Two items in Wednesday’s edition of The Red and Black positively beg for a response.

Item one: How can Jennifer Arnold accuse cheerleaders of killing (albeit "indirectly") Alexis Mueller? Anorexia is a complex illness, and Ms. Mueller’s death is a tragic, heartrending consequence of that illness, an apparent lack of responsiveness by medical professionals and other factors that no one but Ms. Mueller and her family can even begin to know.

To blame total strangers for "killing" her by being athletic, strong, healthy and fit is the most absurd, irrational suggestion I’ve ever read in The Red and Black – and that is quite a statement. To borrow from Ms. Arnold’s letter, "how inappropriate and disturbing" is her accusation?

Item two: I would encourage Ms. Vivian Ball to consider her irresponsible behavior behind the wheel with a measure of sobriety and maturity now that she has experienced the negative but comparatively minor consequence of a traffic ticket.

When you’re flying along at 10 to 20 miles per hour above the speed limit, feeling smug for getting away with it for so many years, consider the fact that your recklessness could cost a human being (perhaps even you) his or her life.

My mom is a very careful driver who one day struck a child when his tricycle rolled into a roadway without a moment’s warning. Had she been speeding, he surely would have been killed, but he survived, thanks to her quick reaction in the split second available. What would your parents say if you killed someone, Ms. Ball? Evil Man ruined your perfect record, you say. It’s a lucky thing that you haven’t ruined somebody’s LIFE.

Speeding is every bit as deadly as driving drunk. Would The Red and Black print a column by a writer who bragged about getting away with DUI?

It is careless, self-absorbed people like Ms. Ball who give young drivers a bad name. I hope she and others who think (and drive) like her will wake up before they kill my child or somebody else’s.

Patti Williams
degree program assistant
biological and agricultural
engineering