DATE: Tuesday, May 13, 1997                 TAG: 9705130012

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  115 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

BULLIES

Government still

doesn't get it

I agree completely with FBI Agent Larry Torrence (letter, May 5) that the deaths in Waco and the killing of an unarmed mother at Ruby Ridge by an FBI sharpshooter were absolutely not caused by any sort of governmental plot.

What should, however, be apparent is the viciousness and arrogance shown by government in those two instances. How Clinton, Reno and certain others can ever look at themselves in the mirror again is beyond me. I'm not anti-government and certainly not anti-law enforcement (I'm an honorably retired peace officer), but I have tears in my eyes as I remember those innocent children, that poor defenseless woman. Those responsible are no better than the classic bully we have all had to put up with in school. The difference being, these bullies exercised unrestrained power.

Agent Torrence's letter is evidence that government entities still do not get it. The average American is sick and tired of ``Big Brother'' pushing us around in a multitude of ways. Sometimes I think Big Bro' lives on a different planet from the average American.

Robert L. Charlton

Tyner, N.C., May 5, 1997

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

Deer hunting ban:

The rest of the story

A photo April 29 captioned ``One last chase for the hounds'' showed hounds waiting the start of the last deer hunt on National Trust grounds in England. The Trust has banned the hunting of deer. Your report says the Trust ``bowed to protests from animal-rights activists.''

According to a clipping from a British paper, the ban came after a two-year scientific study by a Cambridge University animal-behavior expert was reviewed by a 14-member panel, including experts nominated by pro-hunting groups. The study showed that, ``All hunted deer suffered an unacceptable level of suffering, including those which escaped.'' The report's author also said that anyone who hunted deer would ``be doing something that was knowingly cruel.''

Animal-rights activists are routinely accused of being Bambi-loving sentimentalists, but it was crystal-clear scientific evidence that led to this ban.

Michael R. Brown

Virginia Beach, May 2, 1997

EDUCATION

School standards

must demand more

I have objections to the proposed Standards of Accreditation (Virginia), mainly on two points. One is the objective and emphasis on ``improving education.'' What we really should be talking about is ``improving learning'' - of the students. There is sufficient academic challenge in the current curricula to produce a significant increase in learning if academic standards and achievement levels were increased in the classroom. Students are not learning to their capability because they are allowed to ``get by'' with minimum effort.

My second point of objection is the proposed reduction in the fine and practical arts. This contradicts the educational principle of teaching the whole child.

Again, every student, regardless of the academic level of the course, must be challenged, and the standards maintained to require study and work.

J. E. Weirich

Virginia Beach, May 4, 1997

TOURISM

Beach self-promotion

is no bargain

In ``Virginia Beach visitors, but not their spending, jumped in `96,'' Virginia Beach's Tourism Director James Ricketts is quoted as saying that in 1996 with 1.9 million overnight visitors who spent $490 million, ``We came out each dollar the city spent on tourism, ``It's hard to put your money someplace that gives you a return of 69 percent.''

Who is he kidding?

Consider Myrtle Beach. You know, that's the place that Ricketts and all the other Virginia Beach bureaucrats are always saying ``we're not trying to be like.''

Myrtle Beach spends only $2.2 million dollars on tourist advertising vs. Virginia Beach's $4.4 million.

100 percent of Myrtle Beach's tourist advertising is paid for by the tourism industry, not by the city.

Myrtle Beach welcomes 10 million overnight visitors vs. Virginia Beach's 1.9 million.

Myrtle Beach's visitors generate $5 billion dollars (that's right, billion with a capital ``B'') vs. Virginia Beach's palty $490 million.

For every dollar Myrtle Beach spends on its general and other vacation advertising, the return is $3,637 vs. Virginia Beach's $1.69.

For every dollar Myrtle Beach spends on golf advertising, its return is $910 vs. Virginia Beach's $1.69.

Obviously, Virginia Beach just doesn't get it and that's why Myrtle Beach and all of the other resort destinations are laughing . . . all the way to the bank.

Donnie Miller

Myrtle Beach, S.C., May 5, 1997

EVOLUTION

Debate is old news

We can add a third guarantee to Ben Franklin's death and taxes - creationism vs. evolution. Like a comet, the topic returns with predictable regularity. One looks in vain for anything new on the subject.

The classic debate remains that between bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce (1805-77) and Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95), which took place at Oxford in 1860. An account of the debate is available in Leonard Huxley's The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley.

Another classic of the topic is, of course, the play ``Inherit the Wind,'' which deals with the Scopes ``monkey trial'' of 1925.

A reading of the Wilberforce-Huxley debate and the play ``Inherit the Wind'' will show that as for the creationism vs. evolution debate, there is (as of 1997) nothing new under the sun.

R. E. Aycock

Norfolk, May 3, 1997

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