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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993                   TAG: 9312140028
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ray reed
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DEBT SIGN IS FAIRLY ACCURATE

A: George Cartledge and John W. Hancock, retired business executives, thought Roanokers should be aware of how deeply in debt the nation is. They paid for the sign.

Its computer-driven lights roll off $100,000 of debt at the same speed we pump a gallon of gas into our cars. In four days, the sign went up $4 billion.

Are the figures accurate? Approximately. Here's a test of whether your eyes can comprehend a trillion-dollar figure:

Thursday at 4 p.m. the sign gave the national debt as $4,456,287,000,000. The U.S. Treasury, at close of business that day, gave the total outstanding debt as $4,482,215,000,000.

The sign was behind by $26 billion, but it was getting its monthly update Monday, said Neal Kinsey at the Kinsey Crane & Sign Co.

The sign company takes the figures from Treasury Department reports of the public debt and compares them to Census Bureau figures for population. That's how it calculates each citizen's share - $17,070 at last glance.

Gathering this information took an estimated 25 minutes in phone conversations with people who actually had information, and five minutes to walk two blocks and check the sign.

In those 30 minutes, the debt went up $20 million.\ Getting zeroed in

Q: I have a question from the good ol' boy segment that I've been arguing about with my friends - about the procedure for sighting in an iron-sighted gun. If you have a gun that's shooting high, which direction do you move the rear sight: up or down? J.A., Bedford

A: The rule in making sight changes is always to move the rear sight in the same direction you want the strike of the bullet to move. This is from a publication by Gary Anderson, an Olympic gold medalist.

If a rifle's shots hit above the target's center, or bull, you'll want to lower the shots. Therefore the rear sight should be lowered.

The principle also applies if a shot group hits to the side of the target. If the group's center is to the right of the bull, you'll want to move the shots toward the left. So, the rear sight should be moved to the left.

Telescopic sights apparently have replaced the need for many shooters to use this detail of firearms familiarity.\ Nailing the time

Q: Whom does one rely on for the correct time? Two television stations had the time two minutes apart today, the time on the telephone was different, and Infoline had a different time. Of these four, which is correct? J.S., Vinton

A: None of the above, if you must be accurate to the second.

Call the Naval Observatory at (202) 653-1800 to get the time from the nation's official clock.

Your sources lagged anywhere from three to seven minutes behind on Monday afternoon.

Two local TV stations started their "4 p.m." shows at 4:05 p.m., give or take a few seconds, on the Naval Observatory clock.