DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710230015

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  130 lines

LETTERS TO EDITOR -- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

CAMPAIGN '97

Unopposed candidate?

Vote for a write-in

I was somewhat amused by Kerry Dougherty's report of Lou Pace's apparent consternation about the number of candidates for delegate running unopposed (Perspectives, Oct. 18).

In my opinion, the fact that an incumbent is unopposed for a given office, especially here in Virginia Beach, does not mean that there is no choice.

Anyone ever hear of a write-in? As long as I have that option, I have a choice. A choice that most likely won't win, but a choice nevertheless.

R. E. Helm

Virginia Beach, Oct. 18, 1997

ROAD SAFETY

Rude adult drivers

are poor role models

My teen-age son has had his learner's permit since February. When he's behind the wheel and I am the passenger, I have been surprised and apalled at the countless number of improper driving techniques, broken laws and rude behavior that are displayed by so-called adult drivers.

Children learn by example. Has anyone ever heard the saying, ``What you're doing speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying''?

Perhaps all drivers, regardless of age, should take a look at their own mannerisms and attitudes before voicing an opinion.

Pamela M. Lonce

Virginia Beach, Oct. 12, 1997

CHRISTIAN COALITION

Amendment amounts to

religious dictatorship

Concerning the Oct. 7 Another View, ``Amendment is no guarantee of religious freedom'':

The Religious Freedom Amendment is anything but religious freedom. It seeks to impose a recognition of God in one image to the exclusion of all other religions or beliefs. This constitutes disenfranchisement, discrimination and oppression.

I warrant the proponents of the Religious Freedom Amendment, to wit, the Christian Coalition and its supporters, would be adamantly opposed to the observance and worship of Yahweh by our Jewish brothers or Allah by our Islamic adherents, despite God, Yahweh and Allah being one and the same.

Consequently, what the Christian Coalition is really striving to do with the Religious Freedom Amendment is not to secure the right to acknowledge God, but to impose a belief or recognition of Jesus Christ as a divinity equivalent or equal to God before all else. Such imposition is not religious freedom but religious dictatorship.

George Sackett

Portsmouth, Oct. 10, 1997

PROMISE KEEPERS

Spiritual leadership

isn't bossiness

I am a 16-year-old junior at Nansemond River High School writing in response to Maureen Dowd's Oct. 7 column about the Promise Keeper's rally in Washington D.C.

Ms. Dowd says that Promise Keepers offer an unfair trade-off to their wives and families: We won't cheat if we get to run the family. She apparently doesn't realize the true purpose of the rally - to take the responsibility that God has given us (as men) to be the spiritual leaders of the household. This is not the equivalent of ``bossing anyone around,'' as she says.

Ms. Dowd hopes Promise Keepers will give up ``weak and chatty for strong and silent.'' We have tried the silent approach for long enough, and it hasn't worked. Maybe Ms. Dowd should set down her weak and chatty pen so she can be strong and silent and find out what something is really about before writing unfounded statements.

Brent Hobbs

Suffolk, Oct. 11, 1997

TV MORALITY

Let's protest gays,

sex on television

I am sick of the perversion being shoved down my throat by Hollywood and the TV industry. Oh, my! Ellen is threatening to quit her show. She's upset, poor dear, because they put an ``adult content'' warning on before airing an episode where she kisses another woman.

I have had enough. I will not watch the shows, buy the products from the sponsors who advertise on those shows, donate to PBS or patronize stores that are run by companies that own the networks that produce those shows.

And just so you won't think I'm only picking on the abused, misunderstood gays, I am equally sick and tired of the daily diet we are fed of premarital sex, extramarital sex, I'll-sleep-with-a-total-stranger sex, the copious profanity and the lack of morality we see in heterosexual characters, too.

Deborah A. Blanchard

Chesapeake, Oct. 10, 1997

TAYLOR SCHOOL

Don't tear down

80-year-old trees

If the planned construction of the new W.H. Taylor Elementary School in West Ghent is implemented, it will result in the destruction of 27 trees, several of which are more than 80 years old.

I implore the architectural firm of Tymoff & Moss to rethink its design, with an enhanced sensitivity to the natural setting.

The city of Norfolk has a rare opportunity to allow W.H. Taylor Elementary School, whether renovated or rebuilt, to stand as a beacon of responsible organic architecture in our community.

Nancy Bossmann Leard

Norfolk, Oct. 10, 1997

95 new trees

will be planted

Recently, the Sierra Club protested the removal of trees necessary for the construction of the new Taylor Elementary School. The facts involved in the extensive landscaping effort for the new school are:

The 27 trees to be removed include 12 large trees and 15 small trees, mostly crape myrtles.

95 new trees will be planted, including maples, oaks and crape myrtles.

631 new shrubs will be planted.

In addition, we are making exhaustive efforts to save over 30 existing trees on the site. One tree on Claremont Avenue is being protected with wood decking to preserve its root structure.

In an editorial letter recently, a writer claimed that the trees were to be removed for mobile classrooms. This is completely inaccurate. The only trees that are being removed are those necessary for construction of the new building.

No decision on this matter has been arbitrary. Due to public involvement, we have modified the design to save two major trees on Spotswood Avenue. We are surprised that the Sierra Club would object without having complete information.

Edward G. Carson

Landscape architect

Norfolk, Oct. 14, 1997

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