THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509080206
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
In Great Bridge, where my family has lived for 25 years, we are forced to pay high prices for water that is undrinkable.
The water leaves salt on our bodies after showers. It is useless to make ice. We have to buy water to drink and make ice cubes and to give our pets. Our dishes come out of the washer with a smoky, dingy color.
Are we residents compensated for this lack of ability of our city to provide us with potable water? No! We're asked to pay $2.10 more a month for undrinkable water.
We are told other areas of Chesapeake receive salt-free water. I wonder where the administrator of our water system resides.
Is this a new problem in Chesapeake? No! It has been going on for years and years.
If the managers of our water system had been in private business, they would have been gone long ago. Our water managers have been here for years and have not solved the water problems in all that time. I, for one, am of the opinion we need some new management in our water system.
All we get is poor quality water at higher prices, year after year after year. How long do we have to support this apparent inability to solve the problem?
Thomas E. Violet
Beauregard Drive An effective tool
Through many years of helping on home improvement and home maintenance projects, it never ceases to excite me when a wonderful tool comes along to accomplish a certain task. One example of this is a pressure cleaner. It works great and can accomplish so much in a short amount of time.
At first, even when I learned about pressure cleaners and saw someone else using them, I stayed away out of fear I would hurt myself, damaged the tool or have to deal with the owner's manual if something went wrong. Once I got beyond my fears and used it, it became an incredibly useful tool. I will never resort to a scrub brush and bucket again for large tasks.
It was the same with our home computer. For years I was afraid of using it, thinking I would erase a file or make a costly error. So I chose not to even turn it on. Once I set my fears aside and started using it, I was able to accomplish great things. I was mad at myself for not using it sooner!
With any great tool, courage is involved. You have to educate yourself on how it works, the proper way to use it and what risks are involved, and then use it! It involves changing the way you've always done something and may involve more time at first to learn how to use it. But once you learn to use it properly, wonderful things happen.
If you've been reading the newspaper or watching City Council meetings, you're aware that the Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations, many Chesapeake citizens and four city councilmen (Alan P. Krasnoff, John M. de Triquet, Robert T. Nance Jr. and Dalton S. Edge) advocate using an ``adequate public facilities'' ordinance as a tool to effectively manage growth of residential property in Chesapeake. They suggest using this tool to time the building of new neighborhoods with the building of adequate infrastructure.
Some people are suggesting that this tool could stop growth or damage businesses. They want to maintain the status quo instead of showing courage and leadership to try the new tool.
I would suggest that the average person who has experienced splitting a large amount of wood with a log-splitter (a wonderful tool), has a difficult time accomplishing the same task with an ax.
Our City Council has before it the difficult task of managing growth effectively. If an adequate public facilities ordinance is not the most effective tool for the task, I would challenge them to find a better one!
As our quality of life continues to deteriorate in Chesapeake, citizens are waiting for the council to show the courage and leadership to find the right tool and use it.
Denise Waters
Clearfield Avenue Musical genius
The Virginia Symphony Pops, long deserving a dynamic leader, has at last realized its dream. The concert under the stars at Chesapeake City Park on the evening of Aug. 31 was vibrant, happy music.
It was led by a local product, director Thomas Wilkins, a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk and now a resident director of the Florida Orchestra, giving Tidewater the best music and stimulating narrative heard here in many a year.
Wilkins, a genuine virtuoso, and the orchestra were exhilarating throughout the two-hour concert of classical and popular music.
Thomas Wilkins is a musical genius. He is welcome to return to Chesapeake to conduct often.
Jerry Blair
Western Branch Boulevard Chinese oppression
It's uncanny that the United Nations' women's rights conference is being held in Beijing, China, since it is from there that 200 Chinese women sailed to America in order to escape severe punishment for choosing not to abort their children. Their arrival here resulted in their being imprisoned while awaiting exportation back to China, where they feared punishment or even execution.
China is the greatest example of a country abusing women and children, because Chinese law forces abortion by allowing only one child per family.
The current administration, just two years ago, wanted to grant admittance to HIV-infected patients, while providing welfare benefits and medical coverage for them. Yet, it chose to deny freedom to oppressed Chinese mothers and their children.
Why would the first lady and Bella Abzug even want to go to this conference on abortion rights, feminism and increasing genders unless, as it seems, they are in sympathy with this agenda?
Where is America headed?
Rocky Roach
Emporia Court by CNB