Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 10

Tallahassee June 12, 1989 READER'S PAGE Congratulations to Susannah Lyle's son Zachary on the occasion of his first year in an integrated school, Ms. Lyle was correct in pointing out that the integration of students with disabilities into mainstream classrooms is intended to benefit the able-bodied students as well as the disabled ones. We still harbor many superstitious fears about persons whose bodies function differently, just as we once held superstitious fears of persons whose skins are differently-colored. No less a personage than George Bush has pledged to "get the disabled into the mainstream," in recognition of the fact that full civil riehts for disabled citi IF Integration well serves students with disabilities I am the mother of an 11-year-old daughter with a learning disability. My daughter has made tremendous progress this past school year.

Not only has her reading ability improved, but her self-confidence has sky-rocketed. I feel my daughter's progress is the result of her having spent a great deal of time in regular education classrooms learning and playing with non-handicapped children. I feel strongly that all children with handicaps should have this learning opportunity, as Susannah Lyle stated in a June 2 column. Therefore, I support the position of the Florida Advocacy Coalition for Excellence. I support the integration of all students with handicaps into regular education schools.

ANN CONNELL zens are long overdue. Tarhani'D iroap at DnoHinor ic nnfl email nPfCOnal in flint ptmnnla Tha I mfrtvtl a t3 HoPlcinn FlV vniuiy in uiai snuggle inc uniuiiuuuiv -thf srhnol hnnrrf tn hniM more "senarate-but-eaual" classrooms was just a temporary setback, easily, i mi ii i kb ax i I -II--" Issue shows public vote still counts Three cheers to the Florida House of Representatives on at least one issue during this past session: They stuck to their guns and decided to leave the decision to impose local sales and gas taxes in the hands of the people. It was rewarding to read that lobbyists for the real estate agents, homebuilders, cities, and counties were upset that county commissions will not be able to raise these taxes without a referendum. For a while at least, developers and others will not be able to raise funds to continue our states' unchecked growth without consulting those of us most affected by their race for the almighty dollar. In a small way, the action by the House gives me hope that what I think still counts.

RICHARD LONG Preservation of Hartsfield Thank you for your editorial supporting Superintendent Bill Woolley's courageous recommendation preserve Hartsfield Elementary School's combined and apparently unique advantages of being both a racially balanced inner city school and not overcrowded. We are grateful that the rezoning task force and the superintendent's staff presented alternatives to the superintendent, recognizing that a school that is not overcrowded should not be affected Under their own criteria of establishing a "minimal impact plan." ELEANOR M. HUNTER HENRY HUNTER Mike Ewen center lor inaepenaeni uving Daniel Cao is in an integrated class at Ruediger 's drop-out rate not as bad as it looks education data (like the GED). That leads to those states having inflated rankings in comparison to Florida. There are additional important is- sues to consider and support when ad- dressing the needs of Florida's students.

A statewide database must exist, which 1 could individually track students who move in and across the state, thereby reflecting accurate promotion, gradual tion and dropout rates. Multi-cultural- populations in Florida create unique challenges not experienced by the "top If it's true that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, then Florida is in deep-serious trouble." (Mary Ann Lind-ley's May 7 column). In that column, Lindley bemoans that "41.4 percent of all Florida ninth-graders never graduate as extracted from the U.S. Department of Education's National Wallchart. If journalistic responsibility were taken seriously, Florida's educational trends would fare better than portrayed.

Widespread disagreement goes unreported when relating what those data describe for today's society. The federal government found our graduate population to be 58.6 percent by counting the number of ninth graders who receive diplomas four years later, thereby ranking Florida last among the 50 states. Looking at the issues of high school graduation rate as well as rank we know that students graduate a number of different ways, but only one is considered by the U.S. Department of Education statistics. What the department did was use Florida's 129,495 ninth grade population in 1983-84 and add an undefined growth factor.

The number of students receiving standard high school diplomas four years later in the spring of 1987 (75,884) was then divided by the adjusted 1983-84 ninth grade, population. This calculation ignores other types of graduates: exceptional students who received Special Diplomas adult high school program graduates (about and GED Florida High School diplomas all awarded during the 1986-87 school year. (Florida has long been recognized as providing one of the largest, most effective adult and community education programs in the nation.) There are yet more ways for students to be missed by the graduate-counting process: early graduation, transfers from public to private schools, and anomalies in the size of the ninth grade population. (In 1986-87 Florida had 15.7 percent more ninth graders than eighth graders, and 6.7 percent more ninth graders than tenth graders. Since the ninth grade population is used as the denominator for graduation rate calculations, the accuracy of results become more problematic.) When considering the 1986-87 adult education program, which accounts for one out of every three Florida graduates, it's important to note that 50.6 percent of Florida's GED takers are 21 or younger.

Given this information, a 72 percent rate would result if the 1986-87 graduation figures were to include exceptional students and half of the adult high school students (those 21 or less). That value would place Florida nearer the 29th state rather than at the bottom. Some of the other states present graduation figures to the federal government that incorporate alternative laiiKeu Kiauuauun siaies ui lvuuucsir IU, TT VlSlllllIg UIJU UI AMItWlM. While our education system may not be the best in the nation, and has a long way to go, it is very questionable that it ranks among the last. Journalism must strive to ferret out accurate reporting of national trends, and inform readers of conflicting view- points and incomplete information.

PHILIP GRISE KATHI WAITERS Sen. Pepper is fondly, reverently remembered 0 iUWE Ayatollah is thankfully dead The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died. I first heard of the ayatollah in the spring of 1978. It was hatred and loathing at first sight You see, I am psychic I can get "feelings" about disasters waiting to happen. I could tell that the ayatollah was a demon from Hell and no one lifted a finger to stop him.

I am also an avid student of world history. I immediately saw the dimensions of the Iran crisis in 1978: it would be a bloodbath and cataclysm on the scale of the Bolshevik Revolution of November, 1917. Financing the murder of dangerous terrorists is a crime. However, I argue vehemently that the real crime was in allowing Ayatollah Khomeini to come to power. I hate to tell the world "I told you so," but all my horrible visions from 1978 came to pass.

Few people are more deserving of Satan's hospitality than the late ruler of Iran. CRAIG K. HASTY Morality based on reality A proper morality for man is one which is based on the facts of reality. It must be black and white for reality is absolute. To pursue an ethics which permits a compromise between good and evil a gray morality allows one to ignore facts and is a threat to one's life.

STEVE BROCKERMAN Letters to the editor The Democrat welcomes your views on public issues. Letters must bear your signature plus printed or typed full name, full address and telephone number. Writers are limited to one letter per month. Due to a limited amount of space, letters may be edited. Mail your letters to: Letters to the editor, P.O.

Box 990, Tallahassee, Fla. 32302. When a person died, we used to say that the body would be laid to rest at such and such a time and place. That was a subtle, but worthy, affirmation of our faith, our belief in eternal life. We were told that Claude Pepper would be buried in Tallahassee.

Many politicians are, but they continue to make speeches and carry the banner of the special interests who have bought them their plot in the capital. Claude Pepper could not be buried, ever. His body was interred beside that of his beloved wife, but Claude and Mildred are alive and well in the bosom of the god who called them home. Even those lacking religion comprehend that Claude Pepper not his body, but the spirit, integrity, informed commitment and intellect that is Claude Pepper can never be buried. D.

PAUL SONDEL It absolutely turned my stomach to see Claude Pepper, a life-long Democrat and solid adherent to the programs and principles espoused by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, eulogized by two high-living turncoat Democrats in front of the old Capitol. JIM DENNIS The late Claude Pepper once made my wife and me feel as though we were important persons. It happened at a local cafeteria a couple of years ago. We were seated near the end of the serving line because we were expecting some church friends to join us. All at once, someone came toward us who appeared to look a lot like Sen.

Pepper. We were greatly surprised because we knew he didn't know us. Sen. Pepper extended his hand as he approached, so I immediately stood up and exclaimed to my wife: "It is Sen. Pepper, dear." She smiled and greeted him as I managed to smile as best I could.

He spoke first, for I was too dumbfounded to say anything. "Good day," he stated. My wife and I managed to get out a hello. Then I said, "It's good to meet But with great gusto, he replied: "No, it is I who am so pleased to meet you both." At that point I was totally bewildered. As a county politician in a Midwestern state years ago, I had met national and state figures at political rallies, and we had greeted each other because it was expected.

But this single act was pure and simple the act of a statesman, for obviously he had nothing to gain in selecting either of us for personal recognition. On the way out of the cafeteria, we noticed he was seated with his brother and another friend. I have waited until now to reveal this incident, thinking that if I had written Sen. Pepper's Washington office to express my appreciation, the recipient of -I Mike Ewen A line of people gathers outside the Old Capitol to pay its respects to the late Claude Pepper my letter would have assumed I had an ulterior motive. Instead, I wish to thank God for letting a person1 as noble, yet as humble, as Claude Pepper serve our- nation so well and for so long.

If his successor does only nait as wen ana tor nan as long, America be well served. GEORGE W. O'LARY ing robes to worship him. We need more social critics like Mr. Hatch to help us keep our priorities in order.

M.B. WARD Jesus taught love not about fashion H.S. Hatch's letter of May 31 immediately brought to mind words I'd recently read describing a man who spent his last years as a prayerful Christian. The description: good looking, well groomed, neatly dressed. The man: Ted Bundy.

Mr. Hatch should have the good sense to see past the Lewises' self-styled attire to the good Christian people inside and welcome them with open arms to worship beside him in the house of the Lord. LORI BECKERMAN Dog Island Tallahassee Democrat Carrol Dadisman, publisher Fred Mott Bob Stiff general manager executive editor Clyde Claiborne Bill Fuller production director managing editor Doris Dunlap Bill Mansfield director of employee editorial page editor and community relations Susannah Lyle associate editor Tom Privett I advertising director Jim inter associate editor Michael Smernoff I controller Billie S. Smith director of information systems Tom Bartlett circulation manager Do we Christians attend church services to rate apparel or to join one another in prayer and praise, seeking a closer relationship with our lord and our church family? It disturbs me greatly that someone might read a letter such as Mr. Hatch's and see his views as characteristic of the practice of Christianity.

As an Episcopalian, I was shaken to read the letter, imagining what others might conceive as the tenets of the Episcopal denomination. I sincerely hope that all of Mr. Hatch's readers will conclude that his views are solely his own, and not in any way representative of Christian theology. BUFFI JONES H.S. Hatch letter criticizing the way people dress in his church was a masterpiece of sarcasm and irony.

By pretending to be shallow and venal, Mr. Hatch very cleverly points out how some of us forget the real reason for going to church. Imagine Jesus caring about people wearing flow I know hundreds of people who attend St. John's Episcopal Church and not one of them would be so rude as to question what I chose to wear to church. ANGEL BROOKS I am writing in response to the May 31 letter of H.S.

Hatch regarding St. John's Episcopal Church where, he says, "everyone is in compliance with ac-. cepted criteria" except for one couple whose clothing-: distracts Mr. Hatch from the "dignity and propriety of the proceeding." I was raised in the Episcopal Church and learned -there that Jesus' message was not concerned with1 either "dignity and propriety" or an "accepted criteria" of dress. Rather, he taught love, understanding and compassion for all.

LYNDA BREEN I feel I must respond to H.S. Hatch's letter the attire of two churchgoers at the 11 a.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church. The case against abortion is actually the feminist one My view Rosemary Bottcher ticular, feminists believe that there is no natural hierarchy of gender, intelligence, capability and talent are not sex-linked characteristics.

In short, feminists believe that both men and women are entitled to rights and subject to responsibilities. Pro-life feminists do not agree that a woman's right to "run her life and oversee her body" justifies abortion any more than a man's right to run his life and oversee his body justifies rape. Rape is illegal even though it is common and has been for thousands of years, and even though many men sincerely believe that women have little value. It is illegal because as a society we wish to establish the principle that it is wrong to harm another human being, and we hope to protect the victims of those who disagree. Abortion should be illegal for the same reasons.

Modern pro-life feminists are not "fooling themselves" as Gary claims: they are remembering and remaining faithful to the tenets of their foremothers the pioneering feminists who started the woman's movement more than 100 years ago. They accepted the patriarchal mind set so plored by the first feminists: the attitude that it is permissible to treat "unequals" unequally, for the powerful to oppress the disenfranchised. By accepting male stan- dards, these women have capitulated to male dominance. But pro-life feminists reject abortion 1. because we reject the patriarchal view that legitimizes violence as a solution to problems.

We will not settle for mere equality i-(equally evil), but work for the transforma- tion of society to create a world that re- fleets the values cherished by our foremothers. We promote a feminism that recognizes the interdependence of all living things, and is nurturing, loving, gentle and prolife. We want not abortion but justice, for ourselves and our children. Rosemary Bottcher is vice president of Feminists for Life of America, Inc. The address is 811 East 47th Street, Kansas I City, MO 64110.

Young lawyers are advised, "If your case is utterly without merit, your only hope of winning is to assail the character of your opponent." Gary Karasik applied this advice in his latest column about abortion. Carefully avoiding the fundamental issue under what circumstances is it morally permissible to kill human beings Gary concluded that abortion is a nifty thing because the people opposed to it are such mean, miserable, malevolent misogynis'ts. They are not interested in saving babies, Gary asserts; their real motive is to oppress women. Of course, I disagree with that characterization. I have met thousands of pro-lifers and know that most of them are motivated by a love of children, not by a hatred of women.

But that is not the point I The character or motive of believers does not determine the validity! of their belief. If I had no more honorable device at my disposal, too, could resort to argu-mentum ad hominen and declare that men like Gary support abortion because they are immature and irresponsible, and regarded abortion with, revulsion, referring to it as "the murder of infants." These feminists rightly saw abortion as a reflection of the oppressed status of women. The following passage, which appeared in the feminist newspaper The Revolution on Sept. 9, 1869, is typical: "When a woman destroys the life of her unborn child it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged She is forced to outrage the holiest instinct of her being to maintain even a semblance of that freedom which by nature belongs to every human soul." The early feminists believed that by enhancing the status of women, they could greatly reduce the incidence of abortion. Susan B.

Anthony wrote that "We must reach the root of the evil (abortion) is practiced by those whose inmost souls revolt from the dreadful deed." (The Revolution, July 8, 1869) It is very ironic that so many modern feminists have adopted abortion as the very symbol of their freedom. They have abortion allows them to exploit women with impunity. This may be true, but again, it is not the point By most accounts, Picasso was a reprehensible fellow. Is his art therefore without value? And Gary, if you are really a good guy, you'd better run home and poisons your puppy, because Hitler loved dogs. Gary elaborates and proclaims that no feminist can be "anti-choice." (Actually, any feminist worth her salt is likely to be "anti-choice" on many issues.

Discrimination, spouse abuse, rape and fathers' abandonment of children immediately come to mind.) I don't think Gary understands what a feminist is. Feminism is part of a larger philosophy that holds that all human beings have inherent worth, and that this worth cannot be conferred or denied by another. In par.