DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 1997           TAG: 9710290006

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  122 lines

LETTERS TO EDITOR -- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

CAMPAIGN '97

Listen up, teachers -

Gilmore owes Pat

If you go to the dance, you had better dance with the one who brung you!

Pat Robertson contributed $100,000 to Jim Gilmore's campaign coffers to take him to the dance. Need I say more?

Teachers can make a difference in the upcoming election.

Pat Robertson can also make a difference. Which do you want?

I still remember my first-grade teacher, Ms. Hawkins. Sixty-three years ago she taught me to read. I still love her. If teachers truly believe in what they are doing, teaching young people who are the future of our state and nation, I suggest they do everything to see that Pat Robertson doesn't take us to the dance with Jim Gilmore.

I know Don Beyer. He is a friend of mine. He is a friend of teachers, too.

Teachers should do what doctors, lawyers, CEOs of corporations and some preachers do - get political and work for Don Beyer.

Billy O'Brien

Virginia Beach, Oct. 17, 1997

GOP signs posted

illegally in Chesapeake

Someone needs to point out that the Republican Party has such little respect for our laws and the constitutional rights of our citizens that they teach their young people to post political signs on telephone poles (which violates both state and local laws) and to remove all legally posted signs for the opposition, obviously in violation of their right to freedom of speech.

Chesapeake's Zoning Office states that its crews are overwhelmed with trying to remove illegal Gilmore signs.

If lack of respect for laws and the rights of others is how Republicans teach citizenship to our young, let's hope the reins of leadership go to Don Beyer, L. F. Payne and Bill Dolan this November.

Eileen Huey

Chesapeake, Oct. 21, 1997

Beyer ads are

misleading to women

As a woman, I am extremely offended by Don Beyer's latest TV ad. This ad shows a pro-choice woman trying to convince other women voters that Jim Gilmore thinks of women as ``second-class citizens.''

This is truly pathetic! First of all, Beyer insults women by assuming that we are all pro-choice, or should be.

Second, it really doesn't matter what either one of them believes because neither has the political ability to change the law on abortion.

Finally, Gilmore has shown his concern for women by working with Governor Allen to fight for victims' rights, specifically the rights of battered women. Don Beyer is misleading the women of Virginia!

Amber Jennings

Chesapeake, Oct. 23, 1997

Beyer makes grade

on education issues

Everyone concerned about the future of education in Hampton Roads should consider voting for Don Beyer for governor.

His substantial commitments to improving both quality and access are timely, appropriate and specific. His plans for remedial, computer and scholarship programs target the areas of real challenge. His proposals for raising faculty salaries recognize the fact that we need good teachers, not just more teachers.

His promise to avoid any further major budget cuts in education is reassuring to the hundreds of teachers and administrators who have already made much painful progress in trying to do more with less.

Hampton Roads citizens should be worried about the Republican candidate's specific commitment to favor George Mason University at the expense of the other urban universities. The Republican promise to make its funding the equivalent of U.Va.'s is an ominous threat to the folks in Hampton Roads who have worked proudly for 50 years to build up Christopher Newport, Norfolk State and Old Dominion.

A. B. Rollins

President emeritus

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, Oct. 23, 1997

Forget the ``adrenalin,''

vote for Gilmore

Don Beyer admitted after the first debate that he misrepresented Jim Gilmore's record in regard to letting child molesters back on the street. He attributed this to ``the adrenalin of the moment'' during the debate.

I do not want a governor who distorts or buckles under pressure. Jim Gilmore, a clear-thinking, steady man of principle, has my vote.

Michael Ludwig

Virginia Beach, Oct. 26, 1997

What is Caucus

doing about push polls?

Jay Reiff's Oct. 21 letter asserts that the Virginia House Democratic Caucus uses polls only to gather data, and denies any effort on their part to negatively affect voting.

I feel Mr. Reiff's letter is symptomatic of precisely those derogatory tactics that plague political campaigns today. His reference to Bev Graeber's alleged tax-raising practices is misleading and hypocritical in itself.

Besides, if the push polls are not the work of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus, who is responsible for them, and what action is the Caucus taking to stop them?

Pamela Winslow

Norfolk, Oct. 22, 1997

Dump GOP to save

Chesapeake Bay fish

You asked ``Should the state allow Tyson Foods to increase the amount of ammonia it pumps into nearby waterways?'' (Talk Back Tuesday).

First a science lesson: Pfiesteria pisicida, which has been directly linked to chicken-manure runoff, killed thousands of fish in rivers and streams surrounding the Chesapeake Bay and has been linked to several cases of illness in humans who have come in contact with the microbe.

Now a geography lesson: Rivers and streams flow into the Chesapeake Bay, which then flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Even more mysterious than the fish kill is the reaction by Virginians, particularly in Hampton Roads. Instead of being outraged, we feel helpless.

On Nov. 4, Election Day, we can redeem ourselves. We can destroy the leading cause of natural resource pollution in Virginia. We can dump the Republicans.

Nora Jump-Scott

Chesapeake, Oct. 22, 1997

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