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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 11, 1993                   TAG: 9308110245
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NEWSPAPER MADE OUTLANDISH CHOICE

THIS LETTER is being written to express my opinion on the decision made by the Roanoke Times & World-News to withdraw the Outland comic strip from the Sunday edition.

I am bothered by several things about your decision. You stated that Outland is seldom funny and extremely tasteless." First, what qualifies your staff to decide for me or any other citizen what is funny"? I personally thought the July 25 Outland strip was hilarious. It appears that the editors are guilty of one of the evils they fight most against: censorship.

Also, I take issue with the paper describing Outland as tasteless," when on page one of the same edition there is a color photo of a mother and father grieving about their daughter perishing in a flooded cave in St. Louis. Is not a photo of personal, private anguish displayed to the subscribers a bit in poor taste?

Lastly, I have been hearing and reading for years about the fact that the Roanoke Valley has a stagnant economy, and how all the young people from Roanoke graduate from college and relocate to other parts of the commonwealth or other areas in the United States. This, in part, is due to the fact that Roanoke is not keeping pace with the rest of the country in accepting changing times and new perspectives.

Your actions surrounding something as innocuous as a comic strip are a prime example of why the valley may never thrive. The 21st century is rapidly approaching. Your newspaper needs to embracce it, not run from it.

JANE B. SHELOR\ VINTON

by CNB