Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9411150055
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Prejudice and hate, whether seen in a vandal's defacing of a gay-rights billboard, in a swastika sprayed on a Jewish synagogue or a cross burned in an African-American's yard, must not and should not be tolerated.
This incident brings to mind the danger we're now facing in this state. While we don't know who is responsible for defacing this particular sign, I'm disturbed that this type of hostile and exclusionary language is being fueled by those of the religious right. They're attempting to take over the Republican Party in Virginia, and in many other targeted states. It's especially offensive to me that those in this faction justify their viciousness by claiming that they're acting according to Christian principles.
I was raised a Southern Baptist, and am now a Presbyterian. Never in my home or in my church have the messages of Christ stood to justify self-righteousness, intolerance and bigotry. Quite the contrary, I was taught, as I now teach my children, that tolerance, understanding and compassion were central to Christ's teachings, and are the very cornerstones of Christianity. By ``Celebrating Diversity,'' we focus on the richness found when different groups of people work together and respect one another's uniqueness.
ALISON ALLSBROOK AYLOR
ROANOKE
Confederate flag mocks democracy
IT'S UNCONSCIONABLE that Danville is forgetting that about 30 percent of its population is African-American when it flies the Confederate flag on the grounds of a city-owned museum.
The flag represents many things to many people. To some individuals, it's a symbol of a lost Southern era, albeit a piece of history. To others, it's a constant reminder of man's inhumanity to man.
When I see the flag, I wince at its association with slavery. It seems to still cause great pain among many individuals.
To be a slave unto another man, in any culture, is an abomination. To blatantly fly the Confederate flag in this day and age isn't an act of democracy. Democracy is of the people, by the people and for the people - that is, all people.
Shall we turn our heads in apathy and pretend that the black community, as well as white, doesn't suffer pain each time it is raised? Perhaps the flag should remain carefully displayed under glass in museums, preserved, not honored.
We in the South have a flag to revere. No flag is more precious and righteous than our Stars and Stripes. Fly the American flag proudly, not the Confederate one.
CAROL G. DAVIS
ROANOKE
Meat industry pushed Espy out
AGRICULTURE Secretary Mike Espy's resignation represents more than a personal tragedy for a dedicated public servant and a political liability for President Clinton. It represents the meat industry's latest victory in its relentless battle against public interest, and a form of retribution for Espy's insistence on improved meat inspections and consumer-warning labels on raw meat and poultry products.
This is reminiscent of the flap over the celebrated McGovern Report that ushered in the government's current involvement in dietary guidelines. In February 1977, following extensive testimony from hundreds of health experts, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs published a report on ``Dietary Goals for the United States,'' recommending that Americans reduce their meat consumption. At an extraordinary public hearing demanded by the meat industry, industry officials told the committee's chairman, George McGovern, that his committee would be dissolved and he would not be re-elected. The industry made good on both promises, and the political impact lingers.
Since then, the meat industry has confronted government officials on a number of public-interest issues, including the cancer-causing growth hormones and nitrite curing agents, antibiotic residues, food-safety inspection, labeling of meat containing ground bone, worker safety and grazing fees. The meat industry has won each of these confrontations, with the help of industry officials running the Department of Agriculture.
Espy wasn't a meat-industry official. He had the gall to challenge the industry on public-health issues, and the public support to win. Espy had to go.
MELVIN MARKS
BLACKSBURG
Disney is making Barney Fifes of us
I LOVE Andy Griffith show reruns - Andy, Barney, Mayberry. I know most of the dialogue.
An early episode featured a Hollywood company filming a movie about small-town life in Mayberry. The bemused director was welcomed into town with cream pies thrust at him from the Ladies Aid, the pot-bellied mayor's daughter singing ``Flow Gently, Sweet Afton'' five inches from the director's face, and everyone's hair slicked down. Floyd, the barber, featured Hollywood hair cuts; Opie wore a straw hat with a big grin. The residents gathered to cut down ``the oldest tree in town'' in honor of the movie. Barney Fife thundered (Barney thundered?) onto the scene like Nelson Eddy descending from the Canadian Rockies resplendent in Smoky Bear attire.
Wise ol' Andy leaned against a brick building and watched the sorry spectacle with a droll expression. They were all going to be rich movie stars.
It was jolly good fun. It isn't fun to watch ourselves turn into Barney Fife at the mention of the word Disney.
PATRICIA P. WIDNER
WYTHEVILLE
Botetourt needs new middle school
OVER THE past two years, a great deal of attention and publicity has surrounded the idea of an additional middle school in Botetourt County. The Botetourt County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations has followed the development of the middle-school concept and how this could benefit Botetourt County students.
All but one of the elementary schools in this county are overcrowded. In many classrooms, student-teacher ratio is above the 25-to-1 ratio, which is considered acceptable in providing a proper learning environment. The population in the southern portion of Botetourt County is growing at a phenomenal rate. The need for classroom space has increased each year. To accommodate the growth that county elementary schools are experiencing, council members agree that there's a dire need for construction of a new middle school in addition to renovating Botetourt Intermediate in Fincastle, the existing school that houses all of the county's seventh and eighth grades.
Members of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors have stated that they don't foresee an increase in taxes to fund a proposed bond referendum. Current sixth-grade teachers could fill the majority of positions that would be required at the Cloverdale and Fincastle middle schools.
On Nov. 8, the decision to ensure that the county continues to provide the highest educational opportunities for all of the children will be left to Botetourt County voters.
The Botetourt County Council of PTAs takes this opportunity to commend the schools' superintendent, Clarence McClure, his staff and our School Board members for their tireless efforts in improving Botetourt County's school system.
JIM LEE
President, Botetourt County Council of PTA's
TROUTVILLE
Congress legislates for the elite
ALL OF THE recent allegations of wrongdoing by Congress pale in comparison to one vivid moment during argument on the crime bill.
Sen. Joseph Biden, in a dramatic gesture, held the bill aloft, tore out the pages pertaining to the semi-automatic gun ban, and stated, ``Now I can pass this bill in 12 seconds. Does anybody doubt that now I can pass this bill in 12 seconds?''
Since this obviously represented the will of the majority in the Senate, why wasn't it done? Have we reached the point where not only do our laws no longer represent the will of the people, they don't even represent the will of Congress? It would seem that we have an old-boy network in the Senate that legislates what the elite want, legislation by the elite and for the elite. This type of Third World government will very shortly reduce this nation to Third World status.
KENNETH D. MOTHENA
WOODLAWN
by CNB