or go, like, as Mr. Brooks notes, "a lot of places in the world," including most where we aren't either.

There will be tragedies along the way, but, perhaps, if left alone, they may do it with "no genocide and no terror state" as well. Iraq did not need our invasion and does not need our "nurturing" for this process now.

Across the Mideast, we have not ever nurtured true change, but have retarded it with our support of the status quo, and creating the chaos of Iraq has hardly served it. Iraqis and others in the area have reasonably never trusted our motives and are indeed "sick of war and [will punish] those forces that perpetrate it." We need not keep inviting it.

MARTIN E. BERTOCCHI
Crafton

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