ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994                   TAG: 9403210172
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By MARGARET ROSTON HAGEDORN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUST BY CHANCE, ONE MAN LEARNED ABOUT ROAD PLANS|

One man happened to attend one meeting. He became angry. Why had he not been notified that the government was considering condemning his home and way of life? Why had his neighbors not been told?

Sure, it might have been in the newspaper or covered briefly on TV. But his life is too busy to read a newspaper cover to cover everyday. Besides, some of his neighbors are unable to read. Some of his neighbors do not watch television. They go to work and play with the children and help them with their homework. Many volunteer several hours each week with scouts, at church, at school, etc.

Articles in the newspaper about an interstate do not seem relevant to people who live down a long back-country road or in the middle of a subdivision.

This one man went to this meeting because he happened to have seen the Virginia Department of Transportation advertisement in the Roanoke Times & World-News. It was just chance that such a mundane ad sparked his curiosity.

At the meeting, he became angry at what he heard, especially at the incompleteness of the information. He sat down and wrote a flier which he photocopied. He randomly put it in 200 or so neighbors' newspaper boxes.

If you have heard about Interstate 73 and its impacts on our communities, you probably owe it to this one individual. I wonder why VDOT did not do a random mailing to the citizens along the proposed alternative routes to seek out public opinions. Were they afraid of opposition?

Never underestimate your power to influence your fate! The government is supposed to represent us. We are supposed to be able to participate in decisions affecting us and our community. Make your individual opinion heard. Between elections (where too few of us vote regularly) we all need to keep ourselves and communities aware of the issues and the people representing us considering our input.

I am sure glad that one person did. My thanks go to him.

Margaret Roston Hagedorn is a resident of Blacksburg.| 


 by CNB