LETTERS

Cold days make policy even more ridiculous

When I awoke this morning I was in a good mood. Since I love cold weather, the temperature in the low 30s, the frost on the ground and the ice on my car were very enjoyable to me.

Then my sister-in-law called, very upset and crying. It appears that her only son, who has always been sickly and attends St. Martin High School, had blatantly disobeyed her, something he normally does not do.

My sister-in-law told my nephew to wear his heavy jacket since it was so cold outside and on the bus. Since he does not own the right color jacket specified at his school, he refused because he would get suspended. His mother told him that surely the school would not expect students to go out in the cold to wait for and ride on an unheated bus without a jacket, no matter what color. He insisted that the students had been told by the principal and teachers that they would not put up with noncompliance. She told him that she didn't care what they said, he'd better wear his jacket! The next thing she knew he was out the door - without his jacket. By the time she got into her robe and out the door to take his jacket to him he was entering the bus.

She is afraid to say anything because of fear for her son, but I'm not. I want to ask you school board people, does this make you feel good? Now your policy is causing children to defy their parents. Do you ever ask yourself, "Why am I allowing this to happen?" then answer, "Because I have too much pride to admit that I was wrong."

Did any of you even think about those kids standing at bus stops and riding your cold buses this week as you entered your warm cars and wore your nice warm jackets of any color you desired? You should all be ashamed of yourselves!

KATHY DINS
Ocean Springs

Moore asks too much of school board

I had to laugh when I read Attorney General Mike Moore's comment about school officials needing to use common sense when dealing with situations involving students. Moore obviously doesn't recognize that using the terms "school officials" and "common sense" in the same sentence makes a contradictory statement. This is especially true in the Jackson County School District as well as Rankin County.

The following are some of the common sense approaches used by Jackson County school officials in dealing with situations involving staff and students:

A display of toy guns was set up in the St. Martin High School with no explanation of the meaning. Action taken: display removed after parent complaint; comment made by official was that it was "much ado about nothing."

The superintendent of education was arrested and pleaded guilty for drunken driving and running a stop sign. Action taken: nothing; comment made by school board president that they were going to have to "put the incident behind (them) and go on with the task of making sure the children have the best education possible."
Enactment of a strict mandatory uniform policy with no opt-out provisions. Action taken: students suspended; students denied right to protest in any fashion; students sent home and missing class; children harassed and inspected daily; parents' questions not answered; and more than $7,000 of St. Martin education funds spent to buy uniforms at an expensive, out-of-state, uniform company.

Isn't it interesting that when the faculty does something wrong it is swept under the rug, but a child who does something as atrocious as forgetting to wear a belt is severely punished?

CAROL BRODY
Ocean Springs

Printed uniform policy has many variations

Have parents and students in the Jackson County School District actually read the mandatory school uniform policy in the student handbook? Cargo pants/shorts are not disallowed under the policy as stated in the handbook.

Variations in individual schools are not necessarily policy (because in order to be a policy it has to be approved by the Jackson County School Board) but simply the whims and opinions of administrators at the individual schools.

The policy as stated in the handbook contains errors, including that shorts/skirts are "not to extend more than 3 inches above the knee."

Mistakes like this lead me to believe that perhaps school board members and administrators did not think out this policy very well before implementing it. Certainly it means that someone needs to return to school in order to proofread correctly.

The changes that have occurred are not written policy but verbal instructions. I cannot obtain any of the changes in writing, but the administrators and school officials simply say it is so.

I am not a plaintiff in the lawsuit for repeal of mandatory school uniforms, but I am hoping that this lawsuit does repeal this idiotic policy.

If the policy continues in effect, it should be applied universally to all employees, teachers, administrators, school board members, etc. who represent the Jackson County School system in any way. I resent someone who is dressed in regular clothing dictating to my child what she should wear to school. If an individual wants their child to wear a uniform, that is their right. But, I should have the right to allow my child to dress normally.

ANN MORAN
St. Martin

Military is better off without draft-dodgers

In a letter published Dec. 28, Carl Hess opined that "Plenty who served loathed the military, too."

Most career military personnel, both active and retired, abhor the cowardice epitomized by our president (impeached) in "slicking" his way out of the draft but agree that the military is better off absent these "extra baggage" types. Sadly some of his (impeached) ilk slip through to exist even to retirement. One became president. And true to the cowardice and irresponsible character that military personnel deem hazardous, this guy (impeached) has succeeded (where our enemies have failed) in annihilating our armed forces.

As John Stuart Mill, 1865, reminds us, "The world consists largely of weak men made and kept free by better men than themselves." Hopefully we can rebuild from these depths.

ARMOND 'SI' SIMMONS
Pell City, Ala.

What is the mystique about the Kennedys?

Why do so many people and the news media dote on the Kennedys?

Joe Kennedy Sr. bootlegged whiskey during Prohibition. He was a banker and stock manipulator who would be in jail if he did the things today that he did in the 1920s. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed him to help write the first laws governing the trading of stocks. FDR said he was sending a thief to catch a thief. Joe, a notorious womanizer and adulterer, was an admirer of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Joe Jr. died in World War II as a volunteer pilot of a bomber packed with high explosives. Nobody says anything about him, and he was the only real hero of this family.

John F. Kennedy was decorated by the Navy during World War II for bravery. If the reports on the occurrence were true, he deserved the medal. However, he also deserved a court-martial for dereliction of duty in the loss of his ship. As president, his actions during the Cuban missile crisis almost precipitated a nuclear holocaust. Also a world-famous womanizer and adulterer, his claim to fame was to be murdered in public view.

Ted Kennedy was a causative factor in the death of Mary Joe Kopechne. He came out looking like the lying coward that he is. He was kicked out of Harvard for cheating. He is an alcoholic. Why do the people of Massachusetts elect him as their senator?

Robert Kennedy was a puzzle to me. He was a millionaire with socialist ideas. Did he have a guilty conscience since all of that money was given to him? I am convinced that he was murdered to prevent him from becoming president by the same people who murdered his brother.

One of Joe Kennedy's daughters was killed in a crash of a private plane in France. One daughter ended up a vegetable after Joe had a lobotomy performed on her brain. One grandson died from an overdose of illegal drugs. Another was indicted for rape. Another, as pilot of a private plane, killed himself, his wife and her sister.

What is with the news media and people who worship such misfits?

LEE F. STORY
Gulfport

These subjects have worn out their welcome

One of my hopes for the new millennium is to hear and read a lot less about the following subjects:

Global warming.
We are living between two ice ages. It is to be expected.

Space travel.
NASA should not to waste our money and embark on any mission that has a less than 90 percent chance of success.

Abortion.
(I am not for it.) It is not the biggest problem facing this nation.

Bipartisan.
It can be said that consensus fills the void left by a total lack of leadership.

Linda Tripp.
What did she do? Leave her alone! Those women embarrassed themselves; the big guy embarrassed this whole country.

Government's creative accounting.
How can taxpayer not afford a tax cut?

J.R. KEARY
Biloxi

Grinch was absent in this Christmas story

I was late getting my Christmas packages ready to be mailed even though I had been warned they probably would not arrive before Christmas. I got to the Long Beach Post Office on Dec. 23, fully expecting long lines and grouchy postal workers.

I did get in the long line with my five huge boxes to wrestle with, but there were no grouchy postal workers. They were cheerful and helpful, even after what I'm sure was a very hectic day. They even assured me that everything possible would be done to get my packages to the children by Christmas. My thought at that was "ha, likely story!" But to my wondering eyes, the packages were delivered Christmas Day.
The U.S. Postal Service, especially the Long Beach branch, made my Christmas brighter.

DEBORAH GALLAGHER
Gulfport