Just read [Naked City, "Stu at the Roast," A.D. Amorosi, March 23, 2006], which details a fundraiser for the William Way GLBT Community Center and had me as the target and Stu Bykofsky as the roast master. Amorosi does a great job in detailing the barbs tossed at me; unfortunately, he missed my two favorites: The Philadelphia Inquirer Excellence in Journalism award presented to Senator Vince Fumo and a rainbow rocking chair given to Mayor Street. The event was fun and full of mistakes. In the end, that translated into about $70,000 being raised for the Center ... and Stu got the opportunity to use all his old jokes.

Mark Segal

Publisher, Philadelphia Gay News

After so many years in local journalism with many distinguished columns in print, I was most disturbed to read the hysterical attack Bruce Schimmel heaped upon Loraine Ballard Morrill, a spokesperson for the Clear Channel Broadcasting group [Loose Canon, "Hat Speech," March 9, 2006]. It seems that her words in response to a protest of one of the broadcasting group's morning-drive program, Star & Buc Wild, so irritated him that he lowered himself to attack her as a "pimp" for the country's largest radio conglomerate.

Extreme. Harsh. Inaccurate. All of these adjectives come to mind, but the word "pimp" is particularly irksome since it denotes illegality.

To be sure, one Philadelphia executive cannot be held accountable for the on-air antics of a syndicated radio broadcast that originates in Gotham City and is heard across the country. If Schimmel wanted to blast the real culprits, they can be found in San Antonio, Texas, Clear Channel's corporate headquarters.

What's more, Ms. Morrill's entire career in local radio has been a hallmark to community service, decency and fairness. That's why she's been honored by civic groups from every corner of the Philadelphia marketplace. While I too take issue with much of the juvenile and offensive language uttered by Star and Buc Wild, I know that hurling invectives at local front office personnel won't force those two potty-mouthed DJs to disinfect their act.

J. Whyatt Mondesire

Publisher, Philadelphia Sunday Sun

Your facts are off [Cover, "Are the Phillies Beyond Repair?" March 23, 2006]. The worst baseball franchises, in terms of winning [percentage], are the Chicago Cubs and then the Cleveland Indians. [And] Dick Allen was a third baseman, not a first baseman.

Please, back up your facts.

Darius Watkins
Via E-mail

Ed: Sorry Darius, but with 9,879 all-time defeats through 2005, the Phillies qualify as the losingest franchise in professional sports. (And percentages be damned, for even the Cubs have two World Series victories to the Phils' one.) As for Allen, he played more than 800 games at first base and around 650 at third.

With about five years more Byberry seniority than that clown Goddog, I have comments about [Naked City, "Byberry's Long Goodbye," Andy Greenberg, March 16, 2006]. Byberry wouldn't have such a bad reputation if not for people like Goddog; they don't visit Byberry because of its "history," they visit because it's the only place they can get away with drinking until it seems like a good idea to further destroy hospital equipment that was first destroyed before they were born. As for [Somerton Civic Association head Mary Jane] Hazell's comment—"It just doesn't belong in the kind of setting that we have here in Somerton"—what does belong in this setting? The community's Russian mafia, the businesses they maintain or the drugs they sell in the neighborhood?

"Kangaroo"
Via E-mail

The ghoulish and insensitive way in which you exploit grieving families of American war dead to further your own political agenda is nothing short of repulsive [News, "Was It Worth It?"]. The fact that your paper coldly hounds suffering parents to suit your anti-Bush purposes is staggeringly inappropriate. These are real people with very real losses and their right to mourn in peace should not be sacrificed at the altar of your liberal ideals.

Mike Trudeau
Fox Chase