Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 30, 1993 TAG: 9311160238
SECTION: A7 PAGE: EDITORIAL EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Garrett states that he was a leading proponent of the Roanoke Regional Airport, and that Eddy wants to drop out of the airport commission. Since the airport is an expensive Taj Mahal, county citizens support it sufficiently when buying overpriced airline tickets.
Garrett states that he was the leading proponent of the county police force, and that Eddy wants to scrap it. Yes, Garrett was more than willing to join in a political ploy by Sheriff Kavanaugh's enemies to diminish the powers of that office and let taxpayers support two law-enforcement entities, buy uniforms, repaint cars, hire a chief, etc. Yes, let's scrap it.
As Garrett states, Eddy did oppose the Spring Hollow Reservoir and its attendant utility-rate increases, but it passed and now we're stuck with the increases. Eddy knows that it has to be paid for somehow.
I disagreed with Eddy's position on elected school boards, but it will pass by such a majority that it's not even relevant to make an issue of it.
Eddy made one mistake during his term. Garrett made any number during his, continues to make the same ones, and deserves to be voted down as he was the last time.
We need Eddy on our board to safeguard county taxpayers as best he can from liberal tax-and-spenders like Garrett and the rest of his kind who now call the shots in Washington and Richmond. We don't want them in Roanoke County.
RAYMOND C. DENNEY
ROANOKE
'Arrogance' for a good purpose
AFTER READING articles and hearing political ads espousing Bud Brumitt's candidacy, I've yet to see or hear one whit of information offering evidence of his qualifications to serve in the House of Delegates. I'm quite familiar with Dick Cranwell's qualifications and experience, and Brumitt, in comparison, is woefully deficient.
I've known Cranwell for 25 years and have found him to be passionate about Southwest Virginia and its people. His political skills and legislative acumen have proved valuable assets in representing a part of the state that has, over the past decade, lost some key legislative leaders.
If defending constituents' rights and concerns is ``arrogance,'' then we need more if it, not less.
MARK EMICK
ROANOKE
Profusion of signs shouldn't mislead
IN THE ROANOKE area, and surely throughout Virginia, nothing is easier to locate than a neighbor's lawn sporting one or more signs endorsing candidates. Not only are these ads visible in unprecedented abundance, but they are a one- party phenomenon. My neighbors support Republicans or they support no one, signwise.
Interestingly, there seem to be single-candidate posters for only two GOP statewide candidates, George Allen and Mike Farris. There are also signs boosting all three candidates - but why Farris-only signs, which appear alone on many lawns? If I didn't know better, I'd think he must be such a strong and popular candidate that Allen and Gilmore hope to ride his coattails into office. But, hey, we're talking about a major-league fringe candidate here, a wild and woolly reactionary.
So why all the Farris-only signs? That's why! The idea is to make him appear mainstream by their numbers. Across the country, radical, fundamentalist, religious zealots, for whom intolerance toward all who disagree with them is the cornerstone of their politics and religious faith, are making a concerted and well-organized effort to take over city councils, school boards and other influential public offices. To accomplish this, they must fool average voters by disguising or downplaying their radical intentions. That's just what we're experiencing here.
Complementing Farris' sign glut is the fusillade of letters to the editor, here and elsewhere, attesting to his aw-shucks regular guyism. He's a ``mainstream'' candidate, they proclaim repeatedly.
But what we're seeing grossly overrepresents Farris' support, because those who endorse him with full knowledge of his positions tend to be extremists, willing to go all out (out in the yard, at any rate) to dramatize their support. I'm confident that the vast majority of Virginians will not be fooled by his folksy, phony ploys.
ART POSKOCIL
ROANOKE
Brumitt victory will win respect
AT THE START of this campaign, Dick Cranwell kept emphasizing his 22 years in office. He wanted people to believe that Bud Brumitt will be unknown and ineffective when he gets to Richmond in January. In fact, Brumitt will be something of a celebrity.
If Brumitt is successful in defeating the incumbent majority leader, everyone in the House of Delegates will want to meet him and find out how he did it. Many will want to thank him for relieving the House of a ``leader'' whose favorite phrase seems to be ``I'll rip your heart out!'' My experience in state government shows that upset winners gain immediate respect from their colleagues.
If Cranwell goes back to Richmond, he'll go back weakened and embarrassed by his difficulty in defeating an almost unknown opponent. His campaign literature has gotten increasingly silly and desperate. It's more likely his colleagues will laugh at him than welcome him back.
Southwest Virginia needs a delegate who doesn't feel that the district owes him a seat and a living. We need someone who can command respect. Brumitt will be an effective and conscientious legislator.
EDWARD A. LYNCH
ROANOKE
Cranwell bluster no help to Craig
I WAS able to experience recently the antics of a career politician in the person of Dick Cranwell. I attended a meeting sponsored by the local extension office where the focus was Craig County issues and concerns. Cranwell was an invited guest. From the moment of his blustery late arrival to his departure, I was amazed and appalled.
He made several assumptions, the most annoying being that we are a county of individuals unable to plot our own future. His attitude was most apparent when, after having the concerns of the community explained by several community leaders, he jumped up, started pointing fingers and calling for volunteers to help him develop a plan of action to address these concerns.
What Cranwell missed was that, while he was doodling, county leaders had already outlined a course of action and steps taken to implement it. If he'd listened to the reports, rather than interrupt with promises and plaudits to the progress he was making, he actually might have been of help.
The thing I found most irritating was his arrogance. It made me think of the groundswell of voters, before the last national election, crying for term limits because their representatives had been out of touch with the voting public for so long that they had lost touch with reality. Cranwell is this type of politician, and we need to limit his term.
DIANA M. PAVLIK
NEW CASTLE
Packett's hospital links are troubling
UNFORTUNATELY, your Oct. 21 editorial endorsement (``For state House, Howard Packett'') of Howard Packett makes several assumptions and parallels that at the least seem editorially uninformed, perhaps unbecoming, and, at worst, misleading.
For starters, you portray the Packett-Carilion relationship as a casual one. You state, ``Packett's advertising agency has done work for the ... Carilion Health Systems.'' In fact, Carilion owned Packett's agency for several years.
Your parallel of Packett's campaign attempt to put Morgan Griffith under a sleaze-siege, and the ``turnabout'' decision by a group of Lewis-Gale employees to endorse Griffith has, in fact, no parallel at all. The first in inflammatory. The latter is a constitutional right.
As you are most certainly aware, highly profitable nonprofit hospitals have come under considerable scrutiny at the local, state and federal levels for their ability to create substantial profits and revenue streams without corresponding tax contributions going back in to the communities and states in which they operate. Thus, Packett's close and longstanding affiliation with Carilion is of significant import to those concerned with such issues.
CLAIRE MADDOX
ROANOKE
Stewart suits voters just fine
I TAKE OFFENSE to your Oct. 27 editorial, ``In Montgomery, oust Joe Stewart.''
Perhaps I, too, am ``too lodged in the past,'' but my family and I, all Democrats, plan to vote for Stewart. You say his badge of honor is to vote no on so-called progressive issues. What's wrong with voting against issues that cost taxpayers money, which most of us don't have?
If the writer is implying that the Shawsville/Elliston area would be more like Blacksburg if someone else had been our supervisor, then I'm glad we have Stewart and I'm for keeping him. We bought our property here because it's an unspoiled rural area. Keep your malls, colleges and factories in Blacksburg and Christiansburg, along with the traffic, exhaust fumes and subdivisions. We came here to get away from that!
Why sink all that money into a ``smart road'' when a bypass from Roanoke to Blacksburg would give the access so many Virginia Tech people want without spending near the money? Keep it on the other side of the mountains and away from our beautiful section of the valley.
The ``cultural divides'' in the county? We like it the way it is. Does the editorial writer want to see one solid mass of shopping centers and subdivisions? If so, I suggest the writer move to Northern Virginia and leave us alone.
ELLIE WEIKLE
SHAWSVILLE
by CNB