DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170006

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letters

                                            LENGTH:  129 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

TRIBUTES

Henry Howell was a giant, a fighter . . .

On July 11, Henry Howell was laid to rest. Your editorial gave proper praise to his accomplishments - as there were many, you could not cover them all.

He was very much a Norfolk man. He occasionally criticized your paper for not providing enough local news. Sometimes it resulted in your providing more stories peculiar to the area.

His fight against the poll tax was a legendary success, and his support of the common man was unwavering.

In his personal life he was a fighter from Day One. He underwent an operation that might have killed a lesser man; when nearly recovered, he was stricken by another malady, and he fought back to health. During all of his problems, he hardly missed a day in his office.

If he was a giant among men, he fit easily into any group. He was very much a common person himself. And yet not so common that he didn't strive to hold onto old values.

Goodbye, Henry. You will be missed.

Jack F. Harry

Moyock, N.C., July 10, 1997

. . . and a friend to the common man

I knew Henry Howell for many years, most recently from the federal parking lot where I am employed as an attendant. I will never forget the attention, the evening and morning greetings, from someone so great. Many was the time I wished I could have gotten out of my booth and helped him to his office because of the high winds in the winter.

He was never too busy for the little person, for people who could offer him little or nothing. Mr. Howell, you were a king among men.

Richard E. George

Norfolk, July 13, 1997

NORFOLK

Story of artist evokes Church Street memories

I was so pleased to see the wonderful July 7 story by Mike Knepler, ``Canvassing Church Street,'' on the work of local artist Maizelle Brown.

I was a social worker at the Community Mental Health Center in Norfolk when it opened in 1973. Maizelle was an arts and crafts teacher there.

Maizelle brought such vibrant energy to her work with the children and adults in the program and encouraged all of us to be creative in our self-expression.

It is gratifying to see a sampling of her paintings and reflections of the storied past of Church Street.

She continues to bring energy, color, sensitivity and a deep respect for her subjects to her work.

Robert E. Young

Virginia Beach, July 10, 1997

PATHFINDER

Mars spending not (tomato) pie in the sky

After the success of the Mars Pathfinder mission, I was certain that someone would write a column or letter complaining that the money would be better spent on Earth. I'm glad that Guy Friddell could oblige me.

First off, the price tag for the mission was nowhere near $16 billion. I don't think the entire NASA budget is $16 billion. But that's not the point. The point is, we already spend billions on education, on cancer research, on health care and to ``redeem the ghettos'' (whatever that means).

And what do we get in return? Nada. Zip. We still have cancer, heart disease, poverty and teachers who think that ``incognito'' is two words. Always will.

At least with Pathfinder, the taxpayer got what he paid for. The federal government is already turning into a giant entitlement machine. Let's allocate a small portion of the budget to do the great things that only a great nation can do.

As for Guy Friddell, it's too bad that there are no tomatoes on Mars. He then could have written, yet again, on the joys of tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches.

Peter E. Bureau

Virginia Beach, July 10, 1997

NICARAGUA

U.S. fought communism in Central American war

In his diatribe against the war in Nicaragua, (Another View, July 3) Neal Herrick provides an example of 20th-century intellectuals' love affair with Marxist based-revolutionaries, especially those based in the Third World .

The Nicaraguan Sandinistas were communists, plain and simple, and no different from any other communists across the globe. The record of communism is a history of dictatorship, oppression and ruination of national economies. Stalin, Castro, Pol Pot, et al., and so many other Marxist dictators (many of whom got their Marxist ideas from Western universities), denied their citizens basic human rights, jailed or murdered their political opponents and created conditions of mass starvation by their insane attempts at forced collectivism.

The 20th century has seen two great evils threaten the light of human liberty. One was facism, the other communism. The United States, far more than any other nation, spent blood and treasure in defense of democracy and human rights.

The spread of democratic elections around the globe is attributable solely to the example and efforts set by the government of the United States and its people. Free-market economies are creating miracles around the globe, especially today in Asia, where peoples impoverished for centuries are becoming prosperous for the first time. Among the countries that will prosper in the coming years, thanks to free markets, is Vietnam.

America's efforts against the Soviet Union and its proxies were equal, morally, to our efforts in defeating Hitler and fascism.

Michael T. Oliver

Suffolk, July 3, 1997

EDUCATION

Family Life program work, needs our support

As a parent, and as a pediatrician who frequently sees the many complications of teen pregnancy in my work, I am appalled that the Virginia Board of Education is attempting to undermine the valuable Family Life Education program.

Family Life Education is an important part of the education of our youth. This program provides them with information about many facets including family life, and is not limited to ``sex education.'' It certainly includes the value of abstinence and also deals with topics such as positive self-esteem, life skills and the duties and responsibilities of being a parent. The specific content is determined at the local level.

Families have the option to have their children not participate in the program, but more than 97 percent of Virginia's parents choose to have their children in this valuable activity.

Family Life Education needs to continue. I urge concerned citizens to contact their elected representatives to maintain this program.

Jamil H. Khan, M.D.

Associate professor of pediatrics

Eastern Virginia Medical School

President

Virginia Perinatal Association

Norfolk, July 11, 1997

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