Anchorage Daily News

Parents are No. 1 educators

I was in Fred Meyer the other day and saw People Magazine with Bristol Palin's picture on the cover. I turned to her article on teenage pregnancy and was saddened to read that her father (Todd) said he never discussed sex education with his daughter Bristol.

Let me remind parents that they are the number one educator in their child's life, this includes teenage years.

I'm so thankful my parents educated me, and pointed the way to Planned Parenthood if I ever needed them.

Parents -- teenagers are having sex, and lots of it!

-- Suzanne Moore

Anchorage

Anchorage shows generosity

I know there are a lot of hardworking people struggling right now in these tougher times, and this weekend I got to see the wonderful caring side of Anchorage as residents dipped in their pockets once again.

My 6-year-old son held a lemonade stand at Bells DeArmoun Nursery on Saturday in an effort to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. He sat there for 4 ½ hours and we met so many wonderful people, strangers to us but very caring and giving all the same. My son got his first real lesson of doing good for others and he was greeted by smiles of hope from people young and old.

Thanks to all the generous support Anchorage gave us this weekend, I will be donating his earnings of $73.75 this week to Ronald McDonald House so, as my son put it, "sick kids will have a place to sleep." Thanks again Anchorage, I am honored to be your neighbor.

-- Stacy L. Sereyko

Anchorage

Discrimination is obvious

I am endlessly frustrated by individuals like Paul Jenkins ("Sloppy proposal reeks in timing, content, intent," June 14) who claim that discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals does not exist, based on the lack of complaints filed with the Equal Rights Commission.

As the law stands now, the commission is powerless to investigate or act upon complaints of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, so why would anyone waste their time or the municipality's resources to file them?

It should be clear to anyone who watched last Tuesday's assembly meeting that people are being discriminated against; we need this ordinance so they can do something about it.

-- Tonei Glavinic

Anchorage

Letterman pallin' with terrorists?

It seems to me there can only be one possible explanation for David Letterman to joke about Bristol Palin's obvious and politically exploited out-of wedlock-pregnancy.

He must be "pallin' " with terrorists.

-- Mike Overdorff

Anchorage

Kott, Kohring aren't off the hook

Since their original conviction and sentencing, and regardless of their (hopefully temporary) release, Kott and Kohring remain in the legal position of being "guilty until proven innocent."

Please stop already with the prison chronicles of Vic Kohring. He is not exactly Nelson Mendela or Mahatma Ghandi and his prison story is not deserving of the focus given him by the ADN coverage.

The only ADN story I want to read, after their hearings, is a description of their return to their respective prisons to complete their sentences.

-- Thomas Petersen

Anchorage

Choose by record, not by race

Thank you so much for printing the Compass piece by Peggy Orchowski on Hispanic identity ("Hispanic identity has no easy definition," June 13). She did a marvelous job of identifying a key issue with trying to "label" people into racial and/or ethnic categories. With the increasing number of people with multicultural heritages, it is time to remember the race we all belong to is the human race.

While it is a pipe dream to think we could ever move past genetic identities for defining our candidates and appointees, we would all be better off to choose them on the basis of their ideology and their record of service, and not on their ethnic origin, where they might be from, or the color of their skin.

-- Thalia Wood

Anchorage

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