Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 7, 1993 TAG: 9310280314
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
At the state Democratic Party convention this spring, Terry said: "Our great state that was named after a woman finally will be led by one. I think it's time." After she was introduced as "Virginia's first lady governor," she entered the convention hall to the theme music from the movie "Working Girl."
Virginia Commonwealth University political analyst Robert Holsworth said: "It was interesting how strong she played the gender card." Nevertheless, no one in the media criticized Terry's flagrant gender ploy.
Allen said recently that he views family issues differently now, since being married and becoming a father. Terry and the liberal media exploded. A spokesman for her said, "By raising the marital status issue today, George Allen has demonstrated the bankruptcy of ideas in his campaign." And the liberal Roanoke Times & World-News attacked Allen's "family values, regurgitated."
Once again, the radical-feminist double standard stands exposed. Liberal Mary Sue Terry and the liberal media will be very disappointed on Election Day. Women will not cast gender-biased votes.
WANDA PHILLIPS
CHRISTIANSBURG
Water is not the shortage
REGARDING the problems with water transfers to Virginia Beach:
This is similar to problems on the Delaware River. The Delaware begins with dams on the east and west forks where water can be transferred to the Hudson River basin to supply part of New York City's needs. From these lakes, it flows south through three states, near hundreds of towns, past tributaries with power dams, past power plants and pump-generation stations and a couple of good-size cities.
It finally reaches Philadelphia, about 300 miles away, where it must supply that city's water system and, more important, must have enough flow to keep the saltwater of Delaware Bay from reaching the inlet pipes to the city. In a dry year when New York needs more water, this becomes a real problem.
All this is controlled by a river master in West Milford, Pa., who decides the flow from all the sources and to all the users. The system works. Mayors, councils, lake associations, state politicians and power companies do one thing necessary to make it work - they cooperate. Oops, sorry I brought up that word again.
RUSSELL G. HURD
FINCASTLE
Mediation might have helped
THE LEGAL and justice systems truly let down Jessica DeBoer and, unfortunately, her plight is unusual only by a matter of degrees in our country. Perhaps I missed reading it somewhere, but I did not see where, at anytime during the long months of litigation, it was recommended that all parties involved attempt to resolve their dilemma through mediation.
Mediation is a cooperative, problem-solving process whereby a neutral professional assists family members in clearly defining the issues in dispute so that they can make practical, informed decisions to resolve whatever conflicts are before them. Parents are helped to understand the needs of the children, reach agreements in the best interest of the children and develop a cooperative parenting relationship. The mediator may offer suggestions and help the parties develop options to resolve the issues, but the final agreement is up to the parties involved.
This process in and of itself is very empowering for parents as it encourages them to accept their responsibility as parents instead of abdicating it to the judicial system. They are taught how to communicate and solve problems regarding their children so that they can continue to be the best parents possible. Do our children deserve any less?
In Jessica's fiasco, as in numerous other unpublicized parenting disputes throughout our country, the focus was on the rights of parents to their "property" instead of how can this child's needs could best be met, both today and throughout her childhood.
Mediation certainly cannot successfully resolve every problem and dispute. However, it is an option that should be considered much more frequently and, I believe, should be available to every divorcing couple with children. Our society and our children certainly deserve no less.
DUKE TURMAN
BLACKSBURG
Spying on higher education
I READ with amusement the Aug. 26 Associated Press story, "Visits to colleges were clandestine," about James Madison University's "U-2 Missions." With two children in college, I feel aware enough to offer some advice.
To JMU officials, enjoy your trips. To other schools, you should visit JMU to discover their successful modus operandi.
CLARA PICKUREL
MARTINSVILLE
An odd definition of success
VICTORY! Can we now assume we are free from the Nazi-like tactics Roanoke County police use to harass interstate travelers?
In the Aug. 25 news article by David Poole, "I-81 roadblock conviction lost," about a drug conviction being overturned because the checkpoints system used was questionable, Police Chief John Cease still insisted that the program was a success. Does it bother anyone that we could be subject to "Checkpoint Cease" at any time? If, as he said in the paper, "We didn't go out there with the idea of getting a lot of dope," then why are police wasting time and money pursuing a failed policy that even Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Burkhart thinks is a bad idea? What good is overwhelming public support if the public has been brainwashed into believing that what they are doing is actually having an effect on the flow of drugs into the valley? Could it be that it is a lot easier to eat jelly donuts at an off-ramp when, instead, police should be on patrol looking for drunken and/or drugged drivers?
MIKE EWEN
ROANOKE
City oficials did their duty
PARDON ME for not joining the lynching party for our mayor, City Council members and the city manager regarding the gas war of 1993.
I believe they were acting in what they believed to be the best interest of the citizens of Roanoke city, which is exactly what they were elected and appointed to do.
ED NICHOLSON
ROANOKE
In defense of the Tailhook spirit
REGARDING the Tailhook Society:
Lt. Paula Kaufman has done what Saddam Hussein couldn't do. She has shot down dozens of Navy and Marine aviators. Tailhook aviators are at the top of the pyramid of aeronautical skills. These guys are not diplomats. They are paid to kill people, blow things up, and then get their aircraft safely back aboard a small piece of deck on a rapidly bobbing and moving aircraft carrier. Often, they must do this at night, when there is no depth perception.
I was a part of this many years ago. But then I married and had a child, so I had to grow up. I resigned from the Navy and went on to medical school.
I don't think every Tailhooker should be expected to grow up. We need these people when fighting starts. Women, however, can be expected to avoid the company of large, drunken boys.
JAMES M. BESTLER
MARTINSVILLE
Taking pride in the South
JEFF COYLE'S Aug. 21 letter to the editor, "Still fighting the Civil War," helps, by virtue of its brevity and clarity, explain why so many Southerners continue to revere, defend and promote the unique heritage and homeland that people everywhere still recognize in the expression "the South."
What he fails to recognize, and fails to respect, is the deep and abiding memory of Southern people as heroic and culturally distinct people who needlessly and wrongfully suffered through a war of conquest and persecution that left them impoverished, politically anemic and left the South a shadow of its former self for more than 100 years. It further has been made to bear an extraordinary burden for the errors of the past and continues to be deliberately misrepresented by the national media.
Coyle proclaims that his family is from Ohio and that he is a "Yankee." He goes on to callously conclude that those, like myself, who choose to celebrate a unique Southern heritage, including the memory of our once-free and independent nation with heroic leaders playing out an epic saga, are wholly ignorant of our past because we don't remember it correctly. Or, we don't remember it the way Americans like he say we are supposed to remember it. He does not recognize that it is the height of arrogance to condemn others for that of which you yourself are guilty, Namely, the universal practice of taking pride in one's homeland and one's forebears.
WAYNE D. CARLSON
RADFORD
by CNB