ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 31, 1996 TAG: 9612310081
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
IT APPEARS that most Americans (including many who should know better) are incapable of original thought and analysis of situations.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich is accused of a multitude of "crimes" and ethical violations. The only one that has registered (out of more than 70 accusations) is one that occurred before he became speaker of the House of Representatives. In contrast, a former speaker, Jim Wright, was forced to retire because of actions while he was in the speaker's office, those actions being for personal monetary gain, not his political party's gain.
Why is President Clinton not being charged (so far) with ethics violations after he's turned the White House into a high-priced and exclusive bed-and-breakfast operation? If donations to the Democratic Party have been high enough, donors have have been rewarded with stays at the White House, at taxpayers' expense!
Wake up, America! Have you no sense of respect for your White House?
WILLIAM E. BUTTERFIELD
BLUE RIDGE
Hoops honor was due recognition
I NOTED with surprise recently that The Roanoke Times is offering shirts with "full-color reproduction of our day-after coverage of Salem High School's state championship." I think this is a nice community-service project to recognize a local school's outstanding achievement.
What surprised me is that the same service was not offered when Lord Botetourt High School's varsity girls' basketball team won the state championship for the second year in a row. The newspaper had excellent coverage of the regular season games as well as the regional and state games played in Rustburg and Bristol respectively.
The state championship is a tremendous honor, and the team received significant recognition, but to have had championship-coverage "keepsake" shirts offered would have been very special recognition. Surely there would have been enough orders to justify the offer. I and many others would be interested in knowing why state football championship warranted keepsake shirts, but girls' basketball state championship didn't.
GRAYSON M. BIRD
BLUE RIDGE
Life is about more than test scores
THE STUDENTS at my high school just got back their PSAT scores, and the school was filled with simultaneous sighs of relief and sighs of anguish.
The students who did good on these tests were pretty much obvious from the start - they are students who devote their time to studying and schoolwork. And it is often these students who succeed in going to a good college, and consequently getting a good job. However, most of these people do not have a clue as to what's happening to the world around them, and they often act like zombies, being pushed by their parents and rarely by self-initiative.
I am writing this mainly out of concern for the current college-acceptance criteria, which places too much emphasis on good grades, and too little emphasis on actual act living: going out for a stroll in the fresh air; just relaxing and listening to good music or participating in social gatherings.
Life is not all about good grades and good scores. A lot of life depends on interaction with human beings and nature. If one spends all one's time in solitude, studying or preparing for exams, the person becomes hollow and essentially concerned with only one thing: maintaining good grades. This is bad, but the current college-acceptance criteria encourages this on a nationwide scale. Colleges demand too much in terms of high scores, which often causes parents to push their children into this kind of lifestyle. I believe that is totally unhealthy in the long run.
However, students who actually spend time going out to breathe some air or going to a concert to listen to music often are not as successful. This is another injustice caused by our current college-acceptance criteria, which neglects the human aspects of life.
Although I suggest several broad changes to the current college-acceptance criteria, such as concentrating less on good grades and SAT scores, I do not have the answers to many of the problems. That is why I am only a student, learning about life. But this system must change, if we want a country filled with humans, instead of zombies.
PAUL CALDWELL
BLACKSBURG
The way to show no offense
IN RESPONSE to Robert S. Terry's Dec. 26 letter to the editor, "Can we find jurors so pure?": May I suggest an acceptable term to use for any potential defendant? Person.
DARRELL HENSLEY
ROANOKE
A disregard for Tech's integrity
NIKKI GIOVANNI'S naivete in her Dec. 26 letter to the editor (``Tech football team deserves fair play'') is certainly bliss. Those in question, if concerned about the reputations of themselves and Virginia Tech, should avoid situations that can be misinterpreted, end in violence or in criminal acts. They are guilty of poor judgment.
Regarding the men not being appreciated: Athletes today are spoiled by accolades and attention. Giovanni implies they are innocent since they said they didn't do it (alleged rape). Most persons accused of a crime are "innocent." Beavis and Butthead understand that.
Regarding her accusation that The Roanoke Times is not keeping pace with the team's changing status: It is the athletic department's responsibility to treat the team's growing pains. The newspaper reports the news.
As for the "exuberance, excitement and possibilities" available to these young men, they seem uninterested in preserving their own integrity, and that of their team and alma mater. Their public acts are selfish - a slap in the face to the institution that has given them these opportunities.
One does wish to support the students who participate in team sports at Tech and who contribute socially and academically to the good reputation of the school. Most of them need no defense.
MELANIE MABRY
ROANOKE
Racing parks need to clean up their act
I READ with interest the Dec. 8 Associated Press article (``Competition from casinos causes racetracks to suffer'') about the failure of greyhound-racing tracks in Kansas, especially since I find homes for retired racing dogs that come from tracks like those mentioned in the article.
I send a silent cheer that the dog-racing industry is foundering in Kansas. Since industry officials make no excuses for how they treat used-up dogs, I can't feel much sympathy for anyone who promotes that industry. For those who don't know the facts about the industry, please consider the following:
* More than 30,000 greyhounds are destroyed each year by the racing industry, according to George Johnson, former executive director of the Greyhound Track Operators Association. He says ``it's an economic thing.'' A greyhound that's bred to make money for its owner and doesn't do so is an economic liability.
* Seventy percent of those dogs are destroyed before they ever reach the track. A dog that's not fast enough, interested enough or game enough isn't a good investment for the o wner. When a greyhound is bred, it produces a litter of six to 12 puppies, most of which are financial liabilities before they even begin training for the track.
*The racing industry sets a mandatory retirement age of 5 years old. After age 5, no matter how much money a dog has made for his owner/breeder, the dog is retired and can no longer race on any track in the country. That dog is no longer "viable," according to the racing industry.
What happens to the dogs? A lucky few get placed in good homes, but the majority are destroyed since there is no longer a purpose to having them.
I am proud that Virginia is one of only two states that has outlawed greyhound racing as a means of gambling. Many other states like Kansas are finding that it isn't a successful form of gambling or tax revenue.
The article failed to mention the above information. Many people who are aware of the history and reality of the racing industry do not support it. Perhaps if the industry worked more diligently at cleaning up its act, it would find its racing parks to be more profitable.
DEIRDRE J. MARTIN
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Long : 146 linesby CNB