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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993                   TAG: 9302150288
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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O'BRIEN BILL IS NATIONAL TREND

AT A TIME when outrage over President Clinton's attempts to force gays and lesbians on the American military is the nation's No. 1 story, why has Virginia Del. Jay O'Brien's bill to protect the Virginia National Guard dropped out of sight in your news coverage of the General Assembly?

When the Democratic leadership of the House of Delegates intentionally misrouted the bill to the Democrat-dominated Committee for Courts of Justice instead of to the panel on militia and police, why has there been no mention of this blatant political chicanery?

While the bill quietly dies in this Wilder-Democratic ideological dungeon, will there be no call to accountability?

While O'Brien's bill is being picked up by concerned legislators in several other states, why is this nationally significant trend being ignored?

Are all of your reporters and editors so overworked and distracted that they have "overlooked" this important story?

Or is it something more disturbing? The national media have attained a well-deserved and foul reputation for cynical bias. It would be a shame for local media to tar themselves with the same brush. ROBERT S. BRUCE MECHANICSVILLE

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