Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300099
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The GOP has moved from leaning toward the extreme right to now being solidly in the extreme right. Being a moderate, I have problems with any political party that, upon my arrival at a party convention that I paid to attend, requires me to sign a loyalty pledge that wasn't mentioned in my preregistration literature.
If the Republican Party, as it is now, wants to win elections and win followers, some of its recent actions and attitudes are having the opposite effects. Force a loyalty oath? How preposterous! Force a delegate to support North? Why? If he's the great patriot, soldier, leader, etc., that he's purported to be, people will vote for him.
Do we want blind obedience to a political party, or do we want obedience to the integrity of one's own mind? If our Constitution gives me freedom of choice, and the higher power gives freedom of choice, how dare any political party try to take it away! If Frith represents the ``new'' Republican Party, and I fear he does, then I hear the death knell of the GOP. Or is it already dead, and I missed the funeral?
PATRICIA P. HAMMOND ROANOKE
Reagan was right: North is a hero
WHEN WE want to confirm in mind the roots of our religious beliefs, we turn to the Bible. When we wish to support Lt. Col. Oliver North for the U.S. Senate, we check the story on North published by U.S. News & World Report editors in 1987. Contents include ``Olliemania Hits the U.S.,'' ``Lt. North Faces the Law,'' ``Ollie Tells His Story,'' ``The Day-by-Day Transcripts'' and ``The Official Documents.''
We read that President Reagan called North ``a national hero.'' We read about leaks by Congress that cost American lives.
We, too, rate North a hero. As U.S. News pointed out, most of the people glued to television for six days of congressional hearings were convinced that he ``is a new American hero.''
TAM PARK VANNOY ROANOKE
Muffling the 'voice of reason'
WHEN RADICAL blacks attempted to pull the Confederate flag down from the Alabama Statehouse, the Roanoke Times & World-News ran front-page stories and pictures. When a federal appeals court threw the suit out as having no merit, you decided to censor the news and not print the story.
When a few radicals caused the removal of the flag from the last capitol of the Confederacy in Danville, you were there. On June 7, Danville Town Council ``unanimously passed a resolution asking the Heritage Preservation Association to submit plans for the monument ... [where] the Confederacy's third national flag would fly year-round.'' Once again, you took it upon yourself to censor the news, and printed not a word.
When radicals rave, this newspaper listens and prints. When the voice of reason speaks, it censors the people's right to know.
When a newspaper takes upon itself to censor news, it has failed its duty to a free society.
GARY WALKER ROANOKE
Are more medical schools needed?
IN 1992, it was projected that there were 614,000 physicians in this country for 253 million people. In the year 2005, the projection is 818,000 physicians for 285 million people.
When asked if they feel overworked or work overtime, many doctors and other health-care professionals admit that this is so. With this, the population can certainly feel we're pushing health-care professionals to the limits. This is certainly a change from the days when doctors made house calls. However, people feel that health care is a tightknit circle of professionals who like making overtime pay, driving up the cost of health care. By this conjecture, it seems health care doesn't want a flood of competent students in the field. If this is so, we'll pay the consequences in the future.
Not so long ago, I saw on the news that many students aren't able to go to colleges because the schools are filled to capacity. This must also be the case with medical schools. A study should be conducted to see if we could use more medical schools.
When health-care professionals work too long, they face burnout and risk malpractice. Paramedics in big cities quit every day due to stress. We're all hanging in the balance.
TIM CHITTUM LEXINGTON
Parental control is the issue
THE JUNE 21 editorial (``Supervisors shouldn't be censors'') wasn't totally unexpected. I'm sure many readers would argue that your response to the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors' potential action in this matter is simply what would be expected from today's ``liberal press.''
As a newspaper, the Roanoke Times & World-News has an obligation to scream censorship, and to run to the aid of any publication it deems to be threatened. It matters not whether we agree with your stance. Our nation is founded on your right and, I would argue, your obligation to raise these flags. In this instance, the response was off base. This isn't an issue of censorship, but of parental control.
Parents have the right to control what literature their minor children absorb, and they have the absolute right to petition and demand that their elected officials respond to their desires. Action taken by Nita McNerlin in Blacksburg is exactly what our representative democracy is all about.
As your editorial stated, nearly 1,000 county residents signed petitions, supporting the challenge to this book. Not challenging the fact that it was written, but rather challenging the fact that it was readily accessible in the library's children section. As I understand it, efforts were made to have the book placed in an area less accessible to children, but those efforts were ignored.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors' compromise should be obvious: Keep this book in the library, but simply place it where it must be sought out, or asked for. Homosexual parents, or parents wishing to address this issue with their children, should have the right to access the appropriate materials.
This effort shouldn't be viewed as an act of ``homophobia,'' or as Christian conservatives trying to enforce their definition of morality. It needs to be viewed only for what it is: a group of concerned parents and voters seeking to regain their control over what information is presented to their children.
ROBERT E. ROUSE VINTON
Save the Senate from likes of Dole
ANY VIRGINIA Democrat who needs another good reason to vote for Chuck Robb for the U.S. Senate in November will find six good reasons right here. If the Republicans take enough seats, we will get: Bob Dole, the king of gridlock, for majority leader; Strom Thurmond, for chair of the Armed Services Committee; Alfonse D'Amato, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Bob Packwood, Finance; Jesse Helms, Foreign Relations; and Orrin Hatch, Judiciary.
These are the senior Republicans in each case, and the most likely to get the jobs. We need every Democrat in the Senate that we can get.
AUGUSTUS C. JOHNSON SYRIA
A spiteful boycott is out of bounds
BOYCOTTS MAKE sense in most cases. They create an economic incentive for corporations to change those practices that are objectionable to some. But the possible benefits of boycotts must be weighed against the hardships it may cause to employees and their families.
What makes no sense to me is the boycott announced by anti-abortion groups opposing the abortion pill, RU-486. In the June 2 Associated Press article (``Abortion opponents to boycott drug maker''), anti-abortion groups vowed to ``punish'' the French company, Roussel Uclaf, for giving away its patent rights to manufacture RU-486. They also want to punish other companies affiliated with Roussel Uclaf by refusing to purchase everything from prescription medicines to detergents.
Because Roussel Uclaf has already relinquished its patent rights, there's nothing it can do to end a boycott. The boycott isn't designed to alter corporate practices, but only to inflict hardship on the company, on employees and on their families.
Such spiteful behavior is neither pro-life nor pro-family.
DIANE V. BROGAN ROANOKE
by CNB