COLUMN ELICITS DIFFERENT REACTION

To The Editor:

For some reason, unknown at the time, I ripped out the column by Susan
Hanley Lane this past Monday regarding the death of her sister. It bothered
me, but not in the way many would've responded to it. I didn't see it as a
tragic indictment of society although that's the way it was written. In
fact, it infuriated me.

I believe my anger was justified. Each day I pull up the obituaries for
Savannah, and today I came upon the obituary for a Charles Turner, 48, from
Chicago -- Charlie to his doting mother, June.

I knew his mother. I didn't know him, except for what she told me.

He was a commodities trader in the Chicago pits -- very successful, very
young. He was earning probably seven figures a year in the early 90s, most
of which had been going up his nose. But he'd turned his life around and was
clean, or so his mother thought.

I'm glad June has passed away. She has missed the heartbreak of his funeral,
of blaming herself for his weaknesses and excesses.

It's natural to want to blame others for the problems of oneself or those
close to us. In the case of Susan Hanley Lane's sister, she wants to throw
the guilt bag at society and anyone else she can throw it at except for the
one person she should throw it at, her sister. It was her sister who made
the decision to drink to excess and not seek help.

Beth A. Kinstler

Savannah, Ga.