To the editors:

In a letter to the editors (Jan. 5), Cheryl Alavi called The Crimson's criticism of the "Cops In Shops" program "inconceivable." Unfortunately, she has missed the point. What is truly inconceivable is the attitude which an out-of-touch, older generation is taking toward underage drinking.

If I am not mistaken, the generation currently in power is the same one which 35 years ago was preaching against increased government intervention in their lives. What happened to the days of free love? Is it that easy to forget what you once stood for? But, more worrisome, is it that easy to forget reality? When the drinking age in this country was merely 18, was there an over-abundance of teenage death? What makes alcohol more dangerous for an 18-year-old than for a 21-year-old? The problem here is not underage drinking but obsessive and excessive drinking.

Alavi wrote, "To describe Scott Krueger's death as a result of unsafe party and fraternity environments rather than underage alcohol abuse suggests that the writers spend more time writing editorials than they do researching facts." It seems to me that she is the one who is spending too much time writing and not enough time researching. Surely you cannot tell me that Scott Krueger's fatal error was being underage. Simply put, he drank too much. And whether he was 15 or 50, he would have had to deal with the same consequences. MICHAEL S. ROIFF '01   Jan. 5, 1998