Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409130033
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Sincere accuses Cuba of infringing on the liberty of its people, but what is liberty? Freedom to vote, as we in the United States can do, for representatives from two parties that are practically indistinguishable?
Sincere accuses Castro of sending Cuban troops to El Salvador and Nicaragua. It was the United States that sent troops to enforce the Monroe Doctrine in those and other Latin American nations. It is the United States that is prepared to invade Haiti - with or without approval by the United Nations or other Caribbean nations.
Cuba's economic, social and political programs under Fidel Castro provided universal free education, and universal and excellent health care, making it one of the countries in the world with lower infant deaths than the United States. There were no homeless in Cuba when I last visited in June 1992, despite crucial shortages of building supplies, oil and many other necessities due to the U.S. embargo. So Sincere's claims that the people of Cuba are poor, uneducated and hungry are unfounded.
It is time to restore diplomatic and political dialogue with Cuba, as Sincere suggests. Treat Cuba as it wants to be treated - as a grown-up, independent country that wishes to remain outside of the sphere of United States domination that dictated Cuba's policies for more than 100 years before the 1958-59 revolution.
PAT PRATALI SALEM
Marijuana's illegality rooted in racism
REGARDING Alvah Henley's Aug. 27 letter to the editor, ``Marijuana is still a big, profitable - and illegal - business'':
It seems Henley just doesn't get it. If marijuana were legal, he wouldn't need to worry about these criminals he speaks of. No one who buys it would need to if they could just grow their own. Don't blame the consumer for criminals. There has to be a law before there can be lawbreakers.
Cannabis is illegal because it's a threat to the synthetic-fiber, pharmaceutical and paper industries. And because the law was initially aimed at Mexican immigrants (thus the word marijuana), jazz musicians (jazz was called voodoo music in the '30s) and blacks (cannabis was blamed for blacks disobeying the South's Jim Crow laws), it's a law rooted in racism.
Henley is welcome to try and prove me wrong, but he can only rely on 60 years of propaganda and ignorance. Of course, he can always use the old standby, ``Well, it's against the law.''
BUZZY THOMPSON LEXINGTON
Priorities should be with the living
IN RESPONSE to Nancy A. Gibbs' Aug. 31 letter to the editor, ``Priorities are out of joint'':
Gibbs' priorities are obviously in a 93-year-old deceased man who lived a long and successful life. It is wonderful that Linus Pauling was very successful, but now he's gone on, hopefully to a better place. We have, on the other hand, a young man who is fighting for his life, and hasn't had 93 years to be successful.
How she feels about Pauling's accomplishments may be the same that another person feels about Ernie Irvan's accomplishments. Pauling was successful at something he enjoyed doing; Irvan deserves the prayers and the chance to be successful at what he enjoys.
Not everyone is interested in reading a long article about a 93-year-old person who is deceased. Some may want to read about real life - about someone who is trying to stay alive.
DEMATRESS A. HITCHCOCK ROANOKE
Bring back the fish, and saloons, too
IN RESPONSE to Margie Fisher's Aug. 21 column (``What worked for Richmond can work for Roanoke'') on the Valentine Riverside: I lived in Richmond (1965 to 1974) and love it - though Roanoke is home. Why shouldn't Roanoke comb back through its history and rebuild or restore some of the interesting, and sometimes quirky features that existed in days gone by?
I remember as a child reading about the fish in the basement of the Ponce DeLeon Hotel. How about a restaurant in the basement of that building, with the fish area restored? And give the building the name of an earlier hotel on the site - very appropriately, The Trout House. Yes, I know it was named for the family, not the fish - but that's another quirky fact. Even better: Make the building a hotel again!
At the turn of the century, Roanoke had an almost Wild West flavor - a rough, roaring railroad town, with saloons and brothels on Salem Avenue. How about rebuilding a block of just the saloons? A real, noisy, fun sort of area, perhaps with stage shows in some of the saloons.
Roanoke also has a streetcar heritage, including the line that ran out to Lake Spring in Salem. I know it's not desirable to rebuild the streetcar lines out to Salem, but what about a line from the City Market area along the I-581 corridor to Crystal Spring Pumping Station, and with a restoration of the cable-car line up Mill Mountain, as an access to the zoo? How about adding a nice restaurant? This would be a lot of fun for children, and using the streetcar line as the main access to the cable car and restaurant might reduce the parking areas needed for those attractions. The line might even be extended to run all the way to the Explore Park! That would be a fun way to get from downtown there.
McCLUER SHERRARD MARTINSVILLE
by CNB