Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502130001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It occurs to me that instead of blocking entrances to abortion clinics, potential protesters would better serve women entering the clinics by marshaling their time and creative energies to find ways of preventing unwanted pregnancies.
If the pregnancy is the result of incest, fund and staff shelters where women can go to be safe from abusive family members; of rape, fund and staff self-defense classes; of ignorance, support and lobby for family-life education classes that will dispel myths (``you can't get pregnant the first time'') and teach the facts about sexuality and reproduction; of peer pressure, develop programs to help young men and women become self-confident; of the lack of contraception, establish a program to make safe, effective, low-cost birth-control available.
I'm sure creative people can come up with still more ways to make every pregnancy a wanted pregnancy.
JAN DOWLING
ROANOKE
Politicians' behavior reflects sorry trends
RECENT behavior of our elected officials - both Republicans and Democrats - has been quite disheartening. Is it too much to ask them to listen to opposing views with respect and an open mind? They seem so bent on bringing down the other side that they cannot cooperate or compromise for the common good. Fighting and bickering like children won't solve our state or national problems.
Of course, I really shouldn't be surprised at their behavior. It's simply a reflection of the wave of intolerance sweeping across our country. There's an increasing lack of compassion coupled with acts of violence toward immigrants, homosexuals, the poor, the homeless, or those with differing viewpoints.
I think Gov. Allen is being rather naive if he thinks the private sector will take up the slack of cuts to social programs. Those who want to help others will do so, but I sadly doubt there will be a sharp increase in their number.
REBECCA J. DUFF
ROANOKE
Extension Service cuts would hurt
WITH THE federal government now less concerned with needs of the people, and consequently eliminating many services that have served the people well in the past, it's doubly unfortunate that Gov. Allen is now advocating reducing by millions of dollars the budget for Virginia Tech's Cooperative Extension Service that many people have come to depend on to overcome problems they face.
In the more than 40 years since I and my wife came to Virginia, no Cooperative Extension Service director has worked harder or more intelligently than Bill Allen to see that its programs meet the needs of the people of the state. Yet the governor is preparing to reward him by reducing the budget needed to carry on these programs. It isn't just the hundreds of well-trained employees who will be thrown out of work, but thousands of Virginians who have come to depend on the service because they have no alternative to turn to.
And all this to satisfy the self-centered interests of members of the monied class. It's hard to believe that the good people of Virginia are in favor of steps the governor proposes to take. Our legislators should be encouraged to see that he doesn't succeed.
DONALD R. FESSLER
Retired Cooperative
Extension Service sociologist
BLACKSBURG
Weather or not to believe it ...
YOUR Jan. 31 editorial (``Oh, the infinitely flaky variety'') in regard to snow flakes stated that ``no two snowflakes are alike.'' I made the same statement several years go to my good friend, Dr. Tom MacAdoo, a retired Virginia Tech professor. He told me, ``No one has seen all of the snowflakes in the world, and all of the snowflakes have not quit falling.''
ROBERT M. PRICE
BLACKSBURG
Travel on with the speed of light
NOW THAT all beneficiary groups in the Roanoke and Blacksburg corridor are looking for benefits and hot to trot for building the ``smart road'' between Roanoke and Blacksburg, it's time for them to start thinking and planning to continue the building of the road from Blacksburg to Dublin. And to build a smart airport large enough to handle commercial and large Army aircrafts, and be accessible to the global transpark that's planned for the future.
This combination could attract the hookup with Interstate 73 to the East Coast, and could become the transportation hub for Southwest Virginia, the tri-state area, as well as transportation traffic overseas and to East Coast ports. With this combination, the smart beneficiary groups who want to travel fast could be at their destination before they leave home.
GLENN W. CROWDER
ROANOKE
by CNB