Dear George,

From time to time, I browse your website to see what the Charlottesville Democratic elites are thinking. I hope Joe Clancy, a resident of New York city, is not typical of this radical, hate-filled ideology. But I know better. I'm not surprised Joe was careless enough to give witness that unprovoked violence is real:

"Yesterday I was in the company of a classroom of young students about 8 years old. One of the boys hauled off and slugged another in the classroom repeatedly without provocation. After I broke up the fight I asked the instigator of the fight what the other student had done to provoke him. He replied, 'Nothing yet, but he was going to and I wanted to take pre-emptive action.'" (Joe Clancy, Feb 17, 2005)

What actions, other than breaking up the fight, has Joe taken to protect the other school children? If the attacker was not expelled from the school, every student in that classroom and every student in the school now know that the school does not care about their safety. In a child's mind, Joe represents all teachers and authority.

In reality, this attack likely reinforced what the students already know: their physical safety is not important enough that the known threat be removed.

In Joe's twisted, liberal mind, he must feel so proud to give the violent kid a second chance, reinforcing to the attacker that the assault is acceptable. After all, bullies have a right to education too. Meanwhile, every student in the school is distracted by thoughts of how they can protect themselves, since the teachers don't care. And Joe probably supports the law that requires children be educated. If the school is unsafe, so be it.

How does Joe find time to hate Republicans while every student in his class is afraid of a random assault? Is Joe setting an example of hate? Does he not truly hate his students, otherwise he would protect their safety?

When I ran for City Council, at the education forum on April 13, 2000 in the CHS library, I gave testimony that Charlottesville schools were full of violence. I graduated in 1982. At that forum, I said I had stopped reporting the crimes after I realized the assailants were allowed to return to school as if nothing had ever happened.

To the parent of the 8-year-old child who was attacked while under the supervision of Joe Clancy, I recommend you take your son out of that violent school. Charlottesville schools have the implicit policy of endangering good kids because violent kids have a right to education too. It's becoming clear that this policy will not be changed until student enrollment drops to a point where the entire school system collapses.

Instead of holding the violent child and his parents responsible, Joe blames the Republicans. When the schools are forced to shut down, I suppose Joe will again blame the Republicans instead of taking responsibility for his own action and inaction.

The lack of substance from our educated elites does little to improve the image of education.

Blair Hawkins (electronic mail, February 27, 2005)