Conroy’s Paddling Proposal Deserves a Couple Whacks

* There’s something very wrong with this picture. The (Assemblyman) Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) team says that had Assembly Bill 15OX, the paddling bill, not passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee for fear the paddling punishment could cause permanent physical damage, Conroy’s chief of staff, Pete Conaty, would offer to paddle his 15-year-old son, Patrick, as a demonstration (Politics ’94 column, July 3).

Presumably, 15-year-old Patrick is absolutely not guilty of anything.

What a bizarre solution.

Why doesn’t Mr. Conaty offer up his own behind, or better yet, why doesn’t Mickey Conroy offer up his posterior for up to 10 whacks with a paddle three-fourths inch thick, 18 inches long, six inches wide, with a six-inch handle and made of hard wood?

After all, AB 15OX is Mr. Conroy’s baby, he is so sure that no physical damage will be done.

Shouldn’t he experience exactly what he is advocating?

It does seem to me that Pete Conaty is being rather cavalier with his son’s posterior. Or is it all just a PR scam?

F.J. KAPSCH

Santa Ana

* Assemblyman Mickey Conroy’s effort to fight crime with his bill to paddle graffiti vandals should be a bit more fair.

We can paddle graffiti vandals like they do in Singapore. Then we can also castrate rapists. We can also out off the hands of all white-collar criminals who steal from investors. That same punishment could be meted out to politicians who steal public funds to promote their own lifestyle.

My proposal is a bit drastic perhaps, but no more ridiculous than Conroy’s proposal.

The punishment suggested above has also been carried out by less enlightened countries. In our own country we hanged thieves. Would Mr. Conroy like to adopt that policy as well?

The cost of white-collar crime far exceeds the cost of graffiti vandals’ crimes, so let us mete out justice on a more equal basis.

LAURETTA S. WHITE

Fountain Valley