Letters 12/01/10

Generous
community

    At this time of giving thanks, the Food Pantry at the Bedford Christian Ministries would like to thank all the churches that have donated so generously to us this year. 
    We appreciate every can and box you have given and the hungry in our community do too.  We also need to thank the managers, employees and most of all the customers of the Food Lion on Longwood Avenue. They have come through for us beyond our wildest dreams. 
    Bedford is the most generous, caring community I have ever been involved with.  We would also like to thank all the individuals who have brought us a bag or box of food this year.  To the ones I call the “doorstep angels” thank you, too.  It can be a beautiful sight when you think you are running low and you come to the pantry door in the morning and God has used an angel in our community to drop a bag or box on our doorstep. 
    Thank you to everyone who has helped us, help the hungry in our community.               

Bonnie and Jim Norman
Co-chairpersons of the BCMA Food Pantry
Helping out

    Each year FEKS parents and students participate in the FEKS Martial Arts Center’s “Thanksgiving Dinner Kick –a-Thon.”
    During the kick-a-thon, students of FEKS “kick” to raise monies to purchase the food supplies which constitute a complete Thanksgiving dinner for families who cannot otherwise afford one. Names, phone numbers, size of family membership, and addresses of deserving families are provided by local Bedford County Schools and churches. It is the desire of the parents and students of FEKS to feed as many families as possible.
    The success of community projects can only be measured by the work, commitment, and willingness to give by all who participate. FEKS would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank and acknowledge one outstanding business without whom, this project could not have been successful. Bryan Raynor, manager and Chris Mays, assistant manager of Food Lion, located in the shopping center on the corner of Old Graves Mill Road and Forest Road have generously:
    • Special ordered and defrosted all the required turkeys.
    • Provided bread rolls for each family dinner free of charge.
    • Provided bakery goods for each family dinner free of charge.
    • Packaged each category of food item for easy pick up and redistribution.
    • Offered opening the Food Lion store at special hours for the children to shop for the food items.

Bruce Rubinberg
Marsha Rubinberg, Program Coordinator
FEKS Martial Arts Center

Nothing learned

    Governor Mc Donnell is proposing to reduce state spending on public mental  health by approximately $55 million dollars annually. This is by closing two state owned mental health facilities, slashing funding to local public mental health Community Service Boards and millions more to state Medicaid funding.
    In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy of 2007, it is apparent that the state of Virginia has learned nothing from that fiasco which left 33 people dead due in part to a failure by a local community services board in that area of  the state.
    After the tragedy, legislators across the state committed to improved care for the mentally disabled. What has happened to that commitment? Why is the state committed to spending $10 of millions of dollars to rebuild state facilities for the mentally disabled  - ie Western State Hospital, Central VA Training Center, Southeastern VA Training Center, etc?
    The state would do well to privatize public services to the mentally disabled. Contract out services to the private sector where the evidence shows that costs can be lowered. Other states do it. There is evidence here in Virginia that privatization works.
    For example, look at the delivery of public mental disability services under the Intellectually Disabled (I.D. formerly known as Mental Retardation) versus the Developmentally Delayed (D.D. includes Autism) Medicaid waivers.
    I.D. services are driven by local Community Service Boards (i.e. government) and cost $326 per month per case in “case management fees.” Total annual costs for all services is about $70,000 per case.
    D.D. services are driven by consumer choice and are handled by private businesses (including local non-profits) and cost $176 per month per case in case management fees. Total annual cost is about $30,000 per case.
    The figures above (i.e. ID and DD) are from a 2009 report of the VA Association of Community Services Boards. The figures show that it costs the taxpayers twice as much when government provides service compared to the private sector.
    In my home community of Bedford County, the local CSB continues to experience high staff turnover and difficulty in recruiting staff in its Bedford branch office. Bedford is half way between Lynchburg and Roanoke with a number of  colleges from which to recruit job applicants.
    So to local state legislators, it’s time to privatize state services to the  mentally disabled. In the process millions will be saved and people will receive good services.

Linda Theisen
Forest

About the
Stalin bust

    I have been following the controversy of the bust of Josef Stalin at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford.
    I just want to say my thoughts on this issue. I was a teenager at the time of W.W. II. We used to get supplements of a newspaper to study on the up-to-date history that was happening around us in those years. Stalin was as a atrocious as Hitler. Many people fell at his angry ways.
    I don’t think a lot of people really understood the malice he evoked upon his people (the Russians). It boils down to one thing. The men that fought were young men in the army of the Russians and were there to fight for their country like our men and men of other countries. Stalin fought a hard battle. He didn’t let anyone or anything get in his way. The Russian soldiers fought in weather that we knew nothing of. Snow, ice and like George Washington during the battle at the Delaware Ridge, they didn’t have shoes or boots to comply with the weather. You have to think of the soldiers under Stalin’s reign. How many really wanted to fight?
    The Communism that Russia was enduring in those years leading up to the W.W. II: I guess Stalin’s power was better than what they had at home. Stalin persevered on his end just like the British, American, French and other countries did at their battles. For Stalin to meet and confer with the Allies helped defeat Hitler and his reign. War was not a game. It is destruction in every way. Can you imagine those countries that Hitler came through, took over, eliminated people to his liking and “whoa!” here comes Stalin along and does the same thing. Just think Stalin could have kept what he took. I think we were lucky to have him on our side. Some of our leaders were “plucky” with their commands.
    My brother was in the Army in Europe during W.W. II. His fighting began when they landed at Le Harve, France and fought their way through France. They went on to Stuttgartt, Germany to take over there. When they arrived the city was completely bombed out and the people had moved on. I am wondering if the Russians had not stormed the city and left it empty of the people and totally bombed out — that this probably saved a lot of the American soldiers from being killed.
    I really don’t think the bust of Stalin deserves a place of honor at the D-Day Memorial. That was a battle all its own and needs to stay that way. The D-Day Memorial honors the soldiers that died on the beach that day and the days to follow. Not only American soldiers, but soldiers of our allies.
    Getting back to the newspaper we received in high school history class, it was very informative. We learned about the war and was able to follow what was happening with the service men, not only the Americans, but the service men from the other countries as well. We learned the battles, generals’ names, and the area where the soldiers were fighting. We never knew where our sons, brothers, or husbands were. If you were dumb enough to ask in a letter, it was deleted or they didn’t deliver the letter. I wish they would teach more history. If they would only realize today’s events will be history one day.
    Leave the Stalin bust to another history event. It does not tell the story of the D-Day invasion. A lot of people seeing it will get the wrong impression. I say ask the veterans that were there and fought the battle if they want it. They were there. Take a vote.
    Thanks for letting me voice my opinion on this subject. There’s a lot to be done yet at the D-Day Memorial. It’s a beautiful place to honor all the lives that were sacrificed on that day June 6, 1944.

Lois Dezelich
Bedford