Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 25, 1993 TAG: 9310150323
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I've never had an abortion, but I do know the horror of breast cancer, and if this link does exist, women have the right and need to know that their chance of getting breast cancer increases drastically with each abortion.
I am anti-abortion, but I'm also anti-breast cancer. Please investigate this issue more thoroughly before you dismiss such a critical possibility as mere politics.
CAROL H. ROBERTS
ROCKY MOUNT
\ No victory, please, for spoilers
HACKING up several hundred acres along the Blue Ridge Parkway benefits only the developer. To those of us who cannot afford lavish luxury vacations out of state or offshore, the Blue Ridge provides a wonderful environment in which to spend an afternoon, enjoying the unspoiled beauty of flora and fauna.
The county must resist this beginning encroachment on the environs of the Blue Ridge, which will open the door to future assaults. It was a marvelous gift to lovers of nature by one of Virginia's true statesmen, built by the sweat of Virginians - to many of whom the dollars they earned constructing this unique parkway were a godsend in those Depression days.
There are many other areas available to developers, and the county must weigh the benefits to a few real-estate speculators against the loss, however small, to the many nature lovers of an unspoiled jewel of environment.
It's time for county officials to measure their effectiveness as administrators in terms of not dollars but quality of living.
BUD SANTORO
ROANOKE
What's Terry done for us lately?
THERE are many issues in the present governor's race in Virginia. But the one that concerns me the most is the hypocrisy of Mary Sue Terry in her campaign ads and public appearances when she starts talking about the problems of Virginia and what she says she'll do if she's elected.
Fact of the matter is that Terry has been either the second or third most powerful public official in Virginia for the past seven years. Every time she recognizes a problem and starts going on about what she'll do about it if she is elected, any reasonable voter has got to ask: Where were you, Mary Sue?
S. STROTHER SMITH III
ABINGDON
Recognizing real motives
LEE Fitzgerald's July 10 letter to the editor in favor of the Freedom of Choice Act (``Pregnancy is the ultimate weapon for male dominance'') was the most refreshingly honest piece I have read in a long time.
It is high time to reveal (before more doctors are harassed or shot) what, while hidden under the guise of righteousness, has become patently clear: The radical minority of men who block women from entering clinics, and seek to outlaw abortion no matter what, do not give a rat's nose about babies. They do nothing about the suffering of scores of abused, neglected and unwanted babies. They are motivated, instead, either by the desire to impose tyrannically their particular religious beliefs on all women, or, as Fitzgerald notes, by ``power, dominance and control.'' (To compel a woman to bear an unwanted child is to render her powerless and unfree.)
If it is remembered that her remarks are directed only to that fanatical minority of men (the women in their ranks are little different), she is seen to be quite on the mark.
But, whatever one thinks of that portion of her letter, serious consideration is long overdue for her separate points about the shocking disregard, in proposed parent-notification laws for pregnant teens, for the responsibilities of those who make the girls pregnant in the first place. If the girl's parents must be notified, so should the boy's. Requiring the boy or his parents to pay for half the costs of either the abortion or child support, as Fitzgerald correctly observes, would doubtless make such provisions highly unpopular. But there are no good grounds for this inequality of responsibility. There are only the grotesquely unfair grounds typically kept under wraps - the blame and burde n fall on the female.
It is good to see at least one person attempting to remove some of those wraps.
DEBORAH G. MAYO
BLACKSBURG
For love of money
BURIED deep within your July 22 annexation editorial (``Annexation train still in the station'') is the real reason for the city's continuing effort to consolidate: tax revenues.
Does anyone believe that Messrs. Bowers, et al., really care about what's happening in Catawba, Vinton or Southwest county? Not hardly, Pilgrim. All they want us for is our tax dollars.
We thought this was settled two years ago. Now, Mayor Bowers drags it out once again. What's next, Anschluss?
WILLIAM PHOENIX
ROANOKE
Ending Elm's traffic jams
THE ROANOKE Times & World-News carried an article (Aug. 2, ``Roadwatch'') about the traffic problems at Elm Avenue where it crosses Interstate 581. Much of that problem can be relieved inexpensively by switching the on-and-off ramps to I-581.
Make the on-ramp the off-ramp and vice versa. This would eliminate long lines of vehicles that must wait to make left-hand turns across Elm; prohibit any left turns at that location on Elm, and post signs to that effect.
Some road construction would be necessary at the bottom of each ramp to facilitate traffic onto and off of I-581. The construction would be minimal, however.
BOBBY HALL
ROANOKE
Tippin among country's finest
I WAS APPALLED by Mark Morrison's Aug. 7 concert review (``Hank was ... well, reliable''), particularly his assessment of Aaron Tippin who, along with Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan and others, represents the future of country music. (And I must add that the future has never looked brighter.)
After reading the review, I began to wonder if Morrison attended the same concert that I did. Granted, Tippin has not reached the stature of Brooks or Jackson, but he is only in the infancy stage of his musical career. According to the review, maybe Tippin should just quit country music and take up body building full time.
Morrison says Tippin is ``mediocre,'' with a ``nasal voice'' that is ``borderline irritating.'' Furthermore, he commented that Tippin ``seemed much more interested in pumping up the audience ....'' I personally found Hank Jr.'s stage antics irritating and his concert in general to be mediocre. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that pumping up the crowd and creating enthusiasm was what entertainment was all about. Forgive Tippin for getting excited over an enthusiastic crowd; at least he was sober and possessed the ability to acknowledge the crowd. And as I recall, Tippin did come back on stage for an encore.
JEFF E. HUSHOUR
SALEM
Priorities in a tailspin
IN REGARDS to Robert A. Heller's Aug. 9 letter to the editor entitled ``Navy's jets also pose threat'':
Which is more important, you going out and ``flying for fun'' or the pilots in the Navy learning how to better defend our nation?
MATT McELROY
BUENA VISTA
Allen, too, on shaky platform
THE GAY community complains rightly that President Clinton has broken his promise to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military. The promise was made in ignorance. By not serving in the military, he had no idea of that lifestyle.
And never having been a congressman, he had no inkling of the machinations of Washington.
Like most politicians, he said what he thought was necessary to get votes. Someone has said that a political platform is like the platform on a train: useful for boarding, but not needed to ride out the trip.
We have a similar situation in Virginia. Those who vote for George Allen on his promise to get back tax money wrongly taken from federal retirees will be disappointed. He cannot keep that promise. The American system of checks and balances usually takes care of frivolous, ignorant promises.
JOHN Q. ADAMS
DALEVILLE
by CNB