Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411290030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Going off half-cocked" is not how I would describe the afternoon's invitations to experience the facilities and get a sense of its potential.
Organizing a variety of musical entertainment, beautiful food and drinks, and fine art and crafts, guided tours of the building and interesting guests is not "going off half-cocked" - it's testing the waters for support and setting the tone for the project which the New River Arts Council has in mind.
I live in Blacksburg, and the fact is there is not one place for nonstudents in the entire town (nor can one buy a spool of thread or a broom or curtains or bed sheets or underwear).
Growth is happening in the New River Valley and the more we work together the better the chance that growth will be orderly and beneficial to the residents.
Blacksburg has Virginia Tech - or vice versa - which generates the economy of this town.
Blacksburg does not have the facilities for a project with the potential of the one envisioned at the old Furniture Mart. If there were such facilities, they'd be gobbled up by Tech, i.e. the old Heironimus store. That is the destiny of Blacksburg.
It seems mean-spirited for someone to suggest that other communities can't also produce a thriving economy - based on other interests and concerns.
Bet Fontaine
Blacksburg
Crime is problem, not guns
How can people believe that gun control laws will do anything except punish law-abiding gun owners? In reality, it seems most people don't support gun control, however, the news media seems not to publish these polls. Criminals, by definition, already break the laws so who believes they will obey gun control laws? Remember the saying "innocent until proven guilty?" Gun control laws are actually saying that gun owners are irresponsible and guilty. Why must I pay the price for a criminal's use of a gun? The problem is crime not guns. I also urge everyone, especially gun owners, to read "Gun, Crime, and Freedom," by Wayne LaPierre, to get the true story. Even if gun control advocates try to discount the book because it is written by the National Rifle Association's chief executive officer, they cannot discount the facts the book presents. If anyone can read "Guns, Crime, and Freedom," and still favor gun control then God help us because criminals will soon rule our lives.
Alan Hicks
Blacksburg
Taxes, police draw complaints
I am writing to your newspaper to inform you and your staff that we, the people, are sick and tired of having to pay both town and county taxes in Montgomery County each and every year. A person lives in either the town or the county, not both.
Also, if you have a complaint to make to the Police Department they act like you're the one at fault rather than the person causing a problem. We have some young people causing trouble in our neighborhood and whenever I have called the police they have told me that I need to let the children be children.
James J. Nightingale
Christiansburg
by CNB