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Show S M( Cyclops Lighter Side By Bryan Gray Poison letters taboo One of my favorite persons is Bonnie Pierce. ..One of my least-favorite persons is the woman who wrote her an anonymous anony-mous letter. Bonnie is the drill team and dance club instructor at View-mont View-mont High School. Her drill team this year captured first place in Region and second place in State competition. She was pleasedbut she is more pleased by the letters she has received from former students, including one this year thanking her "for friendship and support and for teaching me about life's responsibilities. responsi-bilities. "...or the one that said "you've been a major influence in my life". ..or the letter that said "I'll never forget your help and your compassion." Those letters were signed. The one Bonnie received two months ago wasn't. Neither were the copies sent to her principals, princip-als, her counselors and Davis District officials. The letter was a venomous attack. It accused her of having "ice in her veins," "assassinating the character of young girls," "changing young ladies from the grateful to the awkward," "not allowing the girls to perform as a team," sacrificing the girls lives for her own ego, etc. It was not your typical pen-pal letter... Bonnie was accused of having done everything except poisoning the Bountiful water supply. But the most intriguing part of the letter was the signature: "The Vykelle Parents of 1985-86." Since it's hard to fight a ghost, Bonnie couldn't reply-but her principal, Dr. Nancy Fleming, did. The principal sent copies of the letter to the parents of each of the 23 girls on the Vykelle drill team. ..and 20 of those parents have replied that "Vykelle Parents Pa-rents of 1985-86" is not their signature, that they fully support Bonnie's leadership. And that they want to know who wrote the letter. I'll tell them who wrote it. It was a woman with time on her hands, a woman with little else to do except store up poison and look for a youthful prey. It was a woman who overlooks proper grammar but who cannot overlook the temptation to hurt others through anonymous anony-mous diatribes. It was a worrfan without the courage of facing up to her daughter's own insecurity-and without the courage to confront the teacher or sign her own name. It was a woman whose only sense of power is found through a 22-cent stamp. And she's not alone. Most teachers, especially those advising or coaching a team or an organization, have heard from these modern-day terrorists. terror-ists. Paul Waite, the assistant principal at Viewmont, remem-bers remem-bers several such letters during his final year as head football coach at Bountiful. One letter told him he had his head in a mattress.. .another woman wrote that she would "run him down with a car" if she saw him crossing the road. Paul took it in stride--and this man with his head in a mattress took the Braves to the State Championship that year. Drill team instructors are'especially easy targets. Gathering up a group of 20 girls and having them spend some 20 hours each week together, without bruising a feeling or two is a formidable task, somewhat akin to penning up 20 hungry Dobermans in a single kennel. The dogs will nip at each other--and so will high school girls in close, competitive contact. The nipping might be over a handsome fullback, an untimed giggle or the color of pantyhose. ..But the teacher's duty is to weave these single souls into a cohesive body that struts without stars. In Bonnie's case, it worked. ..You don't win Region championships if your girls have the discipline of an antfarm. In the future, other teachers will receive such letters. It's only human nature for some people to plant bombs and for others to write stupid, unsigned letters. The two methods are different, but the mentality is the same. The entire episode is instructive. Cyclops has always approved of women working outside of the home. It not only brings in extra income, but also gives them less time to dash off obnoxious correspondence. Drill team instructors don't have- time to write unsigned letters. ..They are too busy doing something useful. |