ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606030004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
REGARDING Bosnia and us:
We're aghast at what has happened in Bosnia. People with a history of tolerance have plundered, raped, incarcerated and killed their friends and neighbors - engaging in ethnic cleansing. Why has this taken place?
Lest we forget, the United States and Western Europe rewarded Marshal Tito for keeping Yugoslavia nonaligned during the Cold War. He was given generous amounts of aid and loans. But in this decade, when international socialism rumbled, the aid dried up and loans were called. Inflation and unemployment increased drastically. Nationalistic political leaders seeking to hold onto power and citizens looking for answers to social upheaval turned to scapegoating.
We've witnessed this sort of thing before: Hitler's Third Reich; Chinese laborers on the West Coast; Hutus and Tutsis in Africa now. What we must watch carefully in our own time and place is that this not happen among us.
Resurgent militias, more Ku Klux Klan activity, the burning of churches and desecration of synagogues, persecution of gay persons, scoffing at welfare recipients and pro-choice individuals - these are threats to the warp and woof of our culture today. The ``god of our tribe'' mentality is alive and well. If it's left to grow, it cannot help but lead to violence and genocide.
It's time to learn from Bosnia; We cannot allow our unsettled economic conditions and the political upheavals to suck us into the scapegoating mode.
JAMES W. REYNOLDS
SALEM
Wish to kill was wrongly granted
I WAS appalled when I read (May 12 news article, ``Dying teen makes a wish: to bag big bear in Alaska'') about the Make-A-Wish Foundation's support for a teen-ager's wish to kill a bear in Alaska.
I've always thought the foundation was good and noble to allow a dying child to have some happiness in his or her remaining life. But to allow a kid to do so at the expense of the suffering and death of a majestic animal that has done nothing to him is ludicrous.
I hope everyone who read the article will withdraw any financial support they're giving to the foundation, and give it instead to the Humane Society (or some similar charity). If we do this, then perhaps the foundation will realize how unwise and cruel its decision was. It may also prevent it from granting a similar request from another child.
LAURA REID CORMIER
CHRISTIANSBURG
Vending machines not needed
REGARDING all the hubbub about underage smoking:
It's interesting how tobacco companies talk about how bad it is that young people smoke, and how hard they're trying to curb that by making vending machines less available to minors and checking identifications. These companies know as well as we do that their main source of business comes from youth. If minors didn't smoke, tobacco companies would go out of business.
Honestly, what 20-year-old says to himself or herself, ``I think I'm going to start smoking today''? Usually, it's during the impressionable adolescent years - say, 13 through 16 years of age - when a person starts to smoke for various adolescent reasons.
I say do away with vending machines altogether. Adults can buy their cigarettes at convenience stores.
Also, ``card'' youthful-looking purchasers. If they're under the age of 18, don't sell to them. It ought to be that simple. Of course, there may be an older friend to buy cigarettes for them, but if the number of youth who are smoking goes down just a little, wouldn't it be worth the extra trip to the 7-Eleven?
DANIEL A. HEIDT
RADFORD
No time wasted taking potshots
THE 9TH District's Republican nominee for Congress used his first speech to call Rep. Rick Boucher "slick Rick." Once again, the GOP wants to run an ugly personal campaign like all its others that haven't worked over the past 14 years.
We vote for Boucher because he's a good, hard-working congressman who cares about the people of Southwest Virginia. He runs on his record and on what he wants to do for us, not on saying something bad about the other fellow.
RICHARD C. PENNOCK
RADFORD
Impeach those who mislead voters
ARE ALL politicians culled from that grade-school group that ``doesn't follow directions''? I refer to your May 9 headline, ``Dining tax may climb.''
While I don't live or eat in Roanoke, I'm outraged at the politicians who pull this stuff. Bill Clinton did the same thing. ``We will not raise taxes on the middle class,'' he said. Yet within two weeks after his inauguration, he raised the taxes on gasoline.
I said it about him, and I say it about the ``good ol' boys'' elected in Roanoke. When they start pulling on the voters' chains, there ought to be immediate redress from the public: ``Whoa, fellas! Don't even unpack your bags. You ain't staying.'' Impeach! Re-elect! After a few immediate recalls, we might finally get a group that will represent the needs and desires of the American people. This ``tell them anything to get elected and then do whatever you want'' attitude has to be halted.
The only way I see of accomplishing it is this: As soon as they renege on a campaign promise without good, sensible and agreed-upon cause or if it's discovered they have misled their backers (by silence or double-talk) - jerk their little backsides out - whether they've been in for one hour, one year or one term.
And while I realize the dining tax is not now under consideration, you may rest assured that I'll never eat in Roanoke again, and will discourage anyone I can from doing so.
VICKI ASBURY
DRAPER
McCadden can't dictate to voters
MAC McCADDEN'S statement in your May 8 article (``Black vote mixed for Bowers'') was in bad taste. I'm black, and I do think for myself. I vote when I please, for whom I please, and if I don't vote, that's my constitutional right. McCadden seems to be a spoilsport.
How dare he insult the black people of the Roanoke Valley because things didn't turn out like he thought they should! I guess if it were up to him, we would elect only the ones he wanted on City Council. That's brainwashing, and that's not right.
He's judging us by our only means of trying to make a change, and that's voting. Thank God I know right from wrong. Does McCadden?
BRENDA C. RANDOLPH
ROANOKE
Barbaric acts in the Middle East
REGARDING Charles Roberts' May 6 letter to the editor, ``Stop aiding Israel's barbaric tactics":
He states that he's fed up with his tax dollars paying for the killing of innocent Palestinian women and children, and that he'll most certainly be misunderstood and called a politically incorrect anti-Semite. That may or may not be true, but what is most certainly apparent is his bias, confusion, hatred and illogical thinking.
Does he believe car bombs on busy streets, crowded markets and bus stops aren't barbaric? Does he believe blowing up buses filled with women and children isn't barbaric? Does he believe firing thousands of rockets randomly into residential areas that have no military presence, but are filled with civilians, isn't barbaric? How about suicide bombers, hijackers of airplanes and ships and killers of hostages? Are these not barbaric acts because they were committed by Arabs?
As for the taking of land, Israel was an independent, self-ruling nation long before the League of Nations, in its infinite wisdom and craving for Arab oil, mandated the land to the Arabs after World War I. It was a nation that had a history, a verbal and written language, and a culture that went as far back as Abraham.
One last thought: If Roberts is so concerned with his tax dollars not being used for barbaric purposes, he should think about what his tax dollars paid for in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Any objections?
PHILIP ROSDOL
ROANOKE
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