ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040095
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
REGARDING your Oct. 10 news article, ``New child-care rules due'':
The problem: Look at what is burdensome in child-care regulations and find out what is driving up the cost of day care.
The proposed solution: Larger day-care classes would reduce costs. Burdensome regulations now only allow 12 4-year-olds in a class. With that many, who is going to notice three more?
Requiring the person responsible for these 15 4-year-olds to have a high-school diploma is obviously burdensome and costly. The affluence of the typical high-school graduate is apparently creating a need for a new market - high-school dropouts. They certainly know more than a 4-year-old child.
Training is burdensome and costly. After three years of being responsible for the welfare of young children, we will allow our experienced high-school dropout to run the whole business. Who would hire them?
OK, this is a worst-case scenario. But when you adopt minimums, you must look at the logical results to decide if you can live with them.
ALICE McCAFFREY
ROANOKE
How character is learned
I WAS intrigued by Beth Macy's Oct. 29 column, ``Picking your battles; holding your tongue.'' She was obviously bothered by the example she unintentionally set for her 2-year-old son when she cursed in front of him on numerous occasions. At the moment he repeated her words, Macy realized life lessons are caught more than they are taught.
To raise a child with character, character has to be modeled. Statistics prove that the first and most important teacher a child has is the parent. Indeed, it's an awesome responsibility to direct a life down the right path. I agree with family therapist Mary-Eve Zangari that honesty is one of the most important traits an individual can teach a child. Letting your child know you make mistakes, and apologizing for those mistakes is crucial.
However, when does a parent begin to take responsibility for his or her actions and the consequences on the child? Apologies can only go so far. How many slips of the tongue can a parent have? How many times can a father say he is sorry for hitting the child's mother? How often can a parent regret driving the car when having had too much to drink? Bottom line: Parenting isn't for cowards!
Character must be modeled to be taught. The do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do approach isn't sufficient.
TEENA TRENT
ROANOKE
Much is sacrificed for terrorist leader
AMERICAN presidents from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton have patronized the Palestine Liberation Organization chief, Arafat, the international terrorist.
On Sept. 13, 1993, Clinton participated in the Rabin-Arafat ``handshake'' ceremony that capped the Israel-PLO declaration of principles known as the Oslo Accords. Arafat wasn't only sanitized but lionized. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in democratic Norway.
Meanwhile, Congress has been subsidizing the PLO in the name of the Oslo ``peace process.'' Clinton and his State Department have assured Congress that Arafat's Palestine Authority has been complying with the Oslo Accords. That Arafat applauds Arab suicide bombers as ``martyrs'' has yet to register in Washington.
Our loyalty to the dead - the victims of Arab terrorism - along with our moral judgment of our enemies have been sacrificed on the altar of the ``peace process.''
ALVIN W. FINESTONE
CLIFTON FORGE
Pro-life advocates will ultimately win
I AM very thankful for people like Wilma C. Pinch who took the time and effort to write a letter to the editor (Oct. 7 "Sen. Warner sided with the unborn"). Like a lot of people, she was upset over the hideous crime of partial-birth abortion.
Almost all of those who appear on television concerning abortion are women. And I find that those who are pro-life have a persona of love, gentleness and spirituality that I fail to see in those who are pro-choice.
The war over abortion has been raging for a long time, and possibly it will rage until Jesus returns to Earth. When this happens, he will put an end to it. Those who are pro-choice will be the losers, but those who love the unborn will be the winners.
ROBERT S. McCORMICK JR.
LEXINGTON
Population issues were ignored
AN OCT. 1 commentary by Harvard Ayers (``Those hazy, hazy days of Western Virginia summer'') on air pollution identifies the problem, but misses the root cause and provides no viable solution. Ayers, an academic, clearly has read enough to know that our air is still polluted. That part is easy.
His commentary does not discuss the fact that population growth and increased housing drives the increased demand for more electricity. Nor does he discuss the issue of sustainable population levels, diminishing resources and the need for long-range population planning. As long as the root cause isn't addressed, he will see no meaningful improvements.
Ayers attacks the consequences of growth - new roads and power lines, the basic infrastructure of our society. For example, he claims that the proposed power-line project by American Electric Power "would cause more electricity to be generated to our west," as though the simple act of building a power line causes generation of electricity. The fact is the consumer determines the amount of electricity that must be generated. If the demand for electricity goes up more than 112 percent since construction of the last major power line (as it has), common sense tells us another line is needed. Ayers has the cart in front of the horse, and the horse won't go.
He suggests we conserve electricity and drive less. Who can disagree? But any gains we may make will be offset by increasing population from native birth rates and immigration.
We also need to convert to electric cars. This will help clean up our air, even though more power lines may be needed.
Ayers and others need to consider the sustainability issue, and that starts with the question of population. What is the level we want in Virginia? In Southwest Virginia? Now these are good questions for an academic to address.
JUANITA Q. CALLIS
ROANOKE
VMI traditions, honor will continue
MORTON Nadler's obnoxious slander (Oct. 4 letter to the editor, ``Ah, the glories of tradition'') of the Virginia Military Institute tradition rankled my deep respect for the institution's stainless record, and for the memory of the South's early grandeur in America.
By calling VMI the ``Confederate Virginia Military Institute'' and making the liberals' typical reference to the mythical nobility of the Union's violent invasion of our country in 1861, he hopes to debunk any Southern claims to the value of tradition. The guttural reference to women cleaning the cadets' latrines as part of the VMI tradition says more about the ungentlemanly writer and his biases than he imagines.
Sadly, Nadler and most Americans today have no earthly idea what true character in a person is or how to go about getting it. How else could a majority of Americans support the re-election of Bill Clinton? The VMI ``way'' teaches courage, self-reliance and self-sacrifice for the greater good. Its graduates understand and embody the qualities of character most lack - integrity, honesty, devotion, and a deep sense of duty and honor.
Despite obvious flaws in its social structure, which would have certainly been peacefully ameliorated long ago, the old South placed high value on these character traits and sought to instill them in people. Unlike the society we have inherited from our conquerors, the South still places a higher value on family and community, often above the pursuit of power and material gain. VMI and the traditions it symbolizes will continue to manifest themselves, despite continued federal meddling. So long as Southern people cling to the virtues of their ancestors, the long gray line will bring honor to the state and its people.
WAYNE D. CARLSON
DUBLIN
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