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Herald editorial on target with regard to NCLB
To the Editor:
For the past six years we have been privileged to serve as volunteers at Fairview Elementary School. We have worked with teachers in grades three, five, and six. We have found those teachers to be diligent, caring, innovative and concerned, and also to be exceptional educators.
As the editorial in the July 27 issue so properly points out, Fairview is an excellent school. It is the No Child Left Behind legislation that has failed our children, not Fairview. In a “masterstroke of unimaginable stupidity,” the current administration has indeed created a system that appears designed to make schools fail. This is especially true in light of the fact that the “Houston miracle” turned out to be the Houston Hoax. That house of cards is the basis for “No Child Left Behind.” What a farce.
As the parents of an adult retarded daughter, we are outraged by the ridiculous scheme coming out of this administration. Disabled children should not be treated nor tested as a group. They require individual prescriptive educational plans, and they require individual evaluation for progress. For example, our daughter does not learn on a nice smooth upward trending line. She learns in steps like a stairway. She goes along for a period of time and then she has it – a step up.
Finally, we commend the teachers and staff at Fairview for their continuing hard work, and we will continue to support them in spite of the overwhelming stupidity emanating from Washington. And remember this, George: “Ignorance is remedial, but dumb is forever.”
Jere and Judy Annis
Sylva
Fable for future
To the Editor:
Here is a fable from the future which our local politicians might be interested in:
“My grandpa stood up against the forces which eventually destroyed the mountains that used to be here.
“Grandpa was defeated, but he fought hard, and he along with a few others held them off for a while.
“I can’t help but wonder if his models might have been the men at the Alamo or our soldiers on Bataan.
“Grandpa is my model. I remember him, and I’m proud of him.”
Lee Budahl
Cullowhee
Bridge Park Project is great idea
To the Editor:
I have had the pleasure of attending two of the meetings chaired by Sarah Graham, who is leading the effort to establish a center-city commons, which for lack of a final name is being called the “Bridge Park Project.”
Being a member of the Sylva Planning Board, I am well aware that almost all projects seem to have supporters and opponents. This one is shaping up to be a rare exception. I have heard no negatives out of the organizers or the people who have heard of the project. It is a “win-win” for everyone, it seems. The concept is sound, the funding is planned to be voluntary, and the end result will serve everyone from the music lover to the farmers’ market crowd, and young to old.
My hope is that those of you with ideas, time, talent, or money to donate will flock to this project and make it a reality – sooner rather than later. It is the kind of center city focal point that every city needs to gather people together for worthwhile endeavors.
Milt Wofford
Sylva
Concerns about WCU’s planned ‘body farm’
To the Editor:
In the July 20 issue of the Sylva Herald, John Williams, new department head of anthropology at Western Carolina University, announced plans to begin a “body farm” somewhere near the university. The facility will be modeled after the existing one at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. As a result of his proposal, several questions have arisen with regard to the body farm from conversations held with community members, including religious leaders and medical practitioners.
Bill Bass, director of the Knoxville facility and author of Death’s Acre, has lectured in Cullowhee. Undeniably, he speaks about the forensic study of decaying bodies with humor and interesting stories, including morbid tidbits about special cases. Paradoxically, his answer to a question asked by journalists – “When you die, will your body go to the Body Farm?” – was “absolutely not.” Besides, he added, “(my wife’s) way of thinking (would be) a more dignified final resting place.”
He finds a receptive audience and student interest in a climate where CSI and similar TV programs portray forensic work as glamorous and sexy. The program at Knoxville is open to graduate students, working toward a doctorate, presumably with sufficient emotional maturity for such work. The program at WCU is aimed at undergraduate students. Question. Will these undergraduates be prepared to observe the day-to-day slow decay with maggots, blowflies and strong odor of a body as it is exposed to the elements?
What of the people in the surrounding community and their questions? Do they deserve to hear more of the details? Williams has discussed his plans with some in the academic community and Bass has spoken on a number of occasions to the participants at NCCAT, but these people are, for the most part, not of this community and do not share their understanding and questions locally.
There is, also, some question as to the disposition of the body remains once the study is completed on a corpse. Apparently no well defined plan exists at the UT facility as to whether the remains are cremated or buried, or where, no family is available to state the wishes of the deceased. According to a conversation with a funeral director, when the family is known, the remains are often not returned in a timely manner. To the extent that research will be conducted on unembalmed bodies, will moral and ethical issues related to the “theology of resurrection” be observed?
Finally, is a “body farm” really necessary in Cullowhee? Is there any justification for it? According to a reviewer, Bass provided “unconvincing justification for the existence of the body farm” (He said, because “it is unique.”) Will the director of the forensic anthropology project provide a justification for the research on dead bodies at WCU? The law in North Carolina states that anyone who dies as a result of murder or other questionable cause, the primary source of bodies donated for this project, must be first seen by a medical examiner. Medical examiners are, after all, medically trained to look for clues that such bodies can reveal. Williams states that he is interested in the effect that the mountain climate will have on the decay of a body. Question. How much different can the climatic conditions be in Cullowhee from those found in the Knoxville area less than 80 miles away?
William Chovan
Cullowhee
Enough is enough
To the Editor:
When is enough enough? How long will hard-working citizens continue to bear the burden of out-of-control gas prices?
It is time for the Bush Administration to put working families first and hold the special interests accountable. Voters can stop this madness – support your Democratic candidates in November.
Mary Jo Cobb
Tuckasegee
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