ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070011
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
Kudzu can choke out the beauty
LIZA FIELD'S Jan. 27 commentary (``A view of the mountain as a living thing'') and other news articles and letters to the editor regarding the development of Mill Mountain all contain one theme: leave the mountain as is.
I agree. The mountain in the middle of our community is a treasure, one that can be enjoyed by all - at no cost. However, it will not remain as is if something isn't done about the kudzu creeping up the mountain behind Carilion Memorial Hospital.
This vine is deadly to anything in its path. It has already killed several trees. One only has to drive around town to see areas where it has killed all vegetation. If one goes further afield to places such as North Carolina and Georgia, the devastation this vine can do to entire forests - if allowed to grow unchecked - is frightening.
I understand that the city and American Electric Power disagree over where the vine started, and thus who has responsibility. That's a moot point. The point is that if Round-up were sprayed on this patch several times this spring, the vine could be eradicated at a reasonable cost before it becomes so big that the cost becomes prohibitive and control is impossible. Isn't it better to kill a small patch to control a vine that ultimately could destroy all vegetation on the mountain?
What is needed is obvious. Who will step up and take responsibility to preserve our mountain as it was created?
Maybe if the city and AEP shared the cost, the kudzu could be controlled this spring. Then all we would need to do is monitor the entire mountain to catch any other patches before they get a foothold.
MARTHA WIESE
ROANOKE
Correction|
On the Feb. 6 Opinion page, letter-writer Elizabeth P. Stephenson was misidentified.
James C. Sears, not Stephenson, is president of Center in the Square.
King message was love and peace
DONALD R. Johnson's attack (Jan. 27 letter to the editor, ``King's communist leanings recalled'') upon Martin Luther King as a "communist and a racial agitator" is so off the wall that it would scarcely call for a rebuttal were it not that silence might be interpreted by the uninformed as tacit admission.
For the record, King was a Baptist minister who preached the gospel of love, not class hatred as do communists, nor race wars as do race agitators.
While Lenin believed in the dictatorship of the proletariat, King put his faith in democracy, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and God. While Stalin sent his opponents to extermination camps, King worked for reconciliation between African-Americans and white people. While communists sought to conquer the world through subversion and war if necessary, King practiced unconditional nonviolence, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1957, if Tennessee called the Highlander Folk School a communist front, that says something about the then-prevalent racism in Tennessee, which wouldn't come to terms with an institution that believed in good will and cooperation between the races as opposed to the then-existing system of segregation.
That J. Edgar Hoover's FBI had wiretaps on King must be seen in context. In those days, the FBI sometimes acted in concert with those who wanted to destroy King's dream. In Selma, for instance, an FBI agent supplied the murder weapon, rode in the car from which the fatal shots on civil-rights worker Viola Liuzzo were fired and, according to testimony, even advised the assassins as to when to pull the trigger.
When I celebrate Martin Luther King Day, the man and the dream, I do not honor a "known communist'' or ``a racial agitator" but a magnificent prophet of love and peace.
RUDI GELSEY
BLACKSBURG
No party for AIDS victims
IN RESPONSE to your Jan. 25 news articles, ``State falls short of quota, loses AIDS assistance'' and ``Delegates' wish lists exceed budget surplus'':
We are HIV-AIDS educators. Evidently, we're successful in our goal of reducing the number of new HIV cases in Southern Virginia.
Southern Virginia lost housing and emergency assistance for 1998 because we're nine cases short of the federal guidelines to qualify for the assistance. Perhaps we should quit educating people on the facts about HIV-AIDS so that we can meet the necessary requirements for assistance.
When 1998 rolls around, where are the HIV-AIDS individuals and families going to turn for medical and housing needs? Are they going to be living in the mission or on the street? This seems hard to believe when the state has a $250 million surplus in the state budget. With all that money sitting idle, here are some of the legislators' ideas for using it:
Sen. Emmett Hanger of Augusta County wants to throw a party at Virginia Military Institute for its 50th anniversary. It will cost taxpayers $250,000.
Del. Lacey Putney of Bedford wants $300,000 in additional funds for Bedford's National D-Day Memorial.
Del. Creigh Deeds of Warm Springs wants $450,000 to dredge the lake at Douthat State Park.
Del. Jim Shuler of Blacksburg wants to shower Virginia Tech with $25 million in new state aid.
It seems to us that this money could be spent more wisely on God's children in need. What do you think?
CONNIE FERGUSON
SHAWN MAGUIRE
HIV-AIDS educators
ROANOKE
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