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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007310311
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BRIEFLY PUT

SO THE STATE police have stopped recording Gov. Douglas Wilder's destinations and passengers in their official helicopter logs. Sorry, that won't make the controversy go away. Wilder's friendship with Albemarle County billionaire Patricia Kluge is of great public interest, but it's his business and not the problem. The problem is the governor's refusal to disclose his use of a state helicopter for private purposes, and his refusal to reimburse the state for such use.

Gov. Wilder has reimbursed the state for private use of the state jet, why should the state helicopter, which costs $300 an hour to operate, be different? It's too bad the governor's personal life has become so mixed up with this issue of public accountability, and too bad Wilder is exposing himself to such flak from the critics in the General Assembly. His position isn't enviable, but his excuses won't fly.

JUSTICE Thurgood Marshall's peevish remarks about President Bush and his Supreme Court appointee, David Souter, are out of order. Marshall said that Bush never stops running for office, and that he'd never heard of Souter. Whatever the political factors in the appointment, a member of the high court should not speculate openly about them or denigrate the president's choice. Marshall's pique may stem in part from the fact that, 82 and ailing, he could be the next justice who has to step down.

IT's HARD to know who's more blameworthy, between opportunistic developers and a forgetful government, in the affair of Roanoke County's too-tall building. When a 4-acre lot on Virginia 419 was rezoned in 1985, the developers agreed to a site plan that specified a two-story building.

But the structure now under construction is five stories. It seems the county approved a five-story plan last year because the rezoning conditions in the intervening four years "got lost," according to county officials. A court will decide the fate of the incomplete building; neither side is likely to look like a winner.

LATEST cost estimate for the Superconducting Super Collider, designed to answer fundamental questions about the origin and nature of matter, is $8.6 billion, up from its original $4.4 billion. The next sound you hear will be the project colliding with the federal deficit. Somebody needs to answer other fundamental questions.

AGRICULTURE inspectors from 32 states attended a conference in Texas on how to deal with the Africanized "killer bees," known for their irascibility. We suggest loads of sensitivity training.

by CNB