When reading columns by Clarence Page, I often come across an offhand remark that gets my dander up. He did it again in “Candidates share Christian backing, criminal background” (June 8) wherein he discussed Ollie North and Marion Berry. He predicts that if Berry becomes mayor of Washington again, it will set back efforts to make D.C. the 51st state-“…but those efforts have been stalled anyway, so deep is the Washington establishment’s contempt for the people with whom they share the nation’s capital.”
What makes Mr. Page think that statehood for the district is a matter to be decided only between Congress and the inhabitants of the city? Washington is our national capital, and I believe all citizens of this nation have a stake in maintaining the city as it is. Our national public buildings, monuments and memorials are located there and belong to all of us.
A suggestion made in the past that these public areas would not be included in the new state leaves only a few square miles for statehood. This is ridiculous. This statehood business should be laid to rest once and for all. It has nothing to do with “contempt.”
