THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702060145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 91 lines
Last week, the president of my older daughter's soccer club told me that the Lafayette Soccer Club was sending flowers to the funeral of former player Timothy Wheaton.
Yesterday, the wife of the president of my younger daughter's club told me that the Virginia Beach Soccer Club was sending flowers to the funeral of team member Merina Evile. The time is out of joint.
When a child dies, it seems a crime against nature. It scares us, children and parents. It enrages us, the unfairness of it all. It perplexes us. Why? As human beings, we try to encapsulate our pain and rage and fear. We try to finds ways of believing that what happened was somehow OK.
My advice to those who knew and loved, played with or against, these children: Don't try to make these deaths OK. They are not OK. They will never be OK. It is normal and healthy and necessary to have the terrible feelings you feel now. Not all normal feelings are pleasant.
Grieve. Rage. Mourn. Cry. Then hug your parents, your children for dear life and know that every moment, every child, is precious.
Nancy C. Paschall
Feb. 4 Frivolous lawsuits are waste of tax money
I was infuriated when I read in The Virginian-Pilot that someone was suing the City of Virginia Beach for $750,000 for injuries suffered while sledding at Mount Trashmore last year.
If someone is not agile enough to avoid running into obstacles while sledding, they shouldn't be sledding. If a minor was involved, the parents should be held responsible for not being sure their child was physically able to slide down the hill safely.
It is ludicrous for our hard-earned tax money to be used to pay the legal fees to fight these frivolous lawsuits.
Unfortunately, the city may decide to settle the claim just so it will not have to pay the legal fees to fight the case. One solution to the frivolous lawsuit problem would be to make personal injury lawyers pay all legal fees of the defendant, should the defendant win the case.
This would provide at least some small motivation for an injury lawyer to make sure he has a viable case to start with before suing someone. It would also provide motivation for unjustly accused defendants to fight the case and not give in to this legal extortion.
Reginald B. Henry
Jan. 9 Former students speaks on KMS athletic issue
I am writing in response to Michael Hamar's remarks on sports at Kemps Landing Magnet School (``Gifted students deserve a chance to play sports,'' Jan. 5).
First of all, Mr. Hamar's column did not address the real issue at hand here. He asked, ``Why should gifted students be denied other opportunities, i.e. sports and extracurricular activities, in order to better their education?'' I ask you, Mr. Hamar, why should students who are not ``gifted'' in one or more academic areas (or who chose to remain at their home schools, even though they are gifted, in order to play sports) be denied the opportunity to compete?
Students at Kempsville Middle are facing this situation. They may have received the invitation to apply to Kemps Landing and read it closely. They were told that due to budget shortfalls and a lack of facilities, Kemps Landing would not be able to provide athletics. Therefore, they stayed at KMS to take advantage of wonderful honors and advanced education as well as represent their school through athletics. They, who may be just as ``gifted'' as your children, are now being denied their opportunities at their home school. Furthermore, students who might attend Larkspur, or Landstown, for example, who now attend the magnet school have the opportunity to earn an athletic letter from KMS. Doesn't this strike you as odd?
I am a student of gifted education. I attended Virginia Beach Public Schools and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend Old Donation Center for the Gifted and Talented in elementary school. As I entered then Kemps Landing Intermediate School, I could no longer go to ODC once a week.
At first, I was crushed, but I quickly learned the advantages of a great honors/advanced program at Kemps Landing and Kempsville Junior High. I had the opportunity to attend gifted ``academy'' classes, take a foreign language over the summer, speak with our gifted counselor whenever I wished and play sports if I desired.
At Kempsville High, I took classes that were more challenging than many in my current college curriculum. Currently, I am a dean's list student at George Mason University and will be graduating a semester early with a bachelor of arts in history. And I did it all without a special, separate magnet education in junior high or high school.
If your students are so upset that they cannot play sports and get the special education they need, they should open their eyes and see that both are available, right around the corner, at their home school. Those who choose to remain and play with pride at their home school should not be denied that opportunity.
Kerri Burnette
Jan. 5