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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991                   TAG: 9103110274
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFLY PUT

AH-ONE, and ah-two: The U.S. House has withdrawn a $500,000 rural-development grant it had voted for Strasburg, N.D. The grant, to develop the birthplace of bandleader Lawrence Welk into a tourist attraction, had become symbolic of federal pork barrel.

Good show. 'Course, if Congress had voted and withdrawn such a grant for Wise, Va., home of former Virginia Tech and Washington Redskin football great Carroll Dale, we'd be asking for an instant replay.

COMEDIAN Jay Leno, appearing on "The Tonight Show," quipped: "Do you know what Iraq was called in biblical times? Mesopotamia. That's where algebra was invented - reason enough to blow it off the map." A bit drastic, but it might draw support from math-weary high-school students.

SPEAKING of Iraq and federal spending, a Missouri congressman has proposed a voluntary war tax: Taxpayers could add as much as 5 percent to their income-tax liability, with the money earmarked for war costs.

Anything left would go toward reducing the deficit. Don't hold your breath: It's easier to support the troops with slogans than with tax dollars, voluntary or otherwise.

by CNB