I am writing in response to the section about the Cincinnati Public Schools, and why people are switching to charter schools. I am a junior high school student at the School for Creative and Performing Arts. I chose to make the switch from Indian Hill, one of the top 50 schools in the country, and I pay tuition to go there.

I don't understand why Cincinnati Public is picked on so much. For the most part, we are just as good as any school. I chose to switch not just because of the arts, but because the academics are just as good as any other public school. I don't understand why people pick on us for poor test scores because at SCPA, most kids score at or above the average of other districts.

Matthew Jaroszewicz, Kenwood

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Guess what? Airports are noisy

I am responding to the "plight" article ("Airport neighbors barely miss buyout," April 21), of those poor people who have bought their properties in the last six years near the Greater Cincinnati Airport and can't realize a profit on their newly acquired properties at the expense of the airport and ultimately the public, that would end up paying the price of buying out the properties.

Somehow, I can't really get too upset over a bunch of people that bought their houses close to the airport and then now complain about airport noise. Did they not know where the airport was located? Maybe they thought that Delta only flew gliders. It seems to be trend in Cincinnati: We have Mount Lookout people who want the rest of Cincinnati not to use their airport to its best use so that the people of Mount Lookout can be spared the sounds of airplanes.

Dieter Schmied, Walnut Hills

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Halting 9-11 would have brought outcry

My condolences go out to those who lost family and friends on Sept. 11. They and the nation want someone to blame. Did the government know and could they have stopped it? It makes for a good sound bite and stirring of political emotions.

If the U.S. government had tried to impose the same airport security that exists today before 9-11, there would have been a huge outcry about loss of freedoms. The ACLU would file suit and some liberal federal judge would have issued an injunction. Just look at the complaints about the inconvenience now. Blame Osama bin Laden and his supporters and those who support terrorism.

Joseph C. Smith II, Villa Hills

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Grandstanding families out of line

Regarding the 9-11 commission, I find I am not as charitable as some as my fellow Enquirer readers. It seems to me the commission has turned from a fact-finding commission to a witch hunt. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey and former Watergate prosecutor and commission member Richard Ben-Veniste were inexcusably rude to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Talk about your grandstanding.

More disturbing than the committee's obnoxious behavior, I have concern with some of the family members of the victims of the 9-11 tragedy. Why do some of them feel they have to have someone to blame for the tragedy? How will that help? And why must somebody pay for his or her loss? The compensation the families have received already is a disgrace to us all. We have become a society that abdicates our responsibility for everything that happens to us, including our grief.

How did all that American grit, which made this country strong, so completely erode in 225 years?

Dottie Soper, Maineville

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We should all be so 'blighted'

When this fiasco first began with the city of Norwood and the residents of Atlantic Avenue, I took a look at the street to see what the city considered a blighted area. Wow, if this is a blighted area, I wouldn't mind living in one. The exteriors of the houses were in great condition, the yards were all well cared for with grass cut, beautiful landscaping, etc. There was no garbage, junk vehicles, or anything else that would qualify for being called a blighted area.

If the elected officials consider it important to the growth of the City of Norwood that Atlantic Ave. become commercial, that is one thing, but to lie to the people they were elected to protect is another.

Perhaps giving the businesses free space in the proposed office buildings would be an answer that all could live with...unless greed is one of the ingredients in this problem.

In America, no one should be permitted to run citizens out of their homes!

Kathryn L. O'Connell, Blue Ash