Giving VISTA the Recognition It Deserves

The article ``Service Ethic Returns With New Domestic `Peace Corps,' '' Sept. 12, mistakenly reports that Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) is not part of President Clinton's AmeriCorps initiative and that VISTAs do not receive education awards in exchange for service.

When the president signed the National and Community Service Trust Act last September, VISTA became part of AmeriCorps. And VISTAs now are eligible to receive $4,725 for each year of service. As the article correctly noted, the VISTA program served as a model for AmeriCorps. By the end of the year, the program will involve more than 20,000 people in full-time community service. By including VISTA in AmeriCorps, Mr. Clinton gave recognition to the tremendous contributions that more than 100,000 VISTAs have given communities across the country over the last 30 years. Jim Scheibel, Washington Domestic volunteer service programs Corporation for National Service

A pause, for peace

The editorial ``Neutral `Quiet Moment,' '' Sept. 1, supporting the Georgia law of one minute of silence, is good. If this law, which intends to reduce the epidemic of youthful violence, drugs, and teenage pregnancies, should succeed in even a small degree, would not such a law be praised and cherished? Why not see whether this law can pass the test? If it does, what better way to answer the vexing problems besetting today's generation of youths? Yu-Tang D.H. Lew, Seattle