N.Y. horses fare better than farmworkers

Central Valley farmworkers dying from heat stroke (July 28) is as tragic as it is predictable. Should we be less concerned simply because “the Grape King” cannot recall any other deaths in his fields?

Simply because workers don’t usually die on the job doesn’t mean that there is nothing cruel or exploitative about agricultural labor practices! And don’t worry too much about his surviving workers, they don’t work in the full sun: “The vine shades them for the most part.”

Are these considered valid excuses by the business community or their advocates in the Republican Party? How are regulations that keep people alive “too burdensome” for industry? This is the face of the free market. Until the labor practices change, start the boycotts!

Timothy Gutierrez

Davis, Calif.

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While in New York City recently, I tried to get into one of those beautiful horse carriages to go around Central Park. I was informed that the regulations -- no carriage may operate when the temperature is above 89 degrees -- prohibited such an activity on that hot June morning. It appears to me that the horses in New York are treated in a more humane way than our farm laborers in California.

Berta Graciano-Buchman

Beverly Hills