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

DATE: SUNDAY, November 12, 1995                   TAG: 9511130007
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`SMART' ROAD: A QUESTION OF VALUES

I was appalled by the guest column by Keith Furr about the "smart" road and Interstate 73 in the Oct. 15 New River Current. He is perpetuating the conclusion that "there is no alternative" to the project's environmental, economic and dislocation costs.

Furr classifies everyone opposed to the highway projects as Don Quixotes charging at windmills to preserve the scenery of the Ellett Valley. Apparently, the last 20 years have been lost on people like Furr, who would rather continue in their belief that environmentalism centers on merely aesthetic elements. Man's activities should have a "conserving" effect on the environment, replacing the inane ethic of "growth at all costs."

We must examine our assumptions on this type of economic "development." First, who is reaping windfalls from these projects? What price do we wish to pay for economic "growth?" How much is an asset like Ellett Valley worth to us and to other creatures? Are our lives to be measured by how fast we can travel from one place to another and how many "shopping malls" we can build on prime farmlands?

Or do we wish to live in a diverse environment and be remembered for our intellect that enabled us to preserve wild areas and rural cultures?

Are we Wal-Mart colonists? Or are we true progressives - who, in the words of Thoreau, recognize that "in wildness lies the preservation of the world"?

These projects are being foisted upon citizens by corporations and entities that stand to make huge profits by laying asphalt over prime farmlands. The project's environmental impact statement is an insult. No wildlife survey was conducted, and the project was drastically changed without issuing a document for public comment. The process was a farce.

We have no idea what we are bargaining away to save six minutes of travel time.

It comes down to values. What do we value the most - the farmlands, the waterways and the clean air, or the shopping malls, highways and bowling alleys that serve as momentary diversions from lives that have become hectic, frustrating and numbing from Furr's much-touted "progress"? Let's wrench the definition of progress from short-sighted individuals such as Furr.

Thomas Linzey

Linzey lived in Ellett Valley for seven years and now resides in Shippensburg, Pa. He is an attorney and founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

Jesus was a star to be followed

In response to a letter in the Nov. 5 New River Current, please let the writer know she misunderstands.

"Jesus Christ Superstar" is a rock opera based on the passion and death of Jesus Christ. It was a musical attempt from the '70s to bring the Word to a generation that otherwise wouldn't listen. Jesus Christ is a superstar. He is the biggest, most wonderful star this world has ever seen. If more people would emulate him, the world would be filled with love and peace. Imagine that!

Amy Wood

Blacksburg

There is a loop through my heart

that extends from Blacksburg,

winds its way past Christiansburg

and into the heart of the hills

where I live.

Ellett Valley,

Shawsville, Ironto.

Small-town places I call home

now wind themselves into a road

that calls itself "smart"

and smart it does as

my parcel of heritage,

my hope and family line

gets sectioned off into squares

and angles of lines that

become the land of a big hungry creature

called VDOT

- some machine-blinking, dirt-plowing thing

that cuts my future and my home

in half.

Kathryn Rencsok,

Dianne Rencsok

Christiansburg

by CNB