Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993 TAG: 9310150335
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
To give away half the cake, and then buy it back for twice the price, is asinine. If NAFTA is approved, there's only one way wages can go - ours down and theirs up, until they stabilize. Guess who gets the short end of the stick? It's obvious that so-called intelligent people could come up with this plan for one reason - their pocketbook.
Your Aug. 21 editorial (``NAFTA goes to Congress"), pointing out how advantageous to the United States this will be and how "this economic logic remains lost on many Americans," obviously speaks for itself. You have lost your logic.
You're also guilty of dirty name-calling tactics, so vehemently vile, one wonders.
When you stated that assorted protectionists, isolationists, cynics, chicken littles, Democrats, demagogues, activist and extremist environmentalists are amassing forces to wage war, you're damn well correct - I hope.
Too bad you couldn't name a few Republicans who would also like to get our government and big business back looking after American workers and our future industrial base.
ED PLUNKETT
ROANOKE
\ Time to listen to city voters
WHERE was Mayor Bowers recently? Was he checking the fences at the schools, estimating the cost of tearing them down? Was he in Roanoke County scouting out new locations for his let's-annex meetings? Or was he staying in, basking in his self-importance?
We know he wasn't at our meeting, to which he had been invited. He did not give us his support as our mayor.
He was not available to us to listen to our concerns and fears about a situation in our area. Does he remember who we are? Let's refresh his memory.
We are Southeast Roanoke city, not county. Maybe that's the problem. We have a problem that requires help. Does City Council also hear us? We are in danger of losing our bank. Big deal, he says? Maybe to him it means nothing, but to us it means the loss of the only bank in our immediate area.
It means our elderly residents will have to find a way to do their banking further away from home. When you're on a fixed income, you don't always have bus fare. It means another hardship put upon a community that has had to deal with being looked down on and stepped on for years. If it's smelly, ugly or distasteful, send it to Southeast. Want to cut costs? Take something away from Southeast.
Well, Mayor Bowers and City Council members should just remember: The very same people who are ignored do vote! We helped vote him in, and we gladly can help vote him out. We are asking, once again, for our mayor to reach out to us.
Does he remember where we are? He can just follow his nose. Yes, we still have the sewage-treatment plant. Or, he can follow his eyes. We live under the shadow of the Mill Mountain Star. We know he remembers the star, because it brings tourists and money here. Right, Mayor Bowers?
NANCY EANES
ROANOKE
Good, clean and profitable
THANKS to Joe Kennedy for his excellent July 26 article on the Branson, Mo. scene, "Country built town." He explained very ably the reasons for the successes taking place there. Of course, the main reason is good shows, which, as he says, are "without gambling, without drinking in the theaters - and with no trace of Vegas-style blue humor or nudity."
Kennedy says that Branson's future looks much like the past - like the television variety shows of the '50s or '60s. Does he mean that there is any reason whatsoever to somehow turn back the clock? Those who produce the shows at Branson evidently think so, or is it that they never turned up the clock when entertainment began to be degrading to performer and audience? It is refreshing to know that such entertainment exists and in such abundance!
This type of wholesome family entertainment is also happening elsewhere. While in Myrtle Beach, my wife and I saw "Country Jubilee" and Dolly Parton's "Dixie Jubilee" shows. The new "Alabama" theater is also open, and we can look for this trend to continue. The successes at Branson and similar entertainment elsewhere tell me that I am not alone with my old-fashioned views in regard to entertainment, which neither belittles nor denigrates spectators or performers.
Unfortunately, television and motion-picture producers are finding this a hard lesson to learn. TV producers continue creating inane situation comedies that are splattered with sexual innuendoes and put-downs of family heads, which appeals to some who have little or no motivation to use their time for better things. Movie and television producers also go for the ultimate in violence and sex.
Many of those of us who are older than 60 have the means to go to Branson for good entertainment. Teen-agers and young adults are being fed a diet of violence, sex and just plain trash that f+ihaso and f+iwillo continue to affect our society.
Those in the entertainment business need to wake up. There is a huge, untapped audience of old-fashioned folks just waiting for something decent to spend some money on. For now, Branson may be one of the best alternatives.
E. RAY VARNEY
ROANOKE
by CNB