ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 20, 1996 TAG: 9607220143
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
ROANOKERS, prepare to storm the Winter Palace!
Did you hear the elite met to eat earlier this week - at a fancy restaurant?
Prime rib. Potatoes. Salad. White chocolate mousse - with raspberry sauce and whipped cream! Gol-l-l-ly.
City taxpayers picked up the $3,000-plus tab, but were you or I or the Joe next door invited?
Nooooo. While all of this high living was going on, we were at home, drooped over bowls of gruel.
For some reason, the guest list was restricted to city officials past and present and friends and relatives of Republican City Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles.
Off with their heads?
Well, the occasion was a retirement dinner for Bowles. Maybe it is understandable that the guests all seemed to have more than a passing acquaintance with her.
But $3,100 - excluding champagne - for a meal for 65? Just what has this woman done to deserve such an extravagant reward, and on the taxpayers' tab?
All we can think of is 20 years of hard work on behalf of the city's residents, countless hours and endless energy spent on often thankless jobs.
We looked around for some visible contribution she might have made that would come close to being worth dinner and a tribute at the Hotel Roanoke - that exclusive establishment where only about half the Roanoke Valley goes to celebrate milestones in their lives.
We saw only a Williamson Road cleaned up of brothels - er, massage parlors - and flowers dressing up the city's parks and downtown streets.
We racked our brains trying to recall initiatives she supported that served the city well, and could recall only downtown revitalization and more money for schools.
And for this, she gets a big bash to say thanks and farewell?
That's right, she does.
Cheers, Elizabeth Bowles. Have a great retirement. You've earned it.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB