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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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081489
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08148900.045
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1990-09-17
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LETTERS, Page 11FATEFUL VOYAGE
Your account of the Exxon Valdez oil spill doubled my distaste
for Exxon in its handling of this fiasco (ENVIRONMENT, July 24).
The company may offer up Captain Joseph Hazelwood as a scapegoat,
but consumers and taxpayers are aware that they are the ones being
soaked in order to remove the stain spread by Exxon.
Vicki M. Shott
Rockton, Ill.
Those of us who have spent years on a ship's bridge have often
said after a disaster at sea, "There but for the grace of God go
I." However, there was no act of God in the case of the Exxon
Valdez. Numerous cardinal rules of good seamanship were violated
on the vessel. A seaman's eye serves not the ship when it is below
in the captain's cabin.
Glen R. Cheek, Captain, U.S.N. (ret.)
Rockledge, Fla.
As a former merchant seaman, I have my gut feelings about this
terrible human and environmental disaster. It is easy to say it was
the fault of a drunken skipper. Certainly, a captain who leaves the
bridge during an important maneuver in restricted waters must
accept responsibility for his actions. But, in reality, the guilt
is not solely his; companies have reduced the crews on U.S.
merchant vessels to the danger point. It is for this reason alone
that in 1984 I left a job I loved.
Ross Sutton
Silver Spring, Md.
It was on a trip to Valdez after the tanker accident that I saw
for sale T-shirts that impressed me. They contained a red circle
with a diagonal line placed over a gesturing finger with the legend
STOP POINTING THE FINGER. THERE IS ENOUGH BLAME TO GO AROUND.
Paul E. Pritzker
Weston, Mass.
While our technology has produced wonders, it can neither clean
up the oil spill nor cure Hazelwood's alcohol problem. We have
created the god of technology and now must deal with its failures
if we are ever going to fulfill the goal of caring for ourselves,
each other, the ocean and the seashore.
Jerry Seaman
Winnetka, Ill.
One aspires to command a ship for various reasons: to perform
a meaningful function, to control, for prestige and money. The cost
of satisfying these needs is total accountability. Captain
Hazelwood's single purpose for being on board during the voyage
through Prince William Sound was to ensure safe passage. He had
ultimate authority, and he failed.
Paul Salgado, Commander, U.S.N. (ret.)
Enid, Okla.