ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996 TAG: 9612180075
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-18 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
IN RESPONSE to Kristen Mayhew's Dec. 12 letter to the editor (``Coach needs support, not criticism'') in support of former Botetourt High School football coach Andy Ward:
I can empathize with the depth of concern she expresses for a teacher and friend, and can appreciate how difficult it must be to see someone she cares about go through such a public ordeal. However, her heartfelt and sincere comments are misguided and, in some cases, erroneous.
Mayhew says that Ward's arrest for reckless driving and driving on a suspended license is a private matter. Not true. His actions took place on public roads where she and I and our loved ones travel. How many tragic stories have we read about innocent people, including children, killed due to drivers behaving as Ward did when he was arrested?
She says those actions shouldn't jeopardize his teaching position. I disagree. Not only did Ward behave in an irresponsible manner, he used a student's car to do so. This behavior was an inexcusable abuse of the student-teacher relationship. In effect, he made the student an accomplice in his willful disregard of the law. Remember, Ward's license was already suspended. He should not have been driving anywhere except to and from work, and should not have been driving a student's vehicle.
Mayhew says Ward isn't a criminal. I am sorry, but reckless driving and driving on a suspended license are violations of the law. He was traveling 90 mph when he was stopped, and had been stopped twice for driving under the influence this past year. Surely, she would agree that he knows the law and knew that he was violating the law on each of those occasions. That is criminal behavior.
I agree with her when she says that Ward ``is human and he made a mistake'' and he needs our support. I am sure she's correct in saying that Ward is a great guy. However, we all are held accountable for our actions. If Mayhew wants to support him in a way that truly helps, she must recognize that his mistakes were serious ones - not just trivial matters of bad judgment.
Ward is lucky. No one was injured or killed as a result of his actions. He has received a very clear wake-up call. He can recover from this incident and begin again, perhaps a little wiser than he was before. If he can count on the support of people like Mayhew, it will make that process much quicker and easier.
CHRIS CRISCIONE
ROANOKE
Use lottery to help defray tuition costs
A TUITION program costing parents $17,000 for each of their children was proposed by Virginia's Board of Higher Education as a prepayment for locking in four years of college tuition at state schools. The program was approved by the General Assembly and Gov. George Allen to counter skyrocketing tuition costs for future college and community college-bound freshmen. This is clearly a welcomed program.
But one wonders whether the board, the governor and the General Assembly might consider the tuition program that is being enjoyed by Georgia's taxpaying parents as an alternative solution to increasing tuition costs. In Georgia, the proceeds from its state lottery are used to defray tuition costs at all of its state schools. It's my understanding that tuition is waived for any student who has maintained a grade-point average of B or better.
Can one think of a better way to use the fortunes of the lottery than for Virginia to embrace a similar tuition program? I sense many parents would find this solution to skyrocketing tuition costs a bit more palatable than trying to raise $17,000 over the next few years for each of their college-bound children. Besides, such a program may well attract more high-tech industries and businesses to Virginia because of the availability of a better-educated work force and educational opportunities.
NANCY A. GIBBS
BLACKSBURG
Electricity use is up; the line is needed
JAMES Noonkester's Nov. 5 letter to the editor (``Lawmakers should probe power issue'') about the proposed 765-kv power line has some erroneous data in it. He stated that ``one 500-kilovolt line carries enough electricity to supply the needs of 2.2 million homes.''
A better rule of thumb (also the average) in the United States today is 2.75-kw per person of capability. Multiply this times the 2.1 million people in American Electric Power's Virginia Central/Eastern service area and you have a need for 5,775-mw of capability. The current electrical transmission capability is 5,665-mw. That is why we need a new transmission line.
Noonkester wants to ignore the facts: Electricity use is up by 112 percent since 1973, when the last major transmission line was built to serve this area, and the State Corporation Commission in its interim order found that ``based on the record before us, there is a compelling need for additional electric capacity.''
The Western outages give a perfect example of what can happen when we ignore an increasing need and a decreasing safety margin. We should help support this project so we don't end up like the Western states did earlier this year - in the dark.
JAMES E. WRIGHT
DALEVILLE
Racial redistricting discredited
THIS PAST election, a different light was shown on the issue of racism that was overlooked by the major media. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that representative districts that were intentionally drawn to ensure a majority of constituents based on race were unconstitutional. Immediately, cries of ``foul'' were raised by so-called ``minority leaders'' who proclaimed that racism was alive and well in America.
One of the most vocal opponents of the redistricting was black congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia's predominately black, gerrymandered 11th District. After redistricting, she was faced with the unjust task of running as a black woman in a predominately white voting district. However, after all the votes were tallied, McKinney was re-elected to represent her new constituency. Where was all of that white racism?
On the other end of the country in California's conservative and heavily Hispanic 46th District, it apears that nine-time congressman Bob Dornan has been narrowly defeated by Loretta Sanchez. Prior to the campaign, Sanchez made the expedient decision to drop her married name of Brixey and to resume using her maiden surname of Sanchez for the sole purpose of garnering the support of the populace who vote according to ethnicity rather than issues.
Is it not equally racist to vote for a candidate because of his or her race, as it is to not vote for a candidate because of their race?
DAVID ALLAN ROBERTS
GATE CITY
Executions show hardness of heart
AS THE YEAR draws to a close, the holiday time is marred and darkened for many of us by the shadow of the executions taking place in the state. Virginia now leads all states in the nation in the number of persons put to death in a single year.
At a time when the spirit of warmth, generosity and compassion should prevail among us and in the hearts and minds of our fellow Virginians and state leaders, we see instead a mood of hardness of heart and of vengeance not in keeping with the religious teachings of the season - or of any season.
The crimes committed by those given the death penalty are often terrible. Yet isn't it possible that in the 10 or more years since committing these acts, one or more of these men may have changed or come in a new view of life? If we have no trust in the possibility of the human heart and soul to change, can anyone have cause for hope? Life imprisonment is punishment indeed. Yet while there is life, there is hope of redemption.
In denying clemency in almost all of the cases in the past weeks, Gov. Allen has cited as his reason for doing so the proven guilt of the accused. But clemency is defined (Webster's Dictionary) as ``mercy as towards an offender or enemy'' and doesn't rest on proven guilt but on the spirit of forgiveness for the guilty one.
Many Virginians in and out of our churches and other religious institutions are deeply saddened by the continued display of state-institutionalized brutality, and are praying that perhaps Allen may yet grant clemency to those still awaiting death before Christmas Day.
JOHN and JANICE KULP LONG
BLACKSBURG
Editor's note: This letter was signed by 20 members and attenders of the Good Shepherd Church of the Brethren and Blacksburg Friends Meeting.
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