Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 14, 1994 TAG: 9411150030
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I'm not educated in business public-relations programs, and have never worked for NS, but I always looked at the railroad as a company with a proud history, and thought one of its mottos, ``Precision Transportation,'' said it best. I'm not criticizing NS public relations, but it's hard to visualize other corporations taking the path that NS has.
Another situation still mystifies me. Why does the valuable collection of historical railway equipment continue to decay beside the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke with no protection from the weather?
If NS wants to turn some heads in the corporate world, why doesn't it make a TV commercial showing the 611 at speed on double trackage, with one of the new NS GE Dash 9-44CW locomotives pulling up along side and going in the same direction, with a theme such as: ``Precision transportation ... and the heritage continues on!'' This is better than having a ``robocop''-looking horse galloping around on CNN during the ``Larry King Show''.
The 611 made one trip from Roanoke to Bluefield this fall, and one trip for schoolchildren this past spring, which involved the trips being run on the busy coal-and-freight mainline that passes through Giles County. If two days out of 365 disrupt NS's earnings, I'd gladly give up my opportunity to ride the excursions, but at least have one trip a year for schoolchildren.
In a world filled with violence every day, isn't a ride for them through the Virginia countryside on a spring day a justified cost? And the elderly people, many who aren't able to ride an excursion, were thrilled to sit inside their car, or watch from a porch, as the 611 and 1218 steamed along.
There is more to life than earning the almighty dollar - a lot more.
JOHN KINNEY JR.
NARROWS
Hanky-panky and the budget deficit
I SUGGEST you get the facts instead of spouting the party line given by Three-Dollar Bill and that paragon of virtue heading the Treasury Department. The deficit for this past year is actually the highest ever. It's well in excess of $250 billion. It's difficult to determine the exact deficit because of difficulty in getting real data on financing.
The way they can report a ``lower'' deficit is by shenanigans of the Treasury Department. It's called repurchase agreements. It's a Slick Willie-type of exercise with the facts (although he's not the one who does it) where government ``agrees'' to repurchase debt. No money is transacted. But by issuing this agreement, government moves the numbers for debt to a fictitious number on a computer so that it's not reported as debt any longer.
We taxpayer suckers would be put in jail if we did this. The net effect is the same as printing worthless dollars. Only with this, government doesn't even have to incur the printing cost.
The Nov. 1 Associated Press article on Canada being broke (``Canada tightening its belt'') is kiddie play compared to the pyramid scheme being foisted on us by Congress. In this, Sens. Charles Robb and John Warner have to be an integral part. Is it any wonder Warner became so agitated about Social Security when he and Robb are conspirators in a den of thieves that has been stealing the money for years, as well as approving the bookkeeping hanky-panky?
WENCIL M. STANEK
ROANOKE
Sound reasons to end excursions
ENDING EXCURSION trains is a commendable and timely decision by Norfolk Southern (Oct. 29 news article, ``Last run for NS steam train''), yet it vexes those with limited perceptual keenness. Any mishap with the excursions and subsequent liability is an uncertain entity.
Coal and coke must make up about half of NS's revenue. New technology threatens to eliminate coke in making steel. Coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin is 250 feet thick, and it costs $4 at the mine. From NS's mines, coal costs $19 per ton. That's quite a disparity.
If NS lets revelry chart the course, our tourists (if any) will be of the barefooted variety. It's time we train buffs say adieu to steam train excursions.
ERNEST F. REYNOLDS
ROANOKE
Bias can't hide under God's cloak
THE HEADLINE said ``Pretty billboard, sordid subject'' on the Oct. 29 letter by Betty S. Williams. Yes, sordid subject - you're right! But the sordid subject is not homosexuality - it's the abuse of God and the misuse of his name.
To use God as a baseball bat to beat his people, to use God as a wedge to separate his people, and to use God as a door shut in the face of his people is very sordid!
Over and over, in the name of God, in the name of Christ, people are used and abused. Well, it's time to stop. Let's just call it what it really is - our own thoughts, our own words, our own limitations on people, and let's be truthful enough to put the right name on what we're doing - our own name, not God's.
God's name is a light in our world, not a fence to hide behind and poke sticks at his people.
PETIE CAVENDISH
ROANOKE
Judge them not by their politics
STEVE LAWRENCE'S Nov. 1 letter to the editor (``Decision time for Christians'') really irked me! He insinuated that if you didn't support Republican Oliver North in the past election, then your Christianity was in question.
Lawrence rejected Sen. Charles Robb, not based on Robb's past sins, but because Robb believes in the right of women to have a choice and the rights of people Lawrence considers to be perverts. Yet Lawrence accepted North's sins, including bearing false witness.
Christians come in all shapes, sizes, and with differing political opinions. Lawrence is entitled to his opinion and, as a Christian, I'm entitled to mine. I promise not to question Lawrence's salvation if he promises not to question mine because our political views differ.
SALLIE LINKOUS ABLE
ROANOKE
California has a smart-road stake
AS VIRGINIA Tech is maneuvering for a spot on the smart road alongside the consortium's nine general partners, why don't we take the time to name them?
Along with General Motors are units of the Bechtel Group Inc., Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., the California Department of Transportation, Martin Marietta Corp., the University of California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways, and Carnegie Mellon University, outside of Pittsburgh.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for a high-tech economic boost for the region. But this list seems heavily weighted outside our area, particularly toward California where pressing traffic problems need solving now. They aren't trying to shave six minutes off a commute; they're trying to prevent ``statelock.''
This information comes from the Oct. 17 issue of "Engineering News Record." Nowhere does it mention Tech
I suppose we'll pave Gov. Allen's promised two miles with glowing press reports.
KERMIT W. SALYER JR.
ROANOKE
Classic book is still relevant today
IN RESPONSE to the Nov. 1 commentary, ``Some books should be banned'' by Michael Ebert:
He seems to have missed the point about ``Catcher in the Rye'' in labeling it ``doom and gloom'' of a past generation. Holden Caulfield's story is one of a young man who is a sensitive register of the society in which he lives - a world of frustration, corruption and absurdity.
The unethical environment created by J.D. Salinger therein is one and the same as today's, thus making it a classic, a story for all times and peoples.
It seems few, if any, books should be banned. Indeed, controversy is part and parcel of brave, artistic imaginations such as Salinger's.
CHERYL FLEMING-CECERE
ROANOKE
by CNB