Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 29, 1993 TAG: 9311300368
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Voters in Virginia and New Jersey made it clear in the governor's election that they're tired of the same old tax-and-spend liberalism for the past 12 years. If Johnson thinks the National Rifle Association bought Virginia's new governor, then they paid a high price based upon the landslide victory. New Jersey's ex-Gov. Flimflam Florio pushed through the largest tax increase and the toughest gun laws of any state, and the people put him out of office.
The District of Columbia has the toughest gun laws in America, and the mayor is begging the president to send in the National Guard to help slow down crime. That kinda hints to me that gun laws don't work.
Who'll protect me from criminals when they have the weapons? It'll not be the police, because they can't offer me one-on-one protection. So what do I do for the 30 minutes I'm waiting for the police? I guess I can ask the criminal if we can discuss the situation with reason while we wait.
If the right to bear arms and ammunition saves one life - my life - it's worth it to take any steps needed to ensure that right. We don't need Johnson or anything from New Jersey. We've gotten along fine here for several hundred years.
O.C. LAWRENCE
BEDFORD
Apco workers support line project
HARRIET Hodges' Nov. 7 letter to the editor (``The fight is for energy conservation'') addresses the issue of energy conservation, which I believe everyone agrees is a goal that needs to be pursued. However, I also believe that prudent energy management is a big part of energy conservation. Men and women who make up Appalachian Power Co.'s work force and its parent company, American Electric Power, also realize that we have a responsibility to our children to ensure a safe and yet productive society in which to live for many years to come. They also realize the importance of maintaining a reliable electric system, not only in the community in which they live but throughout the entire country, and that we all depend upon each other for support.
Ms. Hodges states, ``Arcs has no quarrel with local Apco employees'' and that ``those employees and Arcs Inc. are on the same side.'' As a fellow Craig County resident, I differ with her at this point. While power-company employees support energy conservation, they do not share the same anti-power- line sentiment of Arcs Inc. We at Apco support the transmission-line project because it's the most economical way of supplying a reliable electric system for our future.
GERRY TYZINSKI
NEW CASTLE
Preserve is a misnomer
IN THE DICTIONARY, the word preserve means to keep in safety, guard or rescue from destruction, death, loss or detriment.
I'm wondering how the exotic-animal preserve, soon to open in the Potts Creek area, can rightfully be called a preserve since these animals can be hunted and shot.
They don't have the same chance to flee to safety as animals not penned in by a fence. They also will not have seasons free from being hunted.
I, for one, am not proud to have this so-called animal preserve in Virginia.
DORIS STRICKLAND
ROANOKE
Practice makes perfect
IT WAS the consensus of a number of we old-timer Roanoke Youth Symphony patrons that the symphony had truly come of age at its performance recently for a capacity crowd at Cave Spring High School. Favorable comparisons were made with All-State and Virginia Music Camp orchestras, those being the standards of excellence.
The orchestra is reaping the rewards of the favorable conditions that existed a number of years ago when the community was much more encouraging of string instruction in the schools. Core string players are largely mature Roanoke city school students who've been studying their instruments since elementary years, and have benefited from the availability of fine private string instruction in the area. Other sections of the orchestra also demonstrated the same playing expertise. Much credit must also go to conductor Jim Glazebrook, whose magic is to motivate young musicians to yet greater proficiency and artistic output.
The presence of such a blue-ribbon organization in our community must surely add significant points to those indicators of community livability that make our environs one of the better. One may only hope that community leaders, especially those who affect educational policy, will now re-create those conditions that created this happy condition, lest in time we will only remember how it ``used to be.''
WILLIAM KINZIE
ROANOKE
by CNB