To the Editor:

I must say I was very disappointed after reading the two articles that you published on Thursday, September 7, and Friday, September 8, about the latest nuclear bomb test performed by the French at the Mururoa Atoll.

First I would like to comment on Steven Martens’ article. There are two remarks that I think are important to make. First, one should be really, sadly, ignorant to say that -I quote- “The idea that the French, who are incapable of successfully making anything that doesn’t involve food or art, are now venturing into nuclear testing, is frightening.”

For your information, Steve, it is not just “now” that the French are “venturing into nuclear testing.” As much as some (me included) could disagree with the idea of nuclear bombs and nuclear tests, they have been doing that for tens of years, so relax, it’s not something totally new to them. (Actually, you acknowledge this fact yourself, in the next paragraph, so what’s the deal?!)

Moreover, to the best of my knowledge, France is the European country with the largest number of nuclear power plants in operation (their nuclear power output accounts for over 50 percent of the total power output, so they must have a pretty solid experience in the field of nuclear technologies, don’t you think?)

So much for their not being good enough to make “anything that doesn’t involve food or art,” I must say … I repeat, it is a proof of shear ignorance for one to make a statement such as the one I just quoted, especially if the author of the statement is majoring in journalism mass communication.

I cannot help myself thinking of another ASPIRING JOURNALIST, Tim Frerking, who, on the same page with Steven, innocently declared that he had never thought he would have to learn a foreign language, since he was lucky enough to speak English … scary!!

To make a long story short, the point is, in my opinion, that there is A LOT MORE about France than food and art; one only has to WANT to discover what’s good about this country that has one of the richest and most valuable civilizations in the world, and which provides its citizens with one of the highest standards of living in Europe …

And, oh, one more thing: your bad luck with that Renault Alliance is most unfortunate, but, personally, I’ve heard more people complaining about cars made by Ford and Chrysler than by any other manufacturer in the market.

Finally, I would like to say a few words about Kevin S. Kirby’s article,

which was published the next day. His ideas bring nothing new to the topic. He only reiterates the “good old arguments” that a country must detain nuclear weapons in order to protect itself and maintain peace, arguments that I strongly disagree with.

But this is not the point. What’s embarrassing is that (he) writes no less than three times “it’s” instead of “its”.

Unless we are dealing with a typing or editing error, the same mistake, three times in three columns of the same article, is something pretty sad for a senior in journalism mass

communication, who already has a degree in political science.

George Barac

Iowa State University