Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240072
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Pet projects'' may be nothing more than an unfortunate choice of phrase meant to refer to legislators known for recognizing cultural institutions, with their outreach, as more than frills or niceties.
However meant, the phrase implies that museums and the presence of culture in our state can be relegated to a narrow field of special interests. It pays lip service to an entrenched notion that cultural agencies, now straining despite shoestring budgets to reach all Virginians, are mere pork.
More damagingly, it makes it seem that the citizenry has neither role nor responsibility in the support of culture, and that, on the contrary, it's a legislator's duty to shield citizens from such responsibility. It's an undemocratic notion, and strange that it's spoken of so lightly in one of the country's first bastions of democracy.
If I put words in the writers' mouths, I take the blame for doing so.
My great fear is that as long as taxpayers are told to associate museums with legislators' ``pet projects,'' projects remote in meaning or consequence, an incomplete conception of citizenship, skewed away from the culture that can nourish it, will be reinforced.
DEREK MYERS BLACKSBURG
Environment may get trampled
THE trickle-down theory appears to be alive and well in today's politics. It's hard to believe that we would fall for it again.
We're being sold a plan that requires us to give up on almost everything we've previously valued - public health, education, job training, safe drinking water, clean air, citizen input, our seniors and our children. The end result of all this is that we get trickled on!
Gov. Allen has already started trickling on us. The new direction of the Department of Environmental Quality is a good example of what's happening in all departments under the new leadership.
Placing industry representatives in positions such as department head and in the majority on air and water boards is certainly a bold move. We may have lost environmental protection, but we've gained another Department of Commerce.
It seems that environmentalists have become the bad guys. I'm sure that restricting public input will go a long way toward making our state safe for industry, and further empower them to trickle down on us.
And just think: If Newt Gingrich gets his way, the trickle may turn into a torrent!
WAYNE WEIKEL TROUTVILLE
Hunting isn't cruel; Mother Nature is
WITH WORDS like ``unpopular'' and ``squeamish,'' you could tell what slant the Feb. 13 article ``Killing deer unpopular, but necessary,'' from the Chicago Tribune, was going to take.
It's a very necessary subject to bring up, in the right context. But it's sad to read and hear about people who are so out of touch with reality.
The so-called research on female deer (doe) contraception is a prime example. Doing research on a dead-end subject makes no sense. Even Dr. John Turner, a reproductive biologist, admits that there's no practical application in the wild for it.
If deer overpopulation isn't corrected by hunting, Mother Nature will correct the problem with infestations, disease or starvation.
And if you think that a quick, clean kill in hunting is cruel (which it's not), just let Mother Nature take over, and see how really cruel she can be!
I have the ideal contraceptive for both male and female deer. When legally applied, it's 100 percent effective for the overpopulation problem.
It's a well-placed bullet or broad-head arrow.
JOSEPH A. SCHUPP Virginia State Director Ted Nugent World Bowhunters GOODVIEW
by CNB