THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602030106
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letters
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Just try moving from public housing
Public housing makes the news again. Now Norfolk wants to evict everyone who has been in its units too many years.
How many public housing officials live off of $6,000 dollars a year?We are treated as if we are people who need to be hidden, not seen.
Try to talk to somebody about buying a house with a $6,000 annual income. Try to talk to someone about Section 8. Don't you think we would like to get out into a house? We who have high school diplomas, a year or two of college can't get any place. Don't criticize us until you've walked in our shoes.
We are treated like second-hand citizens by public housing officials.
Some managers talk to you like you are stupid, don't think for yourself and don't understand.
To people who think public housing is easy living, move in. I'm trying hard to move out, but every real estate dealer I've talked to says my monthly income is not enough.
But I'm not going to stop trying.
Don't forget, once you've climbed the ladder, reach back and help someone else to climb.
Barbara P. Cooke
Dale Drive, Portsmouth Brutality and suffering are the targets of PETA
In response to the Jan. 21 letter from Larry Rawls concerning his opinion of the PETA organization:
I would like to inform Mr. Rawls that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is not forming a war against anyone. Its members are not trying to force anyone to stop eating meat, nor are they trying to stop anyone from wearing clothing. What they are attempting to accomplish is to make the public aware of the unnecessary brutality and needless suffering of millions of animals in this country.
I would like to inform Mr. Rawls that PETA is not an organization based on employment, so there would not be any need for them to ``get a real job.'' The people in this organization are of all races, religious denominations and political backgrounds, and all share the common goal of putting an end to the cruelty toward animals.
I would ask that Mr. Rawls look into and gain better information from the PETA organization before callously describing them with such words of contempt.
I was very troubled by his lack of compassion toward someone who he doesn't even know or understand. And for him to use the name of my Lord three times in such a retaliating manner deeply distresses me. How could anyone use such descriptions of their brothers and sisters on this earth (``veg heads,'' ``politically irritating,'' ``Democrat voting,'' ``kitty-litter hugging,'' ``pro-abortion by large'') and use the name of God in the same text?
It is my opinion that God is trying to teach us, through His Word, to love our neighbor as ourselves and to respect ALL forms of life. Is brutality and cruelty respect? Is the over-production of animals, resulting in cruel living conditions, and the injection of toxic chemicals into the eyes and on the bodies of helpless animals respect?
PETA is not forcing Mr. Rawls to wear any particular type of clothing. Nor is it forcing him to eat a diet of all vegetables.
Yes, we are a free country. Yes, you can eat what you want to eat. Yes, he can wear what he wants to wear, just as others around him have the right to treat animals with love and respect.
Cathy Rhodes
Rhodes Drive, Windsor by CNB