ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270053
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
THE ASSOCIATED Press article, ``Stop! Don't dare stuff that turkey,'' in your Aug. 18 edition is a classic example of irresponsible news reporting.
Per Julia Childs, the health-food Nazis are amongst us. The article is evidence of a federal agency run amok.
Decades of stuffing's use and wonderful celebration dinners are called into question by a single reported incident?
Food- and beverage-labeling laws have made the United States the laughingstock of the culinary world. In this case, common sense is the key to safe use.
TERRY R. EASTMAN
ROCKY MOUNT
Get on with admitting women
REGARDING CARL R. Padgett's Aug. 16 letter to the editor, ``Give women access to harm's way'':
It's time for the degradation of women to stop! The Supreme Court passed down an order for state-funded military schools to admit women, and look what has happened. According to Padgett, women should now be ``fixed'' so they don't become pregnant. Obviously, he considers women to be second-class citizens who cannot make decisions for themselves.
Since the ruling, I've heard nothing but negative theories about what's going to happen to these schools. It's time to look ahead, accept the decision and show how women will have a positive impact in these programs.
KRISTIN BEINDORF
ROANOKE
Yes, Mars might have hurled it
WHILE I share the skepticism about the origin of the Martian meteorite expressed by Joshua Dobbs (Aug. 17 letter to the editor, "Perhaps it didn't come from Mars"), his own conclusion is based on several (albeit popular) errors.
First, even if the fossilized bacteria (if it is such) didn't come from Mars, it almost certainly didn't come from Antarctica. Fossils take millions of years to form, not 13,000 years. Technically, the remains could have come from Antarctica since the continent hasn't always been an icy wasteland - but the ice came well before 13,000 years ago. So, either the rock struck Earth far earlier than that - unlikely, considering the meteorite's position and impact traces in the ice shelf - or it had an extraterrestrial source, even if not Mars.
His second error is stating that a collision powerful enough to throw rock into space would probably destroy the planet. While that is a good possibility with Earth, he neglects to take into account the almost nonexistent, thin Martian atmosphere. While you do have the planet's gravity to contend with, upward-bound debris would fight against almost no friction, greatly increasing its chances of escaping the planet. We know this can happen by watching detritus thrown into space from meteor strikes on the moon. Its gravitational field is much smaller, true, but mathematics has long since compensated for a body the size of Mars and repeatedly demonstrated the possibility.
I am far from convinced the thing is Martian. However, I think Dobbs and many others will remain unconvinced until they see a label that says, "Made on Mars." And perhaps even that won't be enough.
DANNY ADAMS
VINTON
Only interested in the money?
REGARDING your Aug. 10 article, ``Riding idea reveals a past'':
I became quite concerned after reading your article about Bob Steele and his hopes to start a riding program in this area. While the idea itself is extremely admirable, I am very grateful that you did a background search into his less-than-humane past where animals are concerned.
This is just another fine example of our need for tougher animal-welfare laws. Keep the plans for more therapeutic riding programs, but ``buck off'' Steele.
Granted, everyone deserves a second chance. However, in my eyes, he has had many second chances, and still hasn't learned that animals deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.
It's clear to me, based on what I've read, that Steele is only interested in animals as a money-making venture.
DANA F. TAYLOR
HARDY
Joe Nash's record is outstanding
IN THIS day and age of spiked hair, colored hair, no hair and other ``normal'' teen-agers' show of independence, it's difficult to understand appearance being an issue in Roanoke city's recent School Board appointment. It is the lifestyle, not appearance, that tells a person's story and the concerns he or she has.
Some on City Council have tagged Joseph Nash, one of two applicants for the vacated School Board seat, a hippie (Aug. 20 article, ``Board hopeful may have lost it by a hair''). Why?
Let's look at his record and how that might fit this tag:
* He is a man with 11 years spent with one company (a manager of 55 mechanics and drivers, of whom more than half have children in city schools).
* He has two children in college and three in the public-school system.
* He is a disabled ``volunteer'' veteran of the Navy who served out his four years after breaking his back after two years.
* He is a man who took a leadership role in his neighborhood to remove a crack-cocaine house.
* He is a man who took the challenge to run for City Council outside the political parties because he has an interest in making his city (an All-America city) a better place to live.
Is this the record of a hippie? If so, perhaps our city could use more of them.
I remember when a mustache and beard were signs of Marxism/communism. God forbid wearing a goatee.
I also remember the expression, ``Be a good Joe, and ... ''- usually followed by ``thanks''. So, thanks, Joe, for being an interested parent and citizen. Keep it up. Don't be discouraged. Your record stands for itself.
RUSSELL HAWKINS
ROANOKE
No return, please, to the Reagan era
WITH DISMAY, I watched the maudlin sentimentality of the worship of St. Ronald at the Republican National Convention.
It's depressing that a great head, a winning smile and a promise of pie in the sky are received so eagerly that the prophet is glorified against better judgment.
Many of us know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. At the end of the day (or our children's or grandchildren's), the bills must be paid. To our soul's health, there is an accounting of our stewardship, even though our greed asks ``why must it be so?'' and echoes of the me-generation linger to plague us.
The results of the policies of the Reagan administration are the most difficult of all our present woes. It scares me that two people with two thoughts to rub together can view the consequences of the feel-good '80s and say that is where we must return to.
The guidance of this nation and the free world needs to be in the hands of those who act in ways as if our lives depended on other people, which indeed they do. We won't find a perfect candidate, but at the present moment, I am concerned with not electing one who proudly proclaims he would follow the glorious policies of Reagan.
MARIETTA CARMICHAEL
GALAX
Child at zoo needed a human guardian
PROMINENT IN the news recently was the rescue by a gorilla of an injured boy who had fallen into the animal's cage after scaling a high fence.
Of course, the gorilla's action was commendable. The big question is: Why was this child allowed to climb the fence?
Obviously, the child didn't go to the zoo alone. Nor is it likely that he could go up and over the fence so quickly that it could happen as his companion glanced the other way!
I saw no reference whatsoever to the person who took the child to the zoo. It would seem that he or she should have been targeted for comment. The story needed a little amplifying.
MILDRED SADLER
SALEM
LENGTH: Long : 150 linesby CNB