END 'ZERO TOLERANCE'

I did not raise both of my daughters in this fair city of ours in order for
them to gain their primary education in the modified prisons some of the
more deluded among us still call schools. I am talking about the insanity
of the "zero tolerance" policy. In my opinion, based upon my own personal
experience with this hellish policy, zero tolerance -- yes, even more than
the infidelity of President Clinton -- destroyed my daughters' faith in our
system.

And now I see that Fresno Unified School District is sponsoring another
multimillion-dollar bond measure, especially now that they only need a 55%
majority of the vote to succeed. I will never vote for another school
measure as long as the madness of zero tolerance continues to hold the
petty paranoid minds of the school officials and boards in sway.

Woodrow E. Nichols Jr., Fresno