Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994 TAG: 9402210322
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Yes, being without electricity is a hardship. I was residing one-half mile from the ocean in Myrtle Beach, S.C., when Hurricane Hugo made landfall on Sept. 21, 1989. The devastation remains vivid in my mind. Homes lost, including heirlooms with no replacement possible. Small businesses, in particular, not able to rebuild due to insufficient insurance, and life savings already invested in the businesses. National Guard and Reserve units patrolling major arteries and residential areas with weapons, to prevent vandalism and to enforce curfews.
Yes, ours was an emergency situation due to loss of heat, ability to cook, bathe - essentially all that we take for granted in daily living. But reflect on the following: When the news shows our counterparts in places such as Bosnia struggling on a daily basis to haul water, gathering wood that's sparse for a smattering of heat, and their food in short supply, do we have sympathy? Yes, but token sympathy at best. Our emergency situation is only temporary, over in hours or days. It's become their lifestyle.
Most probably, your ancestors would be offended at your continual gripes concerning hardship situations since their lifestyle was also without electrical power and they had only archaic tools to cut wood for the essentials of daily living.
It's time to dig down in the gut for some good old American tenacity in times of disaster, help one another, even if it's just a word of kindness. We've become whole communities of greed and self-centeredness, and that's not what this great nation was built on.
JOYCE STAMPER
MARION
No justification for illegal acts
IN HIS regular columns, Cal Thomas makes no secret of his strong opposition to abortion rights. Sometimes he goes a bit overboard, however, in defending actions of anti-abortion protesters.
On Feb. 2 (``RICO ruling may pose First Amendment dangers''), for example, he talks about anti-abortion protesters who repeatedly engage in ``peaceful blockades of abortion clinics.'' Wasn't a doctor murdered in Florida last year and another one from Kansas shot in both arms during similar ``peaceful blockades''? These protesters are breaking the law, scuffling with police, and getting their children to lie down in front of automobiles to physically deny access to health-care facilities. How can this be done peacefully?
Blockades, arson attacks, bombings and physical assaults should be characterized as criminal acts. Thomas does a disservice to his own cause when he attempts to justify such illegal activities.
MISSY ALDERMAN
PILOT
Adoption alternative isn't simple solution
STEPHEN J. Konig complains about the ``same impoverished, timeworn rhetoric of the pro-abortion camp''(Jan. 29 letter to the editor, ``Adoption, other options are ignored''). He says those supportive of adoption rights set up an ``artificial dichotomy'' where abortion and childbirth are discussed without any mention of adoption. Is this dichotomy artificial or real? After all, less than 1 percent of pregnancies end in adoption.
He says there are ``millions of loving couples waiting to adopt.'' According to Catholic Charities USA, the number is actually in the hundreds of thousands. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, there are 1 million couples waiting to adopt, and you could outlaw the 1.5 million abortions each year, forcing women to choose between adoption and motherhood. What could we expect?
Expect the birth of more than a million more babies annually than now. More than 100,000 would suffer from severe fetal deformities and genetic diseases. There would be an enormous surge in teen mothers. Expect welfare rolls to quadruple and quadruple again. Expect huge federal and state tax increases.
Konig might suggest required adoptions for those who cannot afford to stay off welfare. If he's willing to force women to carry their pregnancies to term, he'd consider forcing them to choose adoption. But before the first year's through, those waiting to adopt will have children. Babies will keep coming, and the surplus will be enormous.
Those waiting to adopt are holding out for healthy, white newborns. According to Catholic Charities USA, there are thousands of special-needs children (non-white, mixed race, mentally and physically handicapped or abused) who can be adopted now. Konig self-righteously declares that he ``cannot sit idly by on the sidelines and shrug [his] shoulders.'' Perhaps he should adopt one or more of these special-needs babies instead of complaining about others' choices.
GWENDOLYN BANGURA
ROANOKE
Truckers' job is unappreciated
IN DEFENSE of the majority of truck drivers on the road: I'm the wife of one, and it really irks me to read and listen to all the negative comments about them (Jan. 22 letter to the editor by Marvin Bratton, ``Truck traffic makes I-81 unsafe'' and Jan. 25 editorial, ``No more radar detectors''). They have an excellent safety record, and on each trailer there's an 800 number anyone can call to report if they are or are not doing their job well.
Not only do these men drive in the worst weather conditions, but they have to be alert to some smaller ``road hogs'' who follow too close or pass on solid lines to get around them because their rigs aren't going fast enough. They still have to make their appointments since customers depend on them to keep their employees working.
This is no 9-to-5 job. It keeps them on the road days and weeks at a time. Most would like to be home every night to sleep in their own beds and eat a good meal, but this is their job - like it or not. And most are courteous and willing to help if needed.
We're proud of our truck-driving husbands, friends and families. It would be a pleasure to read or hear some good comments about them for a change.
CAROL BOWLES
VINTON
Are the watchdogs taking a nap?
IN HIS Feb. 4 column (``What extraordinary power we columnists possess!''), Paxton Davis claims that the underlying function of the press ``is to serve as a watchdog on power.'' To strengthen his case he adds, `` ... without it, a Nixon or a Reagan or a Bush would have got away with a lot more than they did.''
While Davis admires the work of the press in saving us from those three, Hilly and Billy are rapidly destroying anything those three left. How is it that more members of the press haven't questioned Vincent Foster's bloodless, clean-shirt ``suicide'' seven months after the fact? Where have the watchdogs been for the past year? Sleeping in front of the fireplace, maybe?
RUSSELL B. COOPER
HARDY
Keep baseball in Salem
I'VE BEEN reading with great interest news articles about the sale of the Salem Buccaneers and a new stadium. As a long-time season-ticket holder and baseball fan, I'd like to put in my two cents' worth.
If the ball team is sold and Salem doesn't build a stadium, the valley will be without baseball. That's a fact. I see nothing wrong with Salem's old municipal field. I love the place. I met my fiancee there and have made lifetime friends there. But major league baseball says it's not up to standards. What would spring and summer nights be like without it? Well, it would be a less enjoyable place to be.
Teams that stay in Roanoke hotels shop and eat all over the valley, which helps the economy. I hope Roanoke city, Roanoke County and Vinton will help Salem keep baseball in Salem.
RON GILLEY
SALEM
Playing politics with hungry kids
WILLIAM J. Bennett wants to immediately and unconditionally jerk the government's spoon out of the mouths of poor, hungry babies if they're born out of wedlock (Feb. 6 commentary, ``Outlaw welfare for unmarried mothers'' by William J. Bennett and Peter Wehner).
This is the same Bennett who for years collected big government paychecks as a do-nothing secretary of education and a do-absolutely-nothing ``drug czar.''
Interestingly enough, he says that President Clinton, as evidenced by his welfare-reform proposals, at least understands that the current welfare system needs to be fixed. However, Bennett urges fellow Republicans to repudiate the president's reform efforts and instead support his own initiative to do away with the welfare system entirely in one year.
I don't know from which trash bin Bennett collects his putrid morality. But if there's a good and gracious God in heaven, he must surely look with less favor on fat cats like Bennett who seek political advantage from a hungry child's empty stomach than he looks on the circumstances of that child's conception. Do so-called illegitimate children deserve starvation?
JAMES SOLOMON
BUCHANAN
by CNB