DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997              TAG: 9703290012

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letters 

                                            LENGTH:  139 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

NORFOLK

Downtown is

no Sarajevo

I operate a small business in downtown Norfolk. After reading another whiny letter to the editor complaining about the renovation conditions here and comparing the area to Sarajevo, I am compelled to write.

There is no doubt that there has been a lot of confusion and inconvenience. It is the main topic of conversation in our business community, but it is offset by great excitement and anticipation of the resulting improvements.

Tidewater Community College students and faculty are very fortunate to have a sparkling new facility. If the writer prefers to stay home, I suggest she do so. She can spend the time thanking God that our home has been spared from the horrors of war. Likening Norfolk's renovations to Sarajevo's agony is obscene.

Pamela Pine Winslow

Norfolk, March 22, 1997

TRANSPORTATION

Handi-Ride buses

need attention

Can anything be done to help the handicapped and elderly who are forced to ride the Handi-Ride bus, and pay for it? If the directors of TRT had to ride one of these buses, something would be done immediately. The driver is excellent, but there is nothing she could do with the equipment she has to operate.

Transportation is a major reason senior citizens cannot readily give up their driver's license. Will the City Council dare to ride on one of these buses? Will someone please help?

Dorothy Muehlbauer

Norfolk, March 25, 1997

SCIENCE

Cloning impossible?

Look at computers

I am writing in response to the most recent scientific manipulation of embryos, which brings about the future possibility of cloning humans. Interfering with Mother Nature could hold future consequences for the human race that none of us today could begin to imagine.

Some may feel as though making multiples of a human being is a plot of a sci-fi movie. However, these same people interact every day with a computer which 20 years ago they never imagined possible.

I see no logical reason to clone an exact copy of a person. It would be unethical to produce a clone for the purpose of scientific study, medical research and/or pure curiosity.

Melissa Melko

Chesapeake, March 4, 1997

VIRGINIA BEACH

Why cut trees

for a public park?

I am always appalled at the indiscriminate manner in which trees are destroyed when a new bank, shopping center, church or fast-food restaurant is to be built, but can you tell me why so many trees have just been destroyed to build a new Virginia Beach public park on the corner of Kempsville Road and Centerville Turnpike?

It seems to me a park should have more trees than open spaces, especially when they were growing there long before the vision of a park came along. And I feel certain that most people feel the same. The fact that my tax dollars contribute to the destruction of our environment and to the homes of its nonhuman inhabitants is a very bitter pill for me to swallow.

Sheila A. Rybak

Virginia Beach, March 20, 1997

RELIGION

Orthodox Jews

embrace all Jews

On March 23, the paper reported (``Orthodox Jews to denounce sects'') that the Agudath HaRabbonim, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, a group unaffiliated with the Orthodox Union, will formally declare that the Conservative and Reform branches are not Jewish.

Speaking for the entire Orthodox community, let me state that every Orthodox Jew, rabbi and lay person alike must loudly and stridently reject and repudiate such a statement. The Jewish people are one and united, both historically and spiritually, and no statement from anyone or any group can change that immutable fact. We may disagree on fundamental issues of faith and belief, but then again so does any family unit.

There is a clear distinction between a philosophy and its adherents. While we reserve the right and privilege to disagree with the philosophies of the Conservative and Reform movements, the Orthodox community embraces, cherishes and loves all Jews of all affiliations.

Rabbi Yosef Friedman

B'nai Israel Congregation

(Orthodox)

Norfolk, March 25, 1997

CONSERVATIVES

Myths about right

are wrong

As a young, conservative, Christian mother, I am upset that many Americans believe the so-called Religious Right is conspiring to ``impose its will'' on the American public. This sounds similar to the old Jewish-banker conspiracy myths still making the rounds among members of the Klan and Nation of Islam.

Just because my husband and I actively support those politicians who address our concerns does not mean we wish to foist our beliefs and lifestyle on anyone. What I find ironic, though, is that the Secular Left has been imposing its will on American society for the past 60 years.

Who has given us forced busing, racial hiring and admissions quotas, gun control, welfare for immigrants, criminal rights and confiscatory tax rates? Not the Christian Coalition. Liberals are just using the Religious Right as a smokescreen while they work to limit our freedoms and empty our wallets.

Missy Hamner

Virginia Beach, March 17, 1997

EDUCATION

Bright students

losing out to reform

When will we as taxpayers finally demand education in return for our tax dollars? My children were labled ``gifted,'' so once a week they are treated as such and the other four days they are given filler duties while other students play ``catch up.''

Now, we would never ask a record-breaking 100-yard runner to slow down because his fellow runners' self-esteem is suffering. Why on earth are we asking our bright and average students to slow down?

We do not have education in our public-school systems, we have social reform. Until parents/taxpayers take back their duties and demand that schools become education-only facilities, we will continue on this downward trend of illiteracy, joblessness, crime, etc.

I went back to college in both Virginia, at Old Dominion University, and in South Carolina, at Winthrop University, to consider a teaching career. In both universities, the buzzword they are preaching is ``mainstreaming'' - the merging of handicapped, learning-disabled, emotionally troubled children, etc., into the regular classroom whenever possible.

Again, what do the bright or average children do while we concern ourselves with the esteem of these other children? In team sports, in a close game, would we ever say: ``Ok, self-esteem time, second string get in there''?

We need to demand education for all our children. Every child should be allowed to reach his highest potential, not only in athletics but in all pursuits.

Deanna M. Page

Norfolk, March 22, 1997

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