THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509260092
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Willoughby now Watching
Willoughby Spit truly is one of Norfolk's treasures.
But like many city neighborhoods, it, too, becomes a victim of the times. Lately, we've seen some disturbing crime statistics that give us cause for concern: In 1994 and up until April of this year, police have logged 25 residential burglaries, four commercial burglaries, two commercial robberies, 50 larcenies, 15 stolen vehicles, 27 larcenies of auto parts, three forcible rapes, four aggravated assaults, a similar number of indecent exposures, one stolen bike and 43 cases of vandalism.
As a member of the Willoughby Neighborhood Watch, I find the numbers disturbing and motivating. Willoughby Watch is a new neighborhood crime prevention partnership with the Norfolk Police Department. Proudly, I serve to help educate the more than 3,000 households on the spit about our crime prevention effort. Part of our mission is to canvass the neighborhood, hoping to convince residents to engrave their valuables.
Thanks to Lowe's, our program is off and running. When other competitors were contacted about donating engravers to our cause, they declined. But Lowe's never hesitated to lend a helping hand. Thanks to Tom Smith, manager at Lowe's Holland Road store in Virginia Beach, our crime prevention effort was launched immediately. With the donation of nine engravers, we have been successfully circulating the tools to our neighbors, who are now making it harder for criminals to pawn our most prized possessions.
We in the Willoughby Neighborhood Watch say, ``Thank you, Lowe's'' and thanks to all of you who've told us you want to make it difficult for criminals to choose Willoughby as their neighborhood of choice.
Paula Miller
West Ocean View Avenue > Where's the patriotism?
I must protest the false accusation made by Myron O. Wilcox about my Aug. 31 letter to the editor.
In Mr. Wilcox's letter he accuses me of making a poor investigation into the history of past clerks of the court who have served Norfolk. While it is true that past Clerk Billy Prieur became an attorney, he was not an attorney when he won election to the position of Clerk of the Court. So, in fact, the people of Norfolk have not elected an attorney to the position of Clerk of the Court in the past.
Billy Prieur studied hard while he was already in the job of Clerk of the Court. My statement that ``never in the history of Norfolk have we elected an attorney to the Clerk of the Court job'' was factually correct then as it still is now. I don't appreciate being falsely accused of doing a bad job of investigating my facts.
Tom Mason
11th Bay Here's the patriotism?
It's been awhile, but in the Aug. 3 Compass a letter by Bob Kernell disgusted me. He was so sympathetic to the Japanese for World War II. Where's his patriotism?
I was in World War II in the Navy and, though I didn't have to fight, I entertained at quite a few facilities where our boys were shot, some to pieces. And what about all those at Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima who never knew what hit them and perished to keep our country free?
It also gripes me that this country paid money to the Japanese taken in custody during the war and that the money mostly went to their dependents, most of whom weren't even born at that time.
The people who lost their loved ones should sue Japan. We rebuilt their country, and now Japan is one of the richest countries in the world.
I hurt to see the lack of patriotism nowadays toward the flag and the national anthem.
David Kennedy
Gates Avenue He's supporting Teich
I was a member of the Republican City Committee when Bill Whitehurst was elected to the House of Representatives from the 2nd District.
Once the Republican candidates for president of the United States started to have to make concessions to the anti-abortionists, I started voting for independents.
The advent of Newt Gingrich and his followers pushed me into the Democratic camp until the Democratic City Committee decided to let Randy Wright push Bill Ryan aside and be their candidate for clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court. Now, I have rejoined the ranks of the independents.
Bill Ryan had efficiently served in the clerk's office under Hugh Stovall when he was clerk, and, when Hugh retired, went on to serve as Clerk. His tenure was marked by excellence with no effort to make the office a position of influence on local or statewide politics. Bill would have liked to have served another term; but when it became apparent he was not going to receive the support of the Democratic Party leadership he withdrew.
If the Democratic Party leadership had honestly thought Bill should be replaced because of his age, or otherwise, and wanted someone with both solid Democratic credentials and the qualifications to do the job, they had only to turn to Thomas E. Baldwin, clerk of Norfolk General District Court. Instead they decided to back Randy Wright, who avowedly wants to make the position a seat of political power as it was in the days when Billy Prieur was clerk.
I must compliment the Republicans who, in a mass meeting nominated Al Teich, who is well-qualified to be clerk, over a businessman whose name I do not remember.
Much of the work of the Norfolk Circuit Court Clerk's office involves the keeping of important records, not the least of which include real estate and corporate records. Much of Al's work as a lawyer has been in the real estate and corporate areas. He is well-qualified to be the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Norfolk. I urge the citizens of Norfolk to forget their political party leanings and vote for the only qualified candidate in the race for clerk of Norfolk Circuit, Al Teich.
Richard I. Gulick
St. Paul's Boulevard On making decisions
Myron Wilcox's letter in the Sept. 15 Compass states that Norfolk Councilman Randolph Wright lacks ``in-house'' legal experience and should forget about seeking the position of clerk of Norfolk's Circuit Court and should direct his attention toward bringing a battleship to Nauticus to increase its dismal attendance record. I agree with Mr. Wilcox. A candidate debate, maybe?
In the same issue of The Compass, Phillip Piper states that in June 1992 he received a letter from Norfolk's Department of Utilities concerning sanitary sewer rehabilitation where he lives. He tried many times to contact the city to get work done on his street and now work around his street has been completed but not on his street. He says maybe the budgeted money was used to buy a baseball stadium or pay rent at Waterside.
These gentlemen are aware of the incompetence of City Council, the city manager and city department heads in my opinion.
Norfolk's city-owned jail, which is the city's responsibility to enlarge, was built for 579 but now holds 1,400. A new addition will only hold 309 of the overage. The problem exists.
Getting city officials to make competent decisions is like trying to unscramble broken eggs.
Bruce H. Banks
Pecan Point Road by CNB