Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 19, 1994 TAG: 9405190114
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The high school's requirement for what its prom band was to wear is a separate issue from the fact that Alchemy signed a contract that contained a dress code. Whether inclusion of a restrictive dress code reflects the high school's inability to gauge current fads in fashion and music doesn't change the fact the school had every right to expect the band it hired for $1,500 to live up to stipulations of an agreed-upon contract.
When the dust cleared, the high school refused to pay because Alchemy violated the contract's dress code. Guess who came out sounding like the bad guy? Blacksburg High School - no thanks to the obviously band-slanted, front-page news article as well as pro-band comments made by some local radio stations.
Musicians know better. You don't accept gigs blindly. By allowing your booking agency to represent you as a band that's available for prom gigs, you've already acknowledged certain concessions: You play mostly pre-approved cover tunes and not many originals, if any. You play more slow songs than you normally would. You'll probably have to learn the theme song. And, above all, you bring with you the good sense to try not to flaunt your counterculture, anti-establishment, nonconformist, ``alternative'' street credentials. If you don't like it, don't sign the contract.
As a member of a band that's turned down a number of good-paying jobs and, most likely, even a record contract because we'll make no unreasonable compromises in our music (and anyone worried about our clothing probably wouldn't understand our music anyway), the only truly alternative thing Alchemy could have done would have been to turn down the prom contract at the outset.
|DAVID SIMPKINS |RADFORD
The spring under|
the old hotel|
I'VE LIVED in Roanoke city all my life. Somewhere in those 61 years, someone told me the spring in the old Ponce de Leon Hotel was a part of Crystal Spring. (Ray Reed's May 5 What's on Your Mind? column, "Give host a break for lapse in lore.") So, more than one of us has been misinformed. Big deal!
|JOAN K. SHANNON |ROANOKE
In the pursuit|
of scientific truth|
THIS newspaper published on April 10 a commentary by Deborah Tannen (``The Whitewater diversion is costing us all'') drawing certain comparisons between the Whitewater matter and the case of Dr. Robert Gallo and the National Cancer Institute. The reporter who wrote about Gallo is a Chicago Tribune employee, and we published his stories.
Tannen's assertions are misinformed. It appears she neither read our reports nor understands what they were about.
The Tribune didn't set out to ``demonize'' Gallo or to denigrate his ambitions. Rather, we sought to use his case to demonstrate the inability of institutional science to monitor itself or to deal effectively with many irregularities occurring in scientific work.
At no time did we accuse him of scientific misconduct, nor was there a call for any public agency to investigate him or his work. But our reporting resulted in a rewriting of one of the most significant moments in 20th-century medical history - the isolation of the HIV virus and under what circumstances - and it drew attention to many questions in the processes that have yet to be resolved.
As a result of our reporting, Gallo admitted that, despite his previous denials, it was the French virus sample, not his own, that was grown in his laboratory. And it was from this sample the American AIDS blood test was developed.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found him guilty of misconduct, but withdrew its finding rather than argue the case before an appeals board. The original finding was based on facts first published by us, but neither HHS nor anyone else ever refuted any aspect of our reporting on the subject.
It's highly debatable whether our reports on his work ``set AIDS research back by years,'' given that French research had reached the same conclusions at virtually the same time, and that other labs were close behind.
The responsible pursuit of truth warrants no apology; it's the highest service newspapers can provide the public, which deserves truth from scientists, too.
|HOWARD A. TYNER |Editor, Chicago Tribune |CHICAGO, IL
Posting profits from|
stamp collectors|
ROBERT St. Lawrence is only partially correct in his May 2 letter to the editor, ``Don't subsidize junk mail, collectors.'' I agree that a complete revision of the postal-rate structure is in order, and Postmaster General Marvin Runyon is now in the process of suggesting changes to Congress. Considering the powerful bulk-rate lobby manipulating our representatives, Runyon won't have an easy task convincing Congress to reclassify mail prices.
As a long-time stamp collector, I take exception to the statement that the U.S. Postal Service subsidizes the stamp-collecting industry. Every stamp that goes into a stamp collection has been paid for at face value. It's highly unlikely it will ever be used in mail service - meaning pure profit for the postal service. Of course, you must consider stamp-production costs, which is a mere fraction of a cent per stamp.
Many collectors of U.S. stamps have given up collecting modern-day stamps that honor everything from chickens to druggies. But keep in mind that the postal service is marketing a product, and the greater the coverage of subjects, the larger the market.
If St. Lawrence finds a post office that has discount prices for collectors, please contact me immediately.
|WILLIAM K. KELLARIS |ROANOKE
by CNB