
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994                   TAG: 9405020131
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Robert H. Giles Jr.
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SHARING THE BENEFITS

I ONCE analyzed a seven-county region in an effort to identify optional land uses for a large tract in its middle. I found a solution but it soon dawned on me that it was a good idea that would not work. The reason: You cannot have a vital, viable enterprise in a depressed area for long. You cannot have a really healthy heart in an otherwise diseased body, at least not for long.

As I dream about this region, I imagine it becoming a centerpiece for land management, for sensitive industrial development, for a new intensive model for education, for sustained agriculture, for unusual recreational opportunities, and for a population of people very proud of their region and their diverse culture.

When I stop dreaming, I see what is around the region and realize that a place cannot be rich (at least its people cannot be very happy very long), if it is surrounded by the poor or less fortunate. As I dream about this region, I take heart, for I believe that what is done for the region can be done elsewhere. The ideas shared, computer programs exported, data shared, techniques transferred.

I learned from Leon Powell in Covington about the buoyancy principle. You get ahead by improving the status of the people around you. Perhaps the principle will apply here. Concept justifies intensive work because then maybe more citizens, if not all, stand to share the benefits.

Just dreaming a little ... but it makes sense to me.

by CNB