DATE: Wednesday, August 20, 1997            TAG: 9708190014

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  124 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

COURTS

Remember, when you vote,

delegate's trial delays

I am writing in response to your Aug. 13 article concerning the outrage of parents over Del. Billy Robinson's continual trial delays, citing legislative privilege.

It is fairly obvious that the ``Honorable'' Delegate Robinson has taken a law designed to protect state lawmakers from being prevented from the performance of their public duties and turned it into a sharp legal tactic designed to wear down the parents and victims of his client, former high school teacher John Crute.

This miscarriage of justice is an outrage and a terrible abuse of legislative privilege. The constituents of the 90th District should write and call Robinson expressing their anger and let him know that they will remember his tactics at the voting polls. That ought to get his attention.

David Feser

Chesapeake, Aug. 13, 1997

REGIONALISM

Retirement article

ignores other cities

The Aug. 4 Another View, ``It's time for a Hampton Roads Declaration of Interdependence,'' was most interesting and informative. However, it would appear that the effort to create community spirit should start with the newspaper. In the same edition the article regarding retirement homes for senior citizens dealt only with the facilities in Virginia Beach, ignoring the excellent homes in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake.

I know that the article said that old folks, of which I am one, want to stay in their own community. But isn't that what we are trying to do, make South Hampton Roads one community? Maybe someday, when enough new river crossings are built, ``North Hampton Roads'' can be included.

Thomas Perry

Chesapeake, Aug. 6, 1997

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Holocaust remark

wasn't ``chicken''

Once again, an animal-use industry advocate has gleefully offered up my ``quote'' about broiler chickens and the Holocaust. It deserves some context:

At the time, I was echoing Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer. He believed, as I do, that what is important is not the victims' identity; what is important is that people who have the power to inflict suffering must diligently discipline themselves not to cater to their hatred or indifference but, rather, to behave humanely.

Singer drew that conclusion when, having himself fled Nazi-occupied Europe, he arrived in the United States and moved into a room opposite a slaughterhouse. From his window, Singer watched and listened in horror as the shackled cows were kicked, sworn at and prodded down the ramp to their deaths. ``To the animals,'' he wrote, ``all men are Nazis.''

PETA is fighting for the right of even the most unloved and devalued victims to be protected from cruelty of any kind. In fighting to make the Huntingdon tapes public, PETA is also fighting for the public's right to know and decide what is acceptable behavior. Anyone who scorns such a fight should look into their own heart and weep, not for the animals, but for themselves.

Ingrid E. Newkirk

President

People for the

Ethical Treatment of Animals

Norfolk, Aug. 12, 1997

RECYCLING

Why a smaller bin

for townhomers?

No one, including the mayor of Virginia Beach, has been able to explain why a family of five living in a townhouse gets only an 18-gallon recycling bin and a family of five living in a single-family home gets the huge recycling bin.

Wouldn't both families create about the same amount of recyclable trash? I realize that the single-family homeowners pay more in property taxes than us town-homeowners, but what has that got to do with the importance of participation in the city recycling program?

Alan R. Lessard

Virginia Beach, Aug. 11, 1997

AUTO REGISTRATION

DMV needs to rev up

its service to public

Speed at the new Division of Motor Vehicles? Not likely.

About two weeks ago, my granddaughter went to Greenbrier to register her car. She arrived five minutes after the place opened. She was (NU)6 in line. Twenty-five minutes later, when she left, there were still five people in front that had never moved.

Our other granddaughter went to Poplar Hall DMV to check on a title for her car. She waited 40 minutes, 35 of which the clerk spent on a break while my granddaughter sat there with her 7-month-old son.

When she went to Poplar Hall to get personalized license plates, she waited one whole hour, again with that small baby.

If the new system is supposed to hurry things, in some ways it seems to fail badly. Each clerk apparently is a specialist. So how many lines do you wait in if you have several things to do?

I wish someone would try to find a way to make things better.

Joan R. Akers

Virginia Beach, Aug. 14, 1997

VIRGINIA BEACH

Low-altitude flights

a hazard near Oceana

An item in the Aug. 13 Pilot noted that there would be increased flight operations at Oceana Naval Air Station for about two months while the runway at Fentress Field undergoes repairs. Actually, the movement of more aircraft to Oceana has been increasing the pace of operations there for some time.

The city of Virginia Beach is building a new school in the Hilltop area (replacing Linkhorn Park Elementary) for the purpose of moving the children out of the crash zones surrounding Oceana. For weeks, I have watched as Oceana aircraft made hundreds of passes at low altitude directly over the school under construction. Putting the new school at that location reflects very bad judgment by the city. It also shows that the Navy is oblivious to the hazard to our community when it conducts low-altitude operations over crowded communities.

Letters to Navy officials asking that they control and restrict this kind of flight around Oceana have been unanswered or contained only superficial rationalizations about how necessary this all is. I guess we'll have to wait for another tragedy before we can get their attention.

H. A. Stokely

Virginia Beach, Aug. 13, 1997

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