Mail

Correspondents were generally unsympathetic to the defendants in two murder cases: Several called for the death penalty for Diane Zamora and David Graham, the apparently exemplary Texas teenagers (PEOPLE, Oct. 21) charged with the killing of 16-year-old Adrianne Jones. Readers were also more inclined to blame Jonathan Schmitz for the death of Scott Amedure than to indict The Jenny Jones Show, on which Amedure had been introduced as Schmitz’s secret admirer.

ZAMORA & GRAHAM

It’s unfortunate that David Graham may now be facing the death penalty simply because, in his words, he “couldn’t imagine life without [Diane].” While his devotion is admirable, it does not begin to excuse the brutality of his crime. I won’t shed a tear if he is executed.

DAN MURPHY, Bloomfield, Conn.

Anyone who knew Adrianne Jones will be offended by the reports that indirectly portray her as a seductress. The girl I knew, dated and cared for deeply was not the kind of girl who would lure a guy behind an elementary school to attempt a sexual encounter. Adrianne will live forever in my heart as the warm, lovable, caring person that she was during the short time we were together.

NOAH RUSSELL, Bryan, Texas

TED BESSELL

I grew up watching That Girl, adored Donald Hollinger and hoped that some day I’d find a Donald of my own. Years later, I did just that. Ted Bessell, you will always have a special place in this girl’s heart.

LINDA NORDEEN, Lansing, Mich.

VAL KILMER

For years my mother suffered grand mal seizures after developing epilepsy as the result of a head injury she sustained in a bicycle accident at the age of 15. For your writer to call epileptic seizures “fits” merely displays the ignorance that condemned my mother to a life of secrecy and emotional anguish. In this day of enlightenment, it dismays me that ignorance about epilepsy continues.

RAYMA SANDERS

Rochester Hills, Mich.

A dog has a fit, not a human.

FRA WELLMAN, Mattawan, Mich.

NANCY KERRIGAN

As a woman struggling with infertility for several years, it amazed me to see someone as fortunate as Nancy Kerrigan being so stupid—putting herself and her unborn child at risk by skating at seven months pregnant. Does she need the money so badly that she can’t wait until after she gives birth?

S. DAVIS, Long Beach, N.Y.

One fall is all it takes. Someone should really take this girl shopping and buy her a clue!

KERRI-LYNN MOUSSEAU, Toronto

SCHMITZ & AMEDURE

I don’t know who to be angrier with—Scott Amedure for putting his integrity at risk, Jon Schmitz for Scott’s senseless death or Jenny Jones for trying to pull off such a preposterous show topic in the first place. It might have started out as a game with innocent intent, but there were no winners in the end. I can only hope Ricki Lake and Jerry Springer were taking notes.

DAVID ROBERSON, Galax, Va.

I simply do not understand how someone could view Jonathan Schmitz as a victim when it is Scott Amedure who is dead by Schmitz’s hands. Okay, perhaps someone from The Jenny Jones Show should have told Schmitz the real topic of the program, but nobody there put the gun in his hands and told him to kill Amedure.

CHRISTINE M. CAPAZ, Toronto

Jonathan Schmitz killed Scott Amedure because Schmitz was afraid people would think he was gay. Maybe if our religious and political leaders would stop demonizing gays and lesbians, people like Schmitz wouldn’t consider being perceived as gay as worth killing over.

SCOTT MILLER, St. Louis

BILL NYE

When our 10-year-old son accidentally shattered the flour-and-salt map he had made for school, his 5-year-old brother tried to console him by saying, “Now you’ve got tectonic plates!” Thank you, Bill Nye, the Science Guy!

SUE HAYWARD BANCHICH, Buffalo

MAIL

Regarding the Oct. 21 letter from homophobic Anonymous: If someone doesn’t have the courage to put their name to prejudiced opinions, then I feel that PEOPLE should throw what they say in the trash, not publish it. Anyone who hides their name must subconsciously realize that what they say is wrong.

ALAN L. LIGHT, Iowa City