THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503290168
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 166 lines
WORRIED ABOUT ANIMALS? BUILD A FENCE FOR THEM!
Well, it has happened again. I just hit another dog, the eighth I have killed since moving to Suffolk in 1987.
This could have been prevented if its owner had cared enough to have kept it in a fenced enclosure. But dog owners say that there is no leash law, that's it's cruel to keep animals locked up, that they should be allowed to roam freely.
Having no leash law is no substitute for stupidity. I read the recent letter by the woman complaining that a motorist did not stop after hitting her pit bull puppy. I would not have stopped either. Does she have any idea how an injured animal acts, especially to a stranger?
The motorist probably realized that the dog was a pit bull and decided it was safer to stay in the car. She further complained that children playing in the street were endangered by motorists speeding down the road. What kind of judgment was she exercising in allowing a pit bull to run freely where children were playing?
If she is so worried about her animal getting hit, she needs to build a fence to give the animal much needed exercise and her piece of mind, as well as that of neighborhood children.
She also complained of losing three kittens to the road. No fence will hold a cat. My suggestion: Have her female spayed and keep the surviving kittens in the house.
As for children playing in the street, what kind of parents are raising children these days? My father had the foresight to build a fence around his back yard to keep in his young son and his new puppy. That puppy lived to a ripe old age, and so have I.
Having a child or dog confined by a fence is not cruel but a form of survival.
Rick Lentz
Desert Road
Suffolk
POINT SYSTEM UNFAIR, SO LET'S PUSH CHANGE
Having driven 40 years without an accident or a traffic ticket, I got my first ticket recently. It belonged to the young man who almost ran over me.
The police officer just happened to look up from his radar, and I got the ticket.
First surprise - believing I was not guilty, I went to Chesapeake General District Traffic Court and told my story to the judge. He listened and said, ``Minimum fine and cost. Next.''
Second surprise - At the DMV office the other day, I picked up a pamphlet, ``Get Pointed in the Right Direction.'' The point system is not fair. If a person has points taken away at full value, the driver should be awarded good points for all the years he or she drives.
The present system only allows the accumulation of five points. I would like to see it changed to one point for each year the individual drives safely and without a traffic ticket. The pamphlet also should be changed. The points chart only takes away three points for drinking while operating a vehicle, while speeding takes away four points.
I wrote to the DMV commissioner and requested these changes. He suggested that I contact my General Assembly representative. I think every driver should contact his elected representative on this matter.
William H. Harward
Manning Road
Suffolk
COTTON GIN AN ASSET, BUT NOT IN SELECTED AREA
Zoning, planning and land-use regulations are a pain in the neck. We fume, fuss and curse such idiotic laws, but when we need their protection, we thank God for them.
I speak from personal experience. I was raised in Harlan County, Ky. Wise County and Lee County, Va. were our neighbors. I graduated from high school having never heard of zoning, planning and land concepts. Ignorance may be bliss, but in our case it was dangerous, because everyone did his own thing.
Some would build homes on hillsides away from the rivers, and others would build on the flood plains where they periodically were wiped out. One would build a nice, neat house only to have someone build a shack next door, with pens for a couple of hogs and three or four dozen chickens. Often the stench was unbearable because the lots were too close. As a result, god people would be a nuisance and a hazard to each other.
However, the greatest offenders were the large steel corporations and timber companies. In the early 1900s, they bought up the mineral and timber rights for a pittance. They opened their mines, built their cam houses for miners, while dumping the slag in huge amounts near the camp houses. Many children had etched in their memory the sulfuric fumes that burned both eyes and throat.
While the corporations bragged on how many jobs they created, they did not mention the low wages, murderous working conditions, destruction of the environment and how little taxes went into the county coffers. Sound zoning, planning and land use laws, strongly enforced would have protected us, but we had none. Zoning laws, if enforced, protect homeowners, industries, business and farmers alike.
Because of the rezoning issue concerning a cotton gin, many farmers may think some of us are their enemies. No, we are not. A cotton gin would be an asset to Suffolk, but located in a residential neighborhood? No!
The real enemy of farming is anything that takes crop land out of production. This cotton gin will destroy more than 15 acres of prime cropland. That means less land for the future farmers. The land speculators from out of Suffolk who buy up farms, and then at the first chance develop subdivisions, are the enemy of farming. They take more crop land out of production. Sometimes the farmer himself is his own enemy when financial pressure pushes him to sell off lots from his farm. This takes even more crop land out of production.
The farmer should push for stronger zoning codes and demand their enforcement. That is the only way the farmer will assure his children there will be land left to farm.
Yes, zoning laws are a pain, but thank God we have them. Let all of us - industry, farmers, residents - demand that the city enforce them.
Byron McCreary
South Quay Road
Suffolk
IN EDUCATION, RACE MATTERS, DESPITE MYTHS
Many societal problems interfere with the education of today's African-American students.
The time has come for us to seriously examine ways we can improve the academic performance of these students.
If we can reach this goal, we may greatly improve the quality of education for our local schools and help our nation compete and succeed in the 21st century.
For so long, the myth has been told that race doesn't matter in public education.
Yet 200 years ago, Virginia passed laws prohibiting the teaching of blacks to read and write, and 30 years ago our governor and General Assembly were denouncing school desegregation as leading to the inevitable destruction of free public schools.
Massive resistance was the order of the day. White educators fought hard to preserve a way of life that defined both their identity and superiority.
Black children, teachers and parents were not honestly welcomed to the educational table.
Now we find many children graduating from high school with elementary school level reading and mathematics skills. All too frequently these children happen to be of African-American descent.
There are too many educators, both white and black, who do not see the tragedy of this missed opportunity to become educated. Many white teachers falsely believe it to be a clear-cut example of apathy and complacency among their white counterparts. After all, the real students are in the gifted and talented program.
To help better prepare our children for the difficult years ahead, parents must better cooperate with teachers, while at the same time challenge the schools to fulfill their responsibility to the parents and students.
Black parents can no longer be indifferent to education. They must turn off the TV set and force their children to make an all-out effort at education. Basic reading and math skills must be mastered by the children. Homework must be checked, and the child's educational development must be put on the front burner.
The school's responsibility to blacks must be met. The school board should be lobbied for the use of relevant curriculum and learning styles. Administrators and teachers who are paid by black taxpayers as well as white taxpayers must be forced to understand that the education of black children is just as important as the education of white children. Massive resistance is no longe the order of the day.
America's and Virginia's future will be determined by the educational path of the least among us. More people educated and working means less people committing crimes and locked up in jails. If we think education is expensive now, look at the price tag for ignorance.
Paul C. Gillis
Woodland Trail
Suffolk by CNB