Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409090027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Not only is it time to go back to the Bible, as she urges, but also to that founding father named Thomas Jefferson, author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom.
Ironically, the statute was needed because the ``biblically based'' proved so intolerant. Historian Dumas Malone says, ``[Jefferson] went the whole way. He did not limit liberty to Protestant sects or to Christian groups, but extended it to all without qualification whatsoever.''
I hope Hayes has an opportunity to visit Jefferson's grave at Monticello, and to read his tombstone. I doubt, however, she would buy the famous ``Jefferson Bible'' on sale in the gift shop there.
PARKS LANIER JR.
FAIRLAWN
More than one way to build a road
HERE ARE some proposals that address political, financial and ecological issues related to the new Interstate 73 highway:
Except for the Detroit entrance and Charleston, S.C., exit, omit all interchanges. This will save millions of construction dollars and make immaterial all political arguments as to the routing of the highway.
Make I-73 a two-lane, one-way highway going south. Who in their right mind would want to go north from Charleston to Detroit? This proposal will also save millions in rights of way and construction costs, and the environment will be less damaged.
Set the speed limit at 35 mph. This will practically ensure that no motor vehicles use the highway, making it the safest thoroughfare in the United States. The ecological benefits are obvious.
Because no motor vehicles will use the new highway, dedicate and promote the entire stretch as the longest, narrowest national park in the world. Bicycles, rollerblades, tricycles, scooters and wheelbarrows will all be welcomed. Users won't suffer the irritations of motor vehicles. The grassed areas on either side of the highway will be pleasant places for picnics and casual conversation, uninterrupted by noisy traffic.
Who knows, maybe someday this little-used roadbed will become the base for a two-way, high-speed magnetic-levitation transportation system that is the envy of the world.
JEFFREY STEWART
BLACKSBURG
America can't afford more immigrants
WHEN WILL we wake up? The United States allots 28,000 slots a year for immigration. There are more than 20,000 Haitians and Cubans in Guantanamo and Florida now. Who is going to feed and clothe these thousands? The American taxpayer! We can't even afford decent medical coverage, but these people are entitled to free care while detained.
Meanwhile, the jobless, the homeless, hungry children and the elderly in this country are ignored.
These people have no skills, and most can't speak English. Where will these people end up if allowed to stay? On welfare! They ought to change the slogan we have for immigration to ``Give us your tired, your weak, your poor, your oppressed, your murderers, your AIDS, your rapists - we don't mind.''
LEWIS THOMAS PATSEL JR.
ROANOKE
Police are working to protect the public
IN RESPONSE to all the letters written about the police's sobriety checkpoints:
It hurts and it really makes me mad when I hear that people are against something our police spend their time on. To hate patrolmen is really unbelievable, after they try to protect us and to keep lawbreakers off the roads.
I'm also sure it breaks no constitutional rights just to be stopped and checked. I feel that is a patrolman's constitutional right - and one of his jobs. We're stopped for speeding, or if we run a stoplight. We're checked for licenses, for stickers, and even if our lights don't work. So, why does anyone think it's messing with their constitutional rights to be stopped and checked for alcohol?
Thanks to all patrolmen who help keep drunken drivers off the road. Please don't stop the sobriety tests!
BRENDA COX
ROCKY MOUNT
Is Fast known by company he keeps?
STEVE FAST keeps strange company. I recently attended a press conference in Abingdon, called by the GOP challenger to our Congressman Rick Boucher. Fast had announced that he would expose a ``big lie'' by Boucher about his support for pro-gun legislation. There was no lie. As usual, Boucher had told the truth, and I pointed that out to Fast and his supporters.
During this press conference, Fast introduced two supporters who were accompanying him throughout the 9th District. Both men spoke to the small local assembly, then engaged me in an energetic private debate.
Imagine my surprise to read in this newspaper that one of the men Fast showcased at his Abingdon press conference had been arrested by federal agents as part of an alleged right-wing paramilitary group in Pulaski County (Aug. 10 news article, ``ATF arrests, charges 3rd member of `hunt club'''). William Darrell Stump II was identifed as being a member of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club. Federal agents also arrested the leader and one other member of that organization, and charged all three with federal firearms violations.
This newspaper's reporter, who covered Stump's hearing before the magistrate judge, quoted federal agents as saying the group was ``formed to illegally stockpile weapons in order to fight against tougher gun laws.'' The agents said the leader of the ``hunt club'' had written that his group would ``destroy necessary targets, including telephone relay centers, bridges, airports and police officers.'' The news article added that police seized one gun cache at the leader's home, and suspected he might have others.
Boucher has taken a firm but responsible position in support of Second Amendment rights. However, he doesn't embrace a radical group whose leader allegedly claims they'd kill police officers and destroy vital community facilties to advance their goals. If the allegations reported are true, Fast's supporter and his cohorts are truly dangerous people to us and to our society.
JACKSON S. WHITE JR.
ABINGDON
Christiansburg: victim of progress
THIS IS a plea for Christiansburg, which has become a victim of so-called progress.
Twenty years ago, when there were stores and shops, goods and services in Christiansburg, the town had people on the streets, and good parking behind the main street was heavily used. Today, the town is practically just a place to pass through.
The tri-city area of Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford is melding into a metropolis, which will probably be called Wal-Mart.
Christiansburg's downtown is being turned over to grass and concrete, and it won't be long before it returns to being a meadow. Christiansburg's earliest name was Hans Meadow.
Can local merchants compete with conglomerate advertising and pricing? What will become of Christiansburg?
KATHARINE FONTAINE HEATH
RINER
Reporters' opinions are not the news
THERE you go again - letting an opinion-laced editorial writer purport to report the news. The Aug. 20 news article, ``North adds NRA backing to his arsenal,'' deserves to be in your op-ed section and nowhere else.
Phrases like `` ... chip on his shoulder and a semiautomatic to prove it ... ,'' ``Firearms were nowhere in plain view, but ... ,'' and ``North's guts-and-guns machismo ... '' are clear examples of staff writer Alec Klein's inflammatory contempt for those with whom he disagrees. No problem with his disagreement, but please save it for the op-ed. Don't try to say it's objective journalism.
In fact, it's not even subtle. It's so obvious. Klein can't even deny his bias long enough to file a straight report.
No matter. There's a certain informed electorate out here who know that if your newspaper were to say something kind about Oliver North, then it's time to be suspicious of you, him or both.
LEWIS E. WERTZ JR.
ROANOKE
by CNB