WW welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. JUST DESERTS This is in response to Kandi Kaiser's letter entitled "Unjust Deserts" [WW, Feb. 17, 1999]. I am the boyfriend of one of Ethan Thrower's victims. I am also the friend of some of Ethan Thrower's other victims. Your letter struck a nerve so deep that I'm having a difficult time even comprehending your "point." Let's keep in mind exactly what Ethan did that deserves such a "harsh" sentence of 102 months or, as you put it, 8 and a 1/2 years for us mathematically challenged readers. Ethan didn't pick somebody's pocket. Ethan didn't steal an elderly lady's handbag. Ethan held a loaded gun to a person's head and asked, actually yelled, the question, "Do you want to die motherf---er?"--all this as his partner demanded all the money out of the tills. By the way, I found your ideas on restitution quite amusing. Ethan could volunteer at this particular neighborhood market each day. I'm sure the patrons would just love to have their groceries carried to their car by this guy. I could see it now: "Hi ma'am, I'm the guy who held you at gunpoint. Would you like your groceries in paper or plastic?" GET REAL!! Ethan Thrower may be a first-time offender in the eyes of the law, but he is not in the eyes of his victims. Ethan became a second-time offender the second time he walked in with a gun, and what about the third and fourth times? How many times was it? No one will really ever know for sure. It's tough being a teenager these days, isn't it Ethan? I bet peer pressure forced you to go back each time. That's probably what made you do it again and again, terrorizing new victims each time and forever changing their lives, not for the better, that's for sure. But one thing is for sure: No one forced a gun to your head and made you commit those despicable crimes. Jason E. Spohn Northeast Portland THE REAL VICTIMS In your paper released on Feb. 17, 1999, Ethan Thrower's mother wrote a letter expressing she felt her son's sentence was wrong. In our society violent juvenile crime is out of control and needs to be controlled. People in our democratic society have voted in laws on how they feel this behavior should be dealt with. She stated that her son would put on a stocking cap, take a gun and play cops and robbers. He did not commit only one armed robbery, but several. Did his victims, one who was a pregnant young woman, know that when he rushed into the store with his face covered and showing a gun, he was only playing a game? Or did they perhaps fear for their lives while they were out providing a living for themselves? As a previous grocery store cashier and bank teller one of the greatest fears that my coworkers and myself faced was the possibility of an armed robbery, giving the robber the power to decide your fate. She states that her son will have to spend eight years and six months in prison and will not learn accountability nor gain an understanding of his actions in prison. What about the years the victims of his robbery will have to spend dealing with his terroristic actions? She feels that society should find ways to rehabilitate Ethan Thrower and allow him to remain free. I am outraged that she feels society should take on the responsibility of teaching her son the morals and values he should have learned while growing up in her care. Somewhere along the way there must have been signs. Perhaps they were ignored or dealt with in a way that he did not have to learn accountability. Did he feel he was immune to the rules our society has structured in order to function as a unit? I strongly feel that Ms. Kaiser is not absorbing the impact her son's crime has had on others. If Ms. Kaiser's son was working as a cashier and was accidentally shot in an armed robbery, would she feel that his killer should be kindly rehabilitated in our society? I do find it sad that a 19-year-old man will be spending the next eight years in prison, but I find it even more unsettling that people have to become the survivors of violent crimes. Ethan Thrower is not a victim of his crime. Christine Sturdavant Northeast 28th Avenue   NO COMPLAINTS I am writing in response to your ongoing "Kvetchfest" piece. Never fear, I am not going to inundate you with more petty complaints--I just wanted to respond to one that is in a recent issue. Namely Matt Greenberger's complaint about single Portland women ["Readers' Peeves II," WW, Feb. 10, 1999]. Mr. Greenberger should take heart--we are not all "unbathed vegans in natural-fiber clothing, etc...." As a recent transplant from Albany, I was saddened to think that there were so many angry wannabe wymin in the area. And I thought Corvallis was bad! I couldn't I believe the woman from Mr. Runner's piece who was rude about having a door held for her. She heartily deserves to be slammed in that door for her pains. This woman should learn to acknowledge courtesy and stop being a whiny self-righteous bitch. Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm unattached, have a college degree (graphic design), have direction in my life (I am at 21 an art director for a national PDX-based cooking magazine) and have a healthy, positive attitude (how could a person NOT have a positive attitude after getting out of Albany!?). Let me also add that I am regularly bathed, have been known to wear polyester, find professionals and capitalism admirable, have given up any pretensions about being trendy and love to eat red meat. The redder the better in fact. You'll also always see me saying thank you when people (women or men) hold a door for me. Finally, let me just say that I have lived in Portland for a month now and can't find a single thing to complain about. Cathey Flickinger Northwest Everett Street SIDESTEPPING SIDE EFFECTS I was somewhat surprised when Nigel Jaquiss' otherwise fine article on Ritalin did not address the side effects this drug can cause ["Readin', Writin' and Ritalin," WW, Feb. 17, 1999]. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) produces short-term mood elevation, and, as a stimulant, it is a drug sometimes used by college students to finish papers on the night before they are due. More alarming are reports of children who develop Tourette's syndrome from long-term use of Ritalin. With more children taking Ritalin, one would expect more cases of Tourette's syndrome. Also, it has been shown that patients who already have Tourette's syndrome have had their symptoms worsened while taking Ritalin. Using drugs to manage the behavior students exhibit in the classroom demonstrates an inflexibility in the education system. The next obvious step is to use drugs to manage behavior in the workplace, if that isn't already being done (after all, who knows what they put in the drinking fountain?). Gerhardt E. Goeken North Halleck Street - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published March 3, 1999