DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997                TAG: 9703150009

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letters

                                            LENGTH:  107 lines

LETTERS

POLITICS

Financing abuses need to be rectified

It is becoming apparent that Clinton's campaign financing was not illegal and did not significantly differ from Dole's, past presidential candidates' or congressional candidates' (including those Republican congressmen who self-righteously accuse him). The only reason Clinton is in the spotlight now is that his campaign was so successful. Besides, persecuting Clinton has become the national pastime.

It is even more apparent that our whole campaign-finance system is thoroughly corrupt. Our only hope is that all the manure being flung about will eventually cause something beautiful to grow: campaign-finance reform.

My own proposal is based on a simple democratic principle: one person, one vote. Individual registered voters would be able to contribute up to $100 to any candidate for public office that they are eligible to vote for. Period. No money from corporations, unions, PACs, special-interest groups or anyone outside the candidate's constituency.

David L. Campbell

Virginia Beach, March 7, 1997

HEALTH

Smoking's taboo - why not drinking?

I smoke cigarettes. While I know the health dangers, I still choose to smoke.

Now to the point: I am really sick of being looked down on because I smoke. While the campaign to keep the youth of America from smoking is commendable, what about drinking? Joe Camel is a b-a-a-a-ad influence, but the beer drinking frogs are not?

Can't play sports or have a good time without beer? Not on national TV you can't, but, of course, that is not influencing the youth. Double standard - drink but don't smoke. Cigarette ads were taken off TV. Why not beer and alcohol ads?

Who knows how many are killed on our highways each year because of alcoholism and drunkenness? But I can smoke 10 cigarettes in a few hours time and drive home without killing myself or anyone else. Can you do that after drinking the same amount of alcohol?

I guess it just boils down to who has the biggest lobby in Washington, alcohol or tobacco.

Benita S. Brown

Chesapeake, March 10, 1997

PRISON

Inmates need rehab, job skills

I am an inmate at Tidewater Correctional Unit, writing in response to the March 7 article ``Women inmates stage protest at prison in Chesapeake.''

I did not participate in the protest, due to personal reasons. However, I strongly believed in what they did, because the same issues affect me also.

Although it is understandable in some circumstances, prisoners are most often met with an angry public reaction such as ``you deserve your treatment'' or ``you should have thought of the circumstances before committing the crime.'' However, we are still humans who deserve humane treatment. We are mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts.

You cannot lock someone up without offering any rehabilitation programs and job skills and expect them to be a better person socially, when released. At Tidewater Correctional Unit the only school offered is to obtain a GED. And the majority of jobs are housekeeping at 20 cents an hour.

We need treatment and counseling programs so, when things go wrong, we will have better values to fall back on. And living in this type of environment and below-standard housing only makes us bitter and lowers morale.

I believe if the public and the media had access to the prison facilities, they would be more concerned about how their tax money was being spent.

Shirley Allman

Chesapeake, March 10, 1997

VIRGINIA BEACH

Keep funding for magnet schools

I'm an eighth-grader at Kempsville Middle School in Virginia Beach. I also attend Kemps Landing Magnet School for geometry, a class not offered at my school. I was very upset to hear that magnet schools might not get funding for next year. I am a candidate for the International Baccalaureate and Ocean Lakes Magnet School programs. If there isn't any funding, that means I might not be able to go to either school.

These are great programs that provide many opportunities for students who excel academically. They allow students to learn a vast amount of material at an advanced pace.

People are always saying that children are the future. Why isn't our future going very far? With these programs, students will be challenged in school and open to many opportunities.

I really hope we get funding for next year. Not just for me, but for all the students who are in the program.

Jane Kim

Virginia Beach, March 7, 1997

MILITARY

``Shape up or ship out'' just a memory

When J. Edgar Hoover was director of the FBI, if an agent fouled up a case and survived, he was shipped to Butte, Mont., where he resumed his career on the ``bricks.''

In the March 10 Pilot, we are advised that the former captain of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, who, as you described the collision, ``backed into'' the cruiser Leyte Gulf, causing millions of dollars in damages to the ships, has landed on his feet in the Navy Department in Washington.

In the old Navy, such an error would have resulted in a one-way trip back to the farm. In today's Navy, it means that you drop to the bottom of the waiting list for a night at the White House in the Lincoln bedroom.

Were I chief of naval personnel, I would offer two billets: (1) laundry officer on Guam or (2) officer in charge of valet parking at the Pentagon.

Berry D. Willis Jr.

Norfolk, March 10, 1997

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu