ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997 TAG: 9703070026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
After 12 years, Roanoke Times columnist Ray L. Garland has decided to suspend his weekly effort, at least for a while.
RAY L. GARLAND took us by surprise this week when he asked for an indefinite breather from the regime of research and writing that has produced 632 weekly columns over the past 12 years. "[I]t's time to vacate this space - at least for a while," he writes in this week's column, which appears on today's Commentary page.
The hiatus - which we hope won't be for too long a while - is not related to the redesign and other changes introduced in the newspaper Thursday.
Garland embarked on the column in February 1985, at this newspaper's invitation, after his retirement from a long career in local and state politics. That career included several terms in the House of Delegates followed by a four-year term in the state Senate. Both at home and in Richmond, the Roanoke Republican earned a reputation as a thoughtful and articulate legislator.
Those qualities carried over into his column, which has been a fixture on our Commentary page since its inception. Garland's insightful and issues-oriented focus on Virginia politics and government, as seen from a generally conservative perspective, gained a wide and loyal readership.
The Roanoke Times remained the column's home base, but in time it came also to be carried by nearly two-dozen other newspapers throughout Virginia.
Not every column dealt with grave matters of state. Readers may recall Garland's holiday columns, which from 1988 through 1995 featured a fruitcake contest. Garland asked readers to share a Christmas memory; those whose memories he selected for publication in his column won fruitcakes made by Garland from a 50-year-old family recipe.
We can attest, from personal experience, to their delicious taste, and hope Garland will continue the tradition of gracing our Editorial Page table each Christmas with one of his fruitcakes. Even more, though, we hope he will return at some point to again grace our Commentary page with his contributions to the public debate.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB