DATE: Wednesday, November 19, 1997          TAG: 9711190006

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:  133 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - THE VIRGINIAN - PILOT

DISNEY BOYCOTT

Movie, sitcom full

of anti-Catholic bias

We are one chapter of an international association of Catholics dedicated to advancing and defending the Catholic faith.

The Disney Corp. seems to have some kind of axe to grind with the Catholic Church, first with the Miramax film ``Priest'' and now with ABC's ``Nothing Sacred.'' The former displays a dysfunctional priest as the norm and lays blame for a host of the world's problems on the doorstep of the Catholic Church. The latter presents a pubescent priest in the throes of rebelling against all that the church teaches.

There are no Disney movies or TV shows about dissident rabbis or ministers who ridicule all that their churches teach. Yet Disney considers the Catholic Church fair game as the fodder for a sitcom.

We have joined the Christian boycott against Disney, refusing to buy its products or vacation in the land of giant rodents that talk and dance. A world that's unreal may be cute when it comes to humanoid animals, but the gimmick takes a sinister twist when you mess with priests, and we want no part of it.

Frances E. Loch

Chairman

Catholics United for the Faith

Virginia Beach, Nov. 14, 1997

ELECTION `97

Moral issues more

important than tax

The media analysis of the Republican victory in our recent election does an injustice to the Virginia electorate. The general opinion is that it was the car-tax issue alone that was crucial. Yet for myself and for many others, the solid, conservative, moral stand taken by the Republican candidates was just as important or more so.

The Republicans took the moral high ground in this election and were rewarded, not by ``religious fanatics'' but by concerned people who sought God-honoring leaders to wisely lead our state.

Alessio C. Salsano

Virginia Beach, Nov. 7, 1997

EDUCATION

Schools need

punishment quotas

Your Nov. 7 article, ``The Discipline Gap'' reports that black students in Virginia Beach schools are more likely to be punished than white students. The same data, however, show that discipline rates for Asian students are disproportionately low.

This is certainly an intolerable situation. We need a quota system to see that punishment - excuse me, that term is no longer allowed - ``discipline'' is meted out to all census categories in equal proportions.

Asian students will just have to understand that detention will be doled out for, say, yawning in class, so that their group's quota can be met, while teachers will ignore their African-American schoolmates' transgressions if that group's apportionment is already filled.

It's just another form of affirmative action. Or maybe in this case it's called ``rejective action.''

Frederick O. Reilich

Virginia Beach, Nov. 8, 1997

MENTALLY ILL

Still woeful conditions

at Central State Hospital

I commend your Nov. 1 editorial about the sad state of affairs at Central State Hospital near Petersburg.

I have been following the unfolding events at Central State Hospital since early last winter; I had initially hoped that the governor would act, but the horrible conditions at this hospital have failed to improve, as you correctly point out in your editorial.

I add my outrage to that of advocate Max Schneier that the Joint Commission on Heathcare Organizations has badly let down the mentally ill and their families by not enforcing rules that the hospital agreed to follow as part of its accreditation. Perhaps we cannot trust the hospitals and health organizations to monitor themselves, but if we cannot trust the referees to do their job, we are all in trouble.

Under Governor Allen's administration, there have been findings of abuse and neglect at the Northern Virginia Hospital. I hope that courageous Virginians will continue to speak out on behalf of those, like the late Gloria Huntley, who cannot speak for themselves.

James McNulty

Board member

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

Bristol, R.I., Nov. 3, 1997

NORFOLK

Park Place offers

many positives

I am writing on behalf of the members of the Park Place Civic League in protest of the article, ``What Ever Happened To...'' which appeared in last week's Virginian-Pilot.

Over the past several years, a lot of effort has gone into improving the quality of life in our community. For example, we have an active environmental committee that patrols the community every Tuesday, citing code violations and passing them on to the appropriate city agency for resolution; we have a youth committee that has assisted Monroe Elementary School become wired for the Internet and started an annual Take Your Child to School program; our community newsletter, Park Place News, is still going strong; a consortium of community leaders was held, for the first time in the history of Park Place, to start dialogue among local organizations on our collective visions for our community.

If people choose not to reside in our community, that is their prerogative, but don't highlight problems in our community that exist in other neighborhoods without the negative press Park Place gets.

Please, let's get out of the rearview mirror and look to the future.

B. J. Stancel

President

Park Place Civic League

Norfolk, Nov. 7, 1997

KATIE ADAMS

Norfolk lost

a fine ambassador

Farewell to Norfolk's finest ambassador, Katie Adams.

The untimely loss of Katie Adams on Nov. 4 saddens us all and takes from us the kind of generous person this community so vitally needs. She was a true ambassador, whose skills managed to connect all groups, all classes, all genders and all ages in a way that seemed to bring out the very best in people. She was a dynamo.

She and her husband, Art, shared that special gift of family and of life experiences with so many by opening up their home, their family and their friendship to visiting military, to artists, performers, dignitaries and friends in a way that created and nurtured community - and, we should add, they did it with style, and it was ``f-u-u-u-n-n-n-n,'' as Katie would say.

This area is better because of Katie, but today we are less because she is gone. We miss her, and we celebrate her life. Farewell to Norfolk's finest ambassador.

Christine and David Beatty

Norfolk, Nov. 6, 1997

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