Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9407280065
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``[On] April 14, Warner voted to confirm a liberal nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th District whose soft-on-crime record in Florida is a matter of record.''
My official Senate voting record indicates that I voted against the candidate, Justice Rosemary Barkett, on Roll Call Vote 92.
``[On] Feb. 8, [Warner] voted against an amendment offered by Jesse Helms to the Goals 2000 education bill prohibiting distribution of condoms ... without parental consent.''
I voted with 39 other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, to ensure that family participation be encouraged should communities develop condom-distribution programs in public schools.
``[On] Nov. 20, 1993, Warner voted against the Republican leadership, supporting the Democrats' $1 billion increase in jobless benefits after the conference committee stripped away the Republican amendment ordering Clinton to keep his word and cut 250,000 federal jobs.''
In reality, I voted to recommit the bill to the conference committee, and to restore the stripped provisions. Additionally, I was among 26 Republicans voting to extend unemployment benefits. To needy Virginians, that meant seven additional weeks, possibly through Christmas.
``[On] Nov. 19, 1993, Warner voted against a Republican amendment to strip the North American Free Trade Agreement of side agreements that would add 24 bureaucracies.''
In actuality, I voted against a ruling by the chair that the amendment, offered by Sen. Stevens of Alaska, was out of order.
JOHN WARNER
U.S. Senator
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Wouldn't Reagan take the role?
WELL, if I read Detine L. Bowers (July 15 commentary, ``In `Lion King,' another Disney display of racism'') rightly, the wise, tuned-in-to-the-mysteries Rafiki character should have been represented as white; old but not white-haired; normal in appearance; able to walk unassisted; possessed of no mystical powers; unaffected by the birth of a son.
Just like ... Ronald Reagan?
I dunno. I think you editors got winkled by some kind of prankster.
ROBERT M. FELTON
ROANOKE
Breyer's demeanor inspires confidence
WHILE WATCHING the confirmation hearings recently for Supreme Court nominee Stephen G. Breyer, I was totally mesmerized by Judge Breyer and the high moral and ethical standards upon which this man has obviously conducted his life.
I couldn't help but contrast this hearing with the fiasco that we endured during the confirmation process for Justice Clarence Thomas, which was a media event with attention drawn to mediocre and sordid discussion. What's so upsetting to me is how we're bombarded with the media's and public's fascination with the absurd and the inane.
Viewing Judge Breyer's demeanor during these hearings has renewed my faith that we still have men among us who are honorable. I hope we, as a nation, will begin to focus on men and women of quality, individuals worthy of our youth's adulation.
PATRICIA KYLE LAWHORN
GOODVIEW
Minnix's ire targets the wrong 'tax'
H. ODELL ``Fuzzy'' Minnix (July 18 letter to the editor, ``No pride in gambling bonanza'') may not be happy that gambling is the third-largest source of income in our fair state, but at least it's a voluntary, well-disguised tax on the commonwealth's citizens. Should he wish to be really disgusted, he should agonize over the mandatory personal-property tax that's so high it makes new-car ownership impossible for all but the affluent, and costs local businesses vast, untold amounts of income.
This is one cash cow that should be slaughtered as an inequitable tax burden on county taxpayers, and one that serves to keep older, environmentally unfriendly cars on the road well past their prime. Perhaps the supervisors think all county voters fell off a cabbage truck!
TERRY L. WALKER
ROANOKE
Why mention nurses?
I FELT insulted when I read your news article concerning Dr. Kenneth LeGree Hallman and the charges against him regarding alleged prescription fraud (July 6, ``Physician indicted on 16 drug charges'' by staff writer Laurence Hammack).
As a nurse who works to help patients maintain their health and life functions, I felt it unnecessary of you to even mention that nurses have been charged at times with using medication illegally.
Nurses don't write prescriptions. Of course, they have access to many narcotics and tranquilizers. These all have to be accounted for at the end of each shift. I feel sure I would never deny any patient the right to their pain medication or tranquilizer. I would also report any such activity immediately if I saw this or suspected it of any of my co-workers. This is a very serious accusation.
Whatever Dr. Hallman has done is to be decided by our courts, but to mention nurses in this news article was very wrong.
BONNIE HODGES CHATTIN
SALEM
Preachers of decency, not hate
THE OLIPHANT cartoon depicting ``dark angels of the right'' on the July 17 Opinion page was cute. Too bad it was untrue. I realize you irreligious leftists worship the Deathocratic Party and its god and goddess Clinton and, therefore, must support their attack on the dreaded Christian Right. But you should occasionally try to be accurate.
I listen to Rush Limbaugh, and he doesn't have a message of hate. Indeed, unlike your ``news''paper, he's addicted to the truth.
I used to think Rev. Falwell was a rascal on the order of Jim Bakker. But I decided, unlike you, to listen to what he had to say. His TV ministry is not my bag, but he doesn't preach hatred either. He seems to be a very decent, honorable man. I rarely tune in Pat Robertson. But the few times I have, his message wasn't one of hate.
Of course, you'll say I'm one of those mindless dittohead robots. I suppose my degrees from the University of Maryland and Notre Dame and the fact that I read three daily newspapers and several weekly magazines in an effort to find the truth (which you have spin-doctored) makes me a typical narrow-minded, evil Christian to be feared by you ``caring'' liberals.
Do keep up your attacks on us Christians, continue your religious cleansing, and depict us as having a Bible in one hand and an assault rifle in the other. Please. It's hilarious to be demonized.
We benighted Christians will quietly and steadfastly pursue the tenets of morality and decency espoused by the Ten Commandments and this nation's Founding Fathers as we go to the polls to vote for Oliver North and against you all-too-clever Clinton liberals.
DICK LAMBERT
EAGLE ROCK
Xenophobia isn't funny
I CAN only imagine the mirth with which the July 21 letter from James Williams Sr., in which he assails foreigners, blacks and naked, heathen Africans, was received at the editorial office. In the same letter, the author makes a stand for the Confederacy, which he defends on the grounds that ... well, that there was a Confederacy. Somebody came up with a great headline: ``Protect Americans' proud heritage.''
We all appreciate a joke. What's disturbing, though, is to look through a typical newspaper and find tacit agreement with Williams' opinions. If one's exposure to America's large population of foreigners were limited to newspapers, one would indeed think they were all criminals and deadbeats - which, as a quick glance around Blacksburg will attest, is simply wrong. Meanwhile, American citizens - black, white, rich, poor - tend to generate media attention only after they've done something wrong, reinforcing the false notion that decency is rare.
This tendency can be dismissed as ``giving the people what they want to know.'' According to whom? We trust newspapers to combat ignorance, not laugh at it.
JUSTIN F. GAYNOR
BLACKSBURG
by CNB