Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9312210233
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But there's a much larger group of the poor who've unconsciously chosen poverty all of their lives. These are the ones who've chosen not to get an education. (It's free for the taking.) They've chosen to drop out of school to support their cars and drug habits and to obtain instant gratification. They've chosen to be teen-age mothers and fathers, which is a sure recipe for poverty. They've chosen not to be diligent and do a good job of the things they do, because they're lazy and it's just too much trouble.
The sociologists can find all sorts of excuses for this kind of behavior, but the fact remains that the road that's taken in life is largely the result of personal choices made along the way. Society's biggest challenge is to get people to make the right choices and make them be responsible for whatever those choices might be. We have to make them understand that to make the wrong choices will almost certainly result in a life of poverty, and they'll suffer the consequences.
CHARLES D. WARING
ROANOKE
Unwed fathers leave the babies and bills
IF THE men who are getting girls pregnant had to pay these children's bills instead of us poor taxpayers, I bet there'd be less babies being born. Medical tests can prove who the father is.
MARGARET L. MILLER
GLADE HILL
High point was performer's low
ON DEC. 3, a very stingy man by the name of Mark Morrison wrote a concert review in the Roanoke Times & World-News about Billy Ray Cyrus (``Highs ring true, but lows let Billy Ray Cyrus down''). That review was a bunch of bologna! I was at the concert and saw everything.
The paragraph about Cyrus' low-pitch sound was very dishonest. His low voice was very excellent. I wish he would've sung all of his concert in that voice - it was so good!
Morrison had no right to put that review in the newspaper. I wouldn't believe it for $1 million. Cyrus was the f+ibesto concert I've ever seen in my life. I totally disagree with that review.
MEAGAN LaPRADE
ROANOKE
Hold accountable `disabled' addicts
IT DIDN'T surprise me to read in the Dec. 7 Roanoke Times & World-News that some recipients of disability payments are actually drug or alcohol abusers (Associated Press story, ``Addicts swell disability rolls''). I've met quite a few as a landlord and a property manager.
What burns me up is that these ``disabled'' persons can rent an apartment, tear the place up, do thousands of dollars worth of damages (as an individual did to my property this past March), and leave after due process of eviction, only to pay not a cent toward those damages. These people then can do the same thing to the next poor soul who rents to them.
Can the victimized landlord attach that government check? No. The government guarantees that money to the ``disabled'' person and lets the taxpaying property owner absorb his losses.
I do understand why these substance abusers are on disability: They can't hold a job. I know I wouldn't hire someone with a half-fried brain, a hair-trigger temper and five addresses in the past year. But is that a disability? This condition is something that person brought upon himself.
If there could be one big change in the way the handout programs work, it should be to allow garnishments or withholding of government checks when the person has a judgment against him. It's nonsensical that they should not be accountable for damages they do and money they owe. It simply encourages them to take no responsibility for their own lives whatsoever.
MARGIE LANGSTON
ROANOKE
Jesus is missing in Christmas scene
SOMEONE came into my neighborhood recently and stole the figures out of a Nativity display that had been set up so well in one of the yards. Before the theft, you could see the house with colorful lights all around, a barn constructed out of wood, and straw laid out in front of the barn and extending into the yard. It looked very nice, but now all you see is an empty barn. After a minute, it occurred to me that Jesus was missing.
All across this country, there are people celebrating Christmas with trees and presents, but whose homes are just like this empty barn: Jesus is missing.
ARTHUR DICKENS
ROANOKE
Show no courtesy to terrorists
I'M SORRY that President Clinton is following in Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's footsteps by meeting and shaking hands with terrorists like Yasser Arafat and now, Syrias Assad. He should also add Moammar Gadhafi to his list, as Gadhafi has not committed acts of terrorism in recent years as have Arafat and Assad.
EVELYN DAR-EL
BLACKSBURG
Goodlatte needs to take a stand
BEFORE the United States Congress went on its holiday break, the Senate passed a crime bill that includes a ban on 19 types of assault weapons. None of these is a sporting weapon. Their only ``legitimate'' use is when they're used on target ranges by men who get a thrill from shooting off a big load of ammunition. Our nation can no longer afford to pay with people's lives so that these ``sportsmen'' can get their jollies. These are mass-murder weapons, pure and simple.
As a citizen of this district, I think it's time for Congressman Bob Goodlatte to openly state his position on the assault-weapon ban. He'll be present when the House of Representatives votes to either uphold or kill this ban early in 1994. Will he vote with the National Rifle Association or the people of this nation, the majority of whom favor the ban?
ROBBY W. BURKE
HARRISONBURG
by CNB