DATE: Tuesday, May 27, 1997                 TAG: 9705230020

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letters

                                            LENGTH:   99 lines

LETTERS - THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

VIRGINIA BEACH

Education not a priority to city

It is not that Virginia Beach does not have the money to fully fund the school system and the libraries. It is just that the education of our children is not a priority.

Virginia Beach has spent millions of dollars on such projects as the Lake Gaston pipeline, the beautification of the Oceanfront, the amphitheater and now a soccer stadium - all without the threat of raising the real estate tax rate. Any project that Virginia Beach deems secondary is approached with the condition that it can occur only if the tax rate is increased.

A real estate tax increase has occurred, so there is no excuse to deny our school system needed funds. The assessment on my house will increase by $11,000, effective July 1. To those council members who do not understand simple arithmetic, that means an increase in my real estate taxes of $134.20 per year.

I challenge the City Council members to insist that other projects finally take a back seat to education.

Barbara E. Brown

Virginia Beach, May 3, 1997

ABORTION

Partial-birth option must be outlawed

I felt sickened by what was essentially a Virginian-Pilot editorial on partial-birth abortion (front page, May 12). It is disheartening to me that you could coldly describe the gruesome procedure and state the reason behind the effort to ban it is to gain a foothold in restricting abortion. You dehumanize the issue. We are talking about sucking the brains out of defenseless babies.

Your attempt to conjure statistics about the number of partial-birth abortions done in the state is an attempt at misdirection. Ron Fitzsimmons of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, in a March 3 interview with the American Medical News, said that he ``lied through (his) teeth'' when he said the procedure was rarely used. He now admits that pro-life groups are accurate in saying that the procedure is more common.

Following your course of logic - if out of all crimes committed in the state in a year, three were child abduction, should we say that the number is insignificant and not worth legislation? How absurd! The number is immaterial. It is a horrible crime against humanity and it must be outlawed.

William R. White

Suffolk, May 15, 1997

SPORTS

Fuzzy Zoeller fuss not par for course

Commenting on Bill Sexton's April 23 letter, ``Fuzzy Zoeller should pay'': It is doubtful if one grunt would have been heard if Mr. Rocca from Italy had won the Masters and Tiger Woods had attributed his victory to Rocca's love of lasagna or his pizza prowess. Indeed, there wouldn't have been enough ire generated to preheat an oven - and rightfully so.

Fuzzy's joking about ``not forgetting the watermelon'' with his friend on the golf course, who happens also to be black, should have given us all a chuckle and put the issue to rest. Sadly, though, we have become a nation of verbal ``touch-me-nots.''

By not speaking up sooner to defuse the issue, Tiger showed that he does indeed have a lot of growing up to do. However, I'm not in favor of throwing Tiger out with the bath water. Nor should Fuzzy be hung in effigy over watermelon and collard greens.

Ray Murphy

Virginia Beach, May 13, 1997

ZYKLON B

Concentration camp tells the real story

Regarding Ryan Maziarka's claim that Zyklon B does not exist (Hampton Roads, May 13), let me please tell you of my experience in Germany in 1980.

I was in Munich on assignment in the U.S. Army when our platoon was given a tour of the concentration camp near the city. The guide showed the ``showering facilities'' where dying people scratched holes in the walls with their bloody fingernails, trying desperately to escape.

I saw the ovens where the people were cremated. Toward the end of the war, according to the guide, children were incinerated in there while still alive.

Mr. Maziarka, I'm certain that you are sincere. However, what you deny exists I have seen with my own eyes. Please quit spreading this deception of yours, and remember that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Donald W. Davis

Chesapeake, May 13, 1997

LEGISLATION

Do ``write thing'' to fight persecution

The May 15 column by A. M. Rosenthal, ``Legislation would aid fight against religious persecution,'' made me gasp. That our government, a nation founded on faith in God, would in any way support a nation that persecutes Christians is intolerable.

Rosenthal called on Americans to make it clear to our representatives that we want action for the persecuted - that is, support for the soon-to-be-introduced legislation that would put an economic price on persecution. He said if we, the people, make it clear to our representatives, the measure will pass. ``If not, not.''

Let us do the ``write thing'' to support this legislation. Let us show our faith by our deeds.

Karen Alexander

Chesapeake, May 19, 1997

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