Penn State junior courageously helps others

ISSUE | MENTAL HEALTH

Profile in courage

Penn State junior Caroline Crasnick is a marvelous young woman to have the guts to speak openly about her bipolar disorder and a sexual assault by a male student in her freshman year ("On campus, going public with private pain," Monday).

Too bad that male student and others like him do not have the courage of Crasnick and the other female students who have told their stories in campus media. The men should man up, admit their offenses, and deal with the consequences of their bullying behavior.

That won't happen - they are too scared.

|S. Reid Warren III, elversonsrwjmw@dejazzd.com

ISSUE | CAMPAIGN 2016

New leader needed

Charles Krauthammer's commentary about President Obama's presidency being intellectually exhausted is spot-on ("State of the presidency," Monday). There is no way any Obama-ite can put a spin on it, but I'm sure somebody will try.

The president certainly transformed the greatest nation on Earth into something that is almost a shell of itself. The next president will hopefully pull us back from the precipice. I'm not talking about Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

|Ron Coates, Chadds Ford

Cruz eyes the past

Ted Cruz says he will put America back on the right track. He promises to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service, to eliminate the Export-Import Bank, to reverse the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and to kill the Affordable Care Act. It sounds as though he wants to go back to 2008.

Lots of luck to the United States - we'll need it.

|Martin H. Gingold, Warwick

ISSUE | SEXUAL ABUSE

Unacceptable evil

In a letter about pedophilia in the Catholic Church, the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Washington Township, Gloucester County, said the church, "like all human institutions, has its sins, yet has done far more good than evil" ("Church reform," Monday).

That's the issue. While the "2 percent of all priests ordained in this country since 1950 [who] have been accused of such monstrous crimes" may sound like a small number, the number of victims per offender makes it more than anyone should accept.

Perhaps the Catholics who remain silent are unable to question the church's lack of desire to expose the culprits within. That's how this whole debacle started.

|Dennis Fisher, Broomall

ISSUE | MEDIA

Donation promises to perpetuate coverage

I applaud the donation of Philadelphia Media Network to an institute overseen by the nonprofit Philadelphia Foundation ("Designing a PMN for the future," Jan. 13). My hope is that this new, progressive model will provide greater financial stability and allow The Inquirer, the Daily News, and Philly.com to fulfill their mission of providing the kind of news coverage the Philadelphia area deserves and, more importantly, needs.

The movie Spotlight reminded me of the heroic role played by journalists in uncovering and presenting stories of corruption and abuses of power. The First Amendment recognizes the importance of the press in bringing to light those individuals and organizations that breach our trust and, all to often, threaten our lives.

I can't imagine a future without these journalism heroes working to protect our collective democratic freedoms.

|Grace E. Herstine, Phoenixville

Thanks for preserving Inquirer mornings

As a longtime journalist in the golden age of general-interest newspapers and magazines, I give a rousing cheer for H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest's move to ensure that a serious newspaper has the means to survive. Surely a profitable medium can be devised to suit those willing to give more than 10 minutes to learn what is going on in the world.

Now retired, I am happy to spend all morning reading almost everything The Inquirer offers. I find truly interesting the things I learn from page A2 on, and reaching the editorial and opinion pages is the highlight of the morning.

I am in control of how much time I give to the accompanying ads. When I turn to TV for news, the ads control my time. My grandchildren, through their iPads, see nothing but snippets and are given no guidance. There may be fewer subscribers to The Inquirer, but we will be extra loyal and willing to pay for the product.

|Neal G. Thorpe, Collegeville

ISSUE | CAPTURED SAILORS

U.S. Navy at fault

As a retired military officer, I was amused by a letter that said, "The capture of 10 U.S. sailors and two small Navy boats at the time of the State of the Union speech was a planned provocation by Iran to embarrass America, and it contradicted President Obama's proclamation of the country's strength" ("Iran purposely embarrassed the U.S.," Monday).

It was the Navy that strayed into Iranian waters in armed vessels (even though small, they were still armed Navy vessels). Iran did exactly what the United States would do when another country's armed naval vessel of any size strays into U.S. territorial waters while on a "training" mission. The mistake was ours, not Iran's. Iran just took advantage of the incident.

What demonstrated President Obama's proclamation of strength and commitment to diplomacy was that the sailors and the ships were returned intact in 15 hours. Give credit where credit is due.

|Paul Nichol, West Chester