Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502210028
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The reason there's a baseball strike in the first place is because fans tolerate it. Players and owners inflict their abuse until they get tired. Meanwhile, fans whine and cry about how they're being neglected, ignored, and how they're the true victims of the strike. Wrong. Fans get what they deserve. They're the ones who place pro athletes on a pedestal. Pro athletes, like celebrities, are treated as gods in this country. Fans are idiots when they pay inflated ticket prices, wear $150 tennis shoes, and purchase expensive clothing with team logos to support paying these supreme beings millions of dollars to play a game. Yet fans are the ones there with open arms when baseball resumes. The real irony is these same fans think athletes are the ones with screwed-up values.
There's nothing wrong with appreciating the ability, hard work and artistry of world-class athletics. Still, there must be a point in our lives where concern for domestic affairs includes more than O.J. Simpson and the baseball strike. Add to the fact Congress and/or the president are discussing intervening in the strike (for the good of the fans and business), I wonder where on Congress' list of things to do is health-care reform, a national energy policy, urban renewal, or real gun control?
Grow up, America.
KEVEN M. MEREDITH
ROANOKE
Allen may be California-dreaming
IT'S A little-known fact that Virginia Gov. George Allen was born and raised in California, a state that recently saw one of its most populous counties file bankruptcy after going millions of dollars into debt. That may be the way they do business in California, but not in Virginia where our time-honored tradition of ``pay as you go'' has distinguished us from the federal government and other states.
Our native Californian governor has proposed that the General Assembly borrow millions of dollars to finance his massive prison-construction plans. He also proposes a tax cut that would roughly equal the amount that would be borrowed to build more prisons, even though Virginia ranks 46th out of 50 states in overall tax burden. Essentially, Allen has asked legislators to borrow money to finance a tax cut, and improve his sagging popularity in the polls.
Virginia is one of few states that still enjoys a triple A bond rating. It was twice voted the best-managed state in the country in the early '90s. Virginia's government isn't broken, and it doesn't need fixin'.
KAY SAUL
ABINGDON
Death row isn't for life sentences
NO MORE parole. OK, it might work with more prisons.
Now, there's one more issue to deal with - death row. When someone takes another's life, and evidence of that is without question, give the guilty 10 to 15 years on death row? No, 30 days until execution. Think what could be saved in tax dollars.
Politicians promise to cut taxes and reduce crime. Go state to state, and give murderers what they are there for - death!
JACK W. DUDDING
BLUE RIDGE
Writer doesn't speak for all women
REGARDING Katherine Lanpher's Jan. 30 commentary (``Gingrich reveals difference between sexes'') concerning Newt Gingrich and his opinion of ``women in combat'':
What's wrong with Gingrich having an opinion? It seems women's organizations have enough opinions. What happened to freedom of speech? Well, it seems that if your opinion doesn't match that of the radical left wing, then it's not sanctioned, and shouldn't have air time.
I personally wouldn't want to think of my husband in combat relying on a woman to carry him to safety. But if Lanpher had bothered to listen a little further to Gingrich's lecture, she would have heard him laud women in other areas. He went on to say women are superior to men in many realms.
So, what did she do? Well, she made a ``dig'' at Southerners (which seems to be a low blow these days). She purposely misspelled ``Perfesser'' (another dig). She made up things that were not said by Gingrich to make her point. Then, she went on to blast Margaret Thatcher and the queen of England. (It's all right, since they're not liberal left-wing thinkers.)
Every time one of these females pretends to speak for all women, I cringe. Sorry, but Lanpher doesn't reflect the way this woman feels. And by the way, according to my anatomy teacher, there are differences between the sexes.
TERESA L. LILLY
MARTINSVILLE
Sen. Bell offers what voters want
CONCERNING the Jan. 30 editorial (``The Bell curve at the assembly'') about Sen. Brandon Bell:
It puzzles me why you're so upset. We elected him as a change from the good-old-boy network. He's trying to help the Roanoke Valley keep part of its funding for the Hotel Roanoke management school and cultural projects, and to be more equitable in the distribution of the percentage to each locality (with which you also agree).
Why do you advise a course of action that Del. Vic Thomas has tried unsuccessfully for years to pass? We want new ideas to cut the state budget and consolidate agencies, just as private industries are doing now.
The only thing Bell has in common with Democrat Granger Macfarlane is that he holds the same Senate seat that Macfarlane had. We have elected him for a positive change. It would be helpful if the editorial page would reflect this occasionally and not be so politically biased.
JUDITH ADKINS
ROANOKE
The dark side of the city's history
``URBAN renewal's untold stories'' by Mary Bishop (Jan. 29) was tremendous and searing! As I read it, I was inundated with feelings:
For the victims - outrage.
For our city - shame, anger, sadness.
For the newspaper - pride in its daring to publish it.
For the writer - heartfelt admiration and great respect for her boldness.
The author deals with our recent history in a graphic, straightforward and unsentimental, yet very sensitive, way.
Even though this sequence of events has been repeated throughout the urban United States, that makes it no less horrendous and unforgivable. I do hope the newspaper and, most especially, Bishop win some kind of award.
History cannot be undone, but the future is upon us. How will we as citizens implement our pledge, ``with liberty and justice for all''?
JEANNETTE E. HARDIN
ROANOKE
Skaters nailed, child abuser freed
IN THIS newspaper on Feb. 1, an article was published (``Man who sodomized toddler remains free'') about a 19-year-old man who admitted to sodomizing an 18-month-old child. He was released on bond for a ``psychiatric evaluation.''
A Feb. 3 article (``Skaters pay ultimate fine: no boards'') said that two teens were charged with skateboarding on a city sidewalk. They pleaded guilty, were fined $100 each, and the skateboards were to be destroyed.
Is it just me, or what's wrong with this picture?
MARK D. MURRAY
ROANOKE
A costly mix-up in communications?
YOUR Feb. 2 article, ``Wrecked train's crew benched,'' should have read, ``Wrecked train's crew fired!''
How could this mess happen in this modern age of satellite telecommunications, computerized tracking technology and advanced radio communications? From all that I've read, I can see no excuse whatsoever for this accident, which cost more than $1 million.
Talk about being asleep at the wheel.
RON PENLAND
WYTHEVILLE
by CNB