Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406290006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
This spring, VDOT provided numerous examples of wasted financial resources that wasted natural resources. The current VDOT policy is to clear-cut along both sides of a secondary road, often up to 15 feet from the road, which is the limit of the right of way.
This creates an area that needs to be maintained, or weeds will grow. While it may be appropriate to clear some trees that could fall across the road or brush that could block a view, VDOT cuts redbuds, rhododendrons, dogwoods and other beneficial hardwoods that don't fall across roads and serve to keep undergrowth down. Revising this policy would be less expensive for Virginia.
Other states have cut costs, improved their appeal to tourists, and made roadways a more pleasant place to drive. Selective clearing of only taller growing species could accomplish this. VDOT is behind the times. It needs to revise its policies.
Since VDOT is an enormous state agency, I believe the savings could be enormous, both for our finances and our natural resources.
BILL TANGER
ROANOKE
Elect Oliver North; impeach Bill Clinton
REGARDING your usual biased and prejudiced poll on Lt. Col. Oliver North vs. weak, vacillating Charles Robb (June 8, "Robb leads Fall 4 by a nose"):
You imply that the much-decorated combat veteran can't beat the incumbent. Hogwash! We just went through this in the last governor's race, and look at the fantastic results. Hallelujah!
To me, Clinton, draft dodger, liar and liberal, is the worst thing to come down the pike since Ted Kennedy of the infamous Chappaquiddick incident. I understand there are three - yes, three - outfits trying to impeach Clinton. May they succeed.
Apparently you clowns don't look at that counting sign about three blocks down the way from your newspaper. I'll interpret it, at no cost: The national debt is still going up, up, up. Didn't Clinton promise to reduce it? More hogwash!
If you vote for a Democrat, you'll get taxes beyond belief, inflation, welfare, food stamps, bureaucracy, unionism, rent subsidies, ignorance, stupidity, softness on crime, a poor military and, finally, bankruptcy and ruination. Do you savvy?
R. KEITH WHITLEY
BEDFORD
Notaries' notable public service
DAVE Barry's May 29 column (``Notary public's a sucker for pre-wedding tension'') poking fun at notaries public created quite a stir among some of the 90,000 members of the National Notary Association. While we appreciate Barry's humor and satirical wit, we also want to correct a mistaken image of the notary.
Most people - including Barry, apparently - don't realize what an important role notaries play in protecting the public against document fraud. Who would pay $200,000 for a house without being sure of the seller's identity? Who would lend money holding a deed as collateral unless convinced the deed's signature wasn't forged? The notary is responsible for making sure signers are really who they say they are, that they're freely signing a document, and that they understand what they're signing. The notary accepts full and unlimited financial responsibility for the signer's identity every time he or she affixes an official seal and signature to a document.
Without them, our courts would quickly clog with challenges to documents whose signatures have been forged, coerced or incompetently made.
As a nonprofit, educational organization, the NNA teaches fraud-deterrent techniques to the nation's 4.5 million notaries. Anyone who's been a victim of a forged document knows how crucial it is that notaries perform their job with extreme care. The misunderstood and maligned notary deserves fairer and more balanced treatment from this newspaper.
MILTON G. VALERA
President, National Notary Association
CANOGA PARK, CALIF.
An opportunity to help the disabled
IN RESPONSE to Mary A. Simmons' June 17 letter to the editor, ``Wanted: safer fishing holes'':
I agree with her. Most of us who enjoy Virginia's trout fisheries are able to traverse the rugged terrain that's normally associated with these waters. But for others who want to enjoy this resource, this may not be the case.
Virginia does have opportunities for disabled anglers on several warm-water ponds and lakes, and there are two trout-fishing areas located in the New Castle and Blacksburg ranger districts of the Jefferson National Forest. One problem is that they're not restricted to the disabled. Perhaps Virginia could follow regulations set by West Virginia where they have five trout ponds and one section of a trout river that are restricted to the disabled and children under 10 for part of the year. Other persons may assist, but aren't allowed to fish.
There should be more of these areas, and an urban trout fishery like the Roanoke River seems like a perfect place to add an area for disabled persons' access. Money for installing access points and enforcement of restrictions is an obvious problem, but local organizations and businesses could help share costs. It seems like a perfect opportunity for those who enjoy all that's associated with trout fishing to help those who want to enjoy the same, but cannot.
STEPHEN W. HINER
CHRISTIANSBURG
by CNB