Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 15, 1993 TAG: 9307150052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray Reed
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: Patrick County's favorite son, Gen. Stuart, rests in peace. Where he once had four signs bearing his name, there are five in each direction - in that county alone.
Gen. Stuart's present-day neighbors raised the roof when the Philpott signs started going up, even though they always voted for Philpott.
A couple of citizens may have seen a highway crew moving a Stuart sign across the ditch and thought it was being torn down.
And perhaps another citizen or two "collected" Stuart Highway signs for keepsakes when it appeared they would vanish anyway.
Never fear. The Virginia Department of Transportation wouldn't take down the revered general. U.S. 58 runs the length of Virginia, 508 miles, and from Courtland to Abingdon - about 400 miles - Stuart's name has prevailed since 1928 and continues to do so.
Philpott, who persuaded the General Assembly to adopt a revolutionary plan - revenue bonds - to pay for widening U.S. 58 to four lanes, gets his name on the road along with Stuart's.
Philpott, though, gets all 508 miles.
New world order is change
Q: Occasionally we see something in the paper concerning the new world order. Since every human will come under rulership of the new world order, why aren't we given more information as to the power structure and what their goals are? N.N.
A: "The new world order" was the Bush administration's theme, adopted in late 1989. It became a catch phrase of the Desert Storm war.
The term appeared in 175 news stories or letters to the editor, and in 400 articles from mainstream publications, according to the Roanoke Public Library's reference desk. The trend is fading, though; "new world order" has appeared in the paper only 10 times this year.
Bush had this in mind four years ago: The new world order would consist of U.S.-Soviet cooperation on international issues; joint action by many nations against aggressors; and American leadership to make sure it got done.
In the Feb. 15 issue of Forbes magazine, Caspar Weinberger described Bush's goal as achieving global law, with breaches punished swiftly and surely. In Desert Storm, global law was established by the United Nations, which condemned Iraq's attempt to control 60 percent of the world's known oil reserves, the former secretary of defense wrote.
It could be argued that we're seeing an extension of that policy under the Clinton administration in recent missile attacks aimed at Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
Some folks fear that U.S. independence could be scrapped in favor of a new world order, transferring U.S. control - and wealth - to a worldwide commonwealth.
Other people see these events as a new effort to achieve the elusive goal of world peace.
Neither U.S. submission nor world peace seem very likely if we consider the instability of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, Liberia and half a dozen other countries.
Change occurs too fast for anyone to get a world order organized. In the Bush goal just four years ago of U.S.-Soviet cooperation, the Soviet element has been replaced by a collection of independent states.
One human emotion is shared worldwide: People resent outsiders telling them how to live. It doesn't matter whether the outsiders are from Washington, New York, London or Moscow, or whether they're part of the government, the media, business or the church. People want local control.
Proof of this lies right here in the Roanoke Valley, whose localities struggle to agree on economic development, flood control and landfills.
Unified government is far away, be it worldwide or local.
Got a question about something that might affect other people too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
by CNB