
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 4, 1993                   TAG: 9308040543
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REPUBLICANS NOT AGAINST FLOOD RELIEF

ON JULY 27, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an expenditure of $3 billion for Midwestern flood relief after a five-day fight over how to pay for it. This was reported on the front page of your newspaper the following day.

President Clinton publicly admonished House Republicans and conservative Democrats for delaying the vote on the approved bill. But the article failed to point out that, in addition to flood relief, the bill contains an amendment aimed at providing a stipend of approximately $100 per week for up to six months for those youths from 17 to 30 yars of age who are currently undergoing job training, primarily through the Youth Fair Chance Program.

The amendment to the bill was sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, who has said that labelling those participants in the Los Angeles riots of 1992 as looters, thieves and/or hoodlums (which, of course, is precisely what they are) is inappropriate and serves no useful purpose. She has also indicated that individuals who consider themselves disadvantaged by society are probably justified in rioting and creating havoc, proclaiming no justice; no peace. To her credit, Rep. Waters took advantage of a national emergency to achieve that which she could not have otherwise obtained.

The article did not accurately describe the provisions of the delayed bill, and President Clinton's purely politically motivated characterization of Republican opposition is a gross and well-calculated misrepresentation of fact. No Republican representative has expressed opposition to aiding those in need as a result of the Midwestern flooding - nor has anyone else! CLAUDE E. STEWART, JR. VINTON

by CNB