Rev. Lyles proposed to the Shepherdstown Trinity Vestry that if the title were cleared up a management group with representation from Asbury, Trinity and Historic Shepherdstown would raise monies to rehabilitate the building as a multi cultural and community center.
There were many meetings as to organization and how this would be done and the final issue came down to whether Asbury would lease or sell the building to the new management group.
My view of the title transfer and subsequent management was that it should be viewed as a business deal with a signed contract. It had nothing to do with race. There was an opposing view that Trinity Vestry should trust Reverend Lyles to do the right thing. The Vestry, over my dissenting position, voted to pass the title to Asbury Methodist.
The historic Asbury/Trinity Church, still without operative or functioning community management two years later, sits there in a continuing state of deterioration. Have a good day
Retired Maj. Gen. Greg Corliss
Candidate, 16th Senate seat
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Roy deserves Antietam burial
To the editor:
My name is Stephen Matthew Westfall and as a citizen of Washington County, I have had the opportunity over the years to watch an outstanding city and county government, that has made many wise choices in improving the quality of life for our area. Now I am asking of this government to make another wise choice, one that will affect the lives of an American hero's family and friends.
My eyes filled with tears, my heart with sorrow after watching our local news on Oct. 22. Here we have an American hero whose life was cut so short by an inhumane terrorist attack upon his ship in which he had been stationed.
A young man by the name of Patrick Roy who had enlisted in the Navy with the intent of protecting his nation and bettering the quality of life for himself while learning a trade in the Navy that would follow him all through life. What he got was his life taken so unnecessarily by a radical group of terrorists with no concern for human life.
Such a hero should be honored in any way that his family desires and one request, a small one, that they ask is to allow their son to be buried in Antietam National Cemetery alongside the fallen bodies of heros of yesteryear who gave their lives to protect our nation from radicals with no point to prove.
Stephen Matthew Westfall
Hagerstown
(Editor's note: This letter arrived prior to the decision to allow Roy's body to be buried at Antietam. We are printing a portion of it in tribute to the fallen serviceman.)
My daughter is politically aware
To the editor:
After my 13-year-old daughter's letter to the editor appeared in the paper on Saturday, Oct. 21, I received a very rude 9 a.m. phone call from a "gentleman" that referred to himself as Mr. Staley.
In a very loud voice he accused my family of being a phony. He asked the question, "How could any 13-year-old know anything about politics?"
Well, Mr. Staley, this if for you and the other person that may need an eye opener. With TV, radio, school buses, supper tables, newspapers, children learn about everything from sex, drugs, and yes, even politics. We have to also remember that we send our children to school every day.
At this time I would like to thank my daughter's Social Studies teacher at Boonsboro Middle School, Mrs. Jamison. Mrs. Jamison, thank you. I really appreciate the way you have encouraged your students to watch the debates, to take notes and to compare the differences between Vice President Al Gore and the Governor of Texas, G.W. Bush.
Thank you again Mrs. Jamison. My daughter and her classmates may only be in the middle school now, but by the time the next election rolls around many of these same children will be voters and some even serving in our military.
Who knows, maybe even one of them will be on their way to becoming the president of the United States.
Marilyn Blank
Boonsboro
Gore lost his way
To the editor:
