THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110529
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
Councilman Paul R. Riddick's statement that some seats on the City Council should be held only by blacks is irresponsible.
To claim that the color of one's skin ought to be the deciding factor when electing a public official is a racist remark, a remark that I'm sure Mr. Riddick bristled under when he heard it from some white people when he was growing up. Such statements were wrong then, and they're wrong now.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day when people would be judged by their character, not by their color. Councilman Riddick's able energies need to focus on how we - red and yellow, black and white - can work and live together to build a stronger, safer community.
Steven E. Frazier
North Shore Road Constitutional principles
To support quotas, racial preferences, set-asides or whatever, hidden within the lofty pronouncement of somehow being ``affirmative,'' requires a refutation of the principle of one universal and impartial Constitution and its application to all ``persons'' and ``citizens.''
To hold ``affirmative action'' as constitutional is in effect saying that some persons and citizens have a preferred constitutional status, one that raises them above the universal constitutional class and is constitutionally separate and superior from the general body of persons and citizens.
One justification for voiding an activity as unconstitutional is to extend the protections of the Constitution, which have for some reason been denied and that possibly other citizens and persons have enjoyed. Rulings of unconstitutional were to bring the denied persons and citizens into the constitutional fold. Such rulings make them constitutionally whole as citizens and persons by extending the universal and impartial protections of the Constitution to them.
Affirmative action, on the other hand, is not an activity that seeks to make people constitutionally whole. Rather, its goal is the exact opposite. Its purpose is to advance some citizens and persons beyond and above their constitutional universal status, into classifications that are superior and provide constitutional protections to the exclusion, and expense, of other citizens and persons.
To hold affirmative action as constitutional requires adoption of other ill-defined principles that conflict with the essential doctrine of constitutionalism. Such principles have the effect of dividing our Constitution, and its citizens and persons, into different constitutional classes.
Our Constitution would no longer be universal nor provide impartial protection to all citizens but instead divide us by placing the citizens and persons into classifications with different, overriding and conflicting constitutional protections.
William C. Ryan Jr.
Shirley Avenue Equal representation
I know I'm naive about a lot of things, but to find out that Superward 7 was created as a minority seat for City Council comes as a real shocker.
I thought the ward system was adopted to give equal representation to all races. I'm really hard-pressed to express in so many words my gut reaction to the response of the three black council members to H. Thomas White's candidacy for Norfolk City Council. Apparently Mr. White has seen what poor representatives some of our councilmen are and figures all the people in Superward 7 deserve better.
For them to come out against Mr. White as they have tells me that Mr. White has them worried and that also tells me that Mr. White will probably make a good representative for Superward 7.
I'm sure that if Mr. White were to respond to those three gentlemen, he'd say, ``Thanks, fellas, for all the free publicity.''
John L. Everton
Faulk Road Unhappy with airport area
I have lived adjacent to Norfolk International Airport all my life. I am accustomed to the noise and traffic, but recent developments are more disturbing.
Visitors to the area were once welcomed by woods at the entrance to the airport, the tract of land along Norview Avenue and Azalea Garden Road. Less than a year ago crews began gutting them from the inside out. The airport's ``Beautification Project'' currently looks like a war zone. Granted, the plot will be transformed into a garden, but nothing will replace the oaks, pines and maples that once graced that land.
It was enough that these woods are being cut down, but something else is amiss. The water in Lake Whitehurst - the branch entirely within Norfolk Botanical Garden - reeks of the de-icer used by the airport. This chemical hangs in the air on cool, still days and it has obviously settled in the water. Anyone doubting this should visit a downwind shore of this lake for a confirming whiff.
I used to think it was a privilege to live next to the airport. It symbolized progress. If deforestation and pollution are prices of progress, send me back to the Stone Age.
Gregory P. Bryant
McDowell Road Thanks to the officers
On behalf of the Highland Park Civic League, I would like to commend Lt. Jim Brownlie and the officers of Norfolk's 1st Patrol Division for their persistent efforts in maintaining the safety and well-being of our neighborhood during our recent turmoil with the night club/disco, The Big Easy, located at 5215 Colley Ave.
When ownership of The Big Easy changed hands in early December, our neighborhood was troubled by the presence of the establishment's unruly patrons.
During the two-month operation of the establishment many of our residents were concerned for their safety following several instances of threats and confrontations with patrons of The Big Easy. Neighborhood streets were filled with overflow parking, causing concern for emergency access to homes. Many residents were subjected to people urinating in their yards, trash in their streets, loud music and noise from the establishment and patrons, and crude and abusive language.
Lt. Brownlie and his officers responded to the neighborhood's concerns by maintaining a high profile each night the establishment was in operation. Arrests were made, cars were towed, ordinance violations were cited, and the establishment has now been closed.
Our thanks to Lt. Brownlie and the officers of the 1st Patrol Division for responding with such timeliness and concern for the residents of Highland Park.
T. Dale Ryder
President
Highland Park Civic League by CNB