ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 22, 1996 TAG: 9607220008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
AFTER READING the remarks by Ed Kohinke, a former member of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, about Don Terp (July 12 letter to the editor, ``About Don Terp's untenable tirade ... '') and Kohinke's belief that we get a ``fine package of services at such a relatively low cost to the taxpayer,'' it became mandatory to comment on what must certainly be an especially delusional declaration.
Please, will someone bring Kohinke out of his coma and try to explain that an enormous portion of the recent bond-issue defeat can be contributed to extremely high water bills, outrageously high personal-property taxes, and ever-increasing real-estate assessments?
Now about those services: If you plan on having a fire, don't be so inconsiderate as to do it on the weekend. We depend on volunteers. (They do a great job.) With no paid firefighters, response time can be unavoidably lengthy. We spend our tax dollars on important things like Explore Park.
The biggest difference between Roanoke County and the outlaw Jessie James is that James wore a mask and used a gun as he robbed and exploited the populace!
Terp has my vote.
TERRY WALKER
ROANOKE
Admitting women will lower quality
SINCE THE early days of our nation, to avoid distractions and concentrate on providing the highest possible quality of education, there have been all-male and all-female colleges. Any change in this custom should be made by the state and the schools.
Members of the Supreme Court are political appointees, and are subject to the pressure of special interests. The court's decree that women must be admitted to the Virginia Military Institute (June 27 article, ``VMI must admit women, Supreme Court rules 7-1'') will require changes and adjustments to lower the high quality of VMI training that has given us top military and government men.
There's a biological difference in the body functions of men and women. In time of war, the act of accommodating for this difference in women would weaken our country's defense. The Supreme Court's decree didn't change these functions to provide ``equal treatment.''
ERMINIE K. WRIGHT
ROANOKE
Southern Baptists are due an apology
CONCERNING Roger D. Lewis' July 3 letter to the editor, ``Southern Baptists show intolerance'':
I beg to differ. When you read, see or hear anything in the media, you must realize it is the full-time job of a news reporter or a radio or television announcer to determine what you'll read, hear or see, henceforth to attempt to teach you how to think, but only in the same rut that he or she might be in.
Now if you believe in absolutes that you can only receive from God's word, these lies will be hard to swallow. All the men who attended the Southern Baptist Convention have dedicated their lives to Christian work. Not to mention the fact that the Bible speaks strongly against homosexuals, it also speaks strongly against people who put God's servants down. These ministers represent the thinking of more than 16 million Christians who attend Southern Baptist churches.
I believe Lewis owes these men and women an apology, and I suggest he cool it if he fears God. ``It would be better that you had a millstone hanged around your neck and dropped into the deep,'' according to Scripture. When he tries to destroy my First Amendment rights, he is also destroying his own.
CHARLES R. HAYNES
RADFORD
Report overstated assisted suicides
THE ASSOCIATED Press article on July 11 (``Survey: Doctors admit assisting AIDS victims in suicide'') states: ``A study shows that more than half of San Francisco AIDS doctors have assisted in suicides by giving AIDS patients narcotic overdoses.'' In the body of the article, we read that the survey was conducted among 228 doctors who are AIDS specialists in the San Franciso area. Half of those surveyed actually returned the anonymous questionnaires. Of those who did, 53 percent reported that they had engaged in suicide assistance.
Half of 228 is 114 and 53 percent of 114 is 60.42. I am at a loss to understand how it's possible that 60 doctors can be more than half of the San Franciso AIDS doctors surveyed, since 60 is 26 percent of 228.
The truth of these numbers is that barely more than one-fourth of the physicians who received the survey admitted to assisting their patients commit suicide. This is the same as more than one-half of those who responded to the survey, not more than half of all the doctors.
PAM KIRKNER
PULASKI
LENGTH: Medium: 90 linesby CNB