
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 1, 1991                   TAG: 9104010193
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PAPER MADE DRUG RAID SEEM TRIVIAL

YOUR INSIDE-page coverage of the UVa fraternity drug raid implies that "boys will be boys" or "fraternities will be fraternities" and that the police overstepped their bounds.

The headlines read: "Evidence in UVa raids not stuff of big dealers" and "Students favor drug legalization." These headlines and accompanying articles seem designed to make readers feel sorry for the students and to imply that police should overlook minor drug incidents.

Nowhere do I see any regrets, remorse or sense of guilt. In fact, the students seem to feel they deserve immunity in a frat house.

The press is quick to write about how the country needs to do something about drugs. These students apparently continued their drug activity after being warned, yet the stories put no emphasis on the serious consequences of what they were doing.

JAMES B. BUSH JR.\ WILLIS

by CNB