ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604080008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
THE DANGER in Roanoke County, following decisive - and divisive - defeat of a bond issue for a new high school in Southwest, is that a commitment to quality education will founder on the shoals of sectional ill will. Some bond-issue opponents started the county down this path; perhaps it's understandable that some disappointed supporters are ready to follow.
Regardless of who's pursuing it, though, beggaring thy neighbor is myopic policy. Southwest County has pressing school needs that must be addressed with a sense of urgency. But leaving the Northside gym a useless shell as a monument to the bond issue's defeat, as one distraught supporter suggested, would do nothing to resolve the problems in Southwest.
Defeat of the bonds was a setback for quality public education in the county. The goal now should be recovering from the setback, not making things even worse. County officials, faced with the task of re-examining the needs of the district as a whole, have their work cut out.
FROZEN Easter eggs? Pink noses not on stuffed bunnies but on children?
Somebody needs to have a little talk with our weather forecasters. This is the weekend that traditionally is supposed to bring out the spring bonnets, not the snow boots. And yet we're threatened here in Southwest Virginia with unseasonably cold temperatures and - arghhh! - perhaps even the chance of a snowflake or two.
Who would ever dream of a white Easter?
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB