It was three in the morning, and everyone was sleeping. My parents couldn't hear anything in their room, due to the fan my stepfather needs in order to sleep. We also had a blanket on the front door to keep the cold out.
So when the cop finally got into the house, he asked my mother why she had left my sister in jail that night. She replied that my sister got lippy with her on the phone and told her just to leave her there. She then told the cop that my sister hung up on her and she thought: "Fine, it might teach her a lesson."
Before my mom could spit out any more words, the officer was yelling his lungs out and telling my mother that he'd had to baby-sit all night and that there were supposed "stabbings" out in the fine city of Brook Park. He also said that she should be put in jail herself for "child endangerment," but if a child is left in jail for the night, there shouldn't be any baby-sitting, because it's the station's right to keep the person in custody. My mom simply sat there, scared out of her mind, and just took the abuse.
I was awakened by the yelling and heard the whole thing. When I went upstairs after the cop was done yelling at her, she was almost in tears. So if you want to publish your fake story, which you probably got from the police station, and make a mockery out of my family, go ahead, but my mother was harassed and abused by that cop and frightened out of her mind. So thank you for publishing lies to make the police force look better, because I guess that cop really got his kicks out of scaring a 50-year-old woman.
Maybe if the cop wasn't such a young hotshot, trying to make a name for himself, this wouldn't have happened. My mom comes from the time when if you lipped off to your parent or did anything disrespectful, you took your punishment. But I guess that doesn't matter in today's world.
Thanks again for publishing lies.
John Minute
Parma Heights
When Oxy Won't Do
For relief from nagging pain, try heroin: I've Googled Dr. Martinez many times, and this is the first I've read your article ["On Pills & Needles," December 7]. You have almost captured the monster that he is. I nearly lost my daughter because of him. She was one of the unfortunate patients who went to his clinic hoping for neck, back, and headache pain relief, and ended up a heroin addict when he cut her off, after she told him she thought she might have a problem with the OxyContin he had built her up to.
I'm not sure how the extent of his damage could be expressed -- there are so many victims. Whatever his sentence ends up being, it will not be enough.
Elizabeth Petrie
Plainfield, Illinois
No Place Like Home
The debate rages on: Ron Rajecki ["Dear Cleveland," March 1] is a tool. My two friends from New York City are big-time entertainers who also spend a lot of time in Los Angeles -- and they love Cleveland. Clevelanders like him are Cleveland's worst enemy.
Elaine Turner
Lyndhurst
After there, here is great: I moved here 12 years ago from Chicago. You Clevelanders still have this "armpit of the nation" syndrome, and you have to lose it! This is a great town! It will never be Chicago, L.A., or New York -- and we're so lucky! Trust me!
Nightclubs? What are you talking about? Do you want to wait in a line 100 feet long and pay 20 bucks to get into a club with nothing more to offer than a club here on West Sixth? For what? I'll tell you, I've never seen more beautiful women in my life in one location than on any given weekend at Shooters. In fact, I think, per capita, there are prettier women here than in Chicago or New York. They just dress better in those cities. Halle Berry's from Cleveland, for God's sake.
Restaurants: Granted, there are great restaurants in the aforementioned cities, but there are some great ones here too, and you don't have to wait a month to get in. And you can park across the street. And it doesn't take an hour to get to them.
That's another thing -- traffic. We don't have traffic here. Every time I go down I-71 on a Friday night, I marvel. The last time I was in Chicago, I got into a traffic jam on the Dan Ryan at midnight.
I live on the West Side, and pre-9-11, I used to be able to leave my apartment at 9 a.m. for a 9:30 flight out of Hopkins. That's changed a little, but not much. Never, ever could that happen in Chicago, New York, or L.A.
We (I'm a Clevelander now) need to accept this town for what it is and appreciate it. Be careful what you wish for. You may get it -- and you won't want it!
Bob Allen
Berea
Warm Words for Coldplay
Love the Jesus talk: Thank you for summoning perspective around the Coldplay mystique ["Beatific Love," March 15]. Your use of words to describe your well-thought-out take on them is a joy to read. Not just because I agree with you, but because you are a wonderful writer.
Write on!
Andrew May
Cleveland
That Was Then
Seems a little drastic nowadays: Re: "Kook alert!" [First Punch, March 15]: The Founding Fathers of this country wanted gays executed. Liberals leaned toward castration.
Both options were more humane than what other countries did at the time.
Franz Zrilich
Medina
