Word: vernon
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Teacher John Vernon, 30, of St. Stephen's (Anglican) school in Burnley, England, is known for giving his ten-year-olds prickly essay themes. Recently, Vernon told the youngsters that Britain's new early warning radar system would beep just four minutes before the inbound swoosh of a nuclear missile. "Would there be any way of escape?" asked one little girl. "None," Vernon replied firmly as he announced the essay assignment for the day: Describe "My Last Four Minutes...
Delighted with the results. Teacher Vernon failed to observe a simple fact: the children were terrified. "I was crying when I wrote my essay," said Jean Francis. "So were Lesley Brown, Vicky Weir and Susan Howarth." Complained one mother: "My little girl came home sobbing about an H-bomb. Now she daren't go upstairs in the dark." Jean Francis' father gruffed: "This could upset their whole lives...
Last week school officials met to debate the matter. "Perhaps children should be made aware of possible disaster," said the Rev. Alan Clark, dean of Burnley. "But I do feel they should be spared undue emotional stress." Headmaster Rowland Williams, an old soldier, refused to censure Vernon: "I fully support him. There is no harm in children's being brought face to face with reality...
Died. Russell Vernon Mack, 68, Republican Representative from Washington's Third District since 1947, onetime owner and publisher of the Hoquiam Washingtonian; of a coronary occlusion; on the floor of the House...
...VERNON W. WHIPPLE Fresno, Calif...