Column was disgusting
To The Editor:
Rape is a crime — no matter who commits it.
I was dumbfounded and disgusted after reading Jerry Tallmer’s talking point “The hounding of Polanski” in your Nov. 4 issue. There is no discussion necessary to determine whether a 45-year-old man having sex with a 13-year-old girl is a crime. It is.
Furthermore, I was offended by Tallmer’s assertion that hasn’t everyone at some point “fantasized some sort of sexual pleasure with one or another underage person male or female in our lifetime?” Really? I myself have never fantasized about having sex with a child, and I imagine that the overwhelming majority of people who read The Villager would agree. If Mr. Tallmer is having thoughts of committing sexual acts with minors, then I would imagine some type of intervention would be appropriate.
Roman Polanski is a filmmaker. He also is a criminal who got a 13-year-old girl drunk and then sodomized her. He should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Matt Borden
Polanksi’s going to prison. Period.
To The Editor:
Re “The hounding of Polanski” (talking point, by Jerry Tallmer, Nov. 4):
Your comments amaze me. I didn’t realize that Roman Polanski was a saint. You say that we all have thoughts about these things. However, we don’t all act upon those thoughts, as Mr. Polanski did.
But the simple truth is Mr. Polanski is now in jail in lovely Zurich waiting for extradition to the U.S. Once he is brought back to L.A., Mr. Polanski will have a choice to either stick with his plea he made 30 years ago or have a new trail. Then he will be arrested for fleeing the country 30 years ago, which has nothing to do with his old plea or new trail.
In about a year, Mr. Polanski will be sentenced to between five to eight years for his past crime. He will spend about three years in California’s penal system, and then be released. And at 80, he can make all the movies he wants, get all the awards he deserves, spend time at his Gstaad ski lodge and winter on the Riviera.
That is what is going to happen to Mr. Polanski, and it makes no difference if he was the best filmmaker ever, or that his mother was killed in the Nazi prison camps, or that his wife was slaughtered by maniacs. Mr. Polanski abused a 13-year-old girl, and then ran away from it like a coward. Most of us just think about it. Mr. Polanski did it.
Rob Fulton
Pro-Polanski blogger
To The Editor:
Re “The hounding of Polanski” (talking point, by Jerry Tallmer, Nov. 4):
Having come across your article about Roman Polanski being just that — hounded — I find it very refreshing to see a less vindictive approach to this infamous case, or man.
I myself always found this case to have too many gray areas (having been there, being in my 50s), and have written about it on my blog, https://novalislore.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DF46043224DC2132!125.entry . I think my blog is worth reading for its more investigative and open tone, offering more details and sociopolitical relevance and so forth.
Novalis Lore
Roman orgy of love
To The Editor:
Re “The hounding of Polanski” (talking point, by Jerry Tallmer, Nov. 4):
Thank you for this beautiful story. And this line that the late Lenny Bruce once came up with. I will use that in my Dutch articles where I also protect Roman Polanski. People can say about him whatever they want — they can’t change my opinions. Some people even include God in their articles about Polanski. And that’s very stupid, too. Because God protects everybody, and everybody includes Roman Polanski. Is there someone who dares to say that God is a hypocritical man? If so, how dare you? Anyway, once again, thank you for loving Roman Polanski.
Don Heckers
Pity to lose Puffin Room
To The Editor:
Re “Blames Bloomberg” (Scoopy’s Notebook, Oct. 28):
Soho, the once-vibrant artists community, has become a soulless shopping mall with rents too high for real people. We have watched one loss after another — remember that we once had a post office? — and now we have lost one of the last vestiges of Soho’s artistic past, the Puffin Room.
Crista Graue
Minus for Koch reviews
To The Editor:
Re “Koch on Film” (Nov. 4):
I have been reading The Villager since my son started Greenwich Village Little League at age 5. From there it led to really enjoying all of your articles.
However, what I have not enjoyed is our ex-mayor’s movie reviews. This week’s really annoyed me — the one he wrote on “The Maid” at the Angelika.
I would really rather have “How am I doin’?” Koch as mayor than “Let’s get rid of the middle class” Bloomberg. But I would really rather not have Mr. Koch review an excellent movie that, even he noted in his review, many people enjoyed.
If he is aging and doesn’t want to see sad movies, then that is a pity. I hope he has not lost all empathy for anyone who is not happy.
Jean Goldberg
Triangle will be trouble
To The Editor:
The Villager is no friend of Village residents. You support incumbents who are interested only in their own political power — e.g., Bloomberg, Quinn, Stringer.
You support the proposed triangle park changes, saying that St. Vincent’s will maintain it. Since when has St. Vincent’s maintained anything? Look at the garbage flying around the hospital. Look at the overflowing garbage cans on Seventh Ave. near the emergency room entrance. Look at the cracked sidewalk tiles on Seventh Ave. Look at the broken railing on 12th St. near the garage, etc., etc.
If there is not a gate around the proposed triangle park, it will soon be as disgustingly filthy as everything else that St. Vincent’s maintains.
Cathy Cuevas
It’s payback time
To The Editor:
Re “Re-elect Bloomberg” (editorial, Oct. 14):
Because of your endorsement for Bloomberg for mayor I will not be renewing my subscription. I will also make a real effort to no longer patronize any of your advertisers. As you know, money always wins.
Steven Brown
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 145 Sixth Ave., ground floor, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 145 Sixth Ave., ground floor, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
