Regarding the July 1 article "Hiker's fall lesson in gorge survival": I am writing out of concern for the Red River Gorge geological area and those folks who are less than careful in such wilderness areas.

The gorge area is a beautiful place. Many careful folk hike, camp, climb, boat and fish every single day there and wonder what all the fuss is about. Why? Because they follow a few very simple rules:

• Keep a clear, level head in the wilderness.

• Cliff lines are hazardous; do not camp near them.

• Consumption of alcohol or narcotics interferes with rule No. 1.

Ken Ralenkotter
Union, Ky.

2 Rookwoods, but Norwood on brink?

The city of Norwood has been in the news a lot lately - first with its eminent domain battle and more recently with its financial problems ("Norwood on financial brink," July 2). Am I the only person wondering why Norwood already has two Rookwood developments, which evidently have not improved its economic situation, yet claims it needs a third one to solve its difficulties?

Becky Regenold
Evendale

It's past time for universal health care

There have been several very good articles in the Enquirer over the last several weeks and months concerning the quality and cost of health care. None seemed to really get to the heart of all the problems people face with this bits-and-pieces current so-called system - that is, until I read the "Your voice" column July 1 ("Health insurance: canary in the mine") by Dr. Arvind Venkat, an emergency room physician.

Venkat laid out a clear picture of what people face and the tragic results that can happen under this present faceless, mindless, wasteful system. I agree with him. The time has long since passed for a single-payer, cost-effective, universal health care system for all Americans. We are paying for it anyway.

Harold E. Schultz
Springfield Township

Protesting doesn't equal hating nation

This is in response to Peter Bronson's column "Hate-America crowd has its own picnic" (July 4).

I protested the Iraq invasion when President Bush came to town for his war stump speech. I do not hate America. I love this country and the people I call my own. I just believe that we now live in an age that we can see a world without borders. One only has to look at the pictures taken of our planet from the heavens to see what we truly are - one small world.

Terrorist beheadings or American bombs falling on innocents need to cease.

I'm not a hippie as Bronson once was. I'm merely a dreamer. But that's all right because true dreamers know what's real: universal peace.

Peter Deane
Anderson Township

Evidence for banned weapons mounts

If there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, where did the sarin gas artillery shell come from that was used in a failed attempt as a bomb outside Baghdad? Or the ton and a half of sarin gas that Jordanians intercepted that al-Qaida was trying to smuggle out of Iraq?

The longer it goes, the more evidence keeps popping up that we may not have found them, but buried under the Iraqi sands are weapons that can still hurt us.

Ernest Bein
Anderson Township

Banks could do more to secure money

In response to "Banks ban hats, shades" (July 4), the banks have hit upon an idea that if disguises are banned when entering a bank there will be a reduction in bank robberies.

The question really is: Why don't they secure the bank? I've never heard of a drive-in bank teller being robbed. The answer is: Banks don't care, because it's your insured money that's robbed and your tax dollars pay the police, judges and prison courts. Therefore, the taxpayer's costs, if banks took available, affordable security measures, could easily pay for all the security needed to prevent most of the 8,000 bank robberies nationally.

Because of the power of the Federal Reserve, the only way available to correct this is for public pressure requesting the banking system to do what is available for security, and show them that the public approves and the cost to the taxpayers will lessen, helping us all.

George A. Fortner
Price Hill