ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
IT'S NOT really news anymore that the physical facilities at Cave Spring Junior High School leave a lot to be desired, as your Sept. 19 news article (``Lt. Gov. feels schools' crunch'') points out so well. While it's important that our state and local leaders see the needs for themselves, and I appreciate the lieutenant governor's attention to the problems at the school, I think some important attributes have been overlooked.
At the school's ``Back-to-School'' night recently, these attributes came through loud and clear. They are the principal and teachers who are proud of their school and do not seem to mind the inconveniences involved in working at a school that's overcrowded and undergoing renovations while they teach. Most teachers are in temporary classrooms, knowing that they may be moved more than once before the school year is over.
One of my ninth-grade son's teachers doesn't even have a classroom. She has a cart for her supplies that she wheels from class to class each period to wherever there is an empty room during that block of time.
These may sound like hardships and hindrances to teaching, but not one teacher was complaining. They merely explained to parents why there were few classroom decorations and teaching aids posted on the walls. The teachers and students are being flexible, and working together to accommodate the work being done.
My sixth-grader eats lunch at 10:20 a.m. This isn't an ideal situation, but he hasn't once complained.
The students aren't suffering academically. They are enjoying the benefits of some of the area's finest teachers, and are also learning some other important lessons in life - how to be flexible and accommodating whenever the need arises, without grumbling about it. There are no compromises in education at Cave Spring Junior, and I think its staff and students are to be commended.
MARY SUE LIBASSI
ROANOKE
A sorry trail to the White House
THE POLITICAL bridge to the future requires an honest assessment of the trail traveled.
A Vietnam War dissident, born again, professes love and genuine concern for our country and its people - hourly, it seems. He takes pride in reminding us of meeting President John F. Kennedy as a teen-ager in Washington, D.C. He states that this molded his life for public service - obviously not military service - to his beloved country.
Formally educated at Georgetown, Oxford and Yale universities, though suffering from intellectual Alzheimer's, he doesn't recall President Kennedy's ultimate charge in his most inspirational speech: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
Participating in anti-America rallies while escaping military service was an outrage to our country and people. It undermined President Johnson and the good he was attempting with his Great Society program, causing his early retirement. Now this man professes to be the champion of ordinary people with a continuation of President Johnson's best efforts. A chameleon would blush from this shameful arrogance.
Where was ex-President Jimmy Carter - a good and decent man - at convention time in Chicago? His absence was obvious. But, after all, he has tried-and-true integrity.
Please open eyes, ears, voices - and vote.
J. KEITH BOHON
ROANOKE
Ah, the glories of tradition
``TURN VMI into a history museum.'' What a wonderful idea John T. Jordan (Sept. 28 letter to the editor) had. I wish I had thought of that one.
I think of Colonial Williamsburg, and I imagine Confederate Virginia Military Institute. All those wonderful cadets and rats dressed up in the grey of 1861. And the "worthy cause - freedom from tyranny." We can show all the slaves serving their masters at school, just praying that the Union not prevail so they can stay with their kind and generous masters.
Of course, we won't have to include any women in uniform in this museum, to be true to history. We'll just have them cleaning the latrines.
MORTON NADLER
BLACKSBURG
A false analogy with right to work
REGARDING Richard E. Jeskey's Sept. 19 commentary (``Are some laws written to deceive?"):
His comparison of right-to-work laws with class-action suits was a self-defeating analogy. Plaintiffs involved in a class-action suit have an opportunity to opt out and pursue their action against the defendant on their own - at their own expense. I was recently given this opportunity in a class action against General Motors, and did indeed opt out.
Abolishing the right-to-work laws would take away the worker's right to opt out of the union and make his own personal deal with the employer. I might make a better or worse deal than the union made, but it would be my deal.
Being forced to accept union membership to get a job or being forced to be a member of a class-action suit isn't my idea of the freedom for which millions of American soldiers have fought and died. One is not forced to participate in a class-action suit.
The impact of the rest of the commentary, commenting on legislative deception, was diminished by what appeared to me to be a deceptive analogy.
ROBERT FRANK ADAMS
ROANOKE
The uproar over a kiss
I CANNOT believe the Sept. 25 news article, ``Boy's smooch smacks of harassment," made the front page of the newspaper.
What in the world is wrong with this school system? I am shocked that a principal and teacher would suspend a 6-year-old for sexual harassment based on a kiss on the cheek. This is sick and downright outrageous. Something like this could scar this little boy for life. Kids are just kids and don't even know what sexual harassment means.
It made me want to cry that this little boy missed out on an ice cream party and coloring with his friends.
Something like this in high school, maybe, but in elementary school? Come on.
JOYCE HODGE
CHRISTIANSBURG
The death of Captain America
AS A DEDICATED comic-book fan, I was surprised to see Captain America's picture in your Sept. 18 Extra section. I became more irritated the further I read the Associated Press article (``Marvel Comics gambles with a super rebirth'') .
Comic books are not like the cartoons you see on Saturday television. They are literature. Comic-book writers may not be as pressed to paint a picture with words as other authors, but they create characters with more depth and humanity than I've read in most literary classics.
Calling Captain America one-dimensional is like calling Shakespeare simplistic, which proves the author has never read an issue of Captain America. So I challenge his authority to write at all on the topic.
The impression I got from the article was that there were only two views: to revamp the comics or throw them out. The author calls those who object to either "purists," implying that we are overworried about small details. Perhaps.
Or perhaps the idea of destroying more than 50 years of history doesn't appeal to us. Perhaps Marvel's idea that these legends are some sort of thing to manipulate as they want is disturbing.
Imagine being told that the characters we knew and loved never existed, their entire history was invalid, they were flawed and needed to be corrected. I don't care if Jerry Weist is a comic-arts deity - anyone who decides that Marvel needs to "let go" of these characters has no respect for what they represent. They are superheroes, positive role models.
It was nice to see some coverage of comic books, but disappointing to not see them receive any of the treatment they deserve. The article was irresponsible and not well-considered. Speaking of Captain America, Giant-Man once said, "There's always a way ... . We learned that from a man who lived every moment by that belief."
Farewell, Captain, you'll be missed.
JEREMEY BALDWIN
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Long : 149 linesby CNB