ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 6, 1996               TAG: 9612060004
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-18 EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: LETTERS 

THIRD WORLD REFUGEES AREN'T WELCOME HERE

IN RESPONSE to Joe Kennedy's Nov. 25 column, ``Yearning to be free, they seek good life in Va.'':

I object to the idea that the U.S. State Department and organizations like the Refugee and Immigration Services headed by Barbara Smith have the right to bring refugees from every Third World country into Southwest Virginia.

Since U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for these actions, we should have some say in this matter.

The ancestors who built and established this beautiful valley were not from the Third World countries mentioned in Kennedy's column.

Has Smith conducted a poll on the feelings of the people of this valley? I for one do not welcome these people.

BEN L. ROSSELL

BLUE RIDGE

Coach should have been promptly fired

HOW NICE that the football coach from Lord Botetourt High School got a slap on the wrist. What message is Botetourt County sending out to drunken and reckless drivers? Does someone have to die because of this man?

Now the county School Board accepts his resignation (Nov. 30 news article, ``Coach throws in the towel'')? He should have been fired the day his escapades became front-page news.

CRYSTAL L. CUSTER

HARDY

Kids are often the system's losers

REGARDING Julia Greer's Nov. 19 letter to the editor, ``System is failing troubled kids'':

She has apparently studied troubled kids, at least in the abstract, and apparently is aware that home is a problem for a lot of them. Far more times than not, it's the intervention by our ``legal'' or ``justice'' system that allows these children to become statistics in both the welfare and penal systems.

When child-welfare agencies, judges and courts allow children to remain in, or be returned to, undesirable conditions in order to keep taxpayers' money, we do have a major problem.

When parents are forced to fight each other for custody, visitation or enforcing parental rights, lawyers, courts and child-welfare agencies are the only winners. So much time, effort and money goes into the fight that there is nothing left for guess who - the child and/or children.

Wise up. A lot of the problem is the home. But until our legal and justice systems change their ways, it's only going to get worse.

JESSE WORKMAN

ROANOKE

Give older hunters a clearer shot

IN ANSWER to Lucille and Gary Griffin's Nov. 20 letter to the editor (``Change the law to improve forest use'') on muzzle loaders:

With scopes, hunters in their later years can see what they are shooting at. This makes for better safety. And older Virginians can hunt along with the younger ones.

I also noticed they didn't say anything about bow hunting. They want to go back to the primitive. Did they ever see an Indian walking through the woods with scopes, wheels and pulleys, releases and stabilizers on his bows? Is that primitive?

BUD THOMAS

CHRISTIANSBURG

Job status doesn't excuse violence

AFTER READING Nelson E. Leftwich Jr.'s Nov. 24 letter to the editor (``Police, too, should obey speed limits''), I felt compelled to write.

I, too, have the greatest respect for public-safety professionals, including police officers, firefighters and Emergency Medical Service/rescue workers. I, too, appreciate that they risk their lives in many cases to help others. But I, too, ask that the laws apply to everyone - regardless of job position. And this should be especially true in the area of domestic violence.

I have witnessed and heard of several cases where a public-safety professional has been found guilty of domestic assault or abuse, and the defense attorney requests that the case be taken ``under advisement'' or dismissed based on the fact that the defendant could lose a job or ``have a bad mark'' against him or her. And the judge agrees to handle it in that manner. This is wrong.

Police officers, firefighters and EMS/rescue workers should be held to a higher standard, if anything, and shouldn't be excused from domestic violence because of their professional status. How can they combat one of the most tragic problems in our society if they participate in it and are allowed to get away with it? This sends society the wrong message. And I, for one, would like to see convictions for guilt, not slaps on the wrist because of professional status.

CHRIS WITT

GOODVIEW

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