Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 13, 1993 TAG: 9312140273
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Why is it that we're so quick to determine that all so-called street people are drunks, drug addicts, vagrants or mentally ill when studies show that more than half of them are simply unemployed or caught up in temporary, unfavorable circumstances?
REST} With the largest, most expansive and expensive educational system the world has ever known, our people still can't understand that every human being, regardless of their appearance, age or status in life, must have at least one meal per day and a clean, warm, safe place to sleep and bathe to simply stay alive. And until we develop understanding and compassion in this country for one another, nothing else need be developed.
Come to the Rescue Mission for supper. Look into the faces of these men and women and tell me which ones you'll select for more punishment and criticism than life has already dealt them. And be careful that one day you don't have to eat at this table daily and face those you formally judged and criticized. If you think you're in charge of your life, then the next time you have to go to the bathroom, don't go. If man could change his conditions, we'd all be millionaires. Conditions change men and no man chooses poverty.
Is it really a Merry Christmas?
DAVID C. ZORR
ROANOKE
Pedestrian bridge: a waste of money
WHY SPEND $2.1 million on a pedestrian bridge over Norfolk Southern?
Years ago, there was one built underground from Norfolk Avenue to Center Avenue at Jefferson Street. There were lots of muggings and robbings. And the building of the viaduct was a waste of money.
Why don't city officials let taxpayers have a say about how money is wasted? I pay real-estate taxes in the city!
MARIE FOLEY
CATAWBA
Are media winking away a scandal?
LAST APRIL, Jay Stephens, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, was on the verge of announcing whether he'd seek the indictment of Dan Rostenkowski, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Stephens was promptly fired, along with 92 other U.S. attorneys. He suspected that this unusual purge was concocted to save Rostenkowski, who was needed to get the Clinton budget passed.
Seven months have passed and no decision on Rostenkowski's indictment has been announced, even though the case against him is strong and getting stronger. The grand jury, looking for ``ghosts'' on the congressman's payroll, discovered that 210 personnel and payroll files were missing from his office.
Why aren't the media exposing this scandal?
HUGH KEY
ROANOKE
State may kill the innocent
IN RESPONSE to Zelda Woodson's plea for the death penalty as ``a must, and in short order'' (Dec. 1 letter to the editor, ``Use electric chair to reduce crime''):
I'll resist the urge to cite facts showing that the death penalty has never been a deterrent to crime. Rather, I'd submit that the fear of death will not find its way into the hearts of obviously disturbed and imbalanced individuals. On the contrary, the absolute a nd irreversible finality of death should strike terror in those who have no guilt in their lives.
If capital punishment - most especially when applied in ``short order'' and without every possible opportunity to ensure that the accused is guilty - ever takes the life of an innocent (and it has!), then this barbaric abomination should be seen as the antithesis of civilized society and abolished.
Let those who call for quick capital punishment be absolutely positive that they'ller find themselves accused and convicted of a crime they didn't commit. I'm sure some innocent victims of state killing once thought the same.
MARK SCHLEUPNER
ROANOKE
Many rivers flow to the north
WE'RE Radford University students currently enrolled in the commonwealth of Virginia geography class. We're writing in regard to Question No. 45 in the Geography Awareness Quiz in the Nov. 15 issue in the Extra section of the Roanoke Times & World-News. The question: ``What is unusual about the New River?'' Your answer says that the New River flows south to north.
We've found this not to be an unusual occurrence. There are many rivers in the United States that flow south to north, such as the Monongahela in Pennsylvania, St. John's River in Florida, Eel River in California and Puyallup River in Washington state.
These are just a few, and there are many throughout the world. Most of the rivers draining into Siberia and the rest of the Russian republic flow south to north (i.e., Ob, Lena, Yenisey). The famous Nile River in Africa also flows south to north.
As conscientious geography students, we felt the responsibility to call it to your attention.
JULIE MENOLD
KRISTI HALL
Radford University
RADFORD
Editor's note: This letter was also signed by five other students.
by CNB