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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 9, 1990                   TAG: 9005100477
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

150 YEARS PROVE COUNTY'S DOING THINGS RIGHT

DISRAELI said, "It is much easier to be critical than to be correct." I think critics of the current governments of the Roanoke Valley might do well to take his words into account.

Our Roanoke County government has survived more than 150 years. It has survived that long because it is fit to survive. Its guarantee of continuity has been its quality, its old-fashioned dedication to its citizens, and its honest, open manner of conducting the business of government.

This county government is not perfect, and I have been a visible, vocal critic of those imperfections. This form is, however, much superior to the proposed Roanoke Metropolitan Government that we will be voting on next November. While our taxes are high in the city and the county, they can only increase under the proposed merger. If I remember correctly, lower taxes was the motivation in the original petition to merge the existing governments. That goal now cannot be achieved.

Negotiators' main concern should have been an agreement that would be for the common good of the area as a whole. Maybe under the circumstances, they did as well as possible. But under the present circumstances, neither the county nor the city, nor the valley in general, stands to gain from consolidation.

\ DAVID S. COUREY\ ROANOKE

by CNB