Child left special ed, took rightful place, thanks to Dr. Berger
I may not agree with everything Stuart Berger did during his tenure as superintendent of the Baltimore County public schools, but I was very grateful for what he did for my daughter ("Ousted Balto. Co. schools chief speaks at daughter's graduation," May 22).
Because of Dr. Berger, Annie graduated on the stage of Towson High School, instead of on the stage of a special education school. She took her place with neighborhood friends and fellow Girl Scouts and was applauded by people who watched her grow and develop, people who probably never expected to see her on the stage of her neighborhood school.
It took 14 years for Annie to finally get there. She might not have gone to Towson had it not been for Dr. Berger's belief that all children should have the opportunity to learn from and with one another, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. His conviction that children belong in their neighborhood schools was Annie's ticket back to her community.
Next year, thanks to the leadership of Marjorie Rofel, the director of special education for our schools, Annie will be off to Towson University, participating in a new program for students with severe disabilities who need to focus on work and community living skills. She will be able to tell her 16-year-old sister about college and will enjoy many of the benefits of being on a campus with students her own age.
When I was in high school, it was not unusual for children like Annie to be institutionalized. Our experience with the school system has not been perfect, but I am thankful. The schools have provided my daughter opportunities, and the community has given its support.
Mary E. Scott
Towson
Father Roach is missed by his former city parishes
Bravo to Richard O'Mara on his accurate article about the brilliant and courageous priest, Father Michael J. Roach ("Exiled from his Eden," May 28).
As a parishioner who has worked, frustratingly, on the "transitioning" and "clustering" mentioned in the article, I have come to see that such clustering (destroying parish identities) will be even more disastrous to this archdiocese and the Roman Catholic Church in the city than the clustering of schools was in the 1970s.
Indeed, there is a shortage of priests, but there also appears to be a misallocation of the resources we have. And if dear Father Roach misses his city parishes, he should know how much we worshipers in Southwest Baltimore miss him and how we yearn to have him back among us.
Mildred M. Finck
Baltimore
New York values parkland, so should Harford County
After reading The Sun's editorial ("Bel Air's last stand," May 27) concerning the opposition to developing the 11 acres of woods behind the Bel Air schools complex, I decided to call New York City to let them know that Central Park is a waste of prime land.
I explained how The Sun had proffered such an argument in response to our community group's effort to save the last 11 acres of undisturbed woodland in my hometown. Because New York is used to dealing with eccentrics, they were very matter of fact in telling me that Central Park, with the open spaces and wildlife habitat it provides, is worth the sacrifice in terms of development dollars.
As a member of the group protesting Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann's proposal to build on Wakefield Woods, I took great comfort in the fact that one of the biggest cities in the world has deemed it important to set aside land solely on the need for green.
As The Sun pointed out in its editorial, the group protesting the destruction of the woods has its heart in the right place, but this group is also very much aware of the economics. As homeowners in Harford County, we have to protect the environment that makes living here a desirable thing.
When the developers -- oops, I mean the shelter industry -- promote buying a home in Harford, trees and meadows figure prominently in their ads. When the time comes for me to sell my Bel Air home, I want to be able to tell prospective buyers honestly that this county is a great place to live. In my mind, saving this last stand of old growth forest is a step in the right direction.
Pamela M. Cobo
Bel Air
Victims fell on both sides of N. Ireland 'troubles'
As an Irish reader of your paper, I strongly welcome the peace settlement in Northern Ireland. This settlement would have been impossible without the help and support of many millions of Irish-Americans and people from Ulster.
A letter to the editor ("N. Ireland nationalists were the real victims under Britain's rule," May 29) has an interesting perspective on the settlement. However, the letter writer's views contain serious inaccuracies and leave many questions unanswered.
Chief among them is the assertion that nationalists have been the exclusive victims of the past 25 years of Irish Republican Army violence. All of us here in Ireland, nationalist and unionist, have been victimized by violence.
Terrorists stalked the streets of nationalist and unionist areas alike, making all our lives a misery.
The decommissioning of terrorist weapons, on both the loyalist and republican sides, is now urgently needed if the peace process is to be built upon. Such a gesture, from both IRA and Ulster Volunteer Force terrorists, would go a long way toward healing the wounds of our divisive past.
The focus on the past is not constructive at this time of healing; PTC all Irishmen, wherever we are in the world, must now surely look to the future. If we work together, if we put past fears and past hatreds behind us, that future will surely be a bright one.
David Christopher
Dublin, Ireland
The writer is chairman of the Reform Movement of Southern Ireland.
Suggestion to arm teachers was way off the mark
When some states permitted citizens to carry concealed weapons as a deterrent to street robbers, I guessed that somebody would soon extend that reasoning to school personnel. Now somebody has actually written that proposal in a letter to The Sun ("More guns are a deterrent to mass shootings in schools," May 31).
The letter states that access to guns in schools by responsible adults would make schools less vulnerable to mass shootings.
There is the answer! Every principal, supervisor, guidance counselor, custodian and teacher should have a handgun in his or her desk. Of course, to be a real deterrent, those guns would have to be loaded and ready for instant use. That is the answer to those "reckless and dangerous blandishments of anti-self-defense lobby groups who are making life safer and easier for vicious murderers," as the writer suggested.
I can't wait for some delegate to introduce such legislation.
Some people who think like the letter writer actually get elected to our government: Quick, save our children by arming the school staffs.
Carleton W. Brown
Elkton
------------
It is dismaying to read the letter suggesting that the answer to the problem of schoolyard gun murders is to increase access to firearms. This advice is at once simplistic and irresponsible and puts everyone in this society at greater risk of gun violence.
The only way to interrupt this pattern of tragedies is to reduce access to guns and to make people gun owners responsible. This should take two forms.
First, the parents or relatives from whom these children often get their guns should be prosecuted for allowing deadly weapons to fall into the hands of kids. If you are not responsible enough to keep your gun locked away and out of the reach of children, you are not responsible enough to own a weapon.
Second, we need thorough gun-control laws in this country. How many more school shootings will it take before we realize that gun control is essential to a livable society? This has been the response in other countries to random gun violence, and it works.
Widespread gun ownership is the problem, not the solution. Promoting guns is reckless and irresponsible.
Ian Hurd
New Haven, Conn.
------------
In light of the recent upsurge in teen-age violence in schools, many people may be interested in a study done by the education committee of the Baltimore County League of Women Voters in 1996, "Safe Schools, Safe Communities."
The study supports a fair, consistent discipline code and suspension policy as well as an emphasis on prevention and early intervention with at-risk students.
Anne H. Lee
Towson
The writer is president of the League of Women Voters of Baltimore County.
Pub Date: 6/03/98