DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709200006

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:   98 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR -THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

OCEANFRONT

Weekly fire check

should do the job. . .

Regarding your Sept. 14 article, ``Judge agrees to let inn lacking sprinklers check hourly for fires'':

How inconsiderate of the judge to require the motel owners to check hourly for fires. After all, the motel proprietors have had only 7 1/2 years to conform to this city law.

Maybe a weekly check for fires would be more appropriate, since only the lives of paying guests are at risk.

Herman L. Hunt

Virginia Beach, Sept. 16, 1997

VIRGINIA BEACH

New recycling

program is great

Kudos to the city of Virginia Beach for the new recycling program. Our system for curbside collection is far superior to the former system offered by SPSA. We actually have room for most, if not all, recyclables, and I like the idea of a private company providing this service.

The citizens of other Hampton Roads cities should contact their city representatives and seriously consider this better system of recycling.

Dane Blythe

Virginia Beach, Sept. 10, 1997

TELEVISION

``Ellen'' more toxic

than Joe Camel

And we're worried about cigarette makers targeting teens? What about Ellen DeGeneres, who held up her ``coming out'' Emmy award Sunday night and declared, ``All you teen-agers out there, there's nothing wrong with you.''

She targeted teen-agers, giving the message that homosexuality is OK.

Is homosexuality more OK than cigarette smoking? Less dangerous? If it's not OK for Joe Camel to blow smoke off a billboard, and he doesn't even say anything, why do we let Ellen DeGeneres joke about ``coming out'' next season as a nude?

Something's wrong with this picture, don't you think? And it doesn't seem to be the Marlboro Man. He's not saying anything. He's just riding off into the sunset. But Ellen is galloping right through our homes on national TV, telling our children that gay is OK.

Well, I don't think it's OK for her to promote her private agenda in public. Her kind of smoke is far more toxic to our moral climate than any cigarette ad.

Glenda Buchanan

Suffolk, Sept. 14, 1997

NORFOLK

Riddick embarrasses

Ward 4 constituents

Paul Riddick's haphazard method of paying his taxes is an embarrassment to his colleagues on the Norfolk City Council. However, he is a greater embarrassment to his constituents in Ward 4, who pay their taxes on time.

He should not be permitted to vote on any matters pertaining to taxes or of raising fees until he has made full restitution of all taxes due.

Robert R. Brunner Sr.

Norfolk, Sept. 14, 1997

TAX AND SPEND

Look for other,

less costly solutions

Your constant drumbeat of school needs with required tax-and-spend solutions gets very depressing. Building schools in locations that then require them to be moved because of changing circumstances does not increase confidence.

What have less affluent communities done when faced with similar requirements? Have they successfully gone to a full school year? Have they tried split sessions? Have they utilized available military buildings resulting from defense downsizing?

There must be alternatives to easy tax-and-spend solutions.

Katherine M. Langanke

Virginia Beach, Sept. 11, 1997

POLITICS

Be wary of

``honesty'' ads

Virginia Republicans are spending thousands of dollars telling us how honest their candidates are. Are they afraid we might think they aren't?

Four years ago, George Allen promised us in every ad and TV spot ``an honest new generation of leadership,'' implying that Virginia had not had honest leadership. It worked for him then, so we shouldn't be surprised to see him using it again this year.

It is a little disappointing, though, to see John Warner echoing this nonsense. Basically a decent man, Warner must know that there is no reason to believe that our Republican candidates are more (or less) honest than the Democrats.

There is an old American proverb that says: ``When a man tells you how honest he is, clutch your wallet.''

Augustus C. Johnson

Syria, Sept. 12, 1997

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