Letters: Apr. 25, 2005

As long as the G.O.P. panders to the fanatics in the gun lobby, Americans will have to endure a senseless massacre every few months. Check your calendar for the next one.

DAVID LEWIS Kingfisher, Okla.

On the Lookout for Illegals

"Do-It-Yourself Border Patrol" [April 4], on the Minuteman Project, a volunteer effort to watch a stretch of the Arizona border with Mexico, reported that local officials are nervous about the participation of people from out of state. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the officials were that concerned about illegal aliens breaking into our country? After all, the Minutemen are only doing the job Washington won't do.

ELIZABETH VENABLE Georgetown, Texas

If there is an issue on which more voters are in agreement than stopping illegal immigration, what is it? My sympathy is with the people trying to do something. The government's efforts are glacial and overwhelmingly insufficient. Let's go to the next level: close the doors, and put up a NO VACANCY sign!

CATHERINE BUTTON Westampton, N.J.

Canadian Clubs

Re "Save the Seals by Skipping Scallops?" [April 4], about the protest against Canada's government-sanctioned seal hunts in which baby seals are clubbed to death: I agree with the Humane Society of the U.S.'s boycott of all Canadian seafood. In many former whale-hunting areas, the locals earn their income from whale-watching tours. Let's turn the tide from baby-seal slaughter to seal watching.

MELODY HALLIGAN Slidell, La.

Reclaiming the Minefields

Your article on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice included a photo of her with an Afghan girls' soccer team [March 28]. Therein lies an inspiring story. Those girls play soccer on a field that was cleared of land mines with the help of Roots of Peace, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that raises money from U.S. middle and high school students. The State Department works with 50 NGOs to raise money from private sources for land-mine removal, augmenting the nearly $1 billion the U.S. government has contributed since 1993.

ROSE M. LIKINS ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Washington