ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701310005
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
Taxes have enriched America
PEOPLE WHO complain about taxes should consider what they're getting for their money. We have the highest standard of living in the world; our military force is the strongest; people everywhere envy our health-care system; we're the only country in the world that even attempts to educate all of its citizens; and our interstate highway system has been called the eighth wonder of the world. And, of course, we pay for all this with taxes.
We have built six-lane highways across the Rockies, the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades in places a mountain goat would shun. It sounds incredible, but it's possible to drive Interstate 90 from Boston to Seattle and never encounter a stoplight. It used to take two hours to drive through Baltimore with its hundreds of stoplights. One can now whiz through in about 20 minutes, using I-95 and the harbor tunnel.
And we complain about a few cents' tax on a gallon of gasoline. I imagine a long-distance trucker would prefer to pay $1-a-gallon tax than to drive the old roads that went through every town.
The old canard about every baby being born owing thousands in taxes should be put to rest. For example, babies born in Sri Lanka or Banglasdesh have no such burden. They will grow up, if they grow up, never having to worry about taxes. But I doubt if many Americans would choose to have their babies in one of those places.
As for education, there is no comparison with the plethora of programs offered today to those available in ``the good old days.'' When I attended high school in the early 1930s, we had one coach. He handled football, baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, and taught a full schedule besides.
A recent picture in your newspaper showed a local high-school football coach with his eight assistants beside him. I doubt if the Washington Redskins have that many coaches, and I am certain the English teachers in his school do not have that many assistants to help with remedial reading.
JOHN W. SLAYTON
ROANOKE
The trust of children
THE HEADLINE on your Jan. 14 news article, ``Coach acquitted in cliff-hanger,'' should have read, ``Children's trusts shattered.''
We teach our children to tell a grown-up if someone touches them, or hurts them, or makes them feel threatened or uncomfortable. Well, children told, and they were made to feel like liars by the accused, his lawyer and other adults.
What will these children do when and if there is a next time? Will they keep quiet, knowing they will be told they are fantasizing? Will they come forward again, opening their young spirits to another slaughter?
We should be proud of the youngsters who had the courage to stand up and defend themselves and their teammates. We should be sure these children are not dissuaded from growing into honest, young men who may one day protect children's trusts from being shattered.
PATRICIA DEFIBAUGH
ROANOKE
The meaning of the pope's statement
WITH REFERENCE to the initial coverage and subsequent letters to the editor on Pope John Paul II's address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1996:
The widely disseminated misquote attributed to him was: `` ... new knowledge has led to the recognition of more than just a hypothesis in the theory of evolution ... ''
Journalist Rick Delano gives us the proper translation of the statement as it appeared in the Oct. 30, 1996 L'Osservatore Romano: `` ... new knowledge has led to the recognition of more than one hypothesis in the theory of evolution ... ''
The pope was simply saying that within the scientific community itself, there are different opinions on the theory of evolution.
MARGARET A. WHITEIS
HUDDLESTON
Equal rights for divorced parents
REGARDING PAT Davidson's letter to the editor (``Joint-custody law is no solution'') and Anne DeFoe's Jan. 13 letter (``Joint custody is not good for kids''):
Citing insurmountable conflict, a judge ``awarded'' my ex-wife sole custody. Three years later, out of court, we agreed to share our children on a week-on, week-off basis. Now we settle disputes amicably. Our children are better cared for, and more confident that both parents will remain accessible.
Proposed legislation in the General Assembly would mandate that Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judges consider parents custodially equals. Instead of bloody courtroom battles to gain the custody ``prize,'' parents would know they were equally important to their child's or children's well-being. That mind-set would eliminate co-dependency the statutes now encourage. Moms would learn to ensure their own financial well-being. Coming into court, dads had better know how to change diapers and cook, how to wash dishes and clothes. Both would learn how to develop parenting plans.
As it is, the Roanoke courts give sole custody to mothers in 91 percent of the cases. Couple that with brutal statistics concerning the impact on children of fatherlessness, and data of the past two decades from Virginia's Child Protective Services showing that biological mothers abuse children two to three times more than biological fathers.
It's evident that more time with both parents is in our children's best interest. The legislation may get that message to our Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judges.
BARRY KOPLEN
for members of
Equal Parents, Equal Time
DANVILLE
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