DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710310215

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 04   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letters 

                                            LENGTH:  238 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - PORTSMOUTH

As a Portsmouth resident I am very concerned about the state of our schools and the level of concern our member of the House of Delegates will show for them.

Johnny Joannou makes solid public education his top priority. Johnny graduated from the Portsmouth Public Schools and has said many times that quality public schools are the key to opening the doors of opportunity for our children.

Furthermore, Johnny knows that education doesn't stop after high school or even college. The availability of quality adult education is critical to getting and keeping good jobs in today's high tech and rapidly changing economy. For that reason, as a state senator and as a member of the State Board of Community Colleges, Joannou was instrumental in obtaining the $200 million from the state that created the Portsmouth and Suffolk campuses of Tidewater Community College.

Add this to Joannou's commitment to creating good standards and accountability for students and teachers, and the 79th District will have in Joannou a friend of education.

Dolores Beasley

Harvard Road

Oct. 20, 1997

As a longtime resident of Portsmouth, I am very glad that Johnny Joannou is offering himself as a candidate to represent us in the General Assembly. I am sure we all remember how wonderfully Johnny represented us before in Richmond by helping to obtain $200 million dollars for community colleges in Portsmouth an Suffolk, and by writing and helping to pass laws that increased prison sentences for drug dealers.

Johnny Joannou fought for us before and will do so again.

Michelle L. Evans

Bolling Road

Oct. 28, 1997

Johnny Joannou knows we need to strengthen our educational system in Virginia. He favors smaller classes, computers in the classrooms and power to teachers and administrators to effectively enforce discipline. My children (grandchildren) need a quality education to make their way in this world. Johnny Joannou will see to it that our pubic schools will receive funding to accomplish this.

Christine Delaney

West Roberts Court

Oct. 28, 1997

Johnny Joannou has proven to be a very capable and dedicated representative for us in Richmond. When he served us before in the House of Delegates and the State Senate, he co-sponsored an amendment to our Constitution requiring a balanced budget and another bill to give senior citizens a break on real estate taxes. He also supported paying back military retirees money the state owed them.

It is important that we send Johnny Joannou back to Richmond to continue to protect our interest.

Peggy J. Delaney

West Roberts Court

Oct. 28, 1997

Johnny Joannou is running for delegate of the 79th District, which encompasses most of Portsmouth, a small part of Chesapeake and Suffolk. I am giving my total support to Mr. Joannou and urge all of my friends to do the same.

Unlike his opponent, Johnny Joannou is a resident of Portsmouth and has lived in that city for 52 years. He is in touch with the residents of Portsmouth, as well as those in Chesapeake and Suffolk. He is a man who listens.

Johnny has experience in Richmond. He knows key players and will be able to get the ear of those who can make a difference in our district. This is extremely important for all of us.

This is a very important campaign for all of us, and I cannot stress enough that Mr. Joannou needs to be the leader taking us forward as our delegate of the 79th District.

Carrie Byrum

Western Branch Blvd.

Oct. 26, 1997 In support of Waters

I am pleased that Sheriff Gary W. Waters is running for reelection to retain his office as Sheriff of Portsmouth. I have known Sheriff Waters for a number of years, even before his first run for sheriff.

I can remember before Gary Waters became our sheriff that most people never saw the sheriff or even knew we had one until that person was a guest in the jail - behind bars. Not with Sheriff Waters. Our present sheriff is highly visible, community oriented and well respected by the citizens of our city. He is much, very much, more to our city than just a keeper of the jail. In fact, the Cavalier Manor Neighborhood Watch group awarded him honorary membership in our organization for his outstanding community efforts in Cavalier Manor. He started co-sponsoring our annual picnic while I was president of the group and still works with us on different programs. He has continued to work in our neighborhood and the city while serving as sheriff. His programs are beneficial to senior citizens and to youth.

Even the inmate work crews, male and female, are very helpful to us through their environmental upkeep. He is fair and colorblind as his employees reflect.

Let me assure you that I am not employed by the sheriff, nor am I getting paid to urge you or anyone else to vote for him. But so you know what? I'm voting for him!

Joseph R. Wright

Welcome Road

Oct. 20, 1997 In support of Waters

I am writing this letter in support of Sheriff Gary W. Waters. He is up for reelection Nov. 4. When elected, this will be his fifth term as our sheriff.

I am a senior citizen. I want to tell you some things about the sheriff. A few years ago, Sheriff Waters brought the TRIAD program to Portsmouth. This program is a cooperative effort between the sheriff, police and senior citizens designed to help stop victimization of our senior citizens.

And many years before this, he created the Elderly Watch Program, through which calls are made daily to seniors who live alone with no one close by to check on them. Sheriff Waters has always been a friend to seniors citizens. He supports both Portsmouth chapters of the AARP and he listens to the people's needs.

He cleans up in many areas of the city, using the alternative (inmate) work crews. This program has just won the statewide ``Keep Virginia Beautiful'' award.

He has a huge amount of pride in his staff at the jail, and that is why his people support him and have throughout his campaign. No one is ever forced to attend a meeting on his behalf.

Sheriff Waters is never too busy to listen to anyone. That is why he has been such a successful chief executive officer. He has saved our city hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past decade with inmate labor and the auxiliary deputy sheriff program, also a program which he started.

Gary Waters is truly the man who should continue his appointment as sheriff of Portsmouth. Deputies who wear his campaign buttons and support him in others ways do so on their own. This tells me they are proud to support his kind of leadership.

Carrie Byrum

Western Branch Boulevard

Oct. 26, 1998 The right to roll

I have come to realize that a lot of people in this city have no respect for rollerbladers or skateboarders. This has come to my attention because I am one of those rollerbladers. One of my friends and I were skating and minding our own business when a man came up to us and said that we needed to leave because we were vandalizing the area where we were skating.

I am angered by the assumption that because I am skating, I am a vandal. My friend told me that once a police officer came up to him while he was skating and threatened to arrest him. Instead of constantly harassing the skaters and chasing us away, why can't someone suggest a place where it would be acceptable for us to skate?

It seems to me that grown-ups approve of and support the traditional sports that they grew up with, but any new sport on the scene creates suspicion and disapproval. I feel that rollerbladers and skateboarders are discriminated against by the public. I only ask that we be given the same consideration that football, baseball and basketball players receive, along with an appropriate place to practice our sport.

Jamie Seagraves

Thornwood St.

Oct. 15, 1997 Trouble in the schools

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The fiasco at Wilson High was horrible. My son came home scared to death. Pregnant girls were kicked, knives were brandished and the office staff was safely locked in the office while mayhem took place. What a horrible thing to have happen. I was mortified.

Dr. Trumble explained extra security would be added, but that we have ``zero dollars for new teachers.''

``Overcrowded'' keeps coming out of the mouths of students, parents and teachers. Hey, we closed two high schools, remember?

In writing on the new I.C. Norcom. I continue to read one of the goals is to bring new students out of private schools. Great, our school board must have seen ``Field of Dreams.'' ``If you build it they will come.'' When they come who will teach them? We have zero dollars for the teachers, remember?

Lastly, the articles from the African American community that appear in the newspaper continue to worry about an African American presence in the new I.C. Norcom. We live in Portsmouth where the ratio of black to white in our schools is around 65 percent black to 35 percent white. How can there not be a strong black presence in the new I.C. Norcom?

For anyone who is interested, the Cradock High School building, which supposedly was in such disrepair, is still standing and has been partially renovated. Maybe we could use it?

And the school board wonders why parents put their children in private schools or move? There aren't enough magnets in the world to overcome what this school system has done.

Jonathan Williams

Bolling Road

Oct. 28, 1997 Schools in disrepair

The letter from Elizabeth Daniels (The Currents, Oct. 12) really upset me. I am sure Ida Kay Jordan was concerned about the cost, rezoning etc. from the building of the new Churchland High School as well as the new Norcom High School.

Ms. Daniels stated that she feels all of Portsmouth Public Schools are of high academic quality with room for improvement. Apparently, Ms. Daniels has not been in an elementary school lately. The only new elementary school built in Portsmouth is in Churchland. My children are housed in a school that is 51 years old. During the winter, it is either so cold the children have to wear their coats or so hot from a faulty boiler that the children are unable to learn properly.

A school should not be built based on which race will attend the school - it should be built based on raising the standards of education in all children. If we do not attract parents to decent elementary schools, what is going to attract them to high schools? Ms. Daniels stated that the new Norcom High School is zoned for the mostly African Americans, others may attend if they wish. What others is she referring to? Aliens from another planet, or the Japanese-American that might live across the street from the new school.

I would be proud to have my children attend the new Norcom High School. Maybe then they would be able to wear the right amount of clothing.

Sandra Brown

York Drive

Oct. 14, 1997 Insulting column

I am writing in response to the article written by Bill Reed ``Geezers march on Capitol will be show of solidarity,'' (Oct. 24 Currents).

As a home health nurse with Maryview Wellspring Home Care, I work with the elderly on a daily basis. I also have a mother who is one of Mr. Reed's so-called ``geezers,'' and I hope to be one myself someday (the alternative is not desirable).

What I thought would be a delightful tongue-in-cheek article about ``geezer power'' quickly deteriorated into a humiliating and hurtful stereotyping of all people over the age of 55. This article would lead the reader to believe that anyone who attains that magical age suddenly becomes boring, stupid, whining, incompetent and generally redundant.

The vast majority of these people are vital members of our society. Many continue to work or volunteer to help others less fortunate. Most are valuable sources of knowledge and wisdom gathered over many decades. To discount these people hurts us all. We can benefit from their knowledge and we can enjoy their memories and tales of times gone by.

If Mr. Reed would take the time to listen to a few of these ``geezers,'' he might learn a thing or two himself. Patience, acceptance and understanding of others comes immediately to mind.

To print this drivel in Ida Kay Jordan's column (column was printed in place of Jordan's column when she was on vacation) is an added insult. For here is a woman who is light-years away from any of the puerile stereotypes that Mr. Reed has to offer.

Marie Yack

Faigle Road

Oct. 25, 1997

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