Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230083
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A close race to the end, the final outcome was swung by Warner's own personal vendetta against Oliver North becoming a Republican senator.
Warner should have put his personal differences aside and supported the state Republican Party and North instead of splitting the vote, and handing the election on a silver platter to Robb.
Thanks to Warner, and Marshall Coleman! Warner couldn't be happy having a man who thinks like him in office, so let him deal with the opposition.
He definitely should not count on my support in 1996. Maybe Warner's not enough of a Republican to deserve my vote. Maybe Virginia needs to think twice before sending him back to Washington.
PHILLIP R. ANDES BLACKSBURG
Stop polluting children's minds
I APPLAUD and praise our major television networks for stating that they wouldn't televise a movie about Susan Smith.
This tragedy is a part of our sick society, and the news coverage has made it even a bigger part of our society.
Children grow up with too much sickness and hatred, and it's multiplied by the media. Adults aren't the ones who suffer, the children do. What will be their state of mind in the future?
I have a subscription to Time magazine, which has Smith's picture on the front cover. My 4-year-old granddaughter happened to see it, and said, ``She killed her babies.'' That left me heartbroken. My granddaughter is a little angel, and she told me that she wanted to be a ``mommy'' when she grew up.
I implore the media to take responsibility, and show our children real-life heroes, and get some of the crap off television. Television is a part of our society and children will watch it, no matter what.
PATRICIA B. SLEDD ROANOKE
USAir's record was unfairly targeted
I THINK it's a sad reflection on today's society that the press gets away with just about anything. I refer to the article in your Nov. 13 edition about USAir's safety record (``Is USAir meeting safety standards?'' from The New York Times).
I assume from the nature of the article that some at The New York Times decided they wanted to blackball USAir in the airline industry. The fact that USAir has had two recent fatal incidents doesn't justify The New York Times' running a smear campaign against the company. I don't see the newspaper investigating American Airlines, and it just recently had a fatal crash, and has had several others in the past. All airlines are subject to risk when it comes to flying.
When someone is in an auto accident, you don't hear anyone blaming Ford, Honda or Toyota. If a person is killed in a car accident, isn't it just as tragic as someone being killed in an airline accident? Yes, but there's usually not front-page coverage for the auto accident.
I've noticed in every article concerning the airline industry that it's never been reported the ratio of fatalities to number of flights per day. Air travel is still the safest way to travel in that aspect, but you won't hear anything as positive as that in the media. The media thrive on catastrophe, misfortune and negativity.
If the Federal Aviation Administration ever finds the cause of each of USAir's recent accidents, I can promise that, if the airline isn't found to be at fault, there won't be a front-page retraction of anything that was speculated about the airline. No matter how much bad press USAir receives, people will still travel via USAir. And if the press wasn't on USAir's back, you can bet it would be someone else's. So, if the press is successful in helping USAir go out of business, will it help the airline industry as a whole? I seriously doubt it.
TROY METZ ROANOKE
Unlucky cat could have been saved
AS I READ the Nov. 17 news article in your newspaper about the cat named Lucky (``An unhappy ending for Lucky''), I couldn't believe it. After all that cat went through on the highway and it then was put to sleep. How cruel! I thought it would be operated on and would live.
So it had multiple fractures, internal injuries and a leg that had to be amputated. People who have been in a car accident are sometimes worse, but I don't hear of them being put to death. By its being an animal, I guess the cat wasn't worth the time or cost to save it.
The cat might as well have been killed on the highway.
GLORIA J. MOWBRAY ROANOKE
by CNB