Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506120001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There is a system in place within all land-grant universities in the United States that's used to disseminate research information to the public. That system is called the Cooperative Extension Service. As a former extension home economist in West Virginia, one of my responsibilities was to communicate research information, relayed to me by the extension specialist at the university, putting it into terms the public could understand.
Unfortunately, extension specialist positions have often been eliminated due to budget cuts, thus severing a vital link in the chain between the university-research community and communities that could benefit most from research information. The public and Virginia fail to see this side of Cooperative Extension programming. Perhaps this newspaper and others across Virginia should look to the Cooperative Extension Services for more information.
KAREN B. WATSON
BLACKSBURG
Conspiring to do good deeds
AS A Freemason, I find it almost an honor to be falsely attacked by the John Birch Society, the militia and Pat Robertson as part of an international conspiracy to destroy our free form of government (June 4 Horizon section article, ``Be afraid, be very afraid''). Ironically, Robertson's father was a Freemason, serving as master of his lodge and as district deputy grand master of the Lexington-Buena Vista area.
It's the world's oldest fraternal organization, with origins in the Middle Ages. It grew from organizations that built churches, castles and cathedrals, and who preserved knowledge and practices of an earlier age through the Dark Ages. At some time, these men adapted tools and implements of architecture to the symbolic building of temples in the hearts of men. Requiring only a belief in God, the order isn't a religion, but teaches tolerance for all religious beliefs. It embraces members of the Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist and some lesser faiths. If it's a conspiracy, it's one to teach the brotherhood of man. Fundamentalists like Robertson have attacked it for years because it teaches that individuals must find their own way to God. This distresses sects that believe and teach that their way is the only way, and condemn all others.
Many signers of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were members, as well as were 14 presidents. In Virginia, our grand masters (there's no national Masonic organization) have included such luminaries as John Blair, Chief Justice John Marshall and George Washington. History teaches that Freemasonry was largely responsible for many protections found in our Bill of Rights. A conspiracy? Not unless it was the agreement to found a new nation dedicated to free exercise of the inalienable privileges of free men and women.
Freemasonry continues to teach the values of toleration, brotherhood and freedom. Its lodges and associated bodies fill the Roanoke Valley and Virginia. The Shrine spends millions of dollars annually to operate burn centers and crippled children's hospitals; the Knights Templar provide free eye operations and research through an eye foundation. Scottish Rite Masons operate clinics in Roanoke, Richmond and elsewhere for children's speech defects. Masonic lodges support these activities, and provide scholarships to local students, charitable assistance to others, and operate the finest home for the aged in Virginia. Overall, Masons spend more than $1 million a day for charity.
Masons are a conspiracy after all - a conspiracy to do good for all who need it.
CABELL F. COBBS
ROANOKE
No place to go slumming
I AM impressed by the hundreds of so-called grown-ups who trashed the Jefferson Center while participating in the Festival in the Park black-tie gala!
If that's how Roanoke's so-called elite class behaves, I'm glad I'm not classed as such.
I suggest the Festival's next ``elite event'' be held in a more appropriate location - a zoo!
MARTY PHILPOTT
ROANOKE
Proper penance for young arsonists
WHAT is proper punishment for the youngsters who allegedly wanted to see fire and burned the old First Baptist Church in Gainsboro?
If found guilty, locking up these boys won't help, and doing nothing won't help. If justice were to be served, the parents and the judge would agree to furnish two wheelbarrows and two shovels, and the boys would clean up that lot this summer.
THOMAS E. SCARCE
ROANOKE
by CNB