Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 30, 1994 TAG: 9405310120
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Let's not stop there. Why not another one from Washington, D.C., to Dallas, via Roanoke; or how about one from Seattle, Wash., to Atlanta, Ga., via Roanoke. I can even see an interstate theme park growing out of this. There'll be nothing like it in the country!
What's going on? It seems that some of our leadership's vision of this valley's future is clouded with fumes of thousands of cars and trucks that will pass through on a daily basis, severely compromising the area's quality of life. I appreciate the concern and need for economic development, and interstate traffic and transportation development are a part of that. But for the sake of us all, can't we empower a vision relying on innovative ideas and modern technology, rather than knee-jerk solutions of the past?
We need cities and economic regions in this country that are starkly different in concept and makeup than those that have come to be during the 20th century. The 21st century demands new paradigms for planning and development, not just more of the same.
I hope our region's citizens take an active part in our future's development and do not simply leave it in our elected officials' hands. Their intentions may be visionary. But in some cases, their visions are no more inspiring than a broken white line.
KIRK A. BALLIN
ROANOKE
Jerry Falwell's latest pitch for money
REGARDING the May 14 article from the Los Angeles Times (``Falwell markets anti-Clinton video'') concerning Evangelist Jerry Falwell's sale of video tapes making allegations about President Clinton's morals and even accusing him of murder:
Has Falwell gotten so hard up that he now has to sell slanderous videos, and whom is he now serving, God or man? His outward actions indicate that politics and man (money) are more important.
I'm also disappointed that this newspaper would print such tabloid trash and call it news.
JUDY MARSHALL
SALEM
Israeli actions speak louder than words
MORTON A. Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America (May 18 letter to the editor, ``A divided city is now reunited''), attempts to ``correct'' my account (March 16 commentary, ``Slaying fellow sons of Abraham'') of modern Jerusalem's history to conform to the Zionist interpretation of events.
For him to say that ``Israel permits free access to the city and all its holy sites to members of all faiths'' was contradicted by events themselves while we were in Jerusalem in early March. Christians from Bethlehem weren't allowed into Jerusalem to go to their shops or work, including work at churches in the city, just as they had been denied access to the city for Easter services last year. The steady decline in the Christian population of the West Bank is mute testimony to the treatment of Arabs during the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
On April 10, the Rev. Jesse Jackson tried to speak at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem on disciplined nonviolence in resolving issues. Israeli authorities tried to prevent his address. Fortunately, he'd been trained in ``the West Bank of America'' and was able to deliver his speech. Such a response by the Israeli government says more about their intentions in dealing with the non-Jewish population than letters repeating official explanations.
CHARLES A. KENNEDY
Professor of Religion Virginia Tech
BLACKSBURG
Nation's morality must be restored
JOHN Adams said that the Constitution was made for a moral and religious people, and it would be wholly inadequate for any other. Now, we have perverts interpreting the Constitution. The only difference between John Wayne Gacy and our president is that the president does his dirty work by the stroke of the pen and hides behind the national news media.
Don't your editors know abortion is murder and sodomy is immoral? The church vs. state argument doesn't apply here. This nation needs to be restored to one nation under God. Would this newspaper help us?
WAYNE BRYANT
MARTINSVILLE
by CNB