Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 20, 1993 TAG: 9309220321
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Mr. Holcomb writes that if something is right, then the ACLU is against it. He asks what kind of people support " ... such an anti-Christian organization?" Well, I'll be happy to tell him.
It is only his opinion that the ACLU is anti-Christian. I am a proud, card-carrying member of the ACLU. I love my country because, as Americans, we are guaranteed the right to freedom of speech, liberty, freedom of religion, a fair trial and equality under the law. The ACLU is always there to fight for the protection of these rights, and I am so glad that it is.
Separation of church and state is what is best for America. The ACLU led the fight to abolish prayer in school because religion is not something to be forced down the throat of a child whose culture or religious upbringing may be of a faith other than the Christian faith. Religion should not be paid for by the government.
The ACLU has led the fight to protect the right of blacks and other minorities, including the poor, to vote. It has led the fight to guarantee the freedom of choice for a woman to have a baby or end a pregnancy with a safe abortion of the fetus. It has fought for the freedom of speech for all, whether or not we believe in what a person or group says or stands for. The ACLU has only begun to fight for homosexual rights. Freedom is what America is all about.
Mr. Holcomb wrote that " ... it'll be a cold day in hell when one of them gets to heaven." I take offense at that and yet I guess that statement is understandable. A true Christian does not judge others as he has done. Enough said.
LARRY K. RHODENIZER
BUENA VISTA
\ Giving hunters a bad name
THERE ARE two populations that are increasing in Virginia - man and deer - and as more land comes into privately owned small tracts a conflict is arising between land owners and a small segment of the human population.
In Southwest Virginia, the incidents of road slobs have reached a point where, unless something is done, we will be dealing with this problem through hindsight.
Deer are adaptable and will congregate in areas of non-hunting during rifle season. All too often, this is on private land in planned communities or in semi-rural areas where housing densities make it unsafe to discharge a firearm. These situations with easy road-access encourage the road-slob mentality. In Montgomery County, I have seen road slobbing in planned, heavily posted developments that makes you wonder what planet these people are on! In Giles County, we have deer shot and left de-antlered, property vandalized, livestock killed for spite, and human life threatened.
As a hunter, I resent this intensely because its misrepresentation of the hunting majority fans the fires of anti-hunting and anti-gun groups.
The way to deal with the road-slob problem is locally based, grass-roots, zero tolerance. The state, county and game-department authorities all communicate well. What they need is for people to communicate with them.
If you have a road-slob problem in your area, inform your police and game wardens. That's what they are here for and there is nothing they'd rather do than get these fools with firearms. We don't tolerate drunken drivers and child abusers. We shouldn't tolerate these simpletons with weapons.
Several years ago in Maine in a planned community, a mother of twins was killed in her backyard by one of these idiots. This is not a hunting accident. This is a premeditated, unlawful act involving a firearm. This is murder!
JAMES A. MCGRATH
EGGLESTON
\ Consumers lose in TV dispute
THE PRESENT standoff between TV cable systems and local TV broadcast stations is a sad and deplorable situation. Regardless of who blinks first, or not at all, the consumer is the ultimate loser - or stated more accurately, the ultimate victim.
When the cable systems drop local signals, some outlying viewers will be unable to receive any local signals at all, because of the mountainous terrain that surrounds us.
In the highly rated movie, "Wall Street," Michael Douglas gave an eloquent sermon extolling the proposition that "greed is good!" It would appear that the executives of both cable systems and broadcast stations took this sermon too much to heart.
Local merchants may be forced to reduce their TV advertising budgets and to increase their use of radio and newspaper advertising, to reach the unfortunate, and unwillingly deprived, outlying viewers.
FRANK E. WILLIAMS, JR.
TROUTVILLE
\ The builder could be the loser
I FEEL sorrow for the people in Roanoke County, though I live there no longer, and sorrow for those in our area, our state, our country, and our world. Many come to drive and enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway ... maybe just once, or maybe again and again. I have to think that, as they drive, they feel the same as I do. Sort of like being cradled in Mother Nature's hands on a country road through these mountains, albeit without potholes and ruts, feeling a great contentment, a peace and beauty, a wonder at the view atop each hill or around each curve.
Oh, I don't mind an old farmhouse or barn, a cabin suited to its site, or a church steeple pointing to the sky. What I do mind and despise is the encroachment of metropolis on this corridor that should exist for our children and their children's children to learn to love and savor as I do.
Yes, I feel sorrow for the people of Roanoke County. But most of all, I feel sorrow for a builder seeking more wealth at the expense of the beauty around us all. Perhaps his children's children will wonder where the beauty went.
ALEX L. MARTIN, III
ROANOKE
\ Sending a wrong message to kids
I AM WRITING in reference to the Sharon Bottoms case in Richmond. What I don't understand is what's wrong about two females who aren't married to each other raising a child. When I was a child, my parents taught me not to sleep or share a room with a man. My brothers had their own room, as did my sisters and I.
It is OK for a man and woman today to live together and have children without being married to each other. But it is not OK for two women to live together and raise a child? What kind of message is sent to children these days if they are being told you can sleep with a man, but not a woman? Is it any wonder the welfare department is overburdened with children of unwed fathers and mothers?
If more women were allowed to bring up their children with the help of another woman, we could almost do without welfare help and abortions. It sure would help the taxpayers. No, I am not a lesbian. I was married twice, and if I ever have anyone else live with me, I will opt for a woman.
SARAH L. FURROW
ROANOKE
\ Don't lump all under one banner
IN THIS paper's Sept. 15 edition, it was reported that Mary Sue Terry had charged that the state's Republican Party had been taken over by the ultra-conservative religious right.
As a delegate to the party's state convention in Richmond in June, and as a moderate, I am astounded that such an enormous group of individuals has been lumped into such a narrow category. It has been noted that not all of the party's slate of candidates uniformly agree f+icarte blanco on the wide variety of issues that confronts the commonwealth.
However, the slate does reflect the party's commitment to variety, and celebrates respect and support for individual differences. Each of the chosen candidates brings a wealth of experiences and personal traits that the delegates felt made them suited for the responsibility of leading us into a future of hope and promise.
More disturbing in Ms. Terry's charge was a not-so-well hidden bigotry against individual delegates solely because a majority of those present were religious people. Public policy by necessity has to be influenced by the frame of reference of those present. The doctrine of separation of church and state was never intended to bar individuals from public participation.
Why not celebrate our wealth of differences rather than use them to divide us?
BOBBIE STEELE
NARROWS
Terry slept on her watch
Mary Sue Terry has fallen seven points in the polls and George Allen has picked up enough support to be even with her. Clearly, she peaked weeks ago.
All this points out that a failed record, during her term of office, has left voters with a bad taste in their mouths. Her record, combined with voter disenchantment, as as rule, with Mr. Clinton's shenanigans, will sink her boat.
Terry had her chance to serve our commonwealth and she slept at the switch. The voters were watching, however, and want a change.
Bobby D. Jones
Roanoke
by CNB