ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290025
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
FREEDOM of the press shouldn't carry a license to print inaccuracies, oversimplifications and biases. Unfortunately, all those deficiencies came together to form the genesis of your March 22 editorial, ``A judge's hurtful decision.''
At times, the press in general, and The Roanoke Times specifically, forgets that there are more rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights than the First Amendment. There are the rights of citizens to be protected by due process of the law. These rights are protected by the courts, free, it is to be hoped, from intimidating editorials.
Responsible journalism requires judgment founded upon complete, not partial and not speculative, facts. Clearly your editorial board didn't possess complete facts, and those it possessed were inaccurate, as your ``correction'' printed the next day makes abundantly apparent.
Your editorial board ignored the law as well, which provides that it's illegal to sell alcohol to someone under 21 years of age ``when at the time of such sale [the cashier] knows or has reason to believe that the person to whom the sale is made is less than 21 years of age.'' Evidence in the case before Judge George Harris didn't prove that the cashier knew or had reason to believe that she was making a sale to an underage purchaser.
The police have every responsibility to monitor illegal sales of alcohol in violation of the law. To do so by sending a 20-year-old informant, who appeared to be significantly older than 21, is manifestly unjust, and Judge Harris appropriately refused a plea to a fact scenario that was unfair and didn't establish a violation of the statute. That's the essence of due process. If law enforcement wants to stop alcohol sales to juveniles, then send in informants who are underage and look underage, not by months, but by years!
Even though your editorial board admitted that it didn't ``know all the factors,'' it rushed to its own judgment and ``welcomed'' an altogether wrongheaded and hurtful investigation of Judge Harris by the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission. If only there were a similar commission to investigate this newspaper's reckless haste to condemn and intimidate with sketchy and inaccurate facts. We'd like to hear your explanation.
JONATHAN ROGERS
ROANOKE
Editor's note: This letter was also signed by two other attorneys, John Lichtenstein and Robert Rider.
The project is too flawed for approval
I CAN'T believe anyone who graduated from the fourth grade would vote yes on the April 2 school-bond referendum. This project is so flawed that the taxpayers will be writing a blank check for $37.4 million if the referendum passes.
There's no site plan to fix the location of the building on the property. There's no architect's rendering of the front elevation or a model of the building. There have been no test borings to determine if the land is suitable.
And the interested federal agencies haven't been advised officially. Therefore, there has been no approval of the flood-plain status of the site.
Remember, this is a general-obligation bond. The money goes into the general fund along with your real-estate taxes, sales-tax receipts and, yes, revenue from your water and sewer bills. The only legal obligation the county administration has is to pay off these bonds on the agreed-to schedule.
Does Roanoke County need a new Cave Spring High School? Good question. The school administration will start to conduct a countywide assessment of school needs, and consider how they should be addressed. Not until after April 2, however.
DON TERP
ROANOKE
Make sure all babies are wanted
IN RESPONSE to Craig Mason's Feb. 25 letter to the editor, ``Abortion's wounds are deep, painful'':
I suggest the most positive action to prevent abortions isn't to outlaw or criminalize them, but to work together to eliminate unwanted pregnancies.
There are many groups throughout the nation, among them Planned Parenthood, which seek to educate men and women about pregnancy prevention and the various means of contraception. These groups also provide, often for free or at a nominal cost, contraceptive devices.
There will be no need for abortions when we can say that every child is a wanted child.
JAN DOWLING
ROANOKE
Giles families left high and dry
IN RESPONSE to your Feb. 29 editorial, "Leading Giles to the trough'':
A countywide water system is badly needed for the 16,000 residents, for industries we have, and to attract new ones to the county. However, I find it hard to have much sympathy for the industries because they have to pay such exorbitant amounts of fire-insurance premiums. At least they have water.
Several families in Wayside, mine included, have been without water for all but three weeks since last July. We haul our water in gallon jugs from Peterstown, W.Va. We pray for rain to fill up the barrel and buckets. It's hard to embrace a hope for the "water of the future."
Your editorial said the county leaders and five towns have labored hard for seven years to make the water project for the county a reality and deserve the Giles County residents' gratitude. I'm sure they've worked hard and it has, no doubt, been very frustrating for them at times. Still, I find it hard to feel much gratitude or want to pat them on the back when the pipes are still empty and rust is building up inside them for lack of water.
Can any of them say when Wayside will have a good water system?
ROSIE BUCKLAND
NARROWS
Students want their very own style
REGARDING uniforms in school:
As a student at William Byrd Middle School, I feel that wearing uniforms would take away students' individuality. Kids today like to express themselves through their own style of clothing.
Also, in my opinion, uniforms would be very uncomfortable for a long day of school. Why does the dress code have to change?
Speaking for myself and other students, we don't want uniforms!
BRITTNEY MARSHALL
ROANOKE
Let the story have a happy ending
ONCE UPON a time, there was a family with two girls and three boys. Each child had special talents - leadership, art, music, sports, etc. - and each excelled in some area. As in all families, the children had needs, and the parents worked very hard to meet each child's needs.
One spring, the two girls needed dresses to go the school prom. When the parents announced plans to buy the dresses, the brothers became upset. They realized their parents would spend more on the girls that month than on them. The brothers quickly forgot the football and basketball shoes purchased for them earlier, and also the summer camps they would later be going to.
The parents saw their children's bad feelings, and decided a family meeting was in order. At the meeting, the parents reminded the children how each of their needs had been met at different times, and how they would continue to be met. The brothers thus realized they hadn't looked at the past and had failed to consider the future. They told their sisters they would like to help them pick out their dresses, and for them to have a great time at the prom. The sisters offered to help drive the brothers to summer camp, and they all lived happily ever after.
How nice it would be if government fairy tales could be as easily concluded. How nice if jurisdictional brothers and sisters could talk about their needs, and work together to reach goals beneficial to the county family.
Recently, I came across a speech made by Patrick Henry during the first continental Congress in 1774. He said: ``The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian but an American.'' Perhaps it's time to stop saying, ``I'm a Northside, Windsor Hills, Cave Spring, Glenvar or Vinton resident,'' and start saying, ``I'm a Roanoke County resident.'' Think about it, and vote on April 2 for a ``happily ever after'' ending.
DAVID W. BLEVINS
Principal
Hidden Valley Junior High School
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Long : 151 linesby CNB