ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605290017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
AS BOTETOURT County, like other localities, invites more foreign investment (as in auto-parts plants), we can't help but wonder what the reaction might have been 20 years ago.
Not to stir up old fears and embarrassments, but a few county residents were convinced foreigners - possibly not of this world - were stalking them in 1976. So concerned were they that ``foreign aircraft'' had targeted Botetourt, Bath and Allegheny counties, that they petitioned for State Police cars and county sheriffs' cruisers to be equipped with antiaircraft guns so they could shoot these intruders out of the sky.
Dels. Dick Cranwell of Vinton and Vic Thomas of Roanoke may remember. Area residents sent them material complaining that ``odd-looking foreign-built aircraft'' were harassing them, and suggesting these were either from outer space or part of a plot by an ``international secret society of brilliant but crooked scientists and crooked politicians'' intent on Sovietizing the world. The United Nations, perhaps?
Needless to say, Cranwell and Thomas resisted the entreaties for antiaircraft missiles. So, today, foreign investors flying over the area to look at industrial sites can rest assured the county sheriffs won't blow them away.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB