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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995                   TAG: 9507310049
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFLY PUT...

xGOV. George Allen is pressing packs of cigarettes in people's hands as he presses the flesh around the state. Nothing surprising there. From his cowboy boots to the heads and skins of dead animals adorning his office, this governor has made it clear he's proud to spit a plug of chaw in the eye of political correctness. Which is, of course, correct among certain political constituencies.

And tobacco does play a big role in Virginia's economy. It also plays a big role in disease and death among its residents. In fact, it puts lots of people in hospital beds, creates work for lung and heart surgeons plus ancillary staff, and creates entrepreneurial opportunities for makers and vendors of medical equipment, such as oxygen masks. The ideal economic development tool, tobacco creates its own market via addiction and spins off demand for a whole range of goods and services, including the production of tobacco-industry pockets big enough to hold politicians.

CONGRESS is poised to turn over virtually complete control of 270 million acres of federal land - at 75 percent below market rates - to a tiny special interest: the 22,000 holders, including millionaire investors, of cattle-grazing permits on the land.

The bill ignores the ownership interests of the general public. It threatens the stability of some of the most environmentally fragile land in the country. How about ending such welfare for the rich?

by CNB