Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130009
SECTION: EDITORIL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Let us set the record straight. The so-called motor-voter law attempts to recruit the most irresponsible segment of the voting-age public to help elect those who will govern us all.
At age 18, many young people have never held a position of responsibility, had to support a family or pay ever-increasing taxes to support a bloated government bureaucracy and a welfare state. School is a place where idealism flourishes and pragmatism is unheard of. Handouts and a free lunch sound pretty good when you've never had to pay for them.
It's absurd to force hard-working families to pay for administering a special program to register those who are too irresponsible to register themselves - unless, of course, you stand to gain politically by doing so (recruiting idealists who are, by and large, Democrats).
Maybe we should ask: ``Does Gov. Allen mistrust self-interested politicians?'' I think we all should.
ROBERT MERIAN
SALEM
Driving residents out of the city
AS THE flames recently destroyed a beautiful house under renovation in the 600 block of Day Avenue, I told myself that this was the proverbial last straw. I will not buy in the area and take the chance of either unrecoverable equity or the chance of destruction that occurs far too often.
I now lease on Sixth Street, and have to endure the loud cursing of drunks and vagrants at all hours of the day and night in front of my home, as well as the blight of trash and filth from unkempt rental homes that heavily punctuate the street.
I had considered the purchase of a nice home nearby, but it's next door to a rental home where residents use the front yard as a garbage dump. The landlord has been called, but he obviously doesn't care. He's one of many who are driving down property values, and will send what would have been tax revenue for the city into the county coffers.
There are good private citizens fighting the long battle of cleanup and restoration, but I don't see the city sending in the calvary to help. This lack of support has made me decide to become a deserter. I will probably pay more for less house elsewhere, but I will not subject my children to this neighborhood while the city watches it burn and deteriorate.
KATHERINE SCHOONOVER
ROANOKE
Teens have no place to hang out
WHY DOESN'T Roanoke have anything better to do than pick on this country's future leaders (Sept. 4 article, "Somewhere to hang")?
I'm one of those young people who enjoys spending time downtown on the weekends. I see no problem with the diversity among people. I'd like to think my generation is trying to stop judging others by the way they look.
It wasn't members of my generation who brought drugs to this country, who wore hippie clothes to be different, who drove around drunk, killing people or who said ``Make love, not war.'' So now that generation has a problem with what it left behind.
Mary Bishop, staff writer of the article, pointed out all the negative things about teens. I wonder if she could try looking at all the good things teens do for Roanoke. In all my teen-age years, Roanoke has never solved the problem of having somewhere for teens to hang out. We finally find a place, and now they want to kick us out of there, too. Roanoke cannot expect us to go into hiding at puberty, come out at 25 years of age and be a citizen.
We're not causing any real problems. The police are arresting only for misdemeanors to get us to go away. If members of older generations support that, then obviously they're the ones who have the problem.
LAURA KESTER
ROANOKE
The best man is not in the running
WADING through the field of Republican presidential candidates, I long for yesteryear, wishing that President Reagan was still around. Yes, I'm living in the past, but I still get the warm fuzzies thinking about what the Reagans did for the country and the Republican Party.
Back to 1996: These well-meaning but boring candidates have all tried to catch that Reagan mystique, but have fallen short.
Unfortunately, the one who could lead this country as Reagan did isn't running: Jack Kemp was an integral cog in the Reagan Revolution, serving in Congress and later on in the Cabinet. And, as the nominee for president, he would carry the Republican Party forward into the 21st century.
But Kemp is a cut above the presidential candidates - he's a conservative with a social conscience. He has a sincere conviction to help this country's less fortunate achieve the American dream.
After House Speaker Newt Gingrich and company are done reforming Washington, our challenge will be to again make America the land of opportunity - for everyone. It starts with safe streets to walk on, continues with providing a quality education and job-rich environment, and it ends with government getting out of the way and letting Americans live free and live their dreams. This is where Kemp wants to take America.
Anyway, Kemp will still make an excellent vice president. So, to all the GOP presidential candidates out there, put Kemp on your ticket - and you'll get my support.
MARGARET BOSTA
ROANOKE
Expulsion would be too kind
IF THE Senate's Ethics Committee felt that Sen. Bob Packwood should have been expelled for his vulgarity and opportunism, what then would be the appropriate treatment for Sen. Ted Kennedy? Public execution comes to mind.
JAMES MICHAEL BESTLER
MARTINSVILLE
by CNB