Letters.

Dead Wrong on Death Penalty

In the July 3 issue of the L.A., Business Journal was a commentary written by Mitch Albom, "Executions: More Murder Than Justice?" By coincidence, there was an article about this same subject in the Wall Street Journal on June 28 written by Dianne Clements and Dudley Sharp. The title was "Guilty as Charged."

It appears unfortunate for Mr. Albom that he did not read the previous article. I conclude that the did not read it because Mr. Albom's article appears poorly written and weak on facts when the two are compared. Mr. Albom's position appears to imply that Gov. George W. Bush made a major error in judgment for not preventing the execution of Gary Graham. The WSI justifies the opposite when it states, "Death penalty opponents seem to think last week's execution of Gary Graham in Texas bolsters their case. In fact, he's a perfect example of why capital punishment is needed."

Mr. Albom states that Gary Graham had a poor lawyer. He states, "his court-appointed lawyer, a hack who had been suspended by the bar several times, failed to call six witnesses who were ready to refute Graham's being the murderer." The WSJ article states, "In an attempt to save Graham's life, his supporters recently brought forth two crime scene witnesses, Sherian Etuk and Ronald Hubbard, who now claim that they saw another man kill (the victim) Bobby Grant Lambert. Why wasn't their testimony presented during the trial or appeals process? Because they stated in 1981 that they did not see the murderer's face and could not identify anyone. Not surprisingly, the courts found their changed testimony not credible, and so did not grant them a new hearing."

What Mr. Albom fails to inform the readers is that there were 28 victims of Mr. Graham. The WSJ article states that "prior to being fingered in the Lambert murder, Graham was arrested on May 20, 1981 for a crime spree that included 20 armed robberies, three kidnappings, one rape and three attempted murders. There are 28 known victims of the crime spree, resulting in 19 eyewitnesses who positively identified Graham."

It is disturbing to me that little research was done by Mr. Albom. His facts certainly appear unsupported and distorted when compared to the WSJ article. It is also naive for Mr. Albom to accept comments made by the supporters of Graham, and due to the lack of factual information, it appears that he did not question or investigate. He does not consider that many claims made by the defense attorneys may be entirely fabricated, but repeats them as if they were factual information.

LEWIS EAGLE

Carson

What About Cedillo?

I read your recent series on health leaders in Los Angeles County ("Who's Who in HealthCare," July 10). Though it is impossible to include every outstanding leader, I believe you made a serious omission by not profiling Assemblyman Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. As the director of one of the oldest nonprofit community clinics in the county that provides vitally needed health care services to residents of his district, I am keenly aware of the impact of Assemblyman Cedillo's legislative leadership.

As chair of Assembly Budget subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services, he authored AB 1107, which increases access to health care for low income-citizens of California. He also played a key role in securing the federal waiver in 1995 that allowed Los Angeles County to remain financially viable and continue to operate its health care system.

When he was general manager of Service Employees International Union Local 660, representing Los Angeles County health care workers, he was instrumental in keeping Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center open during an era of vast budget cuts, saving more than 20,000 local jobs.

On July, 7 Gov. Davis signed Cedillo's AB 2875, the Cedillo-Alarcon Community Investment Act of 2000. This bill accompanies a budget appropriation of $50 million for grants to be provided to clinics that require infrastructure improvements to increase access to and quality of came.

There are other accomplishments too numerous to mention in this letter. What is important, however, is that Assemblyman Cedillo has devoted a long and distinguished career locally and in Sacramento, to improve the lives of Californians. He should not be overlooked as a true leader in health care policy making.

CARL E. COAN 

President CEO 

Pediatric & Family Medical Center

Technology Education

Assembly woman Kerry Mazzoni, D-Marin, was right on the mark when she said that California's students must be technologically savvy if they are to compete in a digital society ("An Urgent Need for Technology in Schools," Aug. 8). Therefore, it is up to us in higher education to provide programs in support of academic excellence as well as computer literacy.

Technology is fast becoming an essential component of our schools' curricula. As educators, we must work together to help close the gap of the digital divide.