DATE: Sunday, October 26, 1997              TAG: 9710240178
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letters 

                                            LENGTH:  152 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - CHESAPEAKE

Once again, the city of Chesapeake has proven that if you can't get along with the ``good ol' boys'' you will be harassed until you resign.

After a nationwide search for a new fire chief, Chief Michael L. Bolac was hired. Mr. Bolac brought exceptional management skills, progressive leadership, professionalism and sound new ideas to the fire department and the city of Chesapeake. He insisted on continuous learning by the firefighters and set goals for the department regarding health, fitness and time management.

He was not hired to be a ``warm fuzzy''; he was hired to be a professional fire chief!

What a shame Mr. Bolac was not given more support by the very men and women he tried to promote as professionals. What a disservice his treatment is to those firefighters who were inspired to seek higher education, more training and more involvement in public affairs.

To spare our next fire chief some grief perhaps we should add to those applications going out across the country the phrase, ``union approval required.''

That's the bad news. The good news is that Mr. Bolac can now join a young fraternity with a rapidly increasing population. The fraternity is C.A.L.M.R. (Chesapeake Association of Leadership Managers, Resigned). You may recognize some of its members: John Maxwell, Jim Rein, etc.

Oh, Mr. Pazour, we'll keep the light on for you, too!

Joan D. Daffron

Beauregard Drive Cruel words

I am writing concerning the article ``Should terrible varsity programs be disbanded?'' by Paul White (The Clipper, Oct. 12).

How could you let an article such as this be written in your paper?

Mr. White, these are young ladies you wrote about. It sounds to me as if you called the Indian River girls field hockey team losers and said they should be disbanded because they haven't won a game or scored a point.

You didn't mention the hard defense they have shown against their opponents all season.

Yes, Mr. White, we all have the right of freedom of speech, but when you singled out these young ladies and wrote that they aren't important unless they win, you humiliated them. Your words were cruel, and I think you are a heartless man.

School is about building up our children's self-esteem. What did your article do? Nothing but tear them down.

These children are our future. The Indian River girls field hockey team is doing something positive with their lives. They could have been elsewhere doing drugs, skipping school or worse. These young ladies chose to play field hockey.

These young ladies chose to spend every day after school for three hours trying to learn the game. The are winners and not losers.

I think Mr. White and The Virginian-Pilot owe the Indian River girls field hockey team a public apology.

When our children are working to achieve positive things, we should reward them with positive action.

Naomi M. McKinnon

Corby Circle No need for change

It is time for Planning Commission appointments with three seats to be filled. The incumbents, Cliff Cabarras, Sandy Davenport and Debbie Ritter are eligible to be reappointed, and all three went to be reappointed.

The city of Chesapeake paid for these commissioners to be trained and certified. They know their job, and they do it well. They have four years' experience. Why should the city replace these fine commissioners with newcomers, who will have to be trained at the city's expense? If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Let's hope the City Council heeds the city manager's advice on the city budget.

We will all be watching these appointments.

Anne Tregembo

Bomar Drive Not excited

As I read the letter to the editor (The Clipper, Oct. 12) praising the new multimillion-dollar Chesapeake Conference Center, I just couldn't bring myself to share the excitement over this addition to our city.

Maybe that was because I had just returned from the Rokeby Avenue fire station in a weekly ritual quest for palatable water.

Kenneth T. Decker Sr.

Logans Mill Trail Signature drive

On Nov. 4 citizens will elect a new governor and many other state and local officials. Voters in Chesapeake will also have an opportunity to sign a petition sponsored by the Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations (CCCO) to allow a managed growth advisory question to appear on the ballot at the May 1998 general election.

We need approximately 16,500 signatures and many volunteers in order to make this happen.

This is not a new issue! The CCCO and other citizens sponsored rallies for managed growth before the City Council in 1995 and 1996. The majority of the council denied our right to vote on a managed growth question with a 5-4 vote in 1995 and a 5-3 vote in 1996. With the help of many of our state senators and delegates, the CCCO was able to get our city charter changed to allow advisory referendums for Chesapeake citizens.

Why did we select a managed growth question as our first application of this new right?

Citizens are interested in making Chesapeake a city that does not allow residential growth to outpace needed services such as fire, police, roads and schools, a city that meets the needs of its current citizens before expanding beyond its ability to provide adequate services.

The Chesapeake school administration reports that there are 9,500 residential building sites in Chesapeake that are either currently under construction or where site work has begun or is probable that site work will begin before the year 2002. There are 5,100 acres of residentially zoned land or up to 21,000 empty lots in the city. Yes, all of these lots can be built on at any time, and our City Council does not have the authority to say, ``Wait until services are available to support these developments.''

Please join with us in this effort to make way for a better Chesapeake for tomorrow.

If you would like to help us get signatures to allow a managed growth question on the ballot in May 1998, please call the CCCO corresponding secretary at 547-8885.

Gene Waters

President

Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations

Clearfield Avenue Unusual lawyer

After many years of life, several words cause my body to react negatively. For instance, the word ``politician'' makes the hair on my neck bristle. When it is used in conjunction with other words, like ``lawyer-politician,'' my skin crawls.

The only way that I can relieve those sensations is to remind myself that those words are not necessarily negative - as when they are used to describe good men like Mark Earley!

Mark has been a neighbor for many years, and he grew up in the same neighborhood where he now rears his kids. I have seen him many times over the years as we both dropped off our children at public schools in Chesapeake. Mark always has time to talk to folks, and he cares about what his constituents are saying and feeling. He has a big investment in the public school system (He and his wife are educating their six kids there), and he realizes that we all are concerned about educating our children in an environment of quality and security.

When Mark Earley speaks of principles, he is not speaking a second language, as he was reared with high principles and he inherited the moral fiber to speak up for those ideals. He doesn't look for easy, feel-good answers to the problems facing our society. He realizes that an over-burdened criminal justice system is not the place to fix society's ills.

He represents a rare breed in American politics today - a person who has a vested, genuine interest in leaving the world a better place than he found it.

So, when the polls open in the upcoming attorney general's race, I will be there bright and early to support a man who supports all of us. I will cast my vote for Mark Earley. It's the least I can do to thank a man who has given me such relief for those ``hair-raising'' and ``skin-crawling'' conditions!

A.C. ``Andy'' Black Jr.

Hornsea Road

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