Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140025
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In one sense, she is correct: Prison is no credible deterrent to crime, nor will it ever be. And it does not matter how harsh you make the conditions of imprisonment - you can't get much harsher than death - capital punishment deters no crimes.
The regrettable truth is that crime comes in two forms, and neither is susceptible to the deterrent effect of punishment. You have crimes committed in the heat of passion, in which case no one is thinking about consequences. And you have crimes that have been carefully planned, in which case no one is planning to get caught. Potential punishment that one has either not thought about at all or does not expect to endure has no appreciable deterrent value. You can legislate until every sundry offense is a capital crime, and you will not deter crime.
Individuals must choose not to commit crimes, and that requires a sense of moral responsibility and viable economic alternatives.
If society does not accept the difficult task of addressing the root causes of crime rather than pursuing the feel-good approach of punishment, taxpayers will not be able to dig deep enough to fund all the prisons the politicians' folly will require for the decades ahead.
JESSE J. PRITCHARD JR.
CRAIGSVILLE
Teaching religion must be all-inclusive
SINCE MOST members of the local Brotherhood of Freedom From Religion are on vacation, it seems that my turn has come around again.
Thomas Fisher's Aug. 24 letter to the editor, ``Let God in on public-school goals,'' raises a number of interesting points, three of which I touch on below. He also raises the blood pressure of honest and moral atheists and agnostics in our midst. (There are far more than you would believe, and they stay, very sensibly, quite close to their closets.)
``Numerous public bodies, including all of our governing bodies ... including the U.S. Congress, open their meetings with prayer,'' Fisher says. Of course they do, and they're in violation of the doctrine of separation of church from state - as directed in five separate passages of our Constitution.
I agree there is nothing wrong in teaching about the Bible and religion. But, again in line with the law of the land, it must be all religions and all known holy books. The ayatollahs Falwell, Robertson, et al, don't belong in public schools and in the federal or state governments.
I admire Fisher's concern for the children. I hope he can find some more useful way (substitute teaching, foster grandfather, etc.) to show it than cramming his own religion down the throats of those who want no part of it.
ARTHUR BERLINER
ROANOKE
Salem, the valley's progressive city
CONGRATULATIONS to Salem residents for their recent approval of a new baseball stadium.
Once again, they've proved Salem to be the progressive city of this valley. Salem, recall, was the first to erect a civic center, continued the former Roanoke Fair, which is visited by many of us in Roanoke, and, of course, offers professional baseball.
Further, and most important, congratulations to Salem for securing the services of a local architectural firm in the design and planning of the new ballpark, rather than sending this business elsewhere.
DOUGLAS C. POWELL
ROANOKE
Blasphemous ad is a shocker
I THOUGHT I was beyond being shocked until I saw a TV commercial, while watching the U. S. Open. A young man was touting a Prince tennis racket, when his adversary appeared with a much smaller one. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. His opponent was a caricature of God, as an old man with long, white hair and beard, garbed in a flowing robe that flapped with his every movement on the tennis court. That's right. The Almighty!
When the ridiculous figure depicting God hit a ball, then stumbled and fell, the young man exclaimed, ``Nice shot!'' ``God'' flicked his wrist, and the young man dropped dead.
Whoever is responsible for this unconscionable blasphemy has reason to tremble in his boots. Jesus said, ``And I say to you that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment.'' Those who have no regard for God lack any conception of his holiness. Otherwise, they would not dare portray him in so demeaning and humanizing a way.
MILDRED SADLER
SALEM
Be informed on breast-feeding
TO ALL the moms-to-be out there who read the media coverage, including Beth Macy's Aug. 18 column (``They told her how to be a mom; they told her wrong'') on breast-feeding failures, please don't be put off totally on breast-feeding by this coverage.
Make an informed decision on breast-feeding vs. formula-feeding. Breast-feeding is frequently successful, and still may be for you and your baby. It's not easy, but support is out there through lactation consultants, other breast-feeding moms and the La Leche League.
Media coverage of breast-feeding failure fails to mention the significant risk of formula-feeding. One study, published in 1991 by A.S. Cunningham, D.B. Jelliffe and E.F.P Jelliffe, found that benefits of breast-feeding may last a lifetime, whereas formula-fed babies have greater morbidity and mortality. It found that formula-fed babies are at risk for insulin-dependent diabetes, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, some childhood cancers, chronic liver diseases and food allergies.
LOIS M. FAY
ROANOKE
by CNB