Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310102
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Roanoke Friends Meeting believes there are certain services that public funding can best provide.
One fundamental way people ensure freedom, opportunity and responsibility is by collectively creating, pooling and distributing their resources. For example, in our Quaker meeting, we create a budget so we can provide for our fellowship and for the larger community of which our meeting is a part.
As Virginians, we pay taxes for our government's budget, and believe that public spending reflects the values of the larger society of which we are a part. For example, we support Gov. Allen's proposal to dedicate public funds to enforcing child-support laws, but do not support his proposal to build more prisons while reducing funding for preventative measures. By paying our taxes and debating their social use, we act through government to create freedom, opportunity and responsibility.
Most churches and other voluntary organizations are barely making their budgets; many are downsizing. Most households cannot be supported on one person's income, and many businesses no longer provide for their own employees' welfare in the form of full employment and benefits, let alone the public welfare.
Where will the private sector find additional resources to carry out services Allen proposes to cut? The ``savings'' from his proposed tax cuts actually represent a great loss for us all. Let people work together in government and nongovernmental bodies to ensure the public good.
GENEVIEVE WARING Clerk, Roanoke Friends Meeting ROANOKE
Some hunters are spoilsports
TWENTY years ago, people could hunt where they wanted just by asking the landowner's permission. You very rarely saw anyone else in the woods. The last thing from your mind was the likelihood of getting shot. You could go into the mountains in full camouflage and never have to worry.
Now, you can't journey into the woods on your own property without worrying about getting shot, even in blaze orange from head to toe. There's no way of knowing who's on your property. After all, posted signs only keep an honest man honest, and give landowners certain rights in court if someone gets injured on their land.
Each year, more posted signs appear, and more landowners don't want anything to do with hunters. This is due to the growing number of road hunters - those who kill wildlife from roadways for everyone to see, many times in someone's yard.
Also, there are spotlighters who ride around in the middle of the night, shining a light, even in residential neighborhoods, until they find an animal standing helplessly in the light to shoot. Others takes shots if they hear something move, sometimes to find that what they thought was a deer or turkey was a person or a domestic animal.
At the time of this writing, 11 people have died in Virginia this season due to hunting accidents. Any true sportsman who participates in hunting recognizes that the individuals mentioned above aren't sportsmen or hunters. They're rogues, enemy to us all, and their number is growing.
Unfortunately, whenever the public sees a person carrying a gun and wearing orange, it's assumed that person is a hunter. If the person does something wrong, hunters take the criticism. The future of the sport lies in the hands of those participating in it.
JAMES CARVER ROANOKE
Clinton fans get the last laugh
I'M FED up with all this Clinton-bashing! I must be in the minority, but I like President Clinton and think he's doing a good job.
The economy is growing, the deficit has been reduced, and the unemployment rate is the lowest in four years.
I think too many people have been brainwashed by the conservative propaganda of Rush Limbaugh.
For those who still haven't accepted the fact that Clinton is our president, I'm glad to say that he'll be our leader for at least another two years. Ha!
JAY HARDIE ROANOKE
Doctor suffers pain of accusations
AFTER having spinal-fusion surgery performed recently by Dr. Eric Korsh, and reading the Jan. 15 news story ``Back patients hit back at surgeon,'' I felt compelled to respond about my own experience. Reading the story, my reaction was one of total dismay!
My first appointment with Dr. Korsh lasted about 30 minutes, and he recommended that I undergo physical therapy for at least eight weeks and then return to see him if my pain persisted. I find this very conservative for someone who is being accused of encouraging surgery from the very beginning.
He never used high-pressure sales techniques to get me to approve of surgery, as he's been accused of using with other patients. The procedure was explained to me in great detail. I also understood that there were risks involved, including the chance that the surgery wouldn't relieve my pain or that I may even be worse off after surgery than before. I was fully aware that the pedicle-screw and Harm's-cage implants were considered experimental by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
I believe Dr. Korsh to be a brilliant young surgeon who is on top of all of the most advanced technology in his profession, and that he has provided a better quality of life for hundreds of patients who were fully aware of all risks involved but weren't represented in the news story. He has given me and many others like me hope that there is a chance that his expertise and use of state-of-the-art techniques might be beneficial.
It grieves me to think that an extremely intelligent and caring young man, who has dedicated his life to helping others with back problems, has to spend his precious time and energy worrying about what only a few people are saying behind his back.
DAVID B. PHILLIPS RADFORD
Students can be educated at home
JEFF ARTIS' letter to the editor (Jan.16, ``Why charter schools are needed'') should cause Sen. Brandon Bell to study the entire problem.
Some schools require a student to pass an exam to enter the next level. Why waste time giving SAT exams? Let colleges give their own. Also, if students stay at home and study by computers and correspondence courses, we eliminate expensive buses and buildings.
A study of different states will show that there are different ways to solve our problems. Teacher certification is a big joke, as it varies from state to state and isn't related to a teacher's quality as a teacher. Many states have no reciprocity, and excellent teachers in transient groups can be refused certification .
We should wake up to teaching students who stay at home and use the television and computer.
THOMAS LEE COOK CHRISTIANSBURG
Numbers don't crunch with reality
IN LEE Eddy's Jan. 17 letter to the editor (``Assessments match market value''), he states: "Average assessments on existing real property in the county went up 3.3 percent from 1994 to 1995." This is hard to reconcile, with the 16.2 percent increase in my property assessment, and lesser but significant increases in assessments of people I've talked to. Since 16.2 percent is five times 3.3 percent, to get an average of 3.3 percent, either four other people had 0 percent increase or many more had less than 3.3 percent increase. In either case, the disparity is unacceptable.
My property's annual assessments have always been higher than the rate of inflation, and quite a bit more than the cost-of-living increase in my pension. Except for upgrading my heating system in 1990, I've made no additions or improvements in my property. It's in a rural section of the county with minimal county services.
Mr. Eddy, we taxpayers understand that every year it costs more to run the Roanoke County government. Believe me, we understand! But this is still America, and we have other options to pursue and other choices to make besides living in Roanoke County.
FRANCES L. HURT SALEM
by CNB