Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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Few people know that I have a system to evaluate story ideas and that not infrequently it's possible to determine which are likely to prove most interesting to readers, and to draw the most responses.

In recent days the story of Susan Tate's objections to the manner in which her son Carter's car wound up getting towed from outside his apartment in Blacksburg stood near the top of the list. That's why I wrote about it.

It did draw responses.

The majority dismissed or diminished the possibility that tow companies and apartment management firms might soak kids who carelessly overlook the rules regarding parking in Blacksburg or any college town.

Not a few also pounded me for failing to label Susan Tate a "helicopter parent," as they did.

At least one said that was because I've known her for a long time, something I noted in the column. I will interject here that prior to her call, I probably hadn't spoken to her since the 1980s.

Backlash

Recounting the whole episode that prompted her to speak out would take all of my space.

The short version is that Carter Tate and his roommates, Virginia Tech students all, did not check their mail and missed the letter that said they needed to pick up their parking decals from the management company by such-and-such date.

Consequently, Tate found his car towed on the first morning of fall break. The towing fee was $150.

Susan Tate considered this outrageous. When she called the management company on that Saturday, nobody she spoke to was able to provide her with any information.

Subsequent conversations did not go well. The towing charge stuck.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and some readers believed Tate should have let her son handle the problem.

What struck me about those opinions was their judgmental tone.

At least one reader assumed that Carter Tate had "run home" and asked his mother to intervene. That was not the case.

Some seemed to assume that every college kid has $150 on hand at all times, but I doubt that most students do.

Natural tendency

I admit that many parents, including me, have the urge to fight their children's battles, especially when canny, or even cunning, adults appear to treat them harshly. When that much money is involved, then our urge is at least to help our children have their say.

In a world full of neglectful parents who provide little or no structure for their kids, helicopter parenting hardly has caused the decline of our civilization. Most kids, in fact, resist it.

I would note that Carter Tate was Salem High School's 2004 B'nai B'rith athletic achievement award nominee. It is given for athletics, scholarship and character.

Among other accomplishments, he played varsity football, basketball and baseball and belonged to the National Honor Society and the German Honor Society.

He hopes to go to dental school.

In my opinion, kids like him make the term "Salem Pride" justified.

I also received letters from parents who knew exactly how Susan Tate felt. Their anecdotes indicated that stories of towing disputes involving college students -- who are, let's face it, not as sophisticated as they eventually will be -- are common.

Ken Bowen of Vinton said the column raised his hackles.

"It seems the landlord always has the upper hand in college towns," he wrote. "They are the ones who carry the political clout, and the law is usually on their side ... as I found out when one of my sons was attending Radford U."

My favorite reaction came in an e-mail from a "J.P."

"This is a faithful reader of Joe Kennedy," J.P. said. "Would whoever wrote this column please untie him and let him go back to work? We want back that guy with the middle-class common sense who obviously did not grow up with the silver spoon in his mouth."

Humor, like honey, makes any disagreement go down more easily. Thanks to J.P.'s kindly approach, I feel meaner already.

Joe Kennedy's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.