Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 18, 1993 TAG: 9401260034
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A20 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But why would we do such a terrible thing to such a nice lady? Because we're sick and tired. Sick and tired of what, you ask.
We're sick and tired of being scapegoats for every politician who hasn't the guts to come up with some legitimate crime-control measures, instead of another oppressive gun-control law to try and fool the public into believing they're really doing something about crime. Sick and tired of a failed criminal-justice system that coddles criminals and turns them back out into society to continue preying on honest citizens. Sick and tired of elected officials who take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and then set to work to dismantle it, piece by piece. Sick and tired of a liberal news media who think the First Amendment is the only valid one in the Bill of Rights, and whose biased reporting is so unfair, untruthful and misleading that it turns our stomachs. Sick and tired of the media turning serial killers into modern folk heroes with all the sensationalism in reporting every gory detail of their lives, while legitimate heroes in our society are ignored. Sick and tired of always having to fight tooth and nail to defend our God-given rights and those rights guaranteed us in the Constitution. We're just sick and tired of always being sick and tired.
So, we voted to get rid of some of the people and things who make us sick and tired, and we started with Ms. Terry and her stupid five-day waiting period and her other ideas on gun control. We voted to put a governor in office who'll give us legitimate crime control. As a matter of fact, we put two such men in office this time, and there'll be more in the future. Virginia gun owners are fed up and they're not going to take it any more!
LARRY E. COE
ROANOKE
Still waiting to hear on the issues
FIRST let me say, ``thank God it's over!'' We finally have a new governor and other various politicians. Now, maybe life will get back to normal in Virginia.
This has been one of the nastiest campaigns I've ever seen. I spoke with several friends from New England to California, and they've even heard of our nasty political campaign.
Whatever happened to the day when politicians ran for office with certain stands that were readily understood by the voters? It seems that they spent their campaigns ranking down the other guy and the rest of the time defending themselves. I don't care about their personal lives. I'm more concerned about issues, about which I still don't know where they stand. What do they have to say about jobs, the homeless, the handicapped and the unemployed? I'm still waiting to hear their positions on these issues rather than the garbage they dished out!
I speak for myself and probably many other local Virginians when I say that I hope voters never have to endure another campaign that was as messy and dirty as this one.
JIM KIMBALL
ROANOKE
The issue is humane treatment
WALKER Nelms, vice president of the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in his Nov. 7 letter to the editor (``Animal-control laws help animals, too''), has done a great injustice to Dawn Hale, who is director of the Roanoke Organization for Animal Rights. It's obvious he doesn't know her or her animal policies.
When Roanoke city passed a law saying residents could have up to four unneutered cats, Ms. Hale said this was too lenient and that residents shouldn't even have one unneutered cat. She's very much for animal-control laws, but the problem is getting people to obey them and to keep so many animals from suffering.
She fought the change in Vinton because towns and cities have no right to institute a law unless given the right by the state. This is a legal dictate that municipalities have to obey.
Ms. Hale's No. 1 issue is the humane treatment of animals. With other shelters in this country having ``no-kill policies,'' it looks like our local SPCA would study those shelters and find alternatives to the mass killing of pets that the local SPCA has always been known for!
BEVERLY TAYLOR
ROANOKE
County zoning's a harassment tool
THREE CHEERS for the citizens of Franklin County. Through their overwhelming vote on Nov. 2 , they sent a loud and clear message - keep bureaucrats off our backs and out of our neighborhood disputes.
In Roanoke County, where we're not as fortunate, zoning is used by some people with an ax to grind, and neighbors use it as the neutron bomb of problem-solving. This is made possible because the county doesn't have people in the field looking for zoning-law violations; it relies on complaints to accomplish compliance. This results in a double standard.
If you're lucky and have golden-rule-following, mind-their-own-business neighbors, you effectively have no zoning problems. This system results in little more than harassment for those unfortunate enough to live next to people Jesus Christ couldn't please.
If only the citizens of Roanoke County could vote on zoning, I believe it would lose by an even bigger margin. And in the process, we could dispense with some overpaid, worthless government bureaucrats who enforce codes on one street and not on another where people are at peace to enjoy their overtaxed property without the heavy hand of government involvement.
TERRY WALKER
ROANOKE
A school system's giant step forward
SUSIE is a member of the class of 2006 in the Montgomery County public schools. If she were a few years older, she'd be concerned about job opportunities, or lack thereof, available to her upon graduation. Fortunately, the Montgomery County School Board authorized a long-range planning committee, called the Focus 2006 Strategic Planning Commission, to predict what demands business and industry will be placing on her graduating class. This commission presented its final report on Oct. 19.
Without any doubt, this report is the most significant step taken in the Montgomery County school system in my 20 years of residency in the county. The commission chose to appoint 18 task forces involving topics of broad educational concern. A total of 197 persons served on these task forces, contributing an estimated 3,100 hours of time. As the final report notes, the task force members represented all areas of the county. They included students, teachers, parents and others. The commission ensured geographic diversity by appointing at least two persons to each task force from each of the four high-school attendance areas. The task forces were sensitive to matters of diversity, gender and equity.
I'd like to acknowledge appreciation to all 222 individuals who worked on the commission and the task forces, including especially the co-chairmen, James Johnson and Mike Sowder, who provided leadership for this significant planning report.
The Montgomery County School Board is to be congratulated for already setting the meeting time and place to study the commission's recommendations. It'll be up to the School Board and the Board of Supervisors to implement them so that Susie will be employable when she graduates. Clearly, all recommendations will not be implemented overnight, but it's hoped many will be implemented in time to help Susie find satisfying employment.
JAMES M. MOORE
Supervisor, District A
Montgomery County Board of Supervisors
CHRISTIANSBURG
How sweet it is!
ON BEHALF of all red-blooded Republicans in Virginia, I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to our Democratic friends in the Virginia legislature for so effectively gerrymandering Gov.-elect George Allen out of his congressional seat. I wonder if we could have elected him governor without `em!
I hope our Democratic legislator friends will consume the crow quite slowly, as it's likely to exacerbate their already considerable political indigestion. While Democrats are puckering at the sour taste of political crow, Republican taste buds are salivating at the sweet taste of political justice served up to us on Nov. 2 by Virginia's voters.
CARROLL P. FREEMAN
LYNCHBURG
Correction
BECAUSE OF an editing error, a Nov. 8 letter from William D. Stump II of Pulaski (``NRA shouldn't settle for crumbs") incorrectly referred to a one-gun-a-month law passed at the 1993 legislature. The law Stump was discussing was a ban on two kinds of assault-style revolving shotguns.
by CNB