THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601300108
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
In December, the Isle of Wight Reading Council collected new or ``like new'' books from parents, teachers and school division administrators, librarians and secretaries, with the purpose of including books in Christmas gift-giving.
The council is pleased to announce that its first Christmas book collection and distribution was very successful. Every child in the Learning Center's 4-year-old program at Windsor Elementary and Carrollton Elementary received a new book. In addition, new or ``like new'' books were distributed for all children in Head Start at the two Smithfield locations. Enough books were collected to then include them in school Christmas baskets and to place a collection in the waiting area of the Isle of Wight Department of Social Services.
The council sincerely appreciates the citizens and school personnel who made this possible with their contributions. It was encouraging as new books were received from parents, teachers, librarians and administrators, from council members and others not having membership yet wishing to participate.
Special appreciation is extended to Donna Fontaine's fourth-graders at Hardy Elementary School, who authored and published their own alphabet books for the Learning Center's students. Their publications demonstrated the spirit of giving to others in the community and the creativity of students focused on a purposeful reading/writing activity.
The council also wishes to recognize Little's Supermarket and the Windsor IGA, which agreed to be collection sites for parent/community contributions. For this activity and others, these businesses have willingly assisted the schools and students in Isle of Wight County.
Sincerest thanks are extended to all participants!
Roberta L. Smith
President, Isle of Wight
Reading Council Driver `wrong' who hit pet
I am writing to you to express the outrage I feel over a recent tragedy my family had to endure.
My husband and I live on a country road where many drivers knowingly exceed the speed limit. On a recent Saturday, my husband and one of our family pets were out in the yard as one of these drivers came by. Unfortunately, our pet darted into the road and was struck and killed by the vehicle. The driver made no attempt to slow down, swerve or stop. In fact, this person sped off at an increased rate of speed after the incident.
My point in writing this letter is hopefully to prevent this type of injustice from happening to another family. Doesn't this gutless driver know that simply stopping and offering to help or offering an apology would have at least eased our pain a little, not to mention that it is the decent thing to do? Instead, we were left to deal with this tragedy alone as our feelings of anger mounted.
We will never be able to regain our loss, but maybe some good can come from it. If you're ever involved in an accident with someone's pet, please do what any decent person would do. Stop and try to offer your assistance.
Our dog, Bubba, was a loyal and much-loved family member. He is greatly missed.
Chris Beale
Willie Roberts Road
Windsor by CNB