With the pronouncement that "We in North Carolina are people who pay for our mistakes," the N.C. Eugenics Task Force has recommended that the victims be paid $50,000. Maybe, but just barely. The recommended amount is an affront to even the suggestion of "justice."

The people who were forced into this program were some of our state's most defenseless - mentally ill, poor, children. That's why the cash number is so low. If these victims had addresses in Hayes Barton or Country Club Hills, a number that low would not even have been whispered in a dark room with the door locked.

Ask anyone what such an intentional act of criminal and civil assault and battery would be worth in a courtroom - at least 10 to 20 times that amount, if not more. Which one of us would think the recommended amount is fair if it happened to us or to a member of our family?

Note this is to be paid only to the living victims who had this procedure applied. What a bargain! What a bargain for the state. How convenient to structure compensation this way - after people have died. Our state committed a terrible wrong and it should fairly and justly compensate these victims and their families at the appropriate level.

James T. Crouse

Raleigh