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

DATE: MONDAY, November 13, 1995                   TAG: 9511140003
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DON'T PLAY POLITICS WITH COLLEGES

I WAS IMPRESSED with Virginia Tech student David Baker's comments in staff writer Allison Blake's Nov. 6 article, ``Tuition contract can fly.'' To many students, however, cost is a more critical factor while all are demanding higher quality.

The subject of higher education should transcend political maneuvering at election time. Rather than trying to keep tuition increases to a percentage equivalent to inflation, Virginians (especially the governor, legislators, their advisers and staffs) should examine ways in which tuition may be reduced to a level equivalent to that at North Carolina's universities. There, it is approximately $1,700 vs. the approximate $3,400 our Virginia students are paying.

Virginia's glorious past was created in the recognition of the synergistic importance of higher education to the state's economic well-being. Virginia's future demands a return to competitive support for its colleges and universities. We cannot remain long at a position of 43rd in the nation (in terms of state support) and not suffer an erosion in quality, not to mention in prestige and leadership, and an exodus of some of our best faculty to more supportive states. We cannot be satisfied with a totally nutritionless political bone. All parents of university students have had a significant tax increase in the form of 30 percent to 60 percent increases in tuition and fees since 1990.

Virginia needs the leadership to rearrange its priorities, and to put first things first again in Virginia.

HENRY J. DEKKER

BLACKSBURG

Recycling should be mandatory

I THINK it's time Roanoke starts a mandatory recycling program, which would make it easier for citizens to recycle and would be good for the environment. This program would involve curb-side pickup and recycling of such products as newspapers, cans, bottles and glass.

Just think what the results of this program would be. By recycling, we would get materials to make road surfaces and AstroTurf, and products such as newspapers, glass, aluminum, clothing, insulation, outdoor lumber, etc. To top it off, Roanoke would be even cleaner! So what are we waiting for?

SAMANTHA DITTRICH

ROANOKE

Gulf War malady can't be ignored

REGARDING the Gulf War Syndrome sickness that has afflicted Gulf War veterans and their families:

We have followed these victims' plight for more than four years with great concern, and have a growing disgust for the responsible units of our federal government, including the Centers for Disease Control, the Veterans Administration and government physicians. A mysterious spate of birth defects (cluster outbreaks) isn't to be written off to chance.

We believe Congress should set up a special insurance for families of the victims of the Gulf War Syndrome to compensate for holes in the American health-care system.

CHARLES and GLORIA PARRY

BLACKSBURG

White outrage isn't due to race

FRAN DELANEY stated in her Oct. 24 letter to the editor ("Black justice, white rage") that this country ``hasn't achieved or come close to racial harmony, and it never will." If this is true, it's because of people like her.

I, like most of "white America,'' as Delaney calls it, believe in justice for all people. She stated: "Guilty whites have been walking around free ... and that's always OK." Wrong! Wasn't "white America" outraged when Rodney King's attackers were let go after the first trial? Yes. Wasn't "white America" livid when two white men set a black man on fire a few years ago in Florida? Definitely. Didn't "white America" rejoice when Nelson Mandela was finally freed after years in illegal captivity? Certainly.

The rage that has swept the country since the Simpson verdict isn't about race - it's about injustice. White America, black America, green, yellow, blue and every other color of America should be mad.

I believe Orenthal Simpson got away with murder. Would I be just as angry if the victims were black? I certainly would. But if the victims were black, would Delaney still be writing in support of Simpson? Would Simpson have been convicted? The answer is probably no on both counts. He would still have gotten away, no matter what color the victims were, and for the same reason he got away with it this time: He had the money to spend.

KARL W. LOOS

RUSTBURG

by CNB