Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411220015
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
These percentages were derived from all levels of usage as reflected in increases in the base rates at different usage levels and increases in the volume charges for water and sewer. This means that all Roanoke County residents had their rates increased by 33 percent for water and 32 percent for sewer during this three-year period.
These increases average about 11 percent per year, compared with less than 3 percent for the Consumer Price Index and about 6 percent for urban medical costs, which has been one of the most inflationary sectors of the economy.
It appears that a resident with above-average water usage may find that water and sewer expense can be greater than either gas or electricity expenses. This is outrageous, since water and sewer should be intrinsically much less expensive than these other utilities. In addition, the current rates are effective only through June 30, 1995, at which time the supervisors may further adjust them.
If the county faces an onerous contract, costs of building a water reservoir, a very expensive state-of-the-art well-and-water system, or any other costly capital-intensive project, the supervisors should look for ways to spread the cost over a long-term period - say 30 years - rather than stick hapless county residents with huge up-front costs and high rates. If the unhappy trend continues, water and sewer rates may become unaffordable for many county residents.
JOSEPH W. BEHL ROANOKE
Some hockey players are rude
SOME POSITIVE things about Roanoke's having a hockey team:
Thanks to Councilman Delvis ``Mac'' McCadden for bringing hockey back to the valley; to Coach Anzalone and the Roanoke Express Hockey owners for doing a good job, and for making hockey games family events; and to Roanoke Hockey Booster Club members for their efforts and the behind-the-scenes job they do for the players (i.e., providing a new washer and dryer for the team).
Now, for the negatives:
I can't believe our team travels to North Carolina to practice because there's no ice at the Roanoke Civic Center. I know there's a portable floor that covers the ice for other events. It's a cumbersome job, but if we want a good hockey team, it needs ice to practice on. At $2 a car to park, I feel the money is sufficient for the city to make some allowances.
Who do some of the hockey players think they are? If they were No. 1, they wouldn't be here. Some are downright rude and unappreciative for kindnesses shown to them. I know several people who said that four members of the team didn't even show up for a booster club's party in their honor. Don't they know people give of their time for them? Some players won't even talk to booster club members, the fans or anyone else, and many don't even know the words thank you. They're role models, like it or not, and should never be rude to kids.
For the players who don't fall into these categories: Thanks! It's a pleasure to have you, and have a great season.
MICHELLE R. BANKS BOONES MILL
Killing children is a matter of timing
CAN MOTHERS kill their children? Well, it depends on the timing.
Consider the following: Susan is pregnant; her boyfriend says no! She goes to counseling, and her consciousness is raised to a mature level. She doesn't want to be miserable with an unwanted child, so she takes advantage of her reproductive freedom. Bingo! Alexander is dead! He is torn out in pieces from Susan's womb, thrown into a bucket and taken to the dump.
But if Susan's consciousness wasn't raised until eight months after the boy's birth, the boy is strapped into his car seat, and he dies 10 feet under water.
In the first case, Susan's timing would have been correct, and understanding people would have held her hands and congratulated her for her ``courageous decision.'' But because her timing was incorrect, she's sitting in solitary confinement in her cell. With the correct timing, who knows? Maybe her boyfriend would have led her to the altar. You see, it's just the matter of right timing.
VICTOR MADERSPACH BLACKSBURG
Opposite on moral views
READERS beware! Headline writing is an elusive art, but it can also be misleading. One might conclude from the headline, ``In defense of homosexuals'' (Nov. 6 Horizon section), that the viewpoints of Bishop Walter Sullivan and Professor Robert Barrett on homosexuality are identical - a theologian and a psychologist on the same moral wavelength. But they're not.
Barrett is a homosexual who sees no moral difficulty in the way he chooses to practice his sexuality, while Sullivan, who opposes certain types of civil discrimination against homosexuals, upholds the Roman Catholic Church's position: Homosexual ``genital sex'' is wrong and, like any other sin not repented of, is worthy of the spiritual penalty of death.
Because Sullivan believes ``a person is homosexual from birth'' doesn't mean he condones a homosexual person's sexual activity. (I'm trying hard to follow Barrett's good advice not to use the term ``homosexual lifestyle.'') Sullivan's questioner states: ``But in no way are you saying that homosexual activity is an alternative lifestyle that can be accepted in the Christian community.'' To which Bishop replies: ``Amen ... I get accused of being soft. But the gay community knows that I am not.'' Sullivan also supports the right of a Catholic landlord not to rent to a sexually active homosexual couple in order to avoid facilitating their sinful cohabitation.
While contributing valuable ideas to the intensely personal questions that grip our generation, Barrett and Sullivan hold opposite views regarding sexual morality, and consequently don't defend the same things for the sake of homosexual people.
REV. CHARLES T. EVANS ROANOKE
Put North's posters to good use
OLIVER NORTH'S supporters should realize all wasn't lost in the senatorial race. Their hope may lie, in all places, in the hands of our weather forecasters. They say this winter will be at least as bad as last year's. Just think. They can use North's campaign signs and the sticks that held the signs to warm their houses in what may be called the winter of their discontent.
WALTER ROBINSON SALEM
Intolerance with tax-exempt status
AFTER all the vitriolic rhetoric from far-right Christian fundamentalists, I think of all the cruelty placed on mankind in the name of religion and God:
The inquisition, crusades, taking of Indian lives and land, slavery and segregation, prohibition of birth control by the Comstock Law in the early 1900s, injustice and inequality that women have endured, cruelty done to gays and lesbians.
If only there could be more tolerance.
It's hard to believe the Christian Coalition is nonpartisan and enjoys a tax-exempt status.
MARTHA BROWN VINTON
Bureaucrats still don't get it
REGARDING the Nov. 14 news article, ``Mobile food aid planned'':
Judy Garrett, public-health nutritionist, says the Alleghany Health District doesn't have enough staff to increase its caseload ``but we need to increase the caseload to keep the money.'' Now they want $170,000 to ``go out and reach the people instead of expecting them to come to us.''
This is what's wrong with government. They don't have to ``keep the money.'' They can return it to those who work to earn it and then see it confiscated by the government. Isn't it wonderful that those wanting a handout won't even have to ask for it? The bureaucrats will go to their door. How lazy can freeloaders get? How arrogant can bureaucrats get? How mad can voters get?
I hope elected officials will have enough sense to intervene with the Department of Agriculture to stop this madness.
ROBERT J. HUMMEL ROANOKE
by CNB