Bettie Joe Hoover
Williamsport
Don't take my teachers away
To the editor:
My name is Alicia Love, a student at Western Heights Middle School. I think that it is an outrage to have the teachers we love leave us.
I've never liked English, but this year Ms. Hudson showed me how to make it fun - and it's not as hard as I thought it was. I think future students here at Western Heights should be able to get the same experience that I have had with her. I don't want to see these teachers here leave. Ms. Hudson loves this school. Why does she have to leave? I love Ms. Hudson and all the other teachers here, so why do they have to leave?
Some of the teachers who are leaving have been here more than 15 years. Why would you make them leave, knowing they work hard and they love coming to school and seeing us? When I was in sixth grade, I got put into a program called "Great Expectations" by my science teacher, Mrs. Beecroft. Next year, I won't be able to do it because all of the teachers who put this program together won't be here.
I got put in this program because teachers thought I could to college, be somebody and do whatever I want. Math for me, this year and last year, was great. Last year, Ms. DiGiovanni taught me the easy way to divide and multiply certain things. This year, Mr. Brennan is an awesome teacher because he does more than teach. I learned how to do things that I never thought that I could do. I never thought I could learn how to do math or vocabulary in English. But now, I'm getting A's and B's in these subjects because these teachers took the time to help me until I got every single thing.
I'm writing this letter because I want the public to know what an outrage it is getting rid of the dedicated teachers here at Western Heights. I'm scared of what my school will be like next year and I think the public should be, too.
Alicia Love
Hagerstown
Turn down these huge PUDs
To the editor:
The Washington County Commissioners must turn down the two huge Planned Unit Developments proposed for Sterling and Kendle roads and Bower Avenue. The Allison Avenue project, with its high-density townhouses, will destroy the quality of life and devalue the property values for the people who now live in single family homes on Tower Drive and Bower Avenue. It will become a bedroom community, leaving kids to run the neighborhood with little supervision.
People who live on Bower Avenue already have a hard time getting out of their driveways and will be unable to walk to the county park as they do now. Bower Avenue can't stand more traffic and the taxpayers shouldn't have to pay to make it hold more.
The strip shopping center proposed for the Kendle Road-Sterling Road development will add even more to the traffic. Putting a strip shopping center next to the elementary school site will create a temptation for the kids and make them easy prey for pedophiles.
These developments will create more traffic than the roads can handle, overcrowd the schools and cause the taxpayers to pay for more police and emergency services. It's time for the commissioners to say no to the out-of-town developers, or we will remember them in November.
Contact the commissioners and tell them to say no to the out-of-town developers. We pay while they get rich.
Ginger Griffith
Williamsport
