ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605100006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
YOUR April 13 editorial (``Throwing money at the Pentagon'') was a welcome reminder of the misplaced priorities of the 104th Congress. In their zeal to balance the budget, federal legislators have targeted the most vulnerable and protected the most powerful.
Suppose Congress felt as much concern for programs that make our communities better places to live - programs that support mental health, the arts, education, decent housing and job training - as they do for maintaining multibillion-dollar defense industries. In many cases, more jobs are generated in programs serving human needs than are created in manufacturing weapons.
If the $7 billion recently authorized for spending on obsolete, ineffective or destabilizing weapons systems were instead distributed evenly to communities across the land, the Roanoke Valley would receive about $6 million. Just think how that infusion would bolster organizations that have suffered losses of public and private revenues and contributions.
How many jobs could be created right here? How many houses could be built or upgraded? How many more children could be enrolled in Head Start or after-school care? How many people could be assisted in preparing themselves for a better future?
Surely, this would be a far better way to devote tax dollars than to expenditures for weapons, which some politicians with an appetite for pork (but no appetite for campaign-finance reform, we might add) seem to still consider worthwhile as another way to garner votes.
TOM NASTA
President, steering committee
Plowshare Peace and Justice Center
ROANOKE < Editor's note: This letter was signed by five other members of the steering committee.
Don't stereotype students
I DISLIKE how The Roanoke Times disrespects me and my fellow schoolmates by calling us ``troubled youths'' (April 16 article, ``Suspended principal back on payroll''). This comment is distorting me and my school's image.
To my understanding, a ``troubled youth'' is a young person who is totally disrespectful, has no home training, and doesn't care about himself or herself or the surroundings. This isn't a fair description of the majority of the student body at my school.
I hope my point gets across to The Roanoke Times, the superintendent and others who read your articles.
TERRENCE PARKER
Student, Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy
ROANOKE
Abortion procedure is an atrocity
HOW MANY of your readers realize what takes place during a partial-birth abortion? According to documentation by pro-abortionists, among them Dr. Martin Haskell who has performed hundreds of these abortions, it's this:
The baby is fully alive and aware, and is outside of the uterus when this takes place. The baby's brain is literally sucked out until the skull collapses. The baby isn't anesthetized and experiences an extremely painful death.
There's no medical, moral or legal justification for this gruesome, abhorrent procedure. Almost two-thirds of Americans want restrictions or limitations on the 1.5 million abortions a year. Yet our president ignores our wishes and refuses to ban a barbaric procedure that rivals those done by the Nazis. What kind of a nation are we that we allow these atrocities to take place?
MARILYN EISENBACK
BLACKSBURG
Trains are causing traffic jams
BIG METROPOLITAN areas are cursed with heavy traffic on highways and occasional accidents on the freeway that make hundreds of people late to work.
Apparently overcome with jealousy for this big-city hazard to hard-working citizens, Roanoke compensates by allowing empty freight trains to block downtown intersections for more than 15 minutes at a time during rush hour. For example, commuters were delayed from 8:10 a.m. to almost 8:30 a.m. on April 15 at at least two major downtown intersections.
Obviously, there's no way to predict when a highway accident will happen. However, to minimize the effects, the media immediately start broadcasting where it has occurred, amount of damage, number of lanes blocked and possible alternative routes.
In contrast, all rail travel is scheduled. Perhaps it would be possible for really long trains, which will delay traffic at major downtown intersections, to be scheduled for nonpeak commuter times. And when this isn't possible, surely the media could provide warnings for commuters like those provided commuters in other areas, including the area affected, the probable length of delay and alternative routes.
BERNICE Y. SMITH
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Medium: 94 linesby CNB