A FATHER'S LAMENT

I have read your article "But Now I'm Found" (May 2) and found it very distressing. We are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ seeking to bring our children up "In the nuture [sic] and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6 v 4).

In your article you refer to my eldest daughter Stelli. We very much love Stelli and she is very dear to us. While we love her very much, her current position and lifestyle is totally out of keeping with her Christian upbringing, walking in the pathway of separation from the world. "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2 v 19).

In our family, we have many opportunities to travel and meet with fellow believers. In the proposed trip, referred to in your article, there was nothing prearranged to set Stelli up with any young man in Australia or elsewhere. Who our children marry is determined by them, their parents and the Lord. It is a fallacy to suggest anything was being set up.

I, as a father, take total responsibility for the activities and movements of my children. I was totally responsible for the suggestion of Stelli being included on the Australian trip. In relation to staying at a designated place, nothing of the kind was initiated relative to this proposed trip.

No one in our family has any ill will towards my daughter and we love and miss her very much. We leave her position in God's hands and pray fervently that she will return to our home one day.

Bruce Carmichael

Fairview Park

NO RHODES SCHOLARS HERE

In the recent article "Where Credit is Due" (May 9) Ted Schwarz refers to "late Governor James Ford Rhodes" repeatedly. James Ford Rhodes (1848-1927) was an industrialist who made his fortune in Cleveland and later settled in Boston where he wrote multi-volume histories of the United States. A Democrat, he was considered the first American political historian. Republican James A. Rhodes (1909-2001) is the infamous former governor.

Molly Beck

Cleveland Heights

Graduate of James Ford Rhodes High School

Schwarz replies: "When I do well, what I love about print media is its permanence and the ability to return to what was written. When I screw up, what I hate about print media is its permenance and the ability to return to what was written."

NO WONDER THEY LEAVE

"Kiddo chugged along as a reliable local draw until 2005, when, in search of greener employment pastures, Doble and Wittman moved to Doble's native Detroit. (Anyone from the Greater Cleveland Growth Association who happens to be reading this, please re-read that last sentence until you break down and cry at the depth of your failure.)" ("Kiddo Comes Home," May 9).

Tell it to your editors. The Greater Cleveland Growth Association is for attracting and maintaining small business. The Free Times is for covering local music. It is doing a better job lately, no small thanks to you who know of what you write and take music journalism back to where it should be (except for the use of the word milieu in a record review.)

However, the Free Times still puts, first and foremost, the PR from record labels and its touring circuit long before featuring prominent, and even not so prominent, local musicians and local music events which deserve more recognition and coverage. If the Free Times did a better job at covering these musicians in the positive light they deserve, there may be less reason for these musicians to move elsewhere for the recognition that would help them pay for making their craft, rather than relying on day jobs provided by the businesses that rely on the Cleveland Growth Association for support.

Mike McDonald

Berea

TAR NATION

The lame attempt to frame a worthy debate concerning the merits of smoking ("The Joy of Smoking," April 25) was as cloudy as a West Side bar!

To compare smoking to joining the Marines, auto racing or skydiving is deeply flawed, since non-participants do not usually share any consequences of those choices. Smoking hurts everyone! Many of the cultural icons mentioned in the article are dead! Not much credibility there. I can't help but wonder when watching a Bogie or John Wayne movie, if either ever had to chase a bad guy, could he make it past 100 feet? Doubt it.

Smoking laws are passed throughout the country because people want to live! Also, we must protect ourselves, our children and service workers from folks who lack the brain cells to refrain from a deadly practice.

Until we learn and accept that we all share the same air, we will continue to battle over this issue. The good news in all this is that smokers prove the deepest meaning of natural selection.

Quentin Paul Kuntz

University Heights

Another one of life's little ironies. The 30-cent tax on smokes was passed to help the arts. I recently read where many actors want an exemption from the Nicotine Nazis. Because the theatre is a public building, actors are not allowed to smoke during a performance if a cigarette is one of the props. Holding an unlit cigarette just doesn't do it. They now want an exemption for them so they can smoke on stage if the script calls for it.

If this exemption is allowed, you can bet whenever and wherever I choose to light up will now become "performance art"! I'm just expressing myself. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Scott Monachino

Lakewood

CORRECTION

In last week's review of West Side Market Café, we misspelled chef Matthew Pell's name. We regret the error.