DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 1997             TAG: 9710280007

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

86th DISTRICT

Graeber's commitment

will benefit citizens

Throughout her life, Bev Graeber has displayed courage, integrity and a sincere commitment to help others. Life has dealt Bev challenges, and she has prevailed.

A dyslexic child spurred her involvement in the education of children and ultimately led her to elective office on a school board. Being stricken with breast cancer 16 years ago - and surviving it - propelled her to involvement with comforting the ill and downtrodden, through the Sentara Breast Cancer Center, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters and Habitat for Humanity.

Bev Graeber's opponent in the 86th House District has attempted to portray her as a person who will not care for the environment, the arts or other quality-of-life issues. The facts indicate otherwise.

We will be happy to call her Delegate Graeber because we know she holds herself to high standards, has no conflicting business interests and will always be there for Norfolk and its citizens.

Michael and Lori Glasser

Norfolk, Oct. 18, 1997

Williams knows ``basics''

include computer training

As a parent of a child who attends Ocean View Elementary school in Norfolk, I am concerned with all the talk from political candidates about getting back to the ``basics'' in the classroom.

Schools demand so much more now. They never got away from the three R's, but other skills are also basic to our children's future now. The newly adopted Virginia Standards of Learning includes computer competency. In addition, today's workplace requires the ability to work with others utilizing critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills.

Don Williams appreciates the proud traditions that our public schools have upheld through the years, but he wants to move forward to ensure that our children are ready for the 21st century. Join me in supporting Don Williams for the House of Delegates in the 86th district.

Clyde Tilgham

Norfolk, Oct. 17, 1997

Orderly classrooms

on Williams' agenda

As another Election Day approaches, citizens are once again bombarded by campaign promises. Education is at the forefront. As a Norfolk teacher and as a registered voter in the 86th House District, I firmly believe that Don Williams is focused on the issues that are critical to the future of public education.

Don Williams knows that safe schools and orderly classrooms are essential if our students are to learn. Parents need to feel confident that their children will be safe from the time they get on the school bus in the morning to when they return home in the afternoon. When one or two students disrupt a classroom, schools cannot do the job of educating. Everyone loses when we fail to measure up to academic expectations.

Virginia will soon be implementing tough new curriculum standards. Don Williams wants us to have the tools to implement these standards. That is why he wants alternatives for chronically disruptive students.

I urge other voters in the 86th District who also care about safe schools and orderly classrooms to join me in supporting Don Williams for the House of Delegates.

Susan L. Raper

Norfolk, Oct. 18, 1997

CAMPAIGN '97

Earley's the man

for attorney general

My father operated a salvage yard in Chesapeake in the late 1980s. By the time I moved to Chesapeake in 1992, the salvage yard had been sold to a third party. Because my father and I share the same name, I began receiving calls from a state Department of Taxation telephone collector regarding the old salvage-yard business. Despite my protests that neither I nor my father was responsible for the disputed taxes, I continued to receive these harassing phone calls.

I sent a letter to Sen. Mark Earley, who I understood presented my neighborhood in the General Assembly, and requested his intervention on this state tax matter. In short order, I received a final telephone call from the tax collector. He apologized for the errors and sheepishly added, ``You didn't have to get Mark Earley involved.''

I owed a debt of gratitude to Mark Earley for making a career of choosing to get involved. Although our district will miss this kind of service when Mark Earley is elected attorney general, Hampton Roads will be fortunate to have a responsive voice in Richmond in for a change.

Philip J. Infantino

Chesapeake, Oct. 21, 1997

``Christian woman''

prefers Bill Dolan

Why is Mark Earley a politician and not a minister? All of his public policies are dictated by his religious beliefs, which is far more the duty of a minister over his congregation than of an attorney general. The mere fact that Earley voted against the Virginia Lottery on the grounds that it is immoral proves that his policies are out of step with and not in the best interests of the average voter.

His supporters can hold him in as high esteem as they see fit but, realistically, his agenda is an extreme one which would unjustly prejudice most Virginians - women, minorities and members of different faiths. Not everyone is a middle-age, white, wealthy, conservative male with the same limited outlook. The election of narrow-minded and regressive men will not allow our state to progress into the next century. I have seen my future as a Christian woman in Virginia, and the future is Bill Dolan for attorney general.

Lori L. Wright

Chesapeake, Oct. 22, 1997

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