- December 20, 2024
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Dear Editor:
An ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life.
A member of our community, Michael George McGuirk, recently passed away. Some may not know him, nor know the positive force he was in our community. His son, Matt, who had been sexually abused by his teacher when a young boy, died from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 31. Mike and his wife, Victoria, turned their grief and anger around, by creating a foundation to provide free professional counseling for children and adults who had been sexually abused. The foundation, Straight Up SolGier, has benefited many lives.
Those who knew Mike, are grateful for the time he spent on this earth. Even though he has left us, many will still benefit from his strong desire to change lives for the better. Mike donated his brain to be studied at Boston University for evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Mike played football for East Carolina University in 1970 when his team played Marshall University. East Carolina University won, but Mike's exhilaration of victory was short lived. The flight to West Virginia with the Marshall University players and coaches crashed. None of the seventy-five aboard survived.
Realizing one's life on Earth is not guaranteed may have been the catalyst for Mike's drive to live a life of purpose. Mike and Victoria, along with Bill and Mary Piper, were co-founders of the Port Orange Pop Warner Football League in the 1980's. Mike coached several Pop Warner teams and was football commissioner and equipment manager. He coached football at Spruce Creek High School and Father Lopez. Mike had a 31-year career with the Space Shuttle Program. He liked to joke that on launch day, he was the one to "light the fuse" and run, but we knew he had the most important job at launch time. Mike was a humble, ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life of service for our community. Mother Teresa was once asked "How can one woman change the lives of so many?" She replied, "If you can't change the world, change one life." Mike changed many lives for the better.
We can continue to change lives for the better with our donations to the Port Orange Youth Football Association, Mike McGuirk College Scholarship Fund, or Straight Up SolGier Foundation.
No, SolGier is not misspelled. Mike and Victoria's son, Matt, named his foundation; the capital G stands for God.
Barbara Waite Sandberg
Ormond Beach
Dear Editor:
Two excellent letters in the recent Observer. Thank you Mindy Mclarnon and Sheila Zinkerman: Mindy for her attack on City Commissioners who allow
developers to ruin Ormond even more than they have already, and Sheila for pointing out the absurdity of the government’s letting religious schools be “public schools” supported by taxpayers.
It’s the latter I want to go on about, indirectly, but also about the banning of books in schools. Both are about something that happened when I was an
English teacher in Key West in the mid-1960s.
In two classes I had students reading "1984" by George Orwell, the 1949 novel about a totalitarian government run by Big Brother. The book includes a sex scene, not a detailed one, but an act of rebellion by a couple who loved each other more than they did Big Brother. Students understood this, but one afternoon I was called to the principal’s office. A lay preacher was there, sitting with "1984" in one hand and a Bible in the other. He was on his way to gather other preachers to have the book banned from schools and libraries.
The preacher held up the book and the Bible and said, angrily, “You have students read this trash but can’t use the Bible!”
We asked him if he had actually read the book. He hadn’t, only the sex scene he saw by accident when he opened his son’s copy. We explained the context of the scene and why the book was important. And I told him that the Bible should be taught in schools. He calmed down a bit, and never followed through with his plan.
Of course what I meant about the Bible being taught in schools includes the requirement that its teachers must have university qualifications in biblical history.
I once took a Bible course taught by a Stetson professor, a night course for local adults, mostly church people. Turned out that several of the church people were upset about what he told them. The teacher was himself a minister, but he told the truth about the Bible’s contradictions. And on my own I have read scenes of extreme violence, and others about sexual activity, not stuff you’d want a kid to read.
In fact, Sheila, I think it would be better if the government removes Bibles from religious schools now that they’re now part of the public school system.
Skip Lowery
Ormond Beach
Dear Editor:
I recently read a letter to the Observer advocating for ceasing the school choice voucher system. The author advocates for public schools for a variety of reasons. But there is no claim that public school education provides better education than private, charter or home school education. The truth is that the public education system in Florida and in this country does not educate our K-12 students to be competitive in the world.
The OECD PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) reported that the US ranked 25th in student achievement in 2018. U.S. student performance has been falling since 2000, when the PISA was initiated. The U.S. spends more than any large population country in the world per K-12 student. Only Luxembourg, Iceland, Ireland and Norway spend more. More money will not fix the problem.
School vouchers provide an option for education that parents like. They believe that their children will be better educated in charter and private schools. And parents are accountable for the education outcome that their children receive. And school voucher programs should continue and even grow to provide parents a better option for educating their children.
Ben Fitzpatrick
Ormond Beach
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