Letters: Jul. 17, 2000

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I enjoyed Sarah Vowell's list of movies that fuel the fear of swimming [ESSAY, June 26]. However, many of us who are not afraid of swimming are terrified of the long board at the end of the pool. Here are some items to add to her scary list: 1) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--the dive off the cliff stays fresh in every nondiver's mind; 2) the tape of Greg Louganis' hitting his head on the platform during the 1988 Olympics; 3) Back to School--Rodney Dangerfield as a diving champion? Scary enough! ROGER K. WEISS Panorama City, Calif.

Along the U.S. Border

The index item for your report on clashes on the U.S.-Mexico border [NATION, June 26] read, "Immigration: This Land Isn't Your Land." That attitude makes me sick. Have we forgotten that a large part of the Southwest once belonged to Spain and then to Mexico? These illegals, as you call them, have more right to that land than anyone else. They were here at the beginning. MICHELLE CRUZ New York City

Only a coward would threaten the poor with an automatic weapon the way private citizens are doing along the border. More innocent people will be killed or injured by these vigilantes. Perhaps the resources spent on patrolling the Mexican border would be better spent in feeding these poor souls. PATRICK M. MCMEANS Euless, Texas

Those who want to leave Mexico should enter the U.S. the legal way and become proper legal citizens. Allowing immigrants into the U.S. is a good thing culturally for our country, but my great-grandparents came here legally, and other immigrants should do the same. RHEANNE E. LEHMAN Spring, Texas

To shoot or assault a person is wrong. The good fortune of having been born in the U.S. or of owning a ranch cannot make it right. The people acting as border patrollers are no better than Ku Klux Klan members. DAVID CALLAGHAN Bloomington, Ind.