ONLY PURITANS NEED APPLY?

In regard to your March 12 page-one story "Zero Tolerance: Employers Dig
Deep Into Workers' Pasts, Citing Terrorism Fears":

I was disgusted by Eli Lilly's foolish and brutal treatment of its workers,
firing patriotic, highly competent employees for one-time petty offenses.
The stupidity of the move surpasses its arrogance. After all, a misdemeanor
is a very long way from a felony. (Let's not even get into the class
prejudice evinced -- college students the same age as some of these workers
at the time of their offenses often go their way with no legal record of
on-campus marijuana possession, misdemeanor battery, date rape, etc.)

What did this heavy-handed move accomplish? I would be willing to bet that
your average puritanical terrorist killer has no legal record of any kind.
He is probably clean as whistle, polite, well-groomed and deferential, no
traffic tickets, no misdemeanors and a spotless credit record. Gee, an
ideal Lilly employee.

Ingrid Krohn

Reading, Mass.