Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030059
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The media seem abuzz with the newly discovered ``twist'' in the Susan Smith case. I refer to the Feb. 21 Associated Press story (``Stepfather admitted molestation'') about her being molested by her stepfather when she was in her teens.
Finally! A valid reason why she strapped her small, defenseless children into their car seats, stepped aside, and let her babies plunge toward their dark, horrible deaths: She was molested as a teen-ager. I'm in no way making light of the fact that she may have been dealing with some dark secrets and the mental anguish that goes along with this, but come on! This molestation has been referred to as a ``new twist'' into the reasons why she murdered those babies!
Where was her personal responsibility to those children? Why is this becoming yet another case of a person being looked at as a ``victim'' of what she may have gone through in the past? It brings to mind the Menendez brothers - those two adult children who were so afraid of their abusive parents that they were forced to ambush the parents and viciously murder them. Yeah, that worked much better than, say, the brothers just moving out. The parents had to be killed, and it was due to the horrible childhood the boys went through.
Personal responsibility for one's own actions is becoming endangered. The media, along with dollar-hungry lawyers, are painting a bleak picture of this nation as a nation of victims. ``Well, it had to be done - she had a rough childhood.''
Grow up, people. I know plenty of individuals who had less than rosy childhoods, and they aren't murdering their parents, or their babies.
DEBRA ADKINS
ROANOKE
Contract isn't based on Gospel truths
THE Christian Coalition has promised $1 million to promote Newt Gingrich's Contract with America. It would be hard to find support in Scripture for cutting the capital-gains tax, for anti-missile defenses, or for term limits.
The coalition has every right to function as part of the right wing of the Republican Party, as it does. It has no right to call itself Christian. God isn't a Republican, or a Democrat.
The good people who thought they were contributing to a Christian cause have reason to feel cheated.
GUS JOHNSON
SYRIA
Minorities affected by charter schools
IN THE STRUGGLE to improve public schools, the Virginia Education Association has won a victory for the status quo - for now.
Sen. Brandon Bell's charter-school initiative would have cracked the iron curtain separating parents from Dick Cranwell's bloated educational bureaucracy. However, when faced with the prospect of allowing parental choice, the educational empire struck back. The Virginia Education Association knows if parents are allowed some freedom, they'll undoubtedly demand more. It wouldn't repeat the mistake of the old Soviet Union.
The VEA has given taxpayers a dumbed-down curricula, social promotions and valueless sex education, leaving many graduates unequipped in basic literacy and mathematical skills. Indeed, our colleges are weary of wasting resources teaching freshmen remedial classes to compensate for failed public schools. Approving charter schools would tell the VEA that its failure is intolerable.
As expected, minority students are our big losers, often belonging to families lacking resources to vote on the issues. By defeating charter schools, wealthy white liberals have denied the masses the choice that they alone now enjoy.
What will become of Bell? I believe the political career of this courageous young legislator will be extended due to the large numbers of minority voters who will quietly slip into booths and secretly pull his lever.
SAMUEL J. WALLIN
ROANOKE
Reviews' sour notes are tiresome
IT WOULD make more sense if you'd at least send a person who appreciates country music to do your newspaper's reviews. Every concert I've attended, and enjoyed every minute of, are reviewed on the dark side.
Well, we enjoyed the George Jones-Aaron Tippin concert. We wouldn't have paid the money to go see them if we hadn't liked them to begin with. Your reviewer (Feb. 18 review, ``Skip the show; catch Possum on CD'') seems to ignore the fact that Jones is still recuperating from heart surgery. We felt blessed just to be able to see him again and enjoyed every song, even if he didn't sing that long.
And Tippin did exactly what we wanted him to do. We wanted to see him strut his stuff and howl. That's what he's known for, and we would have been disappointed if he hadn't. If we'd just wanted to hear him sing, we could have listened to his CD at home.
Come on, either send someone who likes country music to do your reviews or drop the reviews from your newspaper.
LINDA HALL
ROANOKE
Memo: ***CORRECTION***