THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9509290177
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
I wish to applaud The Beacon editorial page for continuing articles on the past financial affairs of the Virginia Beach school system and the various players. Editorial Page Editor Beth Barber's columns are very good and on the mark. Her printing the internal audit report of April 3, 1995, and the memorandum of Oct. 14, 1993, from then-Chief Financial Officer Hal W. Canary to then-Superintendent Faucette is a service to the taxpay-ers.
With the audit of the school system's financial history now in progress, it would be premature to point fingers. However, it would be difficult to avoid the observation that the sudden exits of internal auditor Kevin Jones and Hal Canary might well be related closely to their baring of financial mischief. And Dr. Faucette's departure for points south might be similarly inspired.
Additionally, I am curious both as to Dr. Jim Pughsley's contribution to the problems and to the wisdom of employing Ph.D. educators at his level in financial affairs.
It is not too much to hope at this juncture that City Council will conclude the affair by seeing that responsible personnel, whether still in the system or elsewhere, are properly held accountable for failing to carry out their fiduciary duties.
I do hope that the school system which is now employing Dr. Faucette is seeing the Beacon editorial page on a regular basis. For them, it may read like a modern-day, serialized version of the ``Perils of Pauline'' (or a primer in watching the superintendent).
Henry C. Field
Virginia Beach
Bin too small, patience too short for biweekly recycling pickup
The recently inaugurated neighborhood collection of recyclable waste on a biweekly basis is a regressive measure.
The city asserts that collecting every two weeks instead of every week will double the area of collection and thus include twice as many households without additional costs for equipment and manpower.
But the negative factors will far outweigh the initial savings. Residents will give up when the little blue box overflows in the winter winds. Residents will have faithfully crushed their large plastic water bottles and sorted their newspapers into brown paper bags only to find that there is no way to put two weeks' collection into a one-week con-tainer.
The public will soon see the SPSA is using the individual's home as a storage area because of a two-week wait for setting out the recyclables. And the revolt will then take the form of abandonment of good will, and of throwing the entire mess into the black, 80-gallon trash container.
The better course of action would be to issue larger SPSA containers. But once people are frustrated, it will be hard to recapture the spirit of voluntarism. We will witness the increasing boycott of an already complicated recycling system in which bottles are subjected to color discrimination and opaque plastic containers are rejected on the basis of an inscrutable triangular logo.
The homeowner is very lucky if the SPSA driver leaves behind an empty, overturned container indicating a job well done - when the city condescends to accept every piece of recyclable waste.
A. P. Pirrone
Virginia Beach Will improving Shore Drive improve Shore Drive drivers?
I am concerned that the City of Virginia Beach is planning on spending thousands of dollars on improvements to Shore Drive to ``lower the accident rate.'' Reasons cited for accidents included trees and narrow shoulders. Motorists run off the road to hit these trees and careen across the shoulders. I travel this stretch of Shore Drive several times a week and, when driving the 55 mph speed limit, am frequently passed as though I am standing still. Many westbound motorists turn off Atlantic Avenue and take off as if they are in the Indianapolis 500. The Virginia Beach Police are a constant presence and still can't pull over every speeder.
Until drivers become more responsible, more deaths and serious injuries will occur on this road. It is a shame we have to spend money for guard rails for motorists to bounce off of or cut down trees that are several yards off the roadway because drivers are too careless to stay on the road. The road is not unsafe. The drivers are.
Margaret Allen
Virginia Beach by CNB