ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 11, 1997 TAG: 9703110054
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
Taking care of hungry neighbors
YOUR MARCH 3 editorial, "The hungry Americans," certainly spoke volumes about the lives of the needy under new welfare regulations. Certainly, the private-sector charities and churches will have to take up where government programs leave off.
The good news is that programs are in place to provide the needed services. The only missing ingredient, as you pointed out, is the financial support required to make food available.
As director of the Hunters for the Hungry program, which provides venison to food banks and soup kitchens, I've seen the demand for food rise steadily. Our charity, like many others, can do more with increased support from area citizens and businesses. Annually, we have access to more deer than we can afford to accept, process and distribute.
The needs of those among us who struggle deserve to be met - and can be met. Together, we can do locally what has proved virtually impossible to do nationally: We can provide in a cost-effective manner for the hungry among us.
Thanks for highlighting the problem in your editorial and for encouraging those of us who have plenty to consider sharing more generously with those who do not. Our combined efforts can certainly take care of the hungry in our area and across Virginia.
DAVID H. HORNE
Director, Hunters for the Hungry
BIG ISLAND
Immigrants have enriched America
HOW CAN this newspaper print such bigoted, racist garbage as Louis P. Glenn's Feb. 21 commentary (``Aliens will destroy America")?
What made this country great has been the influx over the years of aliens - scientists, mathematicians, biologists, musicians, artists, etc. - who helped build it to what it is today. If Glenn researched his ancestry, I bet he would find an alien or two who came here in search of a better life. The only native Americans are the American Indians.
His comment that disturbs me most: ``There is a biological limit to the number of other races America can absorb without being discolored through inbreeding among the races. After all, this is still mainly a country settled and developed by members of the white race with strong Western cultural backgrounds.'' That sounds a lot like the statement Adolf Hitler made in 1938 regarding the ``indigenous population.''
Hitlerism is something I am very familiar with since I am one of those aliens Glenn wrote about. My folks and I emigrated to the United States through Ellis Island 46 years ago, worked hard to obtain our citizenship and became law-abiding, productive, naturalized citizens in 1957. No one gave us anything. We worked hard for what we had. Although we didn't have much materially, we considered ourselves rich because we enjoyed the freedoms for which we fought so hard to get here.
TONI THACKER
MARTINSVILLE
Pro-tobacco stance is an outrage
AS A physician, I was outraged to read that Attorney General Jim Gilmore might try to block the Food and Drug Administration's efforts to keep tobacco products out of our children's hands. Lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease and a host of other medical problems are directly linked to the use of tobacco products. We cannot afford to sacrifice another generation to ``the golden leaf.''
Gilmore owns 375 shares of Philip Morris stock, valued at $42,000. I suggest that he sell his stock and donate the money to help pay the medical expenses of the 9,000 Virginians who will die this year from tobacco. The total health-care cost for treating tobacco-related diseases in Virginia is $860 million each year.
DAVID O. LEWIS
MARTINSVILLE
Lives have been sacrificed for profit
GEORGE Washington, the greatest patriot and president ever, admonished us in his farewell address in 1796 to never become involved in other nations' squabbles and affairs. It's evident how far we have strayed since his address - with which, by the way, every citizen and politician should become familiar.
The War of 1812 was the last war in defense of this nation, but 646,760 American youths have since sacrificed their lives, and untold numbers of prisoners of wars and those missing in action are unaccounted for. This so that global bankers, multinational corporations, the industrial-military complex, the media, a draft-dodging commander in chief, a gutless bought-and-paid-for Congress, an ignorant, lazy and wicked citizenry, and a ruling elite could make windfall profits by changing the blood of your children into gold.
Presently, our military personnel, under the United Nations (another slap in the face), are positioned in Europe, Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, South and Central America, the Far East, the Pacific Basin - and Lord knows where else.
Now, hear this: Foreign troops and equipment continue to occupy and train in our closed bases, and new centers are being built in national parks (now off limits to citizens). The latest outrage is the contract signed with Red China's Ocean Shipping Co. to build a 145-acre shipping terminal at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Does this fry your grits?
Bring all of our troops home now, to protect us, our property and nation. Get the United Nations off our soil, and get out of it!
HAROLD BENEDICT
HILLSVILLE
Shuler voted in minors' interests
REGARDING Monroe Hendrick's Feb. 25 letter to the editor concerning votes cast by Del. Jim Shuler (``Shuler's irrational, irresponsible votes''):
Requiring parental notification before a minor girl can obtain an abortion will force a few girls to go out of state or obtain the services of a dangerous, poorly trained abortion practitioner. The parental-notification law will not prevent unplanned pregnancies, but will place some girls in dangerous, life-threatening situations.
As for requiring inexperienced minors to get parental consent before obtaining a tattoo, this is designed to prevent minors from making a mistake. When they become of age, they should be able to make a rational decision on their own.
Both of Shuler's votes were to protect minors.
WALTER B. GROSS
BLACKSBURG
Low-paying jobs are the problem
REGARDING Mary Sue Libassi's March 4 letter to the editor, ``Child care is a luxury for some'': She says that she ``has no idea what percentage of children are in day care because their parents don't want to live on one income, but I'd say it's fairly high.''
I think the majority of parents would stay home with their children if they could. Many working couples struggle to survive on two incomes. I'd give my heart and soul to any employer who would give me the opportunity to make an amount of money so that my wife wouldn't have to work.
As parents, we see who is involved in children's lives and who is not, and it hurts us to see so many children with parents who cannot, or will not, be there for the mental and physical support of their offspring.
Please remember that some people are not in good shape financially, and never will be. By no fault of their own, they are in mediocre-paying jobs, and will most likely keep those jobs because high-paying jobs in the Roanoke Valley are few.
PHILIP COLLINS FERGUSON I
ROANOKE
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