I was horrified to see in a newspaper earlier this week a photograph of an athlete from Calabar High School winning the 4 x 100 Boys relay and giving a well-known finger gesture of contempt to the crowd as he crossed the line. Clearly, it was his way of mocking his opponents, having triumphed over them.

This was a disgraceful show of vulgarity and should be roundly condemned by his school and indeed the sporting community at large. It is this type of behaviour that leads to violence between schools and the indiscipline that exists among the young in our country today.

This young man, since he was running in a Class 1 event, must be a senior student and should really have been setting a good example to the thousands of youngsters who were watching the event.

I believe that he should be reprimanded by his school and the sporting authorities and suspended from competitions for a two-year period, both for his own good and as an example to others.

- L.A Roy Banarsee, GPO Box 1061, Kingston

I am writing in response to Glenda Simms bashing article 'Not for Rent'. I wish I could believe her concern was truly for the girl involved in this tragic incident, but I have a problem reconciling that with what she has written.

While quick to condemn the Catholic Church, I fail to hear the same outrage at Planned Parenthood or other pro-abortion organisations that have been covering up the sexual abuse of minors as evidenced in Phoenix or abortion clinics in Kansas and Indiana.

It is tragic that this Brazilian girl was sexually violated in her own home and equally tragic that abortion clinics right here in the USA fail to report the sexual abuse of minors, nor are they concerned when minors obtain a life-altering procedure such as abortion without parental consent. In fact, they object to parental involvement.

Simms would be wise to keep her personal wrath at the church, which seeps out of her writing to herself, since it makes it obvious this is less about the victim than her own personal feelings.

- Theresa Bonopartis, lumina@postabortionhelp.org