Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995                   TAG: 9507070021
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOODLATTE SHOWED HIS COLORS

``When fellow GOP officeholders shied away from Oliver North during last year's U.S. Senate race, Goodlatte was an enthusiastic champion on the stump, once jumping onto a bench in the Roanoke City Market to extol North's virtues to the crowd.''

Happily, a lot of his fellow Republicans weren't as enthusiastic as Goodlatte about North, who went down to defeat after spending $20 million or so against Sen. Chuck Robb. The Democrats couldn't have done it alone, so there are responsible Republicans out there. But by his actions in enthusiastically supporting North, Goodlatte showed he isn't one of them.

PAULINE S. TURNER LEXINGTON

Roanoker's story is inspiring

FOR A long time, your weekly religion column (Back Pew) has lacked spiritual content. Religious news is important to some readers.

I was disappointed that Cody Lowe wrote trivia to fill up the June 25 column (``Sympathetic friends help make pain more bearable''). It was about his trip to a doctor's office during which he was given a flopsy bunny to cuddle.

I also was disappointed that you didn't have any uplifting news of the marvel that a mere woman - a Roanoke native - is the titular head this year of the entire denomination of the Church of the Brethren internationally.

Today, there's opposition from men to prevent women from becoming pastors in a large number of Protestant churches. I know of no female rabbis or priests. And even the Brethren have certainly expressed their silent, unspoken opinion against women in roles of pastoral leadership. Nurturer, yes. Leader, no.

Judy Mills Reimer preached an outstanding keynote sermon before 1,000 people in the Charlotte Civic Center recently. You may say that is Charlotte, N.C., news. Not so. Many members of the Brethren community from Roanoke attended.

Reimer has no pretense to be Joan of Arc. But some of your readers might be inspired to know the story behind a local girl's rise to such a high level of respect in a very conservative denomination.

Certainly, the human aspect would be of interest: the love story of a young girl who chose to devote a year of her life to serve as a Christian volunteer in Germany where she met a young Canadian boy, also a volunteer, and how they married, and settled down in Roanoke to become owners of Harris Office Furniture.

Reimer deserves prayer, support and encouragement from all women who don't wish such light to be hidden under the barrel of newspaper rubbish and trivia.

NANCY ROYER ROANOKE

Delay stadium's opening until '96

SALEM SHOULD delay the opening of the new Salem Avalanche baseball stadium until next year. If the stadium opens later in July as planned for, then it appears to me that the sense of excitement, anticipation, new beginning and all the other hoopla and fanfare that typically accompanies the opening of new stadiums will be tainted by the fact that the 1995 Carolina baseball season is already more than half over. The luster and significance of the event will be diminished.

Unless there are contractual agreements forcing the opening as scheduled, why not wait until next year? It might not be ready until then anyway.

DENNIS BROWN ROANOKE

Adding heaps to the tops

I SEE the Roanoke Valley is getting ready for another beautification program. We don't have enough towers to enhance our mountains, so another is being planned for Read Mountain (June 14 article, ``Read Mountain tower to get 2nd chance''). It's too bad that I have to live in Botetourt County, where only trees decorate the hilltops.

NANCY YOUNG BLUE RIDGE

Jews aren't new to the nation

CHARLES HAYNES believes that America is a Christian nation (July 4 letter to the editor, ``The preaching of secular humanism''). In support of his position, he states, ``Some nationalities, such as Jewish, didn't even come to this country until the 1800s.''

To the contrary, Jews have lived in this land long before we declared our independence from Britain, and they fought and died in the Revolutionary War along with their Christian brethren.

More important, Judaism isn't a nationality but a religion. Our nationality is American. And we're just as American as our Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and atheist brothers and sisters.

MARCIA SHERNOFF ROANOKE