A dead issue: There is no "mystery" about who killed Bill Prewitt ["Man Killer," August 11]. The jury, who heard all the evidence, saw the children and evaluated the credibility of each witness, got it right. And it is disappointing that Shelley Smithson made no contact with Bill's family, who could have shed a great deal of light on Patty's "story."
By the way, if Matthew Prewitt "knew who killed" his dad, why didn't he tell his mother?
Edward Heinlein
Santa Clara, California
Wolfgang's Pluck
Margarette loves Jared: While I absolutely agree that St. Louis Shakespeare's production of Amadeus was fabulous, I was surprised and disappointed that reviewer Dennis Brown seemed to focus solely on the considerable talents of Kevin Beyer (Salieri) ["The Lord's Player," August 11]. Did you not think that perhaps Jared Sanz-Agero (Amadeus) deserved a mention for his equally brilliant performance? The whole production was genius due to Beyer, Sanz-Agero, all cast members, the design, the costumes, the lighting and so forth.
Margarette Bardella
St. Louis
Space Cadets
Those college kids need the freakin' exercise: Thanks to Unreal for some great footwork ["Spot Check," August 11]. If everyone saw how useless much of our (unbelievably extensive) downtown parking is, "new parking garage" would be synonymous with "political suicide." Are we really going to lose a building on the National Registry of Historic Places so a few college kids don't have to walk an extra freakin' block?
Matt Thenhaus
St. Louis
Roux Ado
Hoosiers welcome in Wildwood: Regarding Michael Renner's review of Roux Cajun Café, sounds like the nights he was at the restaurant some of his Soulard Bud Light hoisters must have been a-visiting us locals ["Culture Clash," August 4]. For the record, I love the food and spending all my discretionary money with Chef Dave.
Cheryl Schmid
Wildwood
Let's Get Semantic
Please don't write a letter disagreeing with Joseph: Ronald Kinum is correct in defending mainstream liberals from goose-stepping right-wing radicals [Letters, August 4]. A liberal is the kind of person that I would want my son or daughter to marry (same sex or opposite sex; it doesn't matter). But I think that his term "Republicommunist" is inaccurate. Benito Mussolini said that "fascism" should be called "corporatism," for it is the marriage of government and corporate power. It is the raw exercise of plutocracy. In Germany, it was called Nazism. In Italy and Spain, fascism; in America and Britain, conservatism or neoconservatism; but because conservatism used to mean fiscal responsibility, conservation of our natural resources and fair play, corporatism is a better term.
Communists include the early Christians (Acts 4:32-34), Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox religious orders and the Pilgrims in Holland, aboard the Mayflower, and for a time, at Plymouth Rock. What we are seeing in this political campaign are pre-emptive smears that take a sound bite to spout but several paragraphs to refute.
Joseph J. Kuciejczyk
St. Louis
Our Own Weegee
What's walking around out there: William Stage's "Street Talk" column provides an unflinching, Weegee-esque view of the types of people in the Loop. That is how Stage handles the weekly page-filler, right -- by dashing out of the RFT building on Delmar to accost the goofs coming out of Rag-O-Rama?
I used to think Stage was unethical, taking advantage of stupid people the way he does. But lately I believe he's doing a good job, monitoring the dumb level in my neighborhood. The "Is Saddam Guilty?" question plumbed new depths [July 21]. Thanks, Bill, for showing me what's walking around out there.
Here's a suggestion for next week's "Street Talk" question: According to Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative, should the dude who wrote "Immanuel Can't" in the August 4 calendar item about the Strassenfest ["Wild in der Strasse"] go, like, die?
Alan Mueller
St. Louis
Erratum
In publishing "Slay Ride" in our August 11 issue, we botched the name of the author, John La Briola.
In Memoriam
Carrie Lindsey, a longtime Riverfront Times graphic artist, was killed over the weekend in an automobile accident.
Lindsey, who worked in the RFT's production department for most of the 1990s, was reportedly on her way back from a music festival in Chicago on Sunday when her car collided with another automobile traveling in the wrong direction on Interstate 55 in Madison County. She was 50 years old. Killed along with Lindsey were her husband, Mike Shelton, age 54, and the couple's 14-year-old daughter, Emily Shelton. They lived in Webster Groves. The two occupants of the other vehicle also died in the crash.
Riverfront Times offers its condolences to the victims' families.
