Letters to the editor

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

On Page 40 of the Spring [2003] issue, Johnnie L. T. Terry is listed as class president in 1954. Our president was Elinor Turner Ashby Burchard. Elinor was and is a true Southern lady from Charlottesville, who wouldn't dream of calling this to your attention. (Being from Northern Virginia, I developed few of the social graces!) Anyway, El is a highly intelligent woman and was an excellent class president.

Loretta Koch Copperthite ('54), Elinor's roommate in 1953 and 1954

BEGGING TO DIFFER: A DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION OF 'THE DREAM'

As a proud parent of two James Madison students, I look forward to reading Montpelier to learn more about what is happening on campus. In the Spring 2003 issue, there was an article about JMU honoring Martin Luther King's memory with the theme of "Determined to Remember, Exemplify and Motivate: The Dream." The article included excerpts from the keynote speaker, Julianne Malveaux. Unfortunately, I was not present to hear her remarks, but her quoted words are very troubling. I believe her remarks do a tremendous disservice to the memory of both Dr. King and the "I Have a Dream" speech from 1963.

This speech remains one of the greatest ever delivered and speaks valiantly for equality for all, regardless of color. The demand was for equal justice not "economic equality," as stated by Ms. Malveaux. In this speech, Dr. King did speak about coming "to our nation's capital to cash a check," and he did mention the architects of our republic writing a "promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." But the very next sentences in the speech spell out exactly what that "promissory note" was: "This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice."

Julianne Malveaux has every right to promote "her" views but to portray Dr. King's "Dream" speech as a call for "economic equality" is a gross misrepresentation of that famous speech. Dr. King sought freedom, justice and equal opportunity for all -- not economic equality.

As a child, I spent parts of two summers with my father along the roads of Mississippi. My father was there to protect Dr. King and those who marched with him. Dr. King was a true civil rights pioneer with a remarkable vision of what America "could" become. Just like JMU, we should honor him and what he accomplished, but with that comes a duty not to misrepresent his very words.

Forrest P. Smith ('04P, '05P), Williamsburg, Va.

IMPACT CRATER MAKES A SPLASH

Kudos to the authors and to Montpelier for the excellent article "The Worth of Water" in the Spring 2003 issue. I only wish the authors had been aware of Virginia's own Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater. Recently discovered surrounding the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, the 60-mile wide, 35-million-year-old, buried meteor-impact structure is the largest-known such feature in the United States and the sixth largest in the world.

More germane to the Montpelier article, the crater has been found to have caused great disruption to the regional groundwater aquifer system beneath the Hampton Roads area, which provides a major water supply to the population of two million. As a result of intense alteration of the aquifer sediments, salt water originating from the ocean has been trapped beneath Hampton Roads, causing municipalities in this rapidly growing area to turn to costly desalinization treatment to meet the ever-increasing water demand. Further pumping stresses expected during the coming decades create the potential to worsen the problem.

As a JMU geology alumnus ('81) now working at the U.S. Geological Survey in Richmond, I am privileged to be participating in a team of researchers seeking to understand the geologic history of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater and how it has affected the behavior of ground-water, and to determine what actions are needed to ensure the future of this important regional water resource.

Edwin R. "Randy" McFarland ('81), U.S. Geological Survey, Richmond, Va.

Montpelierwelcomes letters about stories and issues raised in the magazine. Letters are subject to editing, and not all letters can be published, nor can they be returned. Letters must include your name, address and daytime phone number or e-mail address. So that we can properly identify you to readers, please tell us your class year or whether you are a parent, professor or student. Anonymous letters will not be published. Send your letters to "22807," Montpelier, 26 Medical Arts West, MSC 5718, JMU, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 or montpelier@jmu.edu.