THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607100139
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 65 lines
Perhaps the quietest moment ever recorded in City Council chambers was on July 1, immediately following the vote for mayor and vice mayor.
I saw emotions that ran the gamut from disappointment to disbelief to relief to satisfaction. That decision by the majority of council, like the decisions of the majority of those who voted in the May 7 council elections, is final until next time.
Next time is every two years. Council elections, even though members' terms are for four years, are staggered so we can't get rid of everyone at once - an idea possibly worth considering. Following the elections, council holds an organizational meeting to decide who will be the mayor and vice mayor for the next two years. Democracy at its finest!
There is a solution. Let the citizens of Suffolk choose the mayor themselves.
It has never been my belief that the mayor of a city of over 50,000 should be chosen by seven council members. For four consecutive years, I asked that council include in its legislative package to the General Assembly a request for a charter change, so the citizens of Suffolk could vote for the individual of their choice for mayor.
Now is the time to make your feelings known. Council will begin preparing this year's legislative package for presentation to the General Assembly by the first of the year.
Don't just contact your council representative. Contact your representative in the General Assembly. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, whose time has passed, and that means you can't go to the bathroom without the blessing of the General Assembly.
You and I have the power, if we will but exercise it, to bring about almost any change we desire. It is called the vote. Yet, the reason so little ever changes is because the majority of the registered voters don't vote!
Politicians figured this out long ago. They can do about anything they want, besides raising taxes, without fear of reprisal.
So once again the choice is yours. What are you going to do? If history is any indication, most will grumble, talk among themselves, write a few letters, perhaps speak before council and then sit home and do nothing.
Richard R. Harris
Suffolk Explain what the LPT is supposed to measure
While I realize that the City of Suffolk is not responsible for the goals of the Literacy Passport Test, I think our School Board members owe us an explanation as to what, specifically, the LPT is all about and why we accept it as is.
If it is a sixth-grade level test, why is it acceptable to us, as parents, to use it as a 12th-grade graduation requirement? If it is a twelfth-grade level test, why do we require sixth-graders to take it?
The notion that a high school graduate must meet certain minimum sixth-grade requirements prior to graduation is absurd. It is equally absurd that sixth-graders should be tested and ranked on a twelfth-grade test!
Standardized tests certainly have their place, but as a graduation requirement, the LPT is far, far below the goal we should be demanding of our high school graduates. If I understand what the LPT is all about, it is an embarrassment to the community and the state!
Tom Kelly
Holiday Point Estates
Suffolk by CNB