Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 25, 1994 TAG: 9411050013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: E2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
First, there seemed to be little discussion by the Virginia Department of Transportation on use of mass transit. We can move more people in less time via mass transit, as well as save money and reduce exhaust emissions.
Second, it was unclear whether there is sufficient money to pay for the highways. It's fiscally irresponsible to start huge projects without thinking through long-term funding ramifications. I can think of dozens of pressing social concerns that require tax dollars more critically than highway construction. Families, schools and neighborhood projects all ache for more precious tax dollars.
Finally, concerns were expressed about apparent conflicts of interest of VDOT board members who have authority over how highway tax dollars are spent. Several board members allegedly have close ties to construction and development companies. Shouldn't a member be removed from the board if there is personal gain involved? How are members held accountable? I hope unelected public servants have the public interest truly at heart.
LINDA FERGUSON ROANOKE
Robb needs plenty of help to explain
I SEE that out of desperation you're moving editorials to the front pages of your paper (I didn't say newspaper) to try to salvage Chuck Robb's faltering campaign. I refer specifically to the Sept. 10 news article on the front page of the Virginia section (``Robb expounds on deficit debacle''), in which you try to soften his bungles when he declared he'd ``take food from the mouths of widows and orphans'' to cut the federal deficit.
You didn't have to waste your space to help him explain what he ``really meant.'' It seems Bill Clinton spends a lot of time explaining what he really meant also! Actions speak louder than words because actions are hard to deny.
Clinton pushed hard for, and Robb voted for, a so-called crime bill that will cost more than $30 billion, and will do nothing to stop the criminal from breaking another law.
This bill's impact will have an effect on widows and orphans, as well as taxpayers! Where will the money come from? Will Congress continue to raise taxes, increase the deficit, or will it take food from the mouths of widows and orphans? If re-elected, Robb will continue to stand behind Clinton, and Robb will vote to do all three!
I'm sure your paper will continue to push for the liberal agenda and call it reporting the news. Some suggestions as to where Robb needs help: explaining his stands for restricting the ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens, for homosexuals in the military, for taxpayer-funded abortions on request, or for whatever else Clinton asks him to support.
BOB GAY BUENA VISTA
Chaplain showed his moral timidity
I WAS sickened by your article ``Death walk'' on the front page of the Sept. 11 Horizon section, not because of the details of death by electrocution, but by Chaplain Russ Ford's spiritual shortsightedness and moral timidity.
If the death chamber is ``a place where humans ought not to go,'' and if he's been ``wrestling with whether to run away or confront'' the task of accompanying men to the electric chair, then he should listen to his instincts. He seems to know the state is doing something wrong, and that no matter how horrible a man's crime, there's always the opportunity for forgiveness. He senses it's wrong for the state to wield the power of life and death over people. (Never mind that life imprisonment without parole is cheaper and less ``disgusting''.)
But even as this task disturbs him so, Ford continues to walk men to their deaths, even claiming that Jesus would do likewise. Perhaps the chaplain should take a moral, truly Christian stand and end his complicity in this inhumane, bloody ritual. He might even find that fighting the state in this matter will net him more souls in the long run. For without capital punishment, he'd have a lifetime to help these men reform, rather than months or days.
WILLIAM HARDIN BLACKSBURG
NRA has lost a supporter
I'VE BEEN a member and supporter of the National Rifle Association for most of my adult life. I believe in most of its objectives, including hunter safety, firearms' programs, and the constitutional right to bear arms.
I now find myself no longer able to support an organization that endorses a candidate, Oliver North, for the U.S. Senate whom a judge deemed unfit to be issued a weapon's permit.
I don't think this stance will help the NRA's cause much. I know it doesn't help mine.
JOE PEACO CLIFTON FORGE
Roanoke is one blooming city
THANKS again for the beautiful flowers that the parks-and-grounds employees plant and care for around our city.
Visitors from out of the state have commented how beautiful they are. And we who live here enjoy them also.
MADELINE E. TINNELL ROANOKE
Vote for North, hero and Christian
VOTE FOR Oliver North. He earned two Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star and Silver Star for valor in combat in Vietnam. He is a hero and a Christian. If elected, I believe he would be one of the best senators in Congress.
LOIS S. POFF FLOYD
by CNB