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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994                   TAG: 9407220025
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BRIEFLY PUT . . .

AH, JUSTICE. A lesbian, you'll recall, had her son taken away from her by a Henrico Country judge last year, on the grounds that she was violating the state's sodomy laws, making her an unfit parent.

Because the same laws prohibit sodomy among heterosexuals, families all across Virginia might have had cause to fear police swooping in and snatching away their children. Fortunately, an appeals court on Tuesday reversed the earlier irrationality, and a return of the 2-year-old to his mom seemed imminent.

Whoops. Now it seems the mother-and-child reunion may be still a motion away. The next appeal, to prejudice and the state Supreme Court, could hold up the reunion for as long as six months to two years - a long while for a child so young. The lawyers and judges should find a way to restore the family now.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency has given Utah State University a moo-nificent $500,000 grant to continue the study of bovine flatulence. That's because it's been determined that cows produce 35 metric tons of greenhouse gas each year, and the Clinton administration has vowed to fight global warming by reducing methane emissions.

Cows need to get with the program. They account for about 20 percent of the noncommercial methane gas produced each year, so it's clear they're not doing their part to protect the ozone.

Kenneth Olson, the animal nutritionist who's leading the new study, says he does not expect the research to produce a methane-gas-free cow any time soon. Maybe an alfalfa-flavored Tums? Anyway, it's good the EPA is taking the bull by the horns. This isn't an issue to be grazed over.

by CNB