ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605200010
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
THE COVER story in U.S. News & World Report on April 22, titled ``America's Uncivil Wars,'' related how crude, rude and obnoxious behavior has replaced good manners, and why that hurts our politics and culture. A nationwide poll conducted by U.S. News and Bozell Worldwide decried the demise of civility in our country. I wondered if any Roanokers participated in that poll.
For the most part, the Roanoke Valley seems like a civil place to me. It's a pleasure to go shopping on the City Market where everyone is so friendly and helpful. Most out-of-town visitors find our area to be welcoming and fun. Our quality of life here is one that we should be proud of.
It still bothers me to see grocery carts left in parking lots, someone who doesn't need it taking a handicapped parking space and trash along the roadsides. These are signs of too many folks in too big of a hurry. Being considerate and civil takes such little sacrifice.
On the highways, it's much easier to merge into traffic than in any Northern city. This area's enthusiasm for junior cotillions is proof that our young people are still interested in learning how to be civil. Residents are able to enjoy a Salem Avalanche baseball game without hearing a lot of profanity. And we can still speak with ease to our neighbors.
Even though there's room for improvement, our valley seems an exceptionally nice place to be.
DONNA DILLEY
Area director
National League of Junior Cotillions
SALEM
Can we deny a fetus `personhood'?
I WAS pleased to read David Nova's commentary (May 2, ``Legal tampering with personhood'') discussing the issue of when ``personhood'' begins. This is where the abortion debate should have been all along, for if a fetus is at any state a person, can anyone have a right to choose to end its life?
While I enjoyed the discussion of abortion-related religious and legal decisions, the commentary omitted some of our nation's earlier decisions on personhood - the provision in our original Constitution, for instance, which made blacks three-fifths of a person for voting-apportionment purposes. Later there was the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision holding that black men of slave descent were legally inferior beings not entitled to the protections of the Constitution. And women's personhood didn't include voting privileges until the 19th Amendment.
As the debate shifts to the personhood of the fetus, many are troubled by the testimony of people such as Brenda Shafer, a nurse who described partial-birth abortions to a congressional committee: ``The doctor delivered the baby's body and arms - everything but the head ... The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors through the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startled reaction, like a baby does when you throw him up in the air and he thinks he might fall. Then the doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube through the opening, and sucked the baby's brains out. The baby went completely limp.''
While we've made mistakes, America has in the end advanced the protection of its most vulnerable and powerless members. The question we need to ask is whether denial of personhood to fetuses, at any state, is true to that legacy.
DAVID McKISSACK
BLACKSBURG
U.S. has only one Middle East ally
WE HAVE only one ally in the Middle East. When we were in the Persian Gulf, the only country our troops could go to for rest and relaxation was Israel.
When President Reagan tried to be a peacemaker in Lebanon, who helped the suicide bomber kill our Marines in Beirut? Not Israel.
As for Iran, there we're considered the ``Great Satan.'' Need I tell you about Iraq or Syria, which refused to see our envoy (the secretary of state) who was trying to bring peace to the area? Be thankful to live in this great country, to be able to express our thoughts. That's a small price to pay for peace. And let's send our message to all terrorists.
MILTON EDELMAN
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB