Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 25, 1995 TAG: 9509250076
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Silly me! I found it offensive to have a $50 bully stick used to coerce my signature on a contract. It's also easy to comprehend why some parents are upset about this document, but can't put their finger on why. This is the first contract that I've ever signed that I didn't receive a copy. (I later requested one.) While I realize the paperwork was required by law for the school's files, the legislation would have been better implemented in an informational context rather than the threatening contractual form used by the county.
It also would have been more palatable if it had been stressed that these bully tactics are intended for ``hard cases,'' and not generally well-behaved students. I found this document offensive and adversarial. I don't need a bully stick to negotiate problems with my children's education. That is a credit to the county's school administrators.
It should be noted that the applicable part of the Virginia legislation is on the back of the contract, recognizing that the majority of parents are responsible in their relationship with school administrations. A small mention of that on the front side would have been efficacious.
DEBORAH ZAMORSKI
BOONES MILL
City is no place for barnyard animals
REGARDING your Sept. 13 article, ``Roanoke's no safe haven for family's porcine pets'':
I'm appalled that the neighbors in Wasena were portrayed as uncaring, selfish people. Many of the Thompsons' neighbors also own pets (dogs, cats, etc.). We have nothing against a family owning pigs, but they should be taken to the country where homes aren't several feet apart.
Dinner and Jessabelle, the Thompsons' two black pigs, were depicted as occasionally venturing out of their living room. Well, they venture out to relieve themselves quite often. Their manure piles up, collects flies and causes an extremely foul odor - so strong that you can smell it across the street.
The Thompsons commented that the pigs are always a hit with elementary-school children, etc. The farm-animal petting zoo is popular, too, but you wouldn't want to live next door to it. It isn't pleasant to smell the odor of manure only feet from your front door.
Yes, you can make a pig a pet. Really, you can make any barnyard animal a pet, but for heaven's sake, keep them in their element. The city is no place for pigs, chickens, etc.
Roanoke has spent a lot of money promoting tourism in the valley. Is this the image we want to portray - makeshift corrals and pigs in yards? I don't think so. As citizens of Roanoke city, we must not let the ordinance be amended to allow pigs.
RODNEY MARSTON
ROANOKE
Are road hearings just for show?
DURING a recent county meeting on U.S. 221, a number of people commented that selecting a road location should be left up to the Virginia Department of Transportation (Sept. 13 article, ``U.S. 221 decision deferred''). If this is so, then why are both VDOT and Roanoke County holding public hearings on this issue? The public's opinion is vital. VDOT cannot and should not be given free reign to interrupt people's lives and communities as it sees fit.
Roanoke County is currently establishing a ``vision'' for the county. A major connecting theme among focus groups calls for a county that has active citizen participation in the county's affairs. The vision also calls for a government responsive to the desires of its citizenry. If the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors elects now not to listen to the overwhelming majority of the people who want to keep the road within the existing road corridor, public trust in a system that should and could work will have broken down in a most serious fashion.
Why have future public hearings? Why even have a vision of public participation when the public isn't listened to? To me, voting to study two alignments says we (the county and VDOT) are going to wear the public down. We are going to put U.S. 221 on the southside sometime in the future. We don't care about the public's input; the public hearings are just for show!
I ask the board to vote for the existing alignment. Keep the public trust intact!
RANDAL G. CONNER
ROANOKE
Schedules enhance year-round schools
ROANOKE County schools again are considering the possibility of year-round schools (Sept. 15 article, ``Year-round schools up to parents''), apparently without much enthusiasm. If I recall correctly, about a generation ago a trial run of year-round schools was made by some Roanoke County schools. When the trial run was completed, no further action was taken.
If such a plan is adopted again, the opportunity should be seized to increase the number of teaching days from 180 to 200 or beyond. Also, increase the teaching day in length to allow for time in the study hall to complete homework assignments not completed at home. This was suggested by Edward F. Droge Jr. (``How to improve our schools'') on your Sept. 15 commentary page.
Schedules for year-round schools aren't set in stone. There's bound to be confusion in the scheduling of classroom teachers, which for many years has been set in stone.
Here's a suggestion for a 40-week, 200-day, year-round school: a five-week down period from Thanksgiving until the New Year. This will give students an opportunity to find employment during the Christmas shopping season. One week of schools closed at Easter, and two weeks each at the Fourth of July and Labor Day, allowing families to take two-week vacations with their children.
THOMAS C. FISHER JR
ROANOKE
Paying too high a price for oil
BIG OIL companies and their high-priced lobbyists in Washington just launched a sneak attack to open the biological ``heart'' of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska to oil drilling.
Congress passed a budget blueprint in June, which assumes revenues from oil leasing, and it will soon vote to change the law to allow oil development in the refuge as part of the huge budget bill. Using this tricky maneuver, the oil industry avoids the glare of heated public debates that it lost in the past.
At stake is the coastal plain, called ``America's Serengeti'' because of its unique wildlife. Musk oxen, millions of migratory birds, and the nation's most important onshore denning areas of polar bears are found there. The 152,000-member Porcupine caribou herd migrates hundreds of miles to give birth in this sensitive habitat for which scientists report there's no alternative.
Oil development would entail a sprawling industrial complex with roads, pipelines, drilling rigs, gravel mines and production facilities, which would permanently destroy this spectacular wilderness. For what? A 200-day supply of crude oil or a few percentage points of U.S. demand - if oil is found. More than 90 percent of the North Slope of Alaska is already open to oil development. Surely we can preserve the 10 percent currently protected in the refuge.
NANCY GILLIAM
MEADOWS OF DAN
Court the kids as welcome customers
A TOWN that doesn't make its young people feel wanted and provides very few alternatives for their entertainment may reap high juvenile crime, teen pregnancy, and drug and alcohol abuse. (``Idle hands ... ,'' you know). While their clothing statements may be surprising, and while they may sometimes get loud and rowdy, the teens hanging out downtown or in the mall are at least sober, clothed and, to some extent, supervised.
Instead of trying to run our young people off, maybe the business community could benefit from their enthusiasm. Sponsoring ``Teen Nights'' at local malls, movie theaters, nightclubs, restaurants, video stores, etc., would be great public relations and, in the long run, might benefit the community as a whole.
Reward good report cards with coupons, sponsor tutoring programs for students who need it, offer apprenticeships or provide mentors who could help keep our students in school and prepare them for careers. (Encourage your employees to volunteer!)
More teen centers with diverse activities might help.
Most young adults don't steal, vandalize or even litter. A simple ``Hey, keep it down, you guys!'' - with a smile - will usually quiet rowdy behavior. Please treat our young people like the potential customers they are.
KIM LaBRECQUE
ROANOKE
by CNB