Letters 02/02/2011

SRHS After Prom Party planned

    Staunton River High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) will be holding its 16th annual After Prom Party this spring for juniors, seniors and their guests. As in the past, The purpose of After Prom Party is to provide a safe environment for celebration that is drug and alcohol free. Sponsoring and supporting the After Prom Party for the students offers them an alternative to attending unsafe parties where drugs and alcohol may be available to them.
    Without the help of the community and business owners, this event could not even be possible. Last year the event was held at Lancerlot Sports Complex. The total cost of the event was over $10,000. This year we plan on holding the event at the high school on May 4 from 11:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. The funds raised go toward supplying a DJ, food, and entertainment, which will be provided through K&T Entertainment, plus door prizes. The PTSA is a non-profit organization under the Virginia PTA, and all monies raised through fundraising benefit our school and our students.
    The After Prom Committee is requesting donations of monetary gifts and door prizes (gift certificates and items of use for college bound students) that individuals or businesses are willing to donate. We anticipate at least 450 students to attend the After Prom Party. Door prizes are an incentive for students to attend the after prom party, which is encouraged and supported by the school. All donations are tax deductible, and donors will be recognized at the party and in the program. Contributions payable by check can be mailed to: SRHS PTSA, After Prom Committee, 1095 Golden Eagle Drive, Moneta, VA 24121.
    Last year’s party was a big success and we could not have completed this without your support and donations. We thank you for your support and hope that you will be able to help again this year. For more information or to request a pickup of a donation, please contact Ami Sowers at (540) 977-8124 or email SRHSPTSA@bedford.k12.va.us. We request all donations be submitted by April 15.
    Thank you in advance for your donation and supporting the students in keeping them safe on prom night. All donations are greatly appreciated. Without your support this event could not be possible.

Ami Sowers
President SRHS PTSA
Right to life

    The inalienable right to life guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence is today hotly debated.  Since the grisly ruling in Roe, Americans have done all they can to restrain Roe’s barbarism as they continue their efforts to protect the women and children who are its target.
    For several years, Virginia has debated the mere regulation of abortion centers to protect women who may not know they have alternatives to abortion.  Even this modest advance in simple mercy for women is hotly contested by those who do not want others to know what they are doing. 
    The debate over health and safety regulations of abortion centers ought to be over.  Not only is it simple mercy and proper medical practice, but shocking crimes committed in Philadelphia drive home the serious and immediate need.
    Only last week in Philadelphia an abortion provider with a long history of deeply shocking activity was finally held accountable for his actions.  The reports are gruesome in the extreme.  His alleged crimes include eight murders – an innocent woman who sought his grisly “services” and infants who were the target of those same “services.”  There were thousands of other victims.  Some women contracted ghastly venereal diseases from the abortionist’s filthy tools and practice.  Blood stained equipment and cat feces littered the building. The abortionist dismembered his infant victims and stored their tiny feet in jars in his “clinic”! 
    Medieval crimes of this nature have no place in our society.  Civilized people recoil in stunned shock at the reports.  But, the fact is those same crimes may be taking place right now in our own Commonwealth because we have no way of knowing the conditions inside unregulated Virginia abortion centers.  H.B. 1428, which just passed the House, is a very modest step in the right direction.  It simply requires an annual inspection, on-site safety equipment and state licensure. 
    I ask that you stand up for Virginia women and urge your State Senator to vote for H.B. 1428.  By doing so, you will help ensure that stories like the ones now coming out of Philadelphia will never have the dateline of a Virginia community. 

Janet Robey
State Director Concerned Women for America of Virginia
Bedford

Intellectually dishonest

    I believe it is intellectually dishonest to discuss the benefits of health care without discussing the costs of health care.  I believe Democrats are being intellectually dishonest by offering health care/welfare/entitlement programs that are preventing an American economic recovery.  The American debt just passed $14 billion due to wasteful spending by Democrats, that will have to be paid off by Republicans.
    The problem with health care needs/wants is that the people that have the needs/wants are not the people that pay for the needs/wants.  The Democratic Party knows they will have to tax Republicans to deliver the health care/welfare/entitlement programs that their Democratic supporters need/want.
    It is hard to tell a person that you are not going to pay for their heart transplant, knee replacement, prescription drug habit, etc. so Republicans always come across as cold hearted but in reality, Democrats have to use taxes to steal from Republicans in order to deliver the health care/welfare/entitlement programs.
    Democrats get the Poverty vote by playing the Robin Hood Game.  In the Robin Hood Game there has to be a villain which is the rich Americans who abuse the poor Americans and a hero who steals from the rich to give to the poor.  It’s the greatest vote getting scheme ever invented.  All based on lies, but who cares so long as the votes roll in.
    I have always worried about the Democratic party when they discuss peoples needs/rights.  I am reminded of what was said about Jesse Jackson in the book “Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson” by Kenneth R. Timmerman.   Mr. Jackson uses the misery of the masses to enrich himself and his associates.
    Some will not like to hear health care/welfare/entitlements called stealing, but anytime one person is forced to provide for another person that is stealing.   The Bible calls for Christian charity among fellow believers, but does not call for socialism where the government takes from some and gives to others.
    For too long, Democrats have been able to buy votes by offering health care/welfare/entitlement programs, that are wrecking the American economy.   No honest hard working American should ever vote for any Democrat, and America should phase out all health care/welfare/entitlement programs.
    Some object to the death panels of the Obama health care plan, but if you are the sustainer of life you have the right to define what life you will sustain.  Democrats know all life cannot be sustained because medical science can keep people alive forever, no matter how much misery.
    I would rather God choose when I die, even if it were an early death, rather than a death panel.

Clifford D. Russell
Forest

Opposing health care plan

    Many TV preachers and Jerry Falwell (Liberty University, Lynchburg, Va.)  oppose the Obama Healthcare Plan which would allow millions of the uninsured, including children, to obtain heath insurance.  Although we still do not have a health care plan that takes profits out of the rising cost of healthcare as England, Israel, Japan and 37 other countries whose citizens also live longer than we do,        one must ask themselves — What would Jesus do?
 
Kenneth E. Aldhizer
Moneta

Deplorable state

    While I thoroughly disagree with what the Rev. Wright said about America a few years ago, I am very glad he said it, because it has me thinking of the deplorable state our country is in. It should have all Americans thinking. Since he was black some will think along racial lines, since it was about politics some of us will think along political lines. But since he was a preacher we all should be thinking spiritually about it. This country was founded on the principle of God’s word. We have left our first love. While I don’t think God has damned America yet I do think he is highly displeased with us.
    From our inception, God has truly blessed America. He has blessed, protected, kept and guided us through many troubled times. He kept us through two world wars, He brought us through the depression and made us the most prosperous nation on Earth. He has taken care of us this time; and what have we done for Him? We have abandoned Him, we have put Him out of our government, we have expelled Him from school and we have removed Him from the public square. We have abandoned God while we embrace idols. In our schools they cannot celebrate Easter or Christmas. They now get a spring break and a winter break. They can’t teach Christ in school but they can teach sex education and in some schools they issue condoms and if this doesn’t work they can get an abortion.
    We have become so politically correct that we leave God out of everything we do. We are leaving Him out of our marriage vows and out of our marriages. Now we are trying to redefine marriage, but regardless of what man may say he cannot change God’s laws and precepts. It was God himself who established marriage in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be one flesh.” We have committed spiritual adultery. Instead of obeying God’s laws and precepts we are allowing subcultures and the government to dictate our morality. God has taken care of us all this time and now we turn to other gods.
    Yes, I am sure that God is not pleased with America. But who can we blame for this deplorable state. We can’t blame the government, for God wants us to be governed. But because of politics we have put ungodly people in places of authority. When we put ungodly people in place, we can expect ungodly decisions. Our form of government is supposed to be of the people, for the people and by the people but we have let a few people who should only interpret the law, set new precedence and thereby make laws of their own.
    We can’t blame the politicians for they are doing what politicians do, they are telling us what we want to hear until they get in office then they do what they want to do, and we keep putting them back in, we can’t blame them. We can’t blame the younger generation, God has given us specific instructions on how to raise our children. Proverbs 22 verse 6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” and we failed to follow the instructions so we can’t blame them. We cannot blame the sinner, the ones who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior for they are doing only what comes naturally. I think that God requires only two things of the sinner; that he repents and that he receives Jesus the Christ as his Lord and Savior. So who can we blame? We can blame ourselves. We who profess to be Christians, it is our fault. But what can we do about it?
    We can do nothing on our own, but God can. In His word He has given us a remedy for such a time as this. It is found in 2nd Chronicles the 7th chapter and the 14th verse, “If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” America needs healing!
    We have identified the problem; America has abandoned God and turned to idols. We have found the cause; Christians not doing what God has called them to do. We know the solution, so what are we going to do? It would be wise if we all followed the example of Joshua, 24 verses 14 and 15, “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord” verse 15, “And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
    I will serve the Lord. What will you do? It’s up to you! It does not matter what the Rev. Wright said. Whether God bless or damn America is up to you.

Alfred Lowry
Bedford

God given rights

    Prior to creation of public schools in America it was duly noted and understood by all that certain God given rights were unalienable and that no civil authority could usurp those right.
    “The transcendent Law of Nature and nature’s God, which declares that the safety and happiness of society are the objects at which all political institutions aim.” (James Madison, 1788) That man should pursue his own happiness is binding at all times and no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to it. The Declaration of Independence states, “that our unalienable rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
    The Preamble of the Constitution, to ensure “blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Liberty means freedom from any other form of arbitrary control. Posterity has an inherent right to non-interference. “The language of a compact is, ‘I will,’ that of a law is, ‘thou shalt.’ The law that says, “Thou shalt not steal,” implies a declaration that stealing is a crime. (William Blackstone) Declarations were collected commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong.
    In creating America’s public schools, “its purpose of public instruction is a wise and liberal system of police by which property and life and peace of society are secured. General instruction includes the censures of the law, and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. We hope to continue and prolong the time when, there may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors.” (Daniel Webster)
     The instruction of our Founding Fathers continued in the public schools a long time. In the mid 1900s high schools in New York City had high counts of students forcing double shifts. Conduct was A+, no policeman was needed. Before air conditioning, home windows were opened at night in warm weather, not entry to steal ever occurred. Along avenues of stores, cars were parked open with keys in the ignition. No car was ever taken.
     Crime was very low because of the Founders public school instruction. Safety, happiness, life, liberty, property and peace of society prevailed over wrong and the people were thankful. Compare the peace of society created and exercised by laws of God and Founding Fathers to America today. Public school instructions by the Founders have been found by courts to be wrong, thus removed. “The liberty of interpreting laws in an equitable light must be indulged too far, lest we destroy all law and leave every question entirely with the judge a legislator and introduce confusion; equity without law!” (Blackstone)
    Because our Founding Fathers school instructions have been removed as being wrong, homes and vehicles are locked and guarded with electronic security. Crime has increased. We hear of teens fighting in schools. Police have increased nationwide.
    (1) Public schools should restore the Founding Fathers instructions for obvious reasons and purpose. (2) If not done, towns and cities remove the portion of school tax from property tax. (3) Public schools then charge tuition to attending students. (4) Parents could then enroll their child in a private or religious school that does teach denunciations of religion against immorality and crime.

Walter F. Heydt
Bedford