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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160448
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

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FLOOD CONTROL

BUENA VISTA, it appears, is one step closer to getting a flood-control project on the Maury River - a project long in the planning stages.

For the first time, the budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers includes funding - $4.1 million - for the $55 million project, for which Buena Vista and the state are also expected to chip in.

Earlier, it was feared that the Clinton administration might identify the flood-control plan as pork and douse the federal spending for it.

It could indeed be called pork, if pork is defined as a project pushed by a congressman for the benefit of his congressional district, with not a lot of appreciable benefit for the nation as a whole.

On the other hand, if no one undertook flood-control projects, surely the nation as a whole would suffer.

Buena Vista, which has had its share of economic suffering, deserves help as much as other places - including other places that might have gotten federal funds if Buena Vista hadn't. Properly, local and state money will be part of the mix.

It is to the credit of former 6th District Rep. Jim Olin of Roanoke that the item made it into the budget in the first place. Olin worked hard to get the project off the ground before he retired from Congress in January.

It should prove one of his career's lasting legacies. Call it pork, or call it public service. Either way, it's fitting that the Buena Vista project is to be named after Olin.

The entire nation needn't celebrate that $4.1 million for the flood-control plan was left in the budget President Clinton recently released. But friends of Buena Vista can welcome the news unwracked by guilt pangs. A twinge would suffice.

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