Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994 TAG: 9401200315
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Ellen Goodman and the radical feminists have been instrumental in creating a prenatal Buchenwald in this country with their pro-choice agenda, and now she has the gall to find grotesque the ``notion of taking eggs from aborted fetuses.'' Her delicate sensitivities have been jangled. She's finally reached her limits. La de da!
What did she expect, for crying out loud? Why should anyone who remains pro-choice after being confronted by the spectacle of aborted fetuses heaped in garbage cans blanch at a lesser moral travesty?
What's so disturbing about all this is that well-meaning people fail to see the long-term effects of their moral and ethical stance - and often they are some of the brightest people who forge public opinion, a group that includes Ms. Goodman.
So Ms. Goodman is finally prepared to erect some ethical stop signs. I'm glad she's finally come to some sort of sense. But she ought first acknowledge her own contribution to such a state of affairs. She should've erected her ethical stop sign when the Roe vs. Wade decision was handed down. She might have saved some precious lives and helped make the issue of the use of fetal eggs a moot point.
VAN T. RENICK
ROCKY MOUNT
Don't mess up another interstate
STAFF writer Brian Kelley, in his Jan. 11 news article (``Montgomery adds voice to chorus of `pick me, I-73''') concerning the proposed Interstate 73 (Detroit to Charleston, S.C.), indicates that this interstate highway may actually be built within the foreseeable future. Understandably, the lobbying on the part of area politicians with regards to route selection is active and aggressive.
However, anyone who's proceeded north on I-581 in Roanoke to merge onto I-81 southbound knows that how the road is built is as important (to the drivers, at least) as where it's built.
This particular merge into the fast (left) lane of I-81 is hazardous, especially at night and more so on rainy or snowy nights. The entering driver must look directly to the rear over his right shoulder. This might be an easy trick for an owl, but human necks are not built that way.
Unfortunately, many drivers already on southbound I-81 may be unfamiliar with the merge. They often move over to the left lane to fill gaps made by vehicles exiting I-81 for I-581 southbound just prior to the merging area.
It doesn't have to be this way. A prime example of a good merge between interstate highways can be found near Ft. Chiswell where I-77 and I-81 meet and merge. The important thing is that we don't allow the Virginia Department of Transportation to authorize the building of I-73 on the cheap.
PATRICK J. TRAVIS
PULASKI
Iran-Contra cover-up goes on
ALMOST obscured on the last page of the Jan. 8 A section of the Roanoke Times & World-News was the tiny article, ``Court: Iran-Contra should be public.'' What's lacking in this article, of particular consequence to Virginia's voters, is an explanation of why there's a delay. The ``key figures in the case'' need elaboration.
The explanation was given on a Jan. 7 National Public Radio program, ``Morning Edition.'' According to the NPR report, despite ``public interest'' platitudes expressed by the court, the judge in charge, a Reagan appointee and a Jesse Helms protege, is in no hurry to release the report.
The court, in fact, allowed secret delaying petitions to be filed by lawyers representing those who've the most to hide, including, no surprise here, Oliver North.
The revealing report by NPR helps to explain why some conservatives in Congress oppose funding for public broadcasting. Some politicians would rather the public not know certain facts. It seems like the full story of the Iran-Contra scandal, and the cover-up begun by Edwin Meese and aided by North, will never be exposed to the light of truth, at least not before the state Republicans' convention.
If North, Meese, Reagan, et al, have nothing to hide, then why are they laboring so hard, all the way to the Supreme Court, to keep this report from the public?
WILLIAM CLAUSSEN
BLACKSBURG
Growing the federal government
THE CLINTONS were emphatic in their statements concerning their plans to reduce the federal bureaucracy - they were going to reinvent government! Now the citizens are getting to know what they meant. It wasn't to reduce the size of the federal government, but they planned to increase the leviathan government.
First, the Clintons proposed a huge, new government agency to oversee their national health-care plan. Now, President Clinton proposes a new government corporation to oversee the nation's air-traffic control system. This new government corporation (not a bureau or agency) would take over the key responsibilities of the present Federal Aviation Administration. Remember, the Clintons said they would increase jobs to reduce unemployment. They didn't say they would add new federal agencies to reduce unemployment.
LOUIS P. GLENN
LEXINGTON
A proposal to help the poor
DECREASE the number of people on welfare and the pupil-teacher ratio. Build district schools for all grades. Qutoas will become history. Make all of the city become a place for ``All-American City'' awards.
All of the above, and even more, can be accomplished without raising taxes.
It'll happen sooner or later. Now's the time for Roanoke to lead. Bring in slot machines, blackjack, roulette wheels and other means of gambling. Shreveport, La., is doing it. Virginia and Roanoke are already in the gambling business with Lotto and bingo.
Many will speak out against this proposal. I've asked those in many professions if they ever played the Lotto game. It surprised me that all had, either sometime in the past, every once in a while or regularly.
Many will say it will hurt the poor. It will, but not as much as Lotto. The purpose of this proposal would be to help the poor.
We should take every dime of this money to create jobs - giving jobs to welfare recipients first. We should make jobs to run nurseries, demolish condemned property, rebuild homes, selling them to those who before could not buy a home. Build sidewalks, jogging and bicycle trails, and parks. Build trade schools for students who will not be going to Harvard or Yale.
This venture will and should create many permanent jobs paying more than minimum wages. When jobs are created, it will solve many problems, including the need for a larger police force and jail overcrowding.
EARL G. LONG
ROANOKE
Museum-merger idea is offensive
ONE CAN applaud Dwayne Yancey's Jan. 11 news article (``Explore-museum merger plan revealed and reviled'') on Explore and the Museum of Natural HIstory for its objectivity and reflection on the reactions and resolve of Martinsville-area citizens. Many feel somewhat the way Julius Caesar might have felt in his dying moments and at his last meeting with one of his friends.
Roanoke-area legislators are being cast either in the ``say too much'' or ``say nothing'' categories relative to involvement. But all seemingly are on a collision course with Martinsville-area legislators in a turf battle. Its legitimacy is decidedly on the side of status quo, based on the history of the museum's founding here by one of the area's own and supported and depended upon as a vital part of the community for these several years. To take that away from an unwilling community is both morally and politically offensive.
Surely, as the General Assembly session proceeds, mutual trust and cooperation among its members will prevail and members who accorded so much respect for the late Speaker A. L. Philpott will reflect upon his identification with the creation of this fine facility in his home area and its nurturing until his death.
Roanoke-area legislators should promptly do both the political and proper thing, including ending further concern of facts that have brought us to the present posture, and summarily repudiate any further consideration of a merger of the Virginia Museum of Natural History and Explore Park.
DOUGLAS K. FRITH
MARTINSVILLE
Firearms dealers aren't ogres
UNTIL I read the recent articles on Virginia's firearms dealers by staff writer Margaret Edds (Jan. 9, ``Getting a gun license is easy;'' Jan. 10, ``Police fear criminals next to own their used guns'' and ``Va. customers don't look far for gun dealers''), I wasn't quite sure where I ranked in society.
I assumed I easily fit into the higher portion. I have a supervisory job paying a better-than-average salary, a wonderful wife, and a son who continually makes honor grades in school. I'm a church member. I operate a small woodworking business, have a better-than-average house, and I think I'm thought of as a contributor to our community. But I'm also a federally licensed firearms dealer, which, in Ms. Edds opinion, places me very low on society's scale.
I'd like readers to know that, like me, most dealers are good persons and law-abiding dealers.
I'm disappointed that totally biased, one-sided news articles would appear in this newspaper.
JOE LOVEDAY
CHRISTIANSBURG
by CNB