ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9607020016
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
IN RESPONSE to your June 15 news article, ``Burnings prompt racial concerns'':
The rush to judgment (in spite of the lack of evidence) alleging a white conspiracy to burn black churches seems largely a result of irresponsible spinning by the news media along with some prominent black racists.
In fact, federal authorities have found no such conspiracy after months of investigation. There is some evidence that the church burnings might not be racially motivated at all. A national news organization reported that there has been almost an equal number of white churches burned during the same period.
Any number of off-the-wall theories could be postulated. Maybe satanists or black racists groping for a sympathetic issue are responsible. Many theories would be as plausible (but perhaps not as politically correct) as the rush to blame some white right-wing pyro bubbas wearing pointy hoods.
How's about we just wait and see how the investigations turn out? Responsible journalists seek the truth from many angles, not just the politically correct slant. Courageous journalists are not flacks for the in-vogue political establishment. Intelligent journalists who have a measure of integrity reserve judgment until all the facts are in.
The idea that the black church fires are an outbreak of white hatred hasn't yet been established according to legal rules of evidence. Truly professional journalism will not present it as such.
RON CROCKER
ROANOKE
Must the courts pursue kids' pets?
THE TOWN'S yearlong attempt to ban the potbellied pigs has been upheld in Roanoke County Circuit Court (June 18 article, ``Judge says pigs can't stay in Vinton'').
Why does the court system waste time and money to take children's pets? Don't the courts have enough to do? Maybe the tough cases are too big for them. Maybe they have to pick on the little people. Our elected or appointed officials don't have the guts to go after cases that endanger the lives of our children and our elderly.
These children will never get over this, and will always harbor a bad feeling toward the court system. This is a free country? Ha! You can sell drugs, belong to a gang and shoot anyone who gets in your way. How many drivers on the road have been convicted of drunken driving and shouldn't be driving? The courts put children back in homes where they're mistreated, but make a big case out of pigs being pets.
So many more important things should have been on the front page to make you proud that your court system was making this a safe and better place to live.
I'm sorry the Saunders family lost their friends. The ones that took their friends from them will have to live with what they did.
Children, be determined to do good in school, and make it a goal in life to fight for the rights of others to have friends - four-legged or two -legged.
These pigs would never teach the children to take drugs, drink, drive drunk or steal. They would teach them about caring.
CARLON RUTHERFORD HUTTON
SUGAR GROVE
Explore's offerings not as advertised
EXPLORE Park cannot expect attendance to climb when it fails to carry out an advertised program. Early in May, in its brochure and in your newspaper, a white-oak basket-making demonstration was advertised. A visit there offered no sign of such. An inquiry brought the response ``we are not making baskets, but making white oak splits.'' I was directed to the barn I had just visited. The young man there said he had just been too busy to get started. He then picked up a knotty, dried piece of white oak, and with steel wedges and an ax attempted to make a split.
I have demonstrated white-oak basket-making on the Blue Ridge Parkway and other locations, and it was obvious the man had never made a split. The proper tools to use were a wooden maul, wooden gluts, a froe and, most importantly, a green knot-free piece of white oak.
As I returned to the parking lot, I met other groups looking for the basket-making demonstration. Explore Park is supposed to educate the visitors with authentic demonstrations. Is it any wonder that people don't return, especially with an ill-advised admission increase (June 21 article, ``Explore Park rates to increase'')?
A letter to the authorities was never acknowledged. Does this show that Explore officials care?
FREDERICK G. STEPHENSON
ROANOKE
Boucher cannot justify his vote
I HAD the opportunity recently to discuss with Congressman Rick Boucher, at a public meeting in Galax, his vote against the partial-birth abortion ban. I think your readers would like to know his stated positions for voting against this bill, as well as the reasons he's so clearly wrong.
Boucher asserted that this issue was raised by a Republican Congress solely as a partisan effort to embarrass the president for his no-compromise, pro-abortion rights stance. This is belied by the very strong bipartisan support the bill enjoyed. The bill was passed in the House by a vote of 288 to 139, meaning that by a margin of better than 2-1 Democrats and Republicans agreed with the majority of Americans in saying this procedure is wrong.
The vote also makes Boucher's statement that the legislation was ``clearly unconstitutional'' seem pretty ridiculous. A total of 288 other congressmen not only felt the bill was constitutional but necessary.
As Boucher surely was aware, the bill had language that would allow the procedure to save the life of the mother, making his supposed concerns in that area meaningless.
The majority of Americans supported this bill and its restriction on an unnecessary and gruesome form of late-term abortion. Boucher's vote against it is just another example of how liberal and out of touch he really is.
WADE SPROVIERO
GALAX
AEP must write off its gambling losses
REGARDING your June 19 news article, "Forest rejects power line":
American Electric Power project manager Ron Poff said: "For the Forest Service to simply say build it on private land after spending five years and more than $5.5 million of our money on environmental studies is totally absurd." The implication is that AEP believes because it spent $5.5 million, this justifies the even bigger cost of building the line. Has he ever heard the expression "throwing money down a rat hole"?
My point isn't to support or oppose the proposed power line or actions of the U.S. Forest Service. But one foolish belief in this country is that throwing more money at something will change its nature or justify a previous big expenditure. Nothing is further from the truth.
Examples of this reasoning might be the government's approach to education or so-called welfare during the past three decades. Problems were identified in both areas, so well-meaning politicians and agencies threw lots of money at the problems. The problems didn't go away, so they threw more money at them. Only now are we waking to realize money isn't enough. To improve education, parents and communities have to take active roles. To address welfare issues, personal values and responsibility to the broader community must be stressed.
The Forest Service isn't being irresponsible. It is taking the difficult but wise path of saying $5.5 million has been spent, using an AEP-selected consulting firm, but this dog just won't hunt. Better to say it now than five years from now when many millions more have been spent.
If things had gone differently, Poff would have praised the expenditure of $5.5 million, saying it had produced an exhaustive justification for where the power line must be placed. More importantly to AEP, if the line were built, ratepayers would pay the $5.5 million. Now, AEP will have to foot the bill with funds that aren't paid by consumers.
No one forced AEP to decide to hurry the process by hiring an outside consultant to do work the Forest Service would have done, albeit more slowly since it is understaffed and underfunded for this kind of effort. AEP made the decision completely aware of the possible consequences. AEP bet it would get the OK; it lost the bet. AEP ought to be a better loser, and stop blaming the Forest Service for the outcome.
TOM BROBSON
NEWPORT
LENGTH: Long : 147 linesby CNB