ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609130165
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
REGARDING Kenneth Vaughn's Sept. 9 letter to the editor (``Integration hasn't promoted tolerance'') in response to your Readers Forum question, ``Are area schools integrated enough'':
Thank God he lives in Radford, and nowhere near my family. We don't need to be around white people to have high morals, standards and values ``rub off.'' We were teaching this to our children long before integration came about.
Violence in the schools didn't start because of integration, but because of the breaking down of the family, lack of religious values, drugs, violence on television and in the movie industry, students' low self-esteem, etc.. This isn't a ``black'' problem. It occurs in all races.
If Vaughn represents the white majority, then I pray that we're never accepted by it.
My children attend an integrated school, and have made several white friends. They constantly visit my home. and my children frequently visit theirs. I am glad these children and their families get to see firsthand that my home runs the same as theirs and we want the same thing they do - a good education for our children. CYNTHIA Y. GAINES SALEM Penalize unsafe drivers
IN VIEW of the controversy about increased traffic by tractor-trailers on Interstate 81, I must agree with some of the truckers quoted in your Sept. 9 article (``I-81: Is it ruled by big rigs?'').
Many traffic incidents along this stretch of road can be attributed to automobiles. I commute on the Blacksburg-to-Roanoke strip, and can say without hesitation that for every incident I witness involving a trucker who is impolite or unsafe, at least one automobile driver is just as much a hazard to the rest of us.
On my way into the office recently, I witnessed a Blazer with Pennsylvania tags going alongside a large delivery truck. As they approached an upgrade near Ironto, the truck had to change lanes to get around another truck that wasn't going 65 mph. As a result, the Blazer was cut off. The driver had to slow down considerably to avoid a collision. However, the driver retaliated by cutting off the truck as soon as they had passed the second truck. He deliberately slammed on his brakes, forcing the truck into a fishtail.
This action was juvenile and totally uncalled for. If the truck's driver had lost control, that vehicle would have struck me or some other motorists.
Discourtesy and unsafe driving habits aren't confined to any one class of vehicle. Deliberately engaging in actions that can result in an accident or injury shoud result in the loss of driving license or vehicle. LILY HARVEY BLACKSBURG
Signal Hill has unsolved problems
FOR A LONG time now, all we've heard and read about in our ``All-America city'' is Hotel Roanoke, the useless walkway to the City Market, Jefferson High School renovations and Henry Street.
Why don't those in City Hall take care of the eyesores and the health and traffic hazards in our community - Signal Hill Northwest? We have a stagnant pool of water covering the street (year-round) that breeds filth and mosquitoes; a rat-infested junkyard sending rodents all over the neighborhood; trucks and wreckers pulling cars that spew oil on our streets. We asked the city for street signs to prohibit this, but were denied. We asked that the two main streets be made dead-end streets, and were told we would have to pay to even petition the city on that. In other words, it could be done, but the residents would have to be responsible for the financing.
As for the pool of water, we were told a year ago that it was at the top of the city's list. A month ago,we were informed that work would begin in October and be completed by December. We will see if this is just another put-off or falsehood.
These problems are so old that maybe the city manager and mayor aren't aware they are still to be dealt with. Or perhaps they don't care because the city considers Signal Hill an ``undesirable'' neighborhood. Just remember, City Hall, we pay our much-too-high taxes, too. SHIRLEY A. HUDGINS ROANOKE
Not all can get help from Congress
W.A. Corbitt's Sept. 8 letter to the editor (``Thanks are due Goodlatte, Warner'') illustrated what is wrong with the federal government today. He seems blissfully unaware that if he had a lobbyist of his own in Washington, he would never have been encumbered by the federal regulation that he spent months getting relief from.
Not everybody is a fat-cat Republican like Corbitt. The incumbents helped him. But what about all the little enterprises that can't get help? What about the cost to everyone of this big government that is virtually out of control?
I understand why he endorsed the incumbents. He owes them for the favor he got. But the unconnected majority will be better off if we clean house and get back to basics in government. SANDI WALKER ROANOKE
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