THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150185
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 295 lines
What is there to debate in the ``Council debates exhibit for museum'' piece in the Sept. 9 edition of the Currents?
Joan Cleaver, the author of ``Doing Children's Museums,'' defines children's museums as ``learning playgrounds, full of choices that encourage visitors to pursue their own interests as far as they want.'' Ask any child psychiatrist or elementary school teacher and they will agree with John Dewey, leading educator, the key to an education based upon experience is to ``select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences.'' The carousel is the medium that meets both Joan Cleaver and John Dewey's ideals and should be the choice made by the City Council.
There is no argument that the lens is a rare collectible and a significant nautical exhibit, but not in the Virginia Children's Museum. It should be placed in a maritime or nautical museum such as the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum or Lightship Museum.
If the lens is placed in the Virginia Children's Museum to tie in with the Naval Shipyard Museum and the Lighthouse Museum, what will these two museums use to tie in with the Virginia Children's Museum?
As Ida Kay Jordan states in her May 14 article, ``Best of all, the carousel would be purchased with donations, not taxpayers' money.'' To succeed, carousel lovers near and far must join hands. Opportunities
abound for the city of Portsmouth through advertisement all done by carousel lovers seeking support from corporations and individuals.
Last but not least, let us not forget about the Currents' Infoline carousel poll taken in May. ``Of 205 calls to Infoline, 195 favored the installation of a carousel paid for with private contributions and 10 favored using the Hog Island Lighthouse prism owned by the city.''
Dottie Wyatt
Channing Avenue
Sept. 11, 1995 Perplexed, then angry
After reading Shawn Terry's article, ``Council debates exhibit for the Children's Museum,'' that appeared Sept. 8 in the Currents, I was totally perplexed. After reading it the second time, I felt quite disturbed, and then, after reading the article the third time, I became angry.
Since when has council not had the authority to decide the outcome of anything involving the disbursement of our tax dollars? The very idea of just giving a ``basketful'' of tax dollars to a contractor without knowing what we are going to get for our money is preposterous; council members do not spend their personal funds using this cavalier manner, and we, as taxpayers vehemently oppose this irresponsible attitude. Our council seems to call in too many experts to do the tasks we expect them to do. The definition of an expert is an individual 100 miles from home.
The Museum Commission's letter to council giving its reasons for selecting the lighthouse lens as the prime exhibit for the Children's Museum, second floor atrium, instead of the carousel were extremely weak, then, in the same letter, the commission shoots itself in the foot by pointing out the negative aspects of the selected lens exhibit:
It will be a static display with no children's interaction.
Once you have seen it, no more mystery will exist.
It will not motivate children to seek return trips to the Children's Museum.
The Museum Commission's letter to council rejecting the carousel and selecting the lighthouse lens raises some disturbing thoughts. Are the members of the commission so old they have forgotten their childhood? Do the members hate children so much they deliberately make spiteful choices in the behalf of our children? Is it the commission's objective to discourage children from visiting the Children's Museum? I think so.
Any group of people that would select a lighthouse lens, sitting in the most prominent place inside the museum, doing absolutely nothing, over a colorful, joyous, melodious carousel, designed exclusively for children, must have a sinister motive or just simply hate children.
We ask council to ignore the Museum Commission's recommendation and select the carousel for the joy, pleasure and benefit of all of our children.
Frank Harte
Dogwood Drive
Sept. 11, 1995 Keep children in mind
I hope the City Council keeps the children in mind when they vote on a carousel or lighthouse lens to be placed in the Children's Museum.
How many times do you think any child would return to the museum to specifically see a lighthouse lens? How many times to see and ride on a carousel?
As I understand it, the carousel would come from private donations. And the couple that so generously donated their million-dollar train and toy collection, Mr. and Mrs. Authur J. Lancaster Jr., have talked about the idea of how beautifully the two exhibits could blend and how enjoyable and fascinating it would be for children and their families. In fact, they have said they would like to join council members for the first ride on the Portsmouth Carousel.
I feel the lighthouse lens should be on display near the Lighthouse Museum or the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Museum. Please vote for the carousel. It will put a smile not only on the faces of children but the face of Portsmouth, also.
Gene Baldwin
Tareyton Lane
Sept. 13, 1995 Speaking for baby
In reference to ``Council debates exhibit for museum'' and other related stories, I support placing the carousel in the Children's Museum.
I am the mother of an 8-month-old boy and, even at that early age, he can enjoy a carousel.
It would be much more of an attraction to younger children and would attract parents as well from other areas of Hampton Roads.
Claudia Flores
Virginia Beach
Sept. 12, 1995 Carousel better choice
As a response to the ``Council debates exhibit for museum'' story that appeared Sept. 8 in the Currents, I believe that the carousel would be much better for the children than the Hog Island light prism lens.
Dale C. Price
Norfolk
Sept. 13, 1995 Think of fun factor
I have been following the progress of bringing a carousel to the Children's Museum since May. I am a mother and I feel that a carousel would be much more stimulating to a child. A lighthouse lens will briefly be glanced at, but a carousel allows a child to take part in an activity with other children, therefore introducing social skills while bringing a tremendous amount of enjoyment to children, and satisfaction from parents seeing the joy of a carousel brings on their faces.
Why wait for a carnival when we can go to the museum to ride a carousel? Children gain more, intellectually, when fun is introduced.
C. Holladay
Chesapeake
Sept. 13, 1995 Ask visitors' opinions
Before the powers that be in the city of Portsmouth make a final decision regarding what display to put in the atrium of the Children's Museum, I'd like to make a humble suggestion.
Take the time to do an exit poll-type survey of families who have visited the museum and ask them if they would prefer to come back to visit and ride a carousel or return to a ``hands off'' display of the lighthouse crystal.
A random sampling of some of my friends and neighbors has indicated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that young children would by far prefer to ride a carousel and enjoy the music and lights than to merely view an object that appeals to grownups.
The lighthouse crystal certainly has merit as something to visit, however, I feel it would be far better viewed if it were part of a nautical display at the Shipyard Museum instead of sticking it in the middle of a children's fantasy land of trains and other hands-on displays.
The current success of the Children's Museum can be attributed to the fact that it is geared to children; let's not lose that concept. A carousel will continue to enhance that aspect and be more likely to draw return visits from families. There is no limit to the possibilities of how the carousel theme could be carried out in the selling of T-shirts, key rings, postcards, posters, etc., which in turn, would help the revenue of the museum, and that is another factor that should be considered in the decision.
All things considered, the decision makers need to remember the smiles on the faces of the children who have had a fantastic visit to the museum and do what they can to make certain those visitors have another display to remember with joy and happiness, and something for the parents to want to take their children back to visit.
Laurel Wilson
Mallard Crescent
Sept. 12, 1995 Goodbye, Sleepy Hole
An open letter to the director of Parks and Recreation:
I am writing regarding your golf facility at Sleepy Hole Park. When I first arrived in the area in 1992, I was very pleased to discover such a gem among the unimaginative courses at Lake Wright, Kempsville Greens, Ocean View, Smithfield Downs, Bow Creek, etc. Not only is your course more diverse, interesting and sculpted; it also is just plain fun to play. And it is one of the few courses where they have people starting on the tenth hole as well as the first between 7 and 9 a.m. in the summertime. This allows solo players without a regular group to arrive at the course at 8 o'clock on a Saturday or Sunday morning and be walking on the fairway by 8:30 instead of waiting an hour or perhaps not even playing.
But alas, this past spring, your department had to go and spoil a great deal (I didn't mention that the green fee was only $12 on weekdays) by placing the course under new management. Shortly thereafter, the ``improvements'' began, such as an added wing to the clubhouse so the snack bar would have more tables for its few customers. And, of course, the new pro also now has his very own private pro shop.
Speaking of the new pro, apparently he brought one of his better ideas from the Suffolk course. Now on the weekend, which he defines as Friday through Sunday, golfers cannot walk the course until after 2 p.m. Instead, we are relegated to blaze down the cart paths (pavement should be illegal on a golf course) between golf shots, so that play may presumably proceed at a faster pace and more players are accommodated.
On the other hand, a player who walks can gain a far better appreciation of the layout and analyze the next shot while walking to the golf ball, versus the speed racer who is chasing down his partner's golf ball as well as his own.
Besides, do we always have to be in a hurry in this society? I thought golf was supposed to be a relaxing game. Let us put away the smelly and noisy carts, and smell the trees and flora, hear the birds chirping, see the chipmunks scampering and get a little exercise, so we don't look like we sit in golf carts instead of walking. Also, the damage inflicted on the fairways by carts will be significantly reduced by getting golfers out of their carts.
And then there is the matter of the green fee that rose to $17 (a 40 percent increase).
Oh, but the straw that broke the camel's back was the refusal of your pro shop attendant to honor a six-month-old rain check. So I begrudgingly paid him the required $17 and played my last round at Sleepy Hole.
Randall C. Born
Norfolk
Aug. 25, 1995 Cemetaries deplorable
An open letter to Portsmouth Mayor Gloria O. Webb:
We, the members of the Green Pine Garden Club, are writing to the city of Portsmouth concerning the deplorable conditions of the cemeteries.
On May 4, 1989, our club held a dedication ceremony at the gravesite in Cedar Grove Cemetery of Grace Phillips Pollard. Mrs. Pollard is the only first lady of Virginia from the city of Portsmouth. Since that time, Green Pine Garden Club has accepted sole responsibility for the upkeep of the Phillips-Pollard plot at no expense to the city.
This cemetery was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and in 1991 on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is also on the Walking Tour of our city. How embarrassing it should be to have visitors walk through and see the vandalism and desecration by hoodlums and the general disdain for upkeep by the city.
To quote William Blake, from an article in the local newspaper: ``. . . It is more than a cemetery. It is also an archive. Each of those stones is like an individual page in a history book.''
Hugh Miller, a director of the Department of Historic Resources, is quoted, again from the local paper, as saying, ``. . . It is our judgment that Cedar Grove Cemetery richly deserves this official recognition as one of the Commonwealth's historic resources.''
Portsmouth has many historic resources that have not been preserved or advertised to the general public. We, as a club, would like to encourage you to be selective of what you allow to fall into disrepair, tear down, or generally ignore in favor of building something bigger, better and which in a few years will be no better than what you have destroyed due to your lack of commitment, enforcement of discipline and/or punishment for the destruction of property.
While Cedar Grove is important to us, Oak Grove and Olive Branch are our concerns, also. Oak Grove will soon rival Cedar Grove in vandalism and neglect and Olive Branch is already beginning to follow this pattern.
It seems to this group that before we commit ourselves to new buildings, as opposed to renovating existing structures or any other grandiose schemes, we should take care of the heritage of our city. Preservation of buildings, parks and cemeteries is important to this heritage. If we neglect to do so, we soon will have not heritage left, only plans to destroy and try to build, not for the future, but for the moment.
Wilda W. Oakley
Corresponding Secretary
Green Pine Garden Club
Sept. 6, 1995 Racism and one's attire
Why is it that any show of Afrocentrism by an African-American is often interpreted by Caucasians as a blatant act of racism? The letter from H.M. Petrey is truly frustrating as this individual has declared it improper for black elected officials (such as members of City Council) to dress in ethnic attire. I suppose that it shouldn't surprise me, as any time a black makes such a statement, it's ``racism,'' when whites do it, it's ``candor.''
I applaud any individual for showing pride in race. If we all are to live by the social norm, then bravo for all black Americans who are making the beauty of the Kente a part of their ``everyday'' attire.
For so long, African-Americans have been denied their proper place in America's history books and society. Lerome Bennett, author of ``Before the Mayflower,'' said it best, ``What is hard for white people to understand. . . is that while black Americans have been part and parcel of this country virtually from its inception, their history is not part of the everyday texture of life in this country.''
So tell me, would you denounce a nun wearing a habit on City Council? I hardly believe that a person's decision-making abilities are affected by the clothing they choose to wear. Make sure your ``exodus to another city'' isn't to Norfolk; I hear there's some guy named Father Joseph Green on the City Council who has the nerve to wear his clerical collar!
Shawn L. Ware
Avondale Road
Sept. 12, 1995 Bike Trek time again
Soon it will be time for the American Lung Association Bike Trek in Williamsburg. The Bike Trek is for anyone who enjoys riding a bike. It's a wonderful way to have fun and raise money to help fight lung disease.
The first seven years I biked, I did so in honor of my father, Dwight L. Core Sr. He suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This year I will bike in his memory. He died on July 6.
Anyone who has watched a loved one suffer with lung disease understands why we need to support the work of the American Lung Association. Their trademark is, ``When you can't breathe, nothing else matters.''
People can find out more about this exciting weekend by calling 1-800-LUNG USA. Whether you sign up to ride your bike or ask about sponsoring someone who is biking, please call this number.
You can make a difference in the fight against lung disease.
Patricia Core Ingmire
Virginia Beach
Sept. 11, 1995 by CNB