ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170005
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
THE RECENT passing of Artie Levin, Roanoke's mentor of the joy of exercise, has given me cause to reflect on his works.
My memories of him began in 1959 with a nervous appearance on his morning-exercise TV show along with my teammates from the Boys Club's 85-pound sandlot football squad. Although we had just won the city championship, Levin proceeded to beat the whole team in a tug-of-war contest - with good humor, of course.
In the past 16 years of living in the city, I often saw him bicycling past my house or we would nod acknowledgment as we biked by each other.
Levin was a man of action. He was an advocate of greenways and multiuse recreational trails. I'm thrilled at the preliminary approval from the Commonwealth Transportation Board of the Mill Mountain Prospect Greenway (May 11 article, ``Looks like thumbs up for bike path'' ).
I suggest that Roanoke take a further step to preserve Levin's memory and what he tried to accomplish for his city. I propose that Roanoke honor his work by creating the Artie Levin Exerciseway/Greenway. It would provide residents - young and old - a pleasant, safe area to walk, jog or bicycle, and it can be developed from an existing linear park.
The greenway can be achieved by changing automobile traffic flow to one-way, beginning at the southwest corner of Wasena Park (at the railroad track crossing), continuing in the direction of the flow of the river, through Smith Park and the South Roanoke Sports Complex to the railroad overpass at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. One lane of the existing road would be for one-way automobile traffic; the other lane would be the exerciseway/greenway. It could connect with and enhance the above-mentioned Mill Mountain Prospect Greenway.
I bike this route from my house to Mill Mountain now, and automobile traffic can be dense and dangerous. This relatively simple change would improve the pleasurable use of these parks by decreasing traffic, and the exerciseway/greenway would be the city's pride and a catalyst for additional greenway projects. By naming the greenway for Levin, we can assure his memory will remain with Roanoke in a healthy, wholesome place to exercise.
JIM CRAWFORD
ROANOKE
Clinton has much in common with Bush
IT IS THAT time again when we as voters will take a few moments out of our daily lives and lethargically decide who will be our next commander in chief.
As a contemptuous voter, I have a question: How could we with a good conscience possibly have voted in our current president?
Remember former President George Bush and the reasons he was not re-elected? He lied to the people about not raising taxes; he lied about not being involved in Iran-Contra; and foreign affairs dominated his mind-set more than our own domestic problems.
I am perturbed with Bill Clinton because he stated during the 1992 debates that he wouldn't raise taxes. Then what transpired in 1993 was one of the largest tax increases ever placed on taxpayers. (He even tried to persuade taxpayers to forgive him while visiting a group of Houston businessmen. Clinton stated, "I also think I raised your taxes too much.")
Bob Dole, the Senate majority leader, has raised some mystifying questions concerning the administration's involvement with Iran-Bosnia. During Clinton's campaign, I remember being constantly bombarded with his assertions that "President Bush seems to concern himself more with other countries' woes than with our own.'' It seems the only issue on the president's agenda nowadays is his peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. (Why do we need armed personnel for a mission of peace?)
Just wanted to point out the hypocrisy and similarities of the current president and former president.
HURLEY C. LASSITER III
ROANOKE
Yes, creationism is science, too
THE WELL-intended letter to the editor by Charlene M. Lutes on April 20, "Creationism isn't science, so don't teach it as such," makes several good points. But the main thrust of it should be challenged as simply wrong.
"An intelligent, purposeful creator," Lutes reasoned, "could have created any conceivable kind of natural world; therefore, predictions about the natural world made from a creationist theory cannot be falsified." So she concluded that creationism doesn't qualify as a scientific model of origins.
To see that this is a non sequitur, consider this parallel line of reasoning: An intelligent, purposeful Henry Ford could have designed any conceivable kind of automobile; therefore, predictions about the way a Model-T Ford operates cannot be falsified if made by a person who believes that someone designed it. Those predictions could be falsified, because we aren't considering automobiles that Ford could have designed, but only the one he actually designed.
Either the life forms observed today were purposefully designed and abruptly created or they came into existence through mindless, gradual, naturalistic processes. If one of these ideas is scientific, then so is the other. If either is falsifiable, then a true alternative to it could exist. Some evolutionists allow for some measure of supernatural intervention; all creationists accept the fact that natural processes are at work, gradually changing our world, but deny that these processes are generally constructive, let alone capable of changing a frog into a prince, even given plenty of time.
Why does this matter? Because the implications are so momentous. Young people need to decide whether we're merely animals - specifically primates with advanced brains, whose future evolution might be accelerated by selectively eliminating the weak and unfit. The attractive alternative, of course, is that we have a maker who may very well still be around and quite interested in our conduct and destiny.
THOMAS JAMES GODFREY
BLACKSBURG
Franklin official is doing good work
REGARDING your April 25 article (``Franklin official criticized'') about the loyalty of Macon Sammons, Franklin County's administrator:
He's doing an excellent job. Perhaps we should look for alternative ways to come up with funds for band uniforms since this seems to be the primary issue.
Sounds like those criticizing where Sammons lives and where his children go to school either do or should live in Boones Mill.
CHARLES PETERS
FERRUM
City's raises are not out of bounds
REGARDING your May 14 editorial, ``Is meals-tax hike still on the menu?'':
You stated that ``city workers are getting extraordinary raises.'' The primary subject was related to merits of increasing the meals tax. The editorial slammed 1,800 city workers.
The majority of local-government bodies, including school boards, have pay plans with ``steps'' that provide pay increases in addition to cost-of-living adjustments. The city pay plan has no steps imbedded that provide workers a step increase of 5 percent plus a COLA of 3 percent. Our 4.5 percent merit increase represents the total amount our employees are eligible to receive if they obtain a satisfactory annual performance review.
An ``apples to apples'' comparison would provide our taxpaying citizens more factual information to form their own opinion.
JAMES D. GRISSO
Director of Finance, City of Roanoke
ROANOKE
An odd way to honor Christ
DIVERSITY enriches; hatred divides. How strange that many who call themselves Christians, righteous and proud, practice a religion that teaches love and compassion by voicing hatred and condemnation.
Surely, Christ would weep - not because of gays, but because of those who hate them.
ETHEL-MARIE UNDERHILL
BLACKSBURG
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