All the human touches

Concerning the possible ``deregulation'' of the US Postal Service, I should like to say: ``Haven't we sacrificed enough to `deregulation'? Is market value to be our only criterion? Is every human value, every human voice, every human touch, to be sacrificed to `market forces'?'' Thanks to ``deregulation,'' telephone service outside of one's immediate vicinity is a total mess. If the telephone service under a so-called ``monopoly'' was unsatisfactory, it is horrendous now. Catherine Sarnelli Levittown, N.Y.

We have good news for David Holahan who writes so apologetically about ``The manly sport of bird watching'' in the Aug. 8 issue. He need no longer ``stay off main roads when packing binoculars,'' or hide his spotting scope from visitors, or ``sneak around'' his own yard, because there are many men throughout our country who have been bird watching for many years, starting with a young man named John James Audubon. My wife and I started birding here on Cape Cod eight years ago under the tutelege of a virile young man who was a naturalist on the staff of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and is now director of the Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary.

We continued birding under the expert leadership of a young, attractive blond female naturalist with the museum. Birders come in both sexes.

In all of our birding forays from the museum, as many men as women have joined us, men of all ages and from all walks of life.

Mr. Holahan, you are in good company! Come out from hiding with your binoculars and scope and hold your head high: That may have been a kestrel that just flew over the main road! Is that a red-tailed hawk away up there? Robert D. and Margaret T. Peakes Brewster, Mass.

I read with particular interest the review of a concert by the Vermeer Quartet (``Chamber music that hits . . . and misses,'' July 26). But it failed to mention that the members of this quartet are artists-in-residence and professors of music at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, where they were organized. They present a concert each semester on campus or in the community, which is enjoyed both by students and local residents. Barbara Worrell DeKalb, Ill. Letters are welcome. Only a selection can be published and none individually acknowledged. All are subject to condensation. Please address letters to ``readers write.''