Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503140003
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A young woman, clearly a very intelligent and resourceful one, offers condoms to her classmates at the end of a presentation on AIDS as a modern plague (March 7 article, ``Roanoke County student disciplined over condoms''). Bright kid! Good idea!
If she'd offered sweets to everyone, the child with diabetes would have declined. Same with the vegetarian had the handout been hamburgers. What's the big deal with the simple prophylactic?
Some believe that a condom is, in and of itself, dangerous to the moral fiber of teen-agers. Just the sight of one might:
Inflame youth with uncontrollable lust? Formally invite everyone to have premarital sex? Shock the sensibilities of a kid who's never seen one? (A kid on Mars, maybe?) Cause lots of blushing and giggling, condoms basically being silly-looking things, albeit useful in preventing death?
Or, click on a circuit: Hey, AIDS is the plague. Hey, I could die. Hey, I don't have to die.
I once heard a man brag to his children that during his younger days he had never used a condom, and he never would now. I saw the look that passed between the children: What a dope he is. Kids know. When will adults catch on?
CAROLE JORDAN
ROANOKE
We can't tax our way to prosperity
RELOCATING HERE from somewhere else, one needs to realize that Roanoke is very different from other cities in this country. For the most part, the good points outweigh the bad. But for native residents and politicians who are so conservative that they don't want to see change and progress, I say wake up!
Except for the cost of a home in the Roanoke area, our cost of living is no different from living within a 50-mile radius of New York City. Gas, food, clothing and building materials are about the same. Most other states don't charge sales tax on food in the supermarket, and many don't charge sales tax on clothing. These items should be considered basic necessities. By the time you add up your property, personal-property and other taxes, you're really not paying much less to live here than in a higher-income suburb outside a big city.
I've never seen such a polarization of affluent and working classes as I've seen here. If we hope to improve our local and state economy, we need to attract more corporate businesses and tourism, and begin to pay residents wages on which they can live and support a family. I'm not an authority on the economy, but I know it's the millions of little people spending their hard-earned dollars that keep it going.
Big businesses won't nest in your back yard if you hassle and tax them to death. You also can't get more tourism revenue if you don't let anyone know what your area offers. (Believe it or not, the kind of tourists these mountains will attract will probably respect the area's natural beauty more than many residents do.) You can't get people to buy more goods from local businesses if they can barely afford to feed their families on what they make. I realize every employee has a different level of motivation, but it's extremely hard to get someone motivated for $4.25 an hour. When I worked for $2.50 an hour in 1970, my money went farther than it does now.
Much as we all long for the simplicity of the '50s, and Roanoke may well be one of the last places in America where we can get a taste of it, reality dictates that we are in the '90s.
JOHN BLAZIER
SALEM
Beware group's hard-sell rhetoric
CAVEAT emptor. Buyer beware. Don't buy a pig in a poke.
These warnings would make a cautious man suspect the altruism of the market, marketplace and marketers. Yet in the most recent mailing from the psuedo-grass-roots organization Citizens for a Sound Economy, the underlying philosophy suggests we'd all be better off, more protected from the excesses of profiteers, if we'd eliminate safety regulations, weaken clean-air standards, diminish clean-water regulations, slash the Endangered Species Act, tie the hands of our representative government, and abdicate all power to the monied interests.
Its rhetoric is laced with dogma and buzzwords designed to polarize the electorate, obscure its true ambitions and effects of its legislation. Members call themselves Citizens for a Sound Economy, but their true goal is to ensure the profits of a few at the expense of many.
The wolf is wearing mohair and acting sheepish, but buyer beware!
PATRICK FENN
FLOYD
Parking lot is for postal customers
IN RESPONSE to Daryl Toler's Feb. 15 letter to the editor ``An expensive night for many families,'' and in defense of towing policies in and around the U.S. Postal Service facility near the Roanoke Civic Center, I'd like to say this:
The post office lot is not owned by taxpayers. The post office runs without taxpayer support and has for more than a decade.
Since the lobby at the main post office is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for box customers and for those mailing letters, parcels and Express Mail, this lot is for customers' use, not for Roanoke Civic Center guests!
Furthermore, there are two large, well-lighted signs clearly reflecting this policy - one at the entrance, and one in the back of the lot. Street-side parking is permitted unless marked ``No Parking.'' Plus, on event nights, Norfolk Southern offers paid parking in unused parts of its lot for the civic center's overflow parking. So, if some have an expensive night, it's obvious they don't read posted, no-parking signs or they disregard posted warnings.
Also, the post office uses only one contract towing service to enforce its posted policy, not just anybody with a wrecker, and its impound lot is very close to the downtown area.
If people could perhaps plan to arrive earlier at their next civic center outing, they might get some of that close-in civic center parking and save themselves some money and inconvenience.
ROGER THOMAS
ROANOKE
The pregnant should pause
A FEB. 9 article in this newspaper (``Agency to offer abortion'') said that Planned Parenthood now provides abortions for women in the first trimester of pregnancy. I couldn't help but wonder how many people know the following:
Between 18 and 24 days of conception, the baby's heart starts beating.
At 43 days, brain waves can be recorded.
At eight weeks, the child is well-proportioned; every organ is present; the heart beats sturdily.
I strongly urge any woman considering abortion at any time during her pregnancy to visit the Crisis Pregnancy Center in her area. It is there to help her as well as her unborn child.
CONNIE SANKEY
BLACKSBURG
County taxes chase homeowners away
EVERY January, Roanoke County homeowners are put into a state of shock when they receive their real-estate tax assessments.
Supervisor Lee Eddy claims the increase averages about the same as the rate of inflation. I think a lot of people would take issue with that. Maybe it holds true for the supervisors and county administrator. It's been published that in the past their assessments haven't increased drastically.
Our taxes increased 8.6 percent this year, and we did nothing to increase the value of our property. I think this increase is far beyond the rate of inflation.
Eddy also indicates the tax rate hasn't increased in the past few years, but has actually dropped 2 cents on $100. The county doesn't have to increase the tax base with the reassessments we receive each year.
With tax assessments continuing to increase annually at this alarming rate, long-time residents are leaving Roanoke County in favor of neighboring counties where the rate isn't as high. Roanoke County has lost, and is continuing to lose, its appeal to attract new homeowners due to its enormous tax structure.
MARGIE RUNIONS
ROANOKE
by CNB