THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 15, 1996 TAG: 9607130002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 34 lines
The next time Norfolk and Virginia Beach send economic-development officials out in search of model cities, they ought to skip Charlotte and Myrtle Beach and head instead for Belfast.
Last week might have been the perfect time.
In the land of sectarian strife, no day of the year provokes as much hatred as July 12. It's the day Protestants march through Catholic enclaves celebrating the victory of Protestant William of Orange over his father-in-law, the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Emotions run high in the province every July, much as they would in the United States if the Klan held an annual parade through Harlem celebrating the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
This year's July 12 celebrations were among the most violent of the past decade.
Even The Wall Street Journal took note, pointing out that while the Republic of Ireland is experiencing an astonishing economic boom, Northern Ireland's hopes for an improved economy were ``quashed'' with the latest outbreak of Protestant violence.
The Journal quoted the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland economy minister bemoaning the effects of the violence on economic development: ``We will never know how many companies who had put us on their lists will now not even pick up the phone.''
Three hundred years is a long time to nurse a grudge. The results of a bitterly divided region are low wages, massive unemployment and no tourism.
Virginia Beach and Norfolk: Take note. by CNB