Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509080056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When asked which is the most cost-effective computer, he responded without hesitation:
"The human brain, because that is the only computer than can be mass produced by unskilled laborers who enjoy their work.''
ROBERT A. HELLER
BLACKSBURG
Mantle tarnished his own image
REFERRING TO Charles S. Wertalik's Sept. 1 letter to the editor (``Mantle's image is safe at home''):
It wasn't ``some people'' who denigrated Mickey Mantle's accomplishments or tarnished his image. It was Mickey himself.
``Some people'' simply write about it.
ROBERT F. ADAMS
ROANOKE
Allen must be denied a majority
DWAYNE YANCEY'S thoughtful Sept. 3 article (``You have a chance to set state's political agenda'') on this fall's legislative elections pointed out a serious problem for most voters, especially for those of us in House District 12. For most of us who are not party zealots, voting for the person, not the party, is the American way.
This fall, however, some of us around Blacksburg have a quandary. Many count both Jim Shuler and Larry Linkous as friends or as men we know to have been successful businessmen and community leaders. We view neither as dangerously on the left or right fringes of the political spectrum. Few of us will cast our vote because we are against one of these two House of Delegates candidates.
For most of us, this election has to focus on the policies of Republican Gov. George Allen and his party. They have shown their intentions to further decimate the state's colleges and universities, and make no secret of their contempt for the faculty and staffs of those institutions. The Republican Party's slash-and-burn agenda for higher education is so blatantly obvious that even Republican Linkous publicly voices his opposition to it.
Larry wants the voters to vote for him and forget the goals of his party. The problem is that his party and his governor really don't give a darn what Larry thinks. All they want is to take over the legislature. If Linkous and others like him are elected and Allen gets his majority, Larry's lone voice protesting the governor's destruction of Virginia Tech and Radford University won't mean a thing. Faculty and staff will lose jobs, and local businesses, even those run by loyal Republicans, will suffer from the loss of income in the community.
This is, unfortunately, not an election where we have the luxury of ``voting for the man.'' We will, no matter how lofty our other motives, be voting for or against the Allen agenda. Larry Linkous, no matter how sincere or well-intentioned, will not be able to sidetrack that agenda, and a vote for Larry will be a vote for Allen.
A vote for Jim Shuler will, on the other hand, be a vote for our community. Jim, in his two years in Richmond, has shown his independence from the power brokers of the legislature. He has demonstrated his ability to work with representatives of both parties and to do what is best for this community. Perhaps more importantly, a vote for Shuler will not help give Allen control of the legislature and control over our lives.
JIM MARCHMAN
BLACKSBURG
The classification of Mickey Mantle
IN HIS Aug. 26 letter to the editor (``Mantle dodged military service''), Thomas L. Granger referred to Mickey Mantle's classification as a 4F in 1953. Then Granger referred to Mantle as a draft dodger, which was obviously a dishonest statement. You could not be 4F and also a draft dodger.
So I would like to inform Mr. Granger that the next time he wants to call somebody a draft dodger he should think of Bill Clinton, not Mickey Mantle.
EDWARD T. BOWLES
MONETA
Regulations will save kids' lives
FOUR-HUNDRED bus loads of Virginia teen-agers start smoking every year, and one-third will eventually die from tobacco-related causes! Do adult smokers want our kids to take up the tobacco habit? Who would protest proposed Food and Drug Administration regulations aimed at protecting our kids? These would:
Prohibit cigarette sales from vending machines and self-service displays, allowing only sales by clerks. (Twenty-two percent of 13-year-olds get cigarettes from vending machines).
Allow sales of cigarettes and chewing tobacco to customers who are 18 or over and show proof of age.
Prevent the sale of individual cigarettes or packs of fewer than 20. (Who would buy one cigarette?)
Forbid tobacco brand-name sponsorship of sporting and entertainment events.
Forbid brand names or logos on products like caps, T-shirts or gym bags, which aren't related to smoking.
Forbid outdoor advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.
Limit cigarette advertising in magazines with significant numbers of young readers (2 million or 15 percent of the readership) and limit all outdoor advertising to black-and-white text with no pictures.
Require the tobacco industry to finance a $150 million annual public-relations campaign to deter young people from smoking.
Why so much focus on advertising? In the three years following the introduction of the Joe Camel campaign, Camel's market share among underage smokers jumped from .5 percent to 32.8 percent, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
As a Republican wanting less government regulations, I favor these regulations. That's because, as one Republican from the No. 1 tobacco-growing state of Kentucky put it, ``Tobacco is bad business and bad for business.''
As a Republican, I don't want to be aligned with a product or industry that, without question, harms users' health and the health of those around them. I am concerned about tobacco jobs, and I am not for a ban on tobacco products for those over 21.
The president can smoke his cigars and the governor can chew his tobacco, but let's protect our youth.
DEBBIE SAMS
ROANOKE
Livestock shows unfairly depicted
I AM writing in response to the Aug. 21 news article ``Livestock shows: Cheat to win.''
As a member of 4-H and Future Farmers of America, I was outraged at the way the article was written. I shudder at the thought of what the public may perceive from the facts given.
Since the age of 9, I have shown cattle on the local, regional and national level. I am now entering my senior year of high school. Showing Simmental heifers, I have on occasion shown against Ryan Rash, the exhibitor mentioned in the article. In a world that is searching to find answers to the problems that youths face, I think I can successfully say that this article has not only painted a bad picture of exhibitors, but has battered and broken support that has been given to our struggling livestock program in this state.
The livestock programs in this nation are not full of the cheaters and liars as the article perceived. The article also failed to mention that shows are taking steps to prevent such actions, and to expel such exhibitors. Several of these exhibitors have been required to advertise their names and the reasons why others should not follow their lead, including some of the mentioned Ohio juniors.
I would also like to state that this is an outbreak that has never before occurred in such proportions. In some cases, the cheating and drugging is done by parents or others hired to do it without the exhibitors' knowledge.
We are a group of trustworthy young people, and I only ask that the reputation of our programs not be torn to shreds by a few.
MARNIE POTTER
LEXINGTON
by CNB