Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 13

rn Join the lively discussions on everything from local news to collegiate sports In our forums. Go to forum.tallahassee.com. Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Tallahassee Democrat Tallahassee.com niiiiiiiMiMii iiiiiiiiiwi in iniiiii win mmmmmBmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmma 2mgl if A I I immCtTTZ, tutto-id-rtf tH-t-S -i fci-i Democrat files Kitty Hoffman, an original dining room girl, rings the dinner bell at the remodeled Suwannee Room with T.K. Wetherell in 2005. SJhe graduated from Florida State College for Women In 1936 and served from 1940 to 1984 as a chemistry professor and administrator.

oncd Letters to the Editor It isn't MoveOn.org that helps terrorists Re: "The good, the bad and the very ugly" (Kathleen Parker, Sept. 13). Kathleen Parker, you're right. The MoveOn.org ad in The New York Times shouldn't have said anything about Gen. Petraeus.

He is a military man, following orders, caught in an untenable position. But MoveOn's ad isn't the reason Osama bin Laden must be pleased. That would be because, first, we never caught him; second, we have destabilized Iraq and opened the door to terrorists of many persuasions (including all of his minions); and, third, we've made most of the rest of the world furious at us. No, the ad shouldn't have said anything about Gen. Petraeus.

That ad should have read: Bushwhacked. JANE DALLET Who will condemn MoveOn.org ad? Re: "Where's the rebuttal to Petraeus report?" (letter, Sept. 15). Apparently, Don Phelps does not read the paper, access the Internet, watch TV or listen to the radio. If he did, he would know that Gen.

Petraeus was treated to a pre-buttal, not a rebuttal, by MoveOn.org, a liberal, anti-war organization that basically controls the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. The New York Times ad that preceded Gen. Petraeus' report called him General Betray Slandering the ranking American general in Iraq is no laughing matter. Unfortunately, not one of the Democratic candidates for commander in chief had the backbone to condemn this ad. My question is simple: If a candidate for president is too scared of an American political organization to criticize it, how can he or she take on terrorists bent oh destroying America and indeed Western civilization itself? BILL LEM0CKS LEMOCKSComcast.net More letters, Page 2B Readers' opinions stated succinctly My daughter is marrying a fine young man on Saturday.

They're registered at Exxon and Shell. Has anyone at DEP bothered to tell Secretary Mike Sole that the cows have been off the city's spray field for more than a year? Wake me up when it's 2009. Would the Democrat be willing to donate a "Miss a day. Miss a lot. bumper sticker for my trash bin? It'd be nice if the city didn't skip my house again this week.

Thomasville Road: A 60 mph procession of SUVs and lawn-service trucks with trailers. If North Monroe merchants are so concerned about the Tallahassee Mall, why don't they help pay for the renovations? Fans, take heart, there is still an F-S-U in the top 25. But it's spelled USF. So much for the Office of Open Government. No phone, no physical location, only an e-mail address, and that is never answered.

Perhaps the office is not even For every local level service job that is cut, one administrator should also be cut. That should save some services. For years, I've thought of Billy Joe as a great coach and a great man. Now that he has no hard feelings toward FAMU, he is a far big- i' ger man than even I gave him credit for. I throw away foods cooked in zero grams trans fat.

I nuke and eat the container. It tastes the same. Zing! thinks a high-fiber diet is good but a high-doughnut diet is best. Write P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, FL, 32302 or e-mail zingtallahassee.com.

HomeRoom: News from area schools. Page 4B Obituaries. Page 5B CONTACT US Mary Ann Lindley, editorial page editor: mlindleytallahassee.com Phone: 599-2178 Kitty Hoffman to be presented an honorary Ph.D. 5 The grande dame of the Florida State faculty is finally getting herPh.D. At Thursday's fall gathering of the faculty, President T.K.

Wetherell will present an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to chemistry professor emeritus Kitty Hoffman. Hoffman, 93, taught at FSU from 1940 to 1984, armed with only a master's degree. It is totally in keeping with her personality that she is grateful but not overwhelmed GERALD ENSLEY THE VIEW FROM HERE Professor emeritus GERALD ENSLEYDemocrat a yearbook photo from 1936. by the honor. "I was unbelievably astonished they wanted to give me an honorary degree," Hoffman said.

"Of course, having not earned it, I feel it is a backdoor way of getting a doctorate. But I am very pleased." Hoffman has spent a lifetime astonishing observers with her intelligence, independence, wit, gra-ciousness and generosity. Trained in the hard sciences, she has been a tireless advocate of a well-rounded liberal-arts education. Raised in the Old South tradition of womanhood she was a Rhododendron Princess, you know she has been a champion of women's equality. A survivor of the Depression, she and her late husband have donated Hoffman since childhood.

person who's modest but much to be proud of." Blood Hoffman graduated FSCW in 1936. She was a student, an athlete and a student-government president. to scrape financially for Her father was a citrus farmer in Winter when the bottom fell out of market in the Depression. Please see ENSLEY, 3B more than $150,000 to FSU for scholarships and programs. She is one of the dwindling number of surviving graduates of FSU's forerunner, the Florida State College for Women, and the coeducational FSU's last dean of women (1967-1970).

She is one of the living legends of FSU. "I admire her low-key demeanor. But when she says something, you listen to it because everything she says is insightful," said Anne Rowe, FSU's dean of the faculties, who has The humility of hazing makes no one stronger Kitty Hoffman today, left, and in there. I was placing my order when a lady walked in behind me. She stared at the menu, placed an order and then said, "I'm with that group of yahoos out front." All I could think was, You're what? She appeared to be in her late 30s and was probably a mom.

She probably had a job, a family and an acceptable value structure. However, the behavior of those kids outside was OK to her. In fact, she seemed to be helping these susceptible young minds partake in something that makes headlines every time a fraternity or college organization gets caught doing it: hazing. In fall of 1999, 1 pledged Manoge your subscription accourrf convenience online anytime. known "She is a has so Katherine from straight-A She had her education.

small-time Haven the fruit person," or, "You must be broken down to be built back up," or, my favorite, "It proves how hard you're willing to work to be a part of us." Those excuses are nothing more than cow dung. Such activities don't reveal character. They don't prove how much a person wants to be a part of something. If anything, they show how naive people can be to subject themselves to such punishment in order to be part of an organization. If we as a society say we want to ban hazing in all facets of college life, yet we think it's OK for Please see HAZING, 3B a fraternity at Florida State.

I made two vows at the end of that semester: to honor, respect and value my fraternity more than anything except God and family, and to do whatever I could to end hazing in my chapter, my university and my fraternity. There was no reason for me, or anyone else, to cut grass with scissors or be yelled at, dressed up, drawn on, drenched or sleep-deprived. These are all things created within military establishments for the purpose of training killers. That is not what we do in high schools and universities. Of course, there are those who claim, "Hazing makes you a stronger As I got out of my car and began walking toward the front door, I noticed four or five more blindfolded students being led toward the group.

One had on a bikini outside of his clothes. Others were wearing women's underwear outside of their clothes. They could've passed for rodeo clowns because of the amount of makeup that had been applied all over their bodies. Once they were joined with their esteemed Anchor Club colleagues, their blindfolds were removed, and that was probably the first time they realized they were standing next to North Monroe. As I walked in the front door of Bruegger's, the gathering of kids I have seen a lot of things that made me angry at society's lack of interest or its hypocrisy but noth ing so blatant as what I one recent Friday at Bruegger's on North Monroe.

In the parking lot, I had to drive JASON WHITE MY VIEW through a gathering of about 10 high-school students. There was nothing out of the ordinary about them, except they were all wearing Anchor Club T-shirts. LO. if. if ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jason White, who graduated from FSU in 2002 with degrees in English composition and information studies, is an information systems analyst for the state of Florida.

He's also a brother in the Chi Phi fraternity, where he serves as an executive officer on the Alumni Board and helps with advising the active chapter. Contact him at buffalopoboygmail.com. moved toward the street and got their kicks from making those few men stand by the road and wave to passing cars. The shock didn't stop Mtsung papar? Delivery problem? We're here to bnng the finest customer service to your doorstop. i r.

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