Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If winter comes, can spring be far behind? If someone else in the valley does it, can Roanoke County be far behind?
Now the county wants to vision, pipe dream, window-shop, wish, hope for, maybe even invoke the deity to show us the way into the future. Roanoke Countians' comments are being solicited. To give these comments, you only have to travel to the Cave Spring High School. I presume April 1 has no significance.
I know it will be a gross breach of etiquette, but may I suggest that our entry-level politicians, as well as our well-paid bureaucrats, schedule meetings in various parts of the county. This would have a twofold purpose. First, the meeting holders will see that not everyone in Roanoke County lives in $200,000-to-$500,000 homes and drives Cadillacs and BMWs. Second, the turnout will be more people from the areas where the meetings are held.
As it stands now, I can see the handwriting on the wall. It will be: Let's keep Southwest County mainly residential with a smattering of doctor, real-estate and lawyer offices. This is as it should be. Let's keep the Hollins area as it is, only more so. Let's keep Vinton the laid-back, introverted town it is. The Glenvar-Fort Lewis area can continue as a montage of some of everything, and we'll forget about Catawba until we need somewhere to put something big and not too pretty. No surprise at all.
In the article, Planning Director Terry Harrington said: ``I think if the visioning process is successful, the comprehensive-plan process will be much easier.'' One can hope that inconveniencing a lot of people will have a greater effect than making Harrington's job easier.
DOUGLAS CHANDLER GRAHAM
SALEM
It's time to tax sex peddlers
ACCIDENTS were once the leading cause of death in young adults between the ages of 25 and 44. Unexpected, unplanned, unforeseen misfortune that came out of the clear blue, for no apparent reason, took more lives in this age group than any other cause.
Accidents are no longer the leader these days. Laws were passed that helped and encouraged us to buckle up, and to stop drinking and driving. Cars were made with safer brakes, safer steering and safer suspension. Driving attitudes were changed.
AIDS is the new No. 1 killer of young adults between the ages of 25 and 44. Saying that seems strange, since it's the sex drive that causes AIDS. Government's approach to curbing or restraining the sex drive has been to tell everybody to buckle up, to stop drinking and copulating. And for the most part, everybody just ignores this advice, just as they tucked seat belts into the crack in the seats in 1966.
Maybe it's time to tax movie makers and movie rentals, as well as advertisers who sell sex and thus feed the sex drive. This industry won't police itself; maybe a tax would encourage them to start. A tax of this type would be passed along to the user, and federal, state and local governments could all get a cut. As an added bonus, story context would have to improve to attract and hold an audience. New emphasis on literature would bring really awful writing standards out of the dark ages and into an arena of great entertainment.
MARSHALL TACKETT
BUCHANAN
OSHA's expertise is harassment
WHAT'S THE worst virus in America? AIDS? No, it's the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA loves to harass the honest employer, or better yet scare him or her. Don't trust any of its agents. Once they get in, they'll pick straws and cite you for things you never dreamed of. They don't warn you of anything, nor do they ever send you booklets telling of things you need to know.
The government could make better use of our tax money by stopping drug abuse and all crime, instead of harassing law-abiding employers. After all, we furnish our communities a service and jobs so employees can take care of their families.
Or would everyone rather we retire or go broke because Uncle Sam has so many regulations, and OSHA has too much power? We need a grass-roots rebellion against Big Brother to take away a lot of his power.
Banning all guns, tobacco, and our constitutional rights is the ultimate goal of the socialists running our government in Washington, D.C. The harassment and abuses won't stop unless we fight back.
CHARLES W. HAMRIC
LEXINGTON
by CNB