Mail from the Metro
For 59 years, Lakeside School has been hosting annual rummage sales at Magnuson Park Hangar 27 on Sand Point Way, selling quality used and new merchandise to the entire greater Seattle region. As such, we were very disappointed not to see our sale in the February “Great Stuff Cheap” issue of your magazine. This year’s sale, at the end of March, was much smaller and held on the school campus. Thanks for a great article, and please be sure to include us in any future mention of bargain shopping in the Northwest.
Catherine Chohlas
Seattle
Death-Rate Debate
Why does the U.S. have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world? You won’t find the answer in the movie The Business of Being Born (On the Town, March 2008). The reason is that we take barely viable premature or ill newborns and aggressively try to save them—often succeeding. When we fail, they enter our statistics as infant mortalities. Other nations regard them as products of a miscarriage, and, therefore, they are not compiled in the infant mortality statistics of those nations. The film’s assertions are pure propaganda.
Stuart Andrews
Bellingham
Spouse Grouse
Your “Home Front Alone” article (February 2008) left me annoyed. Military wives should not be compared to single mothers. I hear that comparison over and over again, and it’s ludicrous. We live in a world of turmoil, and nobody should assume being a military spouse will be easy. Spouses need to grow, not crumble.
Amy Lenz
DuPont
It’s the Pits
I always read “Market Research” with much interest, but your most recent article (March 2008) led me to wonder just where your statistics come from. You claim “four” is the “pit bull’s rank as top Seattle breed.” The pit bull is not a breed. It is a generic term used to describe all dogs with characteristics known by the public as “pit bulls”: the American pit bull terrier and bulldog, the American and English Staffordshire terriers, and the Staffordshire bull terrier. To claim that 24 percent of all dog bites in Seattle come from this generic term leads one to question your data.
The American Temperament Test Society provides temperament testing around the country for dog breeds. Taken together, the pit bull breeds have an average passing score of 85.2 percent, while the American Kennel Club’s top five popular dog breeds have 84.4 percent. Pit bulls often are loving, intelligent, and eager to please. It is true that many are not treated with the proper love, discipline, and responsibility. However, it is claims like yours that dissuade potential loving and responsible families from adopting these dogs.
Emily Johnson
Seattle
Correction
Dig this: In “The Fit Parade” (March 2008), we incorrectly reported that it was free to garden in Seattle’s P-Patch community plots. In fact, green thumbs pay a small annual fee to play in the dirt (unless they qualify for financial assistance). For more details visit www.seattle.gov/-neighborhoods/ppatch.
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