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PRINCIPAL'S PRINCIPLES
I am the parent of a TAG student at Binnsmead Middle School [Rogue of the Week, WW, Jan. 14, 1998]. I think that Mr. Braunger has spoken nothing more than the truth, and he should be applauded for doing so. The district is very poor. And like any district, there are single-parent families struggling to juggle work and home and caring for their children as best they can. There are gangs. There is an inadequate budget. He deals with unspeakable adversities in trying to give my daughter a quality education. Last year my daughter was taking English from a teacher who was unable to speak English clearly enough to communicate. Mr. Braunger was able to transfer my daughter out of that class, but his hands were tied in transferring the non-English-speaking English teacher to a different class where her English skills were not a problem. This year, my daughter is unable to bring school books home for homework. There aren't enough books to go around. The problems at Binnsmead Middle School are in spite of Mr. Braunger's care and diligence. You should be ashamed of chastising a quality educator rather than applauding him. Cynthia Peek, Southeast 74th Avenue
PLEASE NOTE: HE'S A VOTER
The Rogue of the Week column [WW, News Buzz, Jan. 21, 1998] was something that hit close to home. I am president of the Foster-Powell Neighborhood Association. The state Psychiatric Security Review Board has placed a group home for five criminally insane men in our neighborhood. Notice was given only to those persons who lived within 100 yards from the property. There are currently four murderers and an arsonist living 400 yards from an elementary school. These men walk unsupervised for up to 90 minutes at a time through our neighborhood. We, too, have had no major problems for 17 months. And we are completely sure that we have not had problems because of the pressure we have kept on the facility's management. But Willamette Week makes a valid point about notification in the Buckman Neighborhood. If they would have had notification well before they slammed this "synthetic narcotic" clinic where 380 drug addicts get their daily fix, perhaps things might have gone better. I have written a proposed ordinance of notification that can be adapted to this situation and others when neighborhoods are forced to accept group homes, halfway houses, methadone clinics, etc. But people like Charlie Hales (City Commissioner) and Tanya Collier (running for City Commissioner) say this isn't something they can support. I told Tanya Collier once that if she couldn't support common-sense zoning to keep these types of places away from neighborhoods, then at least tell us well in advance. But 17 months later, all I get from Ms. Collier and Mr. Hales are solicitations for campaign re-election funds. That isn't the way to get re-elected. Jack N. Peek Sr., Southeast 74th Avenue
SPEAKING FOR HERSELF
In the article "All Cracked Up" (WW, Feb. 4, 1998), on Sherri Foster's problems with the criminal justice system and mental health establishment, a number of people (her brother, her mother, her attorney, various other "experts") commented on her feelings and what they feel is best for her. Very conspicuously absent was the voice which should matter most: Writer Maureen O'Hagan includes no comment from Ms. Foster herself about her own feelings and situation. Ms. Foster displayed considerable courage and strength in her successful struggle to support herself and her family for 13 years in spite of experiences of serious abuse. Now she is stripped of credibility and validity by the labels "mentally ill" and "borderline." Such labels are applied by those who feel a need to protect themselves from the difficult realization that the problems of people such as Ms. Foster are natural and reasonable reactions to lives steeped in hurt. Those labels allow others to disregard any expressions of feelings or needs, as did the hospital personnel who turned away Ms. Foster when she sought medical assistance for intense emotional pain. Sherri Foster does not want to die because she is "sick." She wants to die because her life is painful. Her invalidation as "borderline" and "mentally ill" can only add to that pain. As someone who also has been labeled in such ways, I can attest that the cruelty and destructiveness of such judgments. Grace Heckenberg, Northeast 11th Avenue Maureen O'Hagan responds: You're right--Sherri Foster's voice was conspicuously absent from the story, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I made plans to visit Oregon Women's Correctional Center, but the day before our appointment, Foster "took a turn for the worse," according to prison staff, and had to be put in segregation again. I explored other options that might be less stressful for Foster, such as a telephone interview, but the prison staff said that would be impossible. Although Foster couldn't speak for herself, she told her brother and her mother that she wanted her story told because it might shed light on a serious problem. |
