Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505190051
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The concert marked the opening of the Festival of the Arts sponsored by Southwest Virginia Community College. The two-week festival, ``From Sea to Shining Sea - A Celebration of the American Arts,'' focused on the variety and excellence of the American arts. Thus, the concert by the symphony included pieces by American composers. The varied program included Gideon Waldrop's ``Suite of the Southwest''; Gershwin's ``Rhapsody in Blue,'' with pianist Pavlina Dokovska; Victoria Bond's ``Thinking Like a Mountain,'' narrated by Don Smith; and Aaron Copland's ``A Lincoln Portrait,'' narrated by Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Also, a community choral group of 175 singers sang four numbers accompanied by the symphony. We were fortunate to have in the audience Waldrop, who was dean at the Juilliard School when Bond and Dokovska were students there.
An all-American program is risky since many people are uncomfortable with contemporary music. The content of this program, the participants involved and the quality of the orchestra alone would have made it an excellent concert. However, the accommodation and cooperation of the RSO staff and Bond in designing this program around our theme and in pulling it all together were exemplary.
Eleven hundred people in the Southwest Virginia Community College service region enjoyed the concert, and will long remember it. We look forward to a return engagement with the orchestra in the future.
I compliment the Roanoke Valley for the support you have given the RSO over the years, especially during the past few years of great growth. Your support has provided many benefits, even beyond your valley. Encouragement of General Assembly support of funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts is equally important to all Virginians for it's that support that helped make it possible for us to enjoy the memorable afternoon of April 2 with the RSO.
MARY W. LAWSON Festival Coordinator Southwest Virginia Community College RICHLANDS
Renters don't escape taxation
AS A FORMER property manager, I am compelled to respond to Lynn H. Anderson's May 5 letter (``Renters don't pay fair tax share'') about apartment dwellers not paying real-estate taxes.
As Anderson mentioned, many factors are included in determining the rent on apartments. And while tenants do not directly pay real-estate taxes, taxes are paid on apartment communities by the property owners.
Not only are taxes paid on each dwelling unit, occupied or not, but they also are paid on the amenities: swimming pools, playgrounds, clubhouses, tennis courts, laundry facilities, etc.
I also would like to inform Anderson that each resident pays utility taxes on telephone and electric service. Water and gas usually are included in the rent, and the property owners pay taxes on these items.
Apartment dwellers also are subject to sales taxes, personal-property taxes on their vehicles, and federal and state income taxes. Just like homeowners.
So yes, real-estate taxes are paid on all rental property, whether it is a large complex, a duplex or a single home.
JERRY A. STONE ROANOKE
Public discourse is practiced now
ASSOCIATE Professor Michael G. Aamodt writes about the danger of ``reduced civil rights and increased limits on public discourse'' (May 8 commentary, ``There's no safety in muzzling civil rights''). He said that placing limits on public discourse is ``dangerous,'' but I say to have no limits on public discourse is dangerous! Justice Holmes said, ``Freedom of speech does not permit one to yell `fire' in a crowded theater.''
Also, I'm puzzled by Aamodt's statement that the ``Sagebrush Revolution'' that elected Ronald Reagan ``symbolizes the American people's concern with attempts to restrict individual rights.'' Didn't Reagan oppose a woman's right to choose? Didn't he feel welfare recipients and criminal defendants had too many ``rights''? Didn't he call unemployment compensation ``a free vacation''? Didn't he speak in support of the Brady handgun bill?
Aamodt calls for ``increased public discourse'' to ``calm the angry American.'' Isn't that exactly what we now have? He says ``we must be careful about the way we respond [to the Oklahoma City bombing incident].'' Doesn't this admonition also pertain to talk-show hosts who, for instance, instruct listeners to shoot someone with a bullet-proof vest by aiming for the head?
The right of private militias to speak as they sometimes do doesn't permit treasonous or seditious speech, which our forefathers curtailed in 1798. We already have a local militia, the National Guard, at the beck and call of each state's governor.
I suggest some reading on the subject of this letter - ``The True Believer'' by Eric Hoffer, and ``A Nation of Sheep'' by Vance Packard.
JACK E. BYRD HARDY
Clinton's defenders can't accept truth
THE ADVICE that Jean M. Phillips gives others - to think before voting in 1996 (May 9 letter to the editor, ``Trading on hate of the president'') - she should take herself.
She isn't thinking when she blindly calls Clinton caring, compassionate and sincere. Caring? He cares for himself (Whitewater, adultery, 1994 election-year attacks, etc.). Compassionate? Does anyone remember reversals on gays in the military, middle-class tax breaks, ignoring Bosnia, etc.? Sincere? Please! What about previously listed reversals, using every situation - like the Oklahoma City bombing - for political gain? What about his lack of character?
I believe the fact that Rush Limbaugh's radio show has 20-30 million listeners, that he has two best-sellers, and a top-rated TV show is proof enough that he's funny, and he has the perfect job. Sen. Bob Dole has the right to disagree with the president - the way Clinton made a fool of himself during the 1994 election year, insulting Republicans. (It worked well, didn't it?) Dan Quayle shows jealousy? What is there to be jealous of in an irrelevant president?
People like Phillips can't accept the truth. Clinton is an unpopular president who still does his job by the latest poll rating.
JIM DOOLEY BLACKSBURG
Giving as good as they've gotten
I READ, with some amusement, Irene Ferguson's May 8 letter to the editor (``More terrorist attacks are likely''). She said that Rush Limbaugh stated he was on loan from God, but she felt he was on loan from the devil. She must have only listened once, or she distorted the statement to make her point. The actual statement Limbaugh uses is: ``With talent on loan from God.'' We should all be so humble.
This is typical of the distortions and hate that have spewed forth from liberals for the past 30 years. They say that radio airwaves are full of hate from the right. For 30 years, I feel the press and television have been full of hate from the left, and the standard answer from the left, which is supported by the media, has been to villainize any opposition to its programs. If you opposed any liberal program, you were a racist, bigot, hatemonger, homophobic, greedy, heartless, mean-spirited, and wanted to starve children, the elderly, the homeless, etc.
Go back to the way the media attacked Newt Gingrich when they knew he was going to be speaker of the House of Representatives. One national magazine featured him on the front cover as the Grinch who stole Christmas. Of course, the intent was to portray him as mean, greedy and hating children. Everyone knows that only President Clinton and liberals love children. Have you ever heard Clinton give a speech where he wasn't talking about doing something for our children?
So, if there is tough talk coming from those on the right, it's because they have learned from 30 years of being on the receiving end from liberals.
DONALD DREITZLER LEXINGTON
by CNB