ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996                   TAG: 9606040010
SECTION: NEWSFUN                  PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO 

SO!!?

When Chelsey Shifflett opened the envelope that had The White House as the return address, she was amazed. She had expected to get a form letter back when she wrote to President Clinton and told him her thoughts on smoking.

What she received was a letter that specifically mentioned each of the concerns she had written in her letter. Better yet, the president's hand-written signature was at the bottom.

Chelsey, a seventh-grader at William Byrd Middle School in Vinton, had chosen to write the president as part of a letter-writing unit her English teacher, Mary Ellen Stokes, does with her classes every year.

Out of the 5,000 to 10,000 letters Clinton receives every day, only a handful are picked for him to personally see and sign. A White House staffer said letters are chosen based on the importance of the subject and how well-written and thoughtful they are.

Chelsey has read the letter from the president many times and plans to frame it and put it in her bedroom.

As for the president, we imagine the William Byrd pupils's name reminded him of someone he knows rather well.

LENGTH: Short :   30 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  (headshot) Chelsey. color.