Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506190004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Goals 2000 has programs like outcome-based education, which has already been found offensive to parents. It establishes programs, such as parents as teachers, which allow selected government workers to go into the home to teach parents. And if they refuse the suggested material, they may lose their children to social-service agencies.
Goals 2000 puts forth demands for school-based clinics with the authority to pass out condoms, take children for abortions without parental consent. It makes no funds available for abstinence education, but demands homosexual education.
Goals 2000 calls for a National Education Board.
Guess who will pay for these programs forced on the states and parents?
ROSALYN HARRELL
ROANOKE
Civil Air Patrol uses volunteers
HURRAY FOR Lynne Lewis! Her June 1 letter (``Heavy duty for volunteer rescuers'') about unsung volunteers' commitment really hit home.
As a member of the Civil Air Patrol that deals with search-and-rescue operations, I think the public deserves to know that it's our organization's volunteers who get the job done through complete dedication to the cause.
Searching for missing aircraft and persons, and offering disaster-relief assistance, requires strict discipline and training for those involved. Constant training classes are conducted in the field and classroom. To be a mission-qualified pilot, 200 hours of command-pilot time, written exams and flight proficiency are required. Personnel working on the ground are also put through stringent paces for state certification. All personnel are trained in radio-communication skills, and participate in several organized joint-training exercises that sometimes include state police, dog and horse search teams, the Red Cross, Appalachian Search and Rescue, and rescue squads of local communities.
In addition, because Civil Air Patrol is the auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, a yearly evaluation is conducted to test our skills. Every third year, a complete inspection is conducted to evaluate our programs, materials and personnel. These are only a few examples of the in-depth training, time and resources required. However, these requirements do not deter those who believe that Civil Air Patrol is making a difference, and want to be a vital part of it.
This isn't just an organization for adults. Civil Air Patrol includes young people from ages 13 (or completion of the sixth grade) through 18. It's the dedication of all involved that symbolizes our motto: ``That Others May Live.''
Little does the public realize that being a volunteer incorporates much more than saying ``I volunteer.'' Like others in the search-and-rescue community, Civil Air Patrol deals with life-or-death situations. It's the reality of what's behind the scenes that prepares us to serve.
KAREN L. COPENHAVER
Director, Public Affairs
Virginia Wing, Civil Air Patrol
MARION
Anti-gun laws are overreaching
I AM confused. Have I missed something? My cousin invites me to go deer hunting. As I unwittingly drive down Charles Town's Main Street with my deer rifle conspicuously in the gun rack in my pickup's back window, I happen to pass the middle school. Well, here come the local Andy Taylor and Barney Fife, blue lights flashing and siren howling. The next thing I know, I'm read my rights and headed to the slammer.
I find it difficult to understand why a law would be passed outlawing a firearm being within 1,000 feet of a school. Does this imply that law-abiding citizens transform into homicidal maniacs at the sight of a school? A criminal bent on destruction assuredly isn't going to worry about a 1,000-feet law. It's becoming more apparent that lawmakers are more worried about law-abiding citizens than criminals. Does this mean if a person's home is across the street from a school, that person will have to give up his or her Second Amendment rights?
How ignorant do these nitwits think we are? How come, after approximately 200 years, we keep sending this bungling bunch to Washington year after year to pass more new laws? Maybe we are that dumb.
GARY K. SPENCE
CHRISTIANSBURG
Arguments aside, a life is at stake
TWO LETTERS to the editor (June 6, ``A potential person isn't yet a person'' by John B. Hodges, and June 7, ``A one-sided view of abortion issues'' by William Clausen) took issue with a pro-life letter concerning abortions. Both supported the right to abortions because that which is aborted isn't a real ``person.''
When will pro-choicers (pro-death since there's no choice involved) have the courage to admit what truly happens in an abortion? An innocent and defenseless person dies.
JOHN C. LeDOUX
BLACKSBURG
by CNB