ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608190006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: LETTERS
The silly things that some folks do
Really make me bristle.
They choose to live near the railroad tracks
But they don't want to hear the whistle.
Yet, at a railroad crossing,
If a train comes roaring through
Without a warning whistle -
Well: I leave the rest to you.
Audrey W. Ewald
Christiansburg
School policies tough on families
I'm concerned about the lack of thought that's gone into several decisions the Pulaski County School Board has made lately.
1) The decision to have early release each Monday throughout the school year creates a whole kettle of problems for working parents.
2) The concern over test scores - is this really due to concern for the children or is this just concern for dollars lost due to low test scores?
3) As in the past, the increase in student fees as well as other costs shows no consideration for lower-income families.
The public school system is becoming more and more of a big business, and this is killing families and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Sandra Steele
Dublin
Beauty pageant a matter of choice
Like the four Blacksburg High School students who protested the beauty pageant ("High school pageant teaches wrong lesson," New River Current, June 2) I attended BHS. And perhaps like some of you, I did not by any means have an ideal body.
If you can take away the chance to compete for the title of Miss BHS, why shouldn't those students take from you the chance to compete for an academic or track-and-field scholarship, or public-speaking award? We all fail to measure up in many areas of life. C'est la vie.
We need to restrain ourselves from political correctness if we are to avoid denying freedom of choice to others. Rather than pressure BHS administrators to end a pageant much appreciated by people who don't agree with you, why not encourage them to create a competing pageant, a scholastic or talent pageant, to be held a week or two before or after the beauty pageant?
Out of a thousand students, only one can be the student council president, win the best actress award or become Miss BHS. The trick in life is to find the areas of life in which we do well, then be glad to let others enjoy the areas in which they shine.
Beauty is one of the greatest of life's values. It ranks right up there with truth, freedom, courage, integrity and decency. In its significance to the long-term survival of the human type, I suspect it outranks several of them. Because we are mortal, we tend to see as beautiful whatever is positive for the purposes of reproduction and human survival. We see youth, symmetry, coordination and vitality as beautiful because these characteristics in a woman increase the likelihood that she will be a successful mother, both in terms of the health of the babies she bears and in terms of her ability to provide for their needs for their first 15 or 20 years. Physical beauty in both sexes encourages the formation of couples and the procreation of children.
Both at pageants and elsewhere, celebrating the physical beauty of young women from their teens through their 30s is tantamount to celebrating human fertility and the power it gives humankind to fend off decline and extinction and continue to triumph over aging and mortality.
Mike Marlowe
of Blacksburg, is a 1967 graduate of Blacksburg High School
`Smart' road plan too expensive
The concept of the ``smart'' road is in the long-range public interest and is a concept worth supporting. Being an engineer, I also appreciate the need for field testing of laboratory concepts.
However, I cannot understand how anyone in their right mind, no matter how great an advocate of the smart road, can support spending $100 million for five miles of a road, when there are so many other high priority needs for public funds: education, law and order, homelessness, etc.
It is the duty of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, as public officials, to review funds requested for any single project such as the smart road in light of the overall need for public funds in the state, not just the ``presumed'' needs of a single project. I say ``presumed'' because as an engineer, I also am well aware that it is often possible to reshape a project so as to gain 90 percent of the objectives for 10 percent of the cost, if forced to do so.
I urge the board members to send the engineers back to the drawing boards to find ways to meet 90 percent of their objectives for $10 million. If they say they can't, then get some engineers who can, or drop the whole project until there is a surplus in the public treasury. It's up to you to guard against diverting such large sums for low priority projects.
I realize I may be a voice crying in the wilderness, but I hope it is a voice that will be heard.
Arthur H. Tuthill
Blacksburg
Pet laws shouldn't discriminate
I agree with Julie Ligond (``Put some authority to spay/neuter advocacy,'' Current, Aug. 4). We do have a problem with abandoned pets in our community. However, I strongly disagree with her opinion that pet-control ordinances should be written that single out property renters. Laws are not intended to deny rights to people based on ownership of property.
I rent my residence in what you refer to as a ``rental district.'' It is, however, one of the oldest and most established neighborhoods in Blacksburg. Some people who own rental property here in our downtown neighborhood also live here amongst us renters. You want ordinances written to control roaming and abandoned pets. You think that "limitations should be placed on the number of pets owned per tenant." Those ordinances should apply to everybody. I know of many unwanted kittens and puppies born to the pets of property owners who live in what you define as ``established neighborhoods.''
We all have to show proof of vaccination when our pets are licensed. I agree with you that property owners should require proof of vaccination. Property owners should also keep a copy of pet licenses on file with tenant leases. This might help track down people who lose pets. Abandonment is a more severe problem since most people do not leave a collar and license on a pet they abandon.
I know of very few people in my neighborhood who abuse their pets. Just because you own your property doesn't make you more privileged to have pets nor guarantee you are more responsible when it comes to taking care of our pets.
Michael S. Rosenzweig
Blacksburg
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