• December 13, 1999
• Vol. 52
• No. 23

Mailbag

Jerry & Jessica
It's obvious why Jessica Sklar dumped Eric Nederlander: Jerry Seinfeld's purse-onality is definitely far superior!
Steven Hilbon, Laguna Niguel, Calif.

I hope Jerry makes her cancel her gym membership!
Sheila Allen, via e-mail

The Seinfeld sitcom lives on! The narcissistic courtship and engagement seem inspired by the series. These two selfish and self-absorbed people will no doubt grace your cover under the headline Celebrity Splits. My guess? Less than two years.
Maureen Jones, Needham, Mass.

Congratulations, Jerry! But if Jessica is smart, she won't be licking her wedding invitations!
Caron Garvey, Winnipeg, Man.

What kind of woman starts dating someone a couple of weeks after she comes back from her honeymoon? And what type of man starts dating a woman who has only been married for several weeks? Obviously this woman should never have been married in the first place. The only person I wish happiness for is her ex.
Eileen Barlett, Bellefonte, Pa.

Some words of advice to Mr. Seinfeld: Buyer beware!
Lisa Turtle, Sheffield, Ill.

First you do a cover story on unwed teenagers. Your Sexiest Man Alive is about to father a kid out of wedlock. Then you glamorize Jerry Seinfeld's adulterous relationship by giving him a cover and a six-page spread. Immorality in this country is alive and well, and PEOPLE is busily doing its part to promote it.
Cathy Noggle, Chicago

Jerry, just one bit of advice: You might want to keep Jessica away from men with more money than you.
Mike Lynch, Seattle

Barbara Loe Fisher
I have been working as a speech language specialist for 26 years. Over the past 10, there have been many children diagnosed with a form of autism. All these children had been developing normally until they received the DPT vaccine. I admire Barbara Loe Fisher for advocating safer vaccines. As a specialist who works with special-needs children, I see the effects that vaccines can cause in a normal child and the lifelong struggle that a family has to deal with because of this.
Heidi Farber, Cupertino, Calif.

I am the mother of two children, Lindsay, 8, and Zachary, 6, who were both born happy and healthy. After they had their immunizations at age 1, our lives turned upside down. They are now both autistic. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish I knew back then what I do now. Are the 11,000 children harmed by immunizations in one year a sacrifice for the good of the many? How many children need to be harmed before we decide it's enough? Giving the millions of parents who are preparing to vaccinate their children the statistics and letting them decide is not putting a scare into them; it's arming them with the information to make a wise choice.
Michelle S. Suit, Manassas, Va.

Thanks for having the moral courage to print the story on vaccines and their devastating impact on a growing number of people—especially children. Parents all over the country whose children have been very ill (like mine 30 years ago), or have died, are so thankful that others are finally aware of the danger.
Jo Wilhem, Austin, Texas

As a school nurse, I spend the majority of my time pleading with parents to have their children immunized. Every time an article" like the one on Barbara Loe Fisher comes out, parents will throw common sense out the window and refuse to have their children immunized. I have sympathy for Ms. Fisher and her son. But how do we know that vaccines were the cause of the problem? Maybe it was the water he drank or the food he ate. Maybe it was just bad luck. Whatever it was, you just made my job harder.
Karla Dixon, Canyon, Texas

Barbara Fisher is no hero. Her group is waging war on lifesaving vaccines, scaring parents away from vaccinating their children and leaving them vulnerable and unprotected against preventable diseases. "Where was Fisher when an infant nearly died of whooping cough in rural Missouri after her parents, frightened by Fisher's "information," stopped vaccinating their children? Shame on Fisher and her group, and shame on PEOPLE for glamorizing anti-vaccine propaganda.
Cindy Province, Defiance, Mo.

You incorrectly identify the "T" in a DPT vaccine as typhoid. The "T" stands for tetanus. Children in the United States are not vaccinated against typhoid.
Evelyn Athas, Mineola, N.Y.

Heroes Among Us
One thing I like about your magazine is celebrity gossip. But this article really made me feel good about the people I live with in this world. I still enjoy reading about the bad stuff, but, hey, more articles like this one could change my definition of entertainment.
Nicole M. Chandler, McKinney, Texas

I have never written a letter to the editor, so let me say thank you, thank you, thank you, Every entry in this special report brought tears to my eyes and confirmed my naive belief that people are inherently good and helping someone in need is always the right thing to do. Certain traits are taught by example, and reading about good, selfless deeds can only inspire more. I think this should be a weekly feature.
Robin M. O'Brien, Dallas

This is what the magazine is all about: real people helping real people. I could do without the celebrity fawning that permeates most of the pages. A little star treatment maybe, but the entire thing devoted to what so-and-so wears to the clubs, or who's zooming who? Forget it!
Carol Banks Weber, Lynnwood, Wash.

You publish a special report on Heroes Among Us and put home-wrecker Jerry on the cover. Why am I not surprised?
Paul Stefanson, via e-mail

Madeline Kahn
I am a nearly 10-year survivor of stage-four metastatic ovarian cancer. I have led a full life during this time and look forward to many more years. Newly diagnosed patients with any type of cancer need to know that there has been much progress in treatment, and the survival rate improves each year. It sounds as if Madeline Kahn is on the right track—getting married and planning to get on with her life. There are three words to remember in fighting cancer: Never give up!
Alice Cater, North Olmsted, Ohio

Up Front
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a perfect example of the dumbing-down of America. Questions that wouldn't even be included in the first round of Jeopardy! command a six-figure payoff. But contestants should be compensated for enduring that incredibly annoying music.
Dan Morin, West Hollywood, Calif.

Nathaniel Abraham
I am truly grieved to see that Nathaniel Abraham, committing a crime at age 11, can be tried as an adult. But I am more grieved that Nathaniel had access to a weapon and had 22 contacts with law enforcement before this shooting occurred. Maybe Nathaniel did "slip through the cracks" of the social system. However, his mother should accept responsibility for allowing Nathaniel to become an out-of-control adolescent by leaving him alone and unsupervised.
Mary Mattheiss, Pensacola, Fla.

Dick Francis
Dick Francis never made a secret of the fact that it was his wife, Mary, who did the research for his novels. He stated proudly in the introduction to one of them that she had learned to fly a plane just so he could write accurately about aviation. It is the philosophy of the writer, expressed through his heroes, that makes Francis's books so enjoyable. And if this philosophy is shared by both Dick and Mary Francis, aren't they lucky to have found each other? His devoted fans certainly are!
Louise Cornblum, Don Mills, Ont.