Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504110003
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When the center opened in 1994, I was glad there was now a place for my teen daughter to go after school if she wasn't going to a friend's home or to her piano lesson. I'm employed full time and, yes, I worry about the time she spends between school's dismissal and the time I return home from work. The center is a blessing to working parents who care where their teens are, who they are with and what they're doing when a parent isn't around.
Please support the teen center by encouraging your teens to frequent it. Ask your schools to bus teens there after school. Parenting is a responsible job, and parents must determine the quality of time their teens spend with and without them. Choose to share that responsibility with the center's capable staff, and you'll feel comfortable knowing that your teen is engaging in good quality time at the teen center.
CONNIE TANVERDI ROANOK
Taking a stand for disabled children
GASP! That's what I felt when I read Robert Frary's March 15 letter to the editor (``Disruptive students should be excluded'') about excluding children with disabilities from regular education classrooms. This is a typical view of someone concerned about children's education, but reacting out of fear and misunderstanding. I expect his attitude toward the Hartmanns and the statements he made about their case were based on media hype. I feel that Frary and many others are uncomfortable around children with disabilities, and have a problem seeing them as real children with feelings, dreams and abilities. I guess I had that same problem until I was faced with raising my own disabled child.
People have to stand up for what is right. And in the case of children with disabilities, it becomes the parents' responsibility to make that stand. Rosana Hartmann has seen her son's successes in an inclusive classroom, and she's trying to reclaim that experience for him. I know that my child's quality of life has improved since he has been allowed to attend the school in our neighborhood, and make friends there. The parents and children who have come to know him have been very supportive.
DONNA CHEWNING VINTON
The administration of Mr. Clean
DIDN'T President Clinton promise us voters here in fly-over country that his administration would be beyond reproach?
How come we've got special prosecutors looking into the doings of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy? Wasn't former Justice Department Assistant Webster Hubbell indicted for fraud? Then, there was White House Special Assistant David Watkins, who used a helicopter to go play golf allegedly to relax after finding out he was being investigated for sexual harassment.
Wasn't White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum dismissed for discussing with Treasury Department officials Slick Willie's potential involvement in criminal investigations of Arkansas banking matters? Also, there's the former national embarrassment, Joycelyn Elders and her erstwhile successor, Dr. Henry Foster, who has so much trouble telling the truth.
It's now common knowledge (except in the liberal news media such as your newspaper) that Slick Willie used Arkansas state troopers, detailed to guard him, to procure for him. One wonders if the Secret Service now pimps for him. Then we have the health-care scam engineered in secret by Saint Hillary, which is now costing taxpayers $9.6 million (March 15 article, ``Hidden costs alleged on health care effort''). Ira Magaziner, senior adviser to Clinton, is being investigated for perjury on that one.
The above is only a partial list of Mr. Clean's wonderful administration. He can't tell the truth, and neither can any of his appointees. We elected an individual with no character, and he promptly appointed a gaggle of individuals just like himself . My favorite is former Treasury Chief of Staff Josh Steiner who testified he lied to his diary, which was used as evidence!
Clinton and his Liar Corps may prevail, but we voters are watching. Reviewing the above, one can't help but wonder if the Rev. Jerry Falwell's tape contained a lot of truth.
It's becoming obvious that we must vote in '95 to turn out the arrogant Democrats at the state level who know better than us poor, dumb voters. And then we must continue housecleaning in '96.
DICK LAMBERT EAGLE ROCK
Verdict is still out on gun laws
RELAXED concealed-weapons laws lead to more homicides, according to a recent study by the University of Maryland. However, the study appears seriously flawed, at least as reported (March 14 article, ``Relaxed gun laws brought more killings'').
The study indicates an increase in gun homicides in four or five urban areas where concealed-gun laws were relaxed, but failed to address several relevant questions.
The report didn't indicate if there was an increase in homicides by permit-carrying citizens or if the murders were simply an increase in urban, criminal violence. Also left unanswered, if the increased homicides were in fact committed by individuals with permits, was whether they were legitimate acts of self-defense.
If increased homicides were committed by permit-carrying citizens in self-defense, the relaxing of concealed-weapons laws had its intended effect: Citizens were more able to defend themselves against crime.
At any rate, until more information is provided, it's irresponsible to imply that less restrictive concealed-weapons laws are a bad thing.
FRANK HOLS GALAX
Tainting the present with the past
IN YOUR March 27 editorial (``In search of the Lost Cause''), you criticized Virginia Republican Party Chairman Patrick McSweeney for speaking at the Confederate flag monument dedication in Danville. You implied that he and others who attended somehow stained their reputations by being there because slavery was legal in the Confederacy.
By this reasoning, I presume that the Greeks who fell at Peloponnesus do not deserve the title of noble and brave because their country had slaves.
THOMAS N. HUTSON SALEM
Family wasn't given proper credit
THE March 20 article about the Krisch family, in my opinion, didn't emphasize the many positive contributions they have made to the community. The hard work and ingenuity it took to build American Motor Inns was significant, yet the headline of the article was ``The fall of the Krisches.'' American Motor Inns provided employment to many Roanokers, and the company was very good to its employees.
Howard Feiertag, a Virginia Tech professor, was quoted in the article as saying ``how philanthropic they were.'' The writer of the article could have expanded on that theme, but didn't.
Rosalie and Sydney Shaftman have a plaque recognizing their philanthropy. Three Krisch family members graduated from Jefferson High School, and felt strongly about giving back to the community. They have given liberally to the Jefferson Center, the Roanoke Symphony, the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, North Cross School, the arts and many other worthwhile endeavors without asking for any special recognition.
I wish the article had been more positive and had applauded the family for its community spirit. I hope that more people in the valley with generous resources will be as community-minded as the Krisch family.
CHARLES L. CROCKETT JR. ROANOKE
by CNB