THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701160106
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 89 lines
Our children had the honor to have articles written by Mr. Bill Leffler while playing ``The Baker Damron Eye Center Junior Tennis Tournament'' held at Elizabeth Manor Country Club. His reader-friendly information was recognizable to even a novice reader of sports.
We feel privileged to have had Mr. Leffler's name on articles written about our children, which they have saved in their scrapbooks.
Thank you, Mr. Leffler, and we wish you much happiness and sports enjoyment in your retirement.
The Grover family
Suffolk Don't cloud the sports issue
I feel I must respond to ``Gifted students deserve a chance to play sports.'' (Jan. 5 Beacon) It is not our wish at this time to have a debate about whether or not Kemps Landing Magnet School students do or do not deserve to play interscholastic sports.
The issue we have is how the decision to allow Kemps Landing Magnet students to participate in sports at Kempsville Middle was made. The decision was made without the knowledge of or approval from the School Board.
When the magnet school was approved by the School Board in the spring 1995, it was to be strictly an academic school without interscholastic sports. Our beef is with how a major change in this policy, which affects all middle school students and especially KMS students, could be made without School Board approval. Please do not cloud our issue by bringing up what gifted students deserve.
Carol Bluestein
President of Kempsville Middle School PTA The TIDE swim team is alive and well
I am writing in regard to the article written about a local swimmer that appeared in the sports section of your paper on Jan. 3. Mention was made in this article that a local swim team, TIDE, had folded.
This was inaccurate information. TIDE is a viable swim team offering quality coaching to swimmers in this area. Since your paper publishes results of swim meets, your reporters should be well aware of teams who offer competitive swim programs in the Tidewater area.
If you want to find out about a team with some of the best qualified coaches in the area, some of the most dedicated and disciplined swimmers and athletes who have met the challenges of competition, do an article about TIDE. We also have a swimmer with a junior national time and many others who have dedicated a great deal of their time and energy in the pursuit of excellence.
Barb Heckel Driver with car trouble hoped for help
Talk about people being so uncaring about people with disabilities. A couple of days ago my son was driving my van (which has handicapped plates on it) and it cut off on him in the middle of Lynnhaven Parkway and Princess Anne Road. He turned on the emergency lights to let other motorists know that he had trouble.
Immediately behind him, a man started blowing his horn. When he came around him he gave him an obscene gesture. Other drivers did the same.
He told me that not one person offered to stop to see if he needed help. I'm sorry that the van stopped on him, but I don't know what his mother and I would have done if it had been us. We go out in it by ourselves and do not have a cell phone.
I am a Tidewater native, and my family goes back a long way.
I would like to thank all of those uncaring, nasty people for their obscene gestures and for their unwillingness to help someone who needed help.
I have on occasions stopped on the road and helped stranded motorist. I was a service technician and criss-crossed Tidewater every day before I became disabled. I have seen a lot of changes and a lot of nasty people move into our neighborhoods.
May I never see you broken down on the side of the road!
Warren Rumpf
Chesapeake Time for one last hot dog at B & J
As most of us know about the closing of several small businesses at Robbins Corner, my son, John Fay III and quite a few of his friends, all graduates of Bayside High School in the early '70s, have made plans to go to B & J Hot Dog ``hang out'' today from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. for one last good hot dog. So far about 25 of the ``boys'' are planning to be there. Robbins Corner will never be the same!
Mrs. John B. Fay Jr.