NOELLE BUSH BONANZA

Letters to the editor

Downplaying Bush story would have shown class Re: "Debating the
magnitude of this story" by John Winn Miller (column, Jan. 30). To
me, the first sentence of this article is the one that exhibits the
most compassion and common sense. It states that under normal
circumstances, a young woman being arrested for allegedly forging a
prescription for Xanax wouldn't merit more than a brief mention in
the newspaper. The rest of the article attempts to justify the extent
to which this particular event was blown out of proportion.

Those who choose to place themselves in the spotlight by virtue of
political office or celebrity status assume the risk of having their
every word and action scrutinized and reported. What gives the news
media the right to assume that this scrutiny and frenzied reporting
includes the children of these individuals?

This is not right!

These children didn't choose to be placed in a fishbowl. They didn't
ask for the attention and many are emotionally frustrated by it. This
is not about politics. If all your reporting exhibited common sense
and compassion, how could you be charged with being biased?

Shame on you for attempting to justify not downplaying this by saying
you might be accused of being a "homer" when the national press is
playing it up. Downplaying it would have just shown a bit of class.

JOHN ANDERSON

Zero-tolerance for Noelle Bush? The arrest of Gov. Bush's daughter
for fraudulently obtaining pharmacy drugs makes me angry. For one
thing, it comes on the same day the state drastically cut funds for
drug treatment. How ironic! Hypocrisy can tag you like that.

I hate to comment on Noelle Bush's problem, but what about the people
who are in prison right now for the same offense? Gov. Bush and the
president have both been among the nation's most cold-hearted,
zero-tolerance reactionaries. Will there be zero-tolerance for Noelle
Bush?

The Bush family has a remarkable number of drug and alcohol problems
but no corresponding prison problems such as plain folks would face.
We know the score. There is no "Drug War" for them! They cannot
continue to direct the Drug War with such spite and escape the
righteous anger of the people for their "Drug War" hypocrisy.

DAVE MICHON

Let's hope Meggs treats Bush just like anybody else Noelle Bush
should have known, if only because her daddy or uncle told her, that
she had to stay out of trouble because the whole family was under
public scrutiny. Any slips would be magnified out of proportion. But
she didn't! Thus, Noelle deserves all the exposure she gets. We now
see that the Bush family is no different from us poor low-paid slobs
out there in society with problems of our own. Hopefully, Willie
Meggs will treat Noelle no differently from the rest of us.

ROBIN KENNEDY

Did Noelle Bush get special treatment? OK, so the governor's daughter
was arrested for illegally obtaining a drug prescription. My first
reaction was that I feel sorry for the governor's family. Then I read
that Noelle Bush has received seven speeding tickets since 1995, been
cited for five other traffic violations and been involved in three
auto crashes. Good Lord!

If she weren't the governor's daughter, would she still be driving? I doubt it!

KEITH MURCHISON

The Bush family values and moral standards

What would have happened had Chelsea Clinton been picked up for
underage drinking or fraudulently attempting to acquire a controlled
drug? The Republican Congress would have issued statements such as
"What would you expect of his daughter?" or "The apple doesn't fall
far from the tree," or "Like father, like daughter." Congress would
have then set aside another few million dollars for Ken Starr to
widen his investigation to determine what Chelsea knew about
Whitewater, Travelgate and Monica. Now, we have the governor's
daughter joining her cousins in gaining negative publicity for this
eminent family. If the Bush family is so worried about moral
standards and family life, why can't family members control the
actions of their own offspring?

LEWIS F. LEVY