Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994 TAG: 9410180071
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The naturalist shared tidbits of information with the children, which was age-appropriate, including hands-on examples of wildlife and plant life indigenous to the area. It seemed to interest and delight the students.
I returned to Explore Park the following Sunday with my family when the interpreters were present. We learned a lot about the way pioneers and settlers in this area would have lived their lives, and enjoyed talking with the interpreters. They had very thorough, well-prepared presentations. However, as we walked the trails, we didn't have the added value of learning about trees, plants and wildlife from the naturalist.
My visits to Explore have made me a believer and a supporter, and I am glad that it exists in my own back yard. I plan to become a member so that I can have an unlimited number of visits each year. I want to see Explore succeed.
However, I'm sad and frustrated to learn of recent layoffs of the naturalists. The complete experience of Explore should be learning about the outdoors, plant life and wildlife, as well as about the lifestyle of the people of an earlier day. I cannot underscore enough the naturalists' importance. They are equal in value with the interpreters. Without one or the other, something is lacking.
I hope the layoffs can be reversed in the near future, and that Roanoke County will increase its annual funding for Explore to include specific funding for naturalists as part of the education of Explore's visitors, primarily school groups. I hope this will be done so that students can benefit this school year.
DEBORAH GRAVES
ROANOKE
North showed no respect for the law
THE MISDEEDS Oliver North admitted to the Senate Investigating Committee, with protection of immunity from prosecution, are far more serious than the felonies for which he was convicted. He shredded the most sensitive classified documents, falsified documents, illegally procured missiles for a terrorist government, stole classified documents (remember Fawn Hall's underwear?), and committed numerous other acts which some might regard as treasonous.
The fundamental strength of our republic is that this is a government based on the Constitution and laws of the land. No person of any rank, in or out of government, is exempt from obeying laws and respecting the Constitution. North betrayed his oath as a Marine to defend the Constitution. His excuse that he only followed orders is denied by former President Ronald Reagan. Even if it were true, he should not have obeyed an illegal command.
If elected to the Senate, he'll take his orders from Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and the radical right. As a senator, he'll be of no use to Virginia as he is given no respect, not even from Sen. John Warner. Senators know they cannot believe him.
Fellow Virginians, listen to North's promises and you'll know you can't believe him either.
ANNA B. MITCHELL
BLACKSBURG
The smart road is a road unneeded
IT BEATS me and many others in Montgomery County how one could conceive a more porky project than this stupid ``smart road'' (no oxymoron intended). It's unnecessary. Whatever transportation need it is touted for, that will be taken care of by the desperately needed U.S. 460 bypass - which, fortunately, is a priority of the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Anyone using the present U.S. 460 business route who has never gotten steamed about the bumper-to-bumper traffic, frequent fender-benders and accidents is truly a serene person. Traffic often backs up for miles in either direction.
The root of the problem is that developers went overboard with the King Midas Shopping Center (The Market Place) and the Golden Calf Mall (the New River Valley Mall). They siphoned businesses out of Blacksburg and Christiansburg without a fig of concern expressed about what could be foreseen at the time: that highway service to the malls wasn't adequate to take increased traffic loads sure to come. Now, Wal-Mart is coming with a new 200,000 square-foot addition to the mess, long before any highway improvement is expected. Once the bypass is constructed, the situation will be alleviated, but that may not happen before the turn of the century.
Two years ago, I attended a VDOT public hearing on the smart road, which seemed to be only window dressing for a done deal. Vocal opposition to this pork clearly overtook the few positive comments. But the smart road is still going through. At that meeting, I asked Antoine Hobeika, a Virginia Tech guru for the smart-road technology, if there were any reason the technology couldn't be placed on existing highways? He said it could be done. So, why this compulsion to pave over yet another beautiful residential valley and remaining natural assets that Southwest Virginia is noted for?
LEONARD J. UTTAL
BLACKSBURG
Degree program is for working adults
WHILE ``Peril and Promise: Our jobs, our kids, our future'' (Oct. 2 Horizon section) did an effective job describing the complex and symbiotic relationship that exists between higher education and economic communities, it didn't thoroughly describe all opportunities in higher education currently existing in Roanoke. Mary Baldwin College - a women's college in Staunton, recently ranked fifth among Southern liberal-arts institutions by U.S. News and World Report - has had a center here since 1984. It offers its adult-degree program that's specifically designed to make a bachelors degree available to working women and men who are unable to attend classes during business hours.
Through the program, men and women have the opportunity to complete degrees in career-oriented majors. About 25 classes are offered here each semester during evening hours and on weekends, and are taught by full-time residential faculty, faculty members commuting from Staunton, and members of the Roanoke community serving as adjunct faculty. Students also can complete course work through individual tutorials with the same faculty.
Your staff writer mentioned the high cost of tuition at Hollins, Roanoke and Mary Baldwin. While the semester-hour cost at all three institutions is comparable, Mary Baldwin has designed a program that's flexible academically and financially. Students may transfer up to three years of community-college courses, and may earn credit by exam and through life and work experience. The Roanoke center helps students plan learning options to make tuition affordable.
Our Roanoke center currently enrolls 230 students. Many alumnae(i) are in the community making a contribution to this area's economy. Mary Baldwin is proud of its community involvement, and looks forward to many more years of making a small but steady impact.
PAMELA J. RICHARDSON
Regional Coordinator/Associate Professor
Mary Baldwin College
ROANOKE
Teens don't need more hangouts
REGARDING Roanoke County's new teen center (Sept. 24 news article, ``Teens OK new center: It's cool''):
I feel that today's teen-agers don't need just another place to play video games and socialize after school. Today's teens are already becoming dependent upon a government that would rather support idleness than education. Pregnancy and drug-use rates are skyrocketing while national officials push ``safe sex'' and ``just say no.''
Instead of trying to solve problems by spending money on programs and slogans, why don't we get to the root of the problem and teach teens the rewards of responsibility and hard work? Will we continue to contribute to poverty levels by pushing laziness instead of diligence? Or will this nation start raising a generation that will uphold the name of America in the century to come?
MELISSA SPARKS
ROANOKE
North is brilliant at manipulating
POLITICAL campaigning seems to have become emotional rhetoric designed to manipulate and mislead potential voters, and who appeals to our emotions any better than senatorial candidate Oliver North?
North intuitively knows what we want to hear, and gives it to us in abundant purchased media time. Many gravitate toward him because he appeals to our emotional needs. He is a brilliant manipulator, but his messages have no substance. He has flip, simplistic solutions to complex problems, with no details as to how they're to be accomplished. It's all too easy to be taken in by him if we do not think intellectually rather than emotionally.
Demagogue means ``one who leads the populace by appealing to prejudices and emotions.'' We Americans should be ever alert to that type of politician.
MARGIE DOLLE
ROANOKE
by CNB