ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
I AGREE with your Sept. 17 editorial, ``Preschool should come first.'' Children develop their personality, learn and grow at a faster rate in their first six years of life than in their whole lifetime. Why do we constantly ignore this?
I believe, as was stated in the editorial, parents have to be the first teachers. Let's face it, they are - whether it be for good or bad.
I am not a parent, but have empathy with today's parents. As a preschool teacher, knowing that you are part of the learning environment that affects the child's whole life is a scary feeling. Because of this, we need to provide more parent education - not just for the benefit of the ``problem'' child but for the ``normal'' child, too. However, if education is provided, the priority must be there to learn.
Another problem that needs to be addressed is the preschool teacher's income. The wages are in the lowest percentile of salaries. Some people say teachers can never be paid enough. I believe this to some degree. However, there has to be a way to make the income match more equally the profession's importance and need for it.
If we keep crowding our classrooms and educating totally against the facts of early-childhood development, we cannot succeed.
DONNA WILLARD
SALEM
Charities can take up the slack
WITHIN THE past few years, our country's private businesses have had to ``downsize'' to keep competitive in the work force. Now we as citizens are being asked where to cut our government's excessive spending.
It isn't a pleasant task and everyone says the idea is great, except ``not in my area.'' Perhaps the best idea would be to cut every program by the same percentage, encouraging each area of government to become more cost-conscious.
One way that we can help to reduce the huge social-services budget is to give to local and worldwide charities that spend less on management. Our local churches, for example, are excellent agencies to deliver needed help to our country and to foreign areas with a very low cost for delivery.
And we're fortunate in the Roanoke Valley to have several excellent agencies helping our local residents, such as the Bradley Free Clinic, Roanoke Area Ministries, Habitat for Humanity and the Rescue Mission.
As Roanokers and American citizens, we must take up the challenge and be part of the solution to let our country fulfill its potential and be solvent economically.
JUDY ADKINS
ROANOKE
The dumbing down of the electorate
IF YOU want higher taxes, your man is Slick Willie. His victory in the upcoming election would ultimately lessen take-home pay, guaranteeing a lower standard of living for most families.
If you accept the polls' predictions, then prepare yourself for what's in store for all of us.
How believable are these polls? A cooperative press has always manipulated public opinion to establish the Democratic Party's strategy in elections. The upcoming election carves out a similar pattern to pander especially to the ill-advised and the ignorant.
Or has the voter been so dumbed down in the political arena that the country's direction means nothing to him or her anymore in the daily scheme of things?
Despite today's heavy emphasis on education, which seems not to have sharpened sensibilities one iota, the typical voter appears incapable of distinguishing right from wrong - the key elements consisting of personal responsibility and common sense based on the religious principles our founding fathers intended.
Hypocrisy comes easy to Slick Willie because he has practiced it so much. Well-known as a left-winger, he typically poses as a conservative to boost his election chances.
Soon after his election, Clinton showed his utter contempt for hard-working taxpayers by suddenly attacking their economic underbelly. During his campaign, he promised the middle class tax relief, but reversed himself in the election's aftermath by increasing taxes to the highest level in history.
Now that takes guts, and describes in a nutshell what he really thinks of the people - which brings up the most pertinent question of all: Does the American public understand all this?
WILLIAM VASSALLO
ROANOKE
Police may have forgotten their oath
MAY I point out a few things that are apparent in your Sept. 16 Associated Press news article, ``Clinton gets police backing.''
The 270,000 members of the National Fraternal Order of Police somewhere at some time pledged an oath before God to enforce law and order, to serve the public and to protect the lives of the public. The key words are protecting lives. This means all lives.
Yet these members are now backing the man who vetoed a bill that would ban partial-birth abortions. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. Republicans and Democrats alike saw a need for it, and the medical profession asked for the legislation. It would stop the horrible, cruel and barbaric procedure of murder. Yes, people - the murder of small, innocent lives who have no protection.
God will judge harshly and severely for this.
JOHN BROUGHMAN
EAGLE ROCK
Next, the kid may smooch a pooch
AFTER READING about the 6-year-old boy who was suspended from school on the grounds of sexual harassment (Sept. 25 Associated Press news article, ``Boy's smooch smacks of harassment''), I was appalled when I came to realize my 24-year-old daughter has been practicing bestiality since she was 7 years old.
That's when I first saw her hug and kiss the family dog.
ROBERT W. POPPER
BLUE RIDGE
Virginia should not give Bono a stage
IN RESPONSE to your coverage of Rep. Sonny Bono's speech to local GOP members (Oct. 1 news article, ``Rep. Bono: Clinton's a crook''):
The fact that he is taken seriously by the Republican Party should be reason enough for any thoughtful person to vote Democratic. That a man with as little foreign-policy knowledge as he has wouldn't be laughed off the stage is in itself difficult to fathom.
Bono is apparently a much-valued fund-raising speaker for the Republican Party. That he has the temerity to question the president on foreign policy is really an outrage. Furthermore, I am embarrassed to live in a state where he would be taken seriously as a speaker for any political party. Calling President Clinton a ``crook,'' a term which Rep. Bob Goodlatte had the good sense to distance himself from, was a totally unsubstantiated bit of editorializing on Bono's part.
Let's hope that he can, in his own words, ``find an island and take his kids there.''
BARBARA L. SOWELL
BLACKSBURG
Let your conscience be your guide
THE TIME for voting is quickly approaching. I hope everyone who has griped and complained about or praised the present governmental leadership intends to vote.
It's the actual performance of voting that matters. No amount of rhetoric without action can create change. Each person of voting age should study the issues, the candidates and vote his or her conscience.
If you have confidence in or are unhappy with the present leaders, don't let someone else decide this election. Vote!
CRAIG J. BRADLEY
SALEM
LENGTH: Long : 146 linesby CNB