Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 14, 1994 TAG: 9401140359
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan was owned by James McDougal. He and his wife, and former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, were the business partners who owned Whitewater Development. This real-estate venture and the Madison S&L failed.
After the savings-and-loan company collapsed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued its accountants. Following the advice of Vince Foster, a law-firm partner of Hillary Clinton, the FDIC employed the Little Rock law firm in which she was a senior partner. This law firm settled the $60 million suit for only $1 million, then charged the government $400,000. Everyone benefited from the sweetheart deal, except taxpayers.
Webster Hubbell was the law firm's lead lawyer for this case. After Clinton was elected president, he appointed Hubbell to the position of U.S. associate attorney general, the third-highest position in the U.S. Justice Department.
Janet Reno, U.S. attorney general, was appointed by President Clinton, too. Until this week, she was insisting that the Justice Department could be trusted to conduct a good investigation of apparent irregularities involving the Madison S&L and Whitewater. Who did she think she was fooling?
MARY RIGNEY
RADFORD
View art with an open mind
THOMAS Bridges' Jan. 7 letter to the editor (``Is it art or is it junk'') in the Roanoke Times & World-News criticized a reproduced drawing in the ``Art Exhibits'' section of the Jan. 2 newspaper as ``one of the most blatant displays of ignorance of art that I've witnessed.'' Now, I'm only the artist's husband and don't have Bridges' 10 years of art training (four of those in Roanoke, art mecca of the universe), but I always thought the study of art was a training in open-mindedness.
To trash an exhibit and the Studios in the Square's credibility (not to mention the newspaper's) on the basis of a reproduction of just one in a series of more than 20 drawings - without even bothering to view the rest of the exhibit or read the artist's statement - that seems to be a pretty blatant display of ignorance. Certainly, it's a sorry display of closed-mindedness for a so-called artist. It's akin to randomly choosing a page from a novel, reading it, and critiquing the author and the work. This tiny personality goes on for six paragraphs about ``trash like this.'' He even goes so far as to call for diversion of taxpayers' dollars away from the Studios, for showing art that Bridges doesn't like. Wow.
For the record, Ini Chichester studied art and history in her homeland, Germany. She's been an artist for 20 years and worked seven years at the German Art Fund. She's taught very popular art workshops and exhibited her work in Washington, D.C., Bonn, Heidelberg, and elsewhere. She was artist-in-residence at the Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center in Washington, D.C., and has an exhibit there now.
I invite Bridges to view the exhibit, read the artist's statement, walk through Studios in the Square, and reconsider the wisdom of his words. As he makes painfully clear in his letter, Studios in the Square is an important forum, bringing ``left wing'' viewpoints into an otherwise insulated community. He may well have ``a 3-year-old grandson who can draw better than this,'' and no doubt can paint better than Jackson Pollock. If so, I suggest that he nurture the tyke's talent.
PAGE CHICHESTER
ROANOKE
Lee and Jackson were men of honor
A REMINDER to Virginians and Southerners, who repose great pride in their heritage, to observe the anniversary of Robert E. Lee's and ``Stonewall'' Jackson's birthdays by flying the ``sovereign'' state flag of Virginia and the Confederate ``nationalist'' flags of our once free and independent nation. Both great leaders were dedicated and, particularly in Jackson's instance, sacrificed ``their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor'' in defense of what once were irrefutable rights of the states and their people.
There are those who would smear the memory and honor of these men and the rights that they so valiantly defended. They're wrong and are guilty of a selective historical memory that helps to perpetuate the myths and agendas that they purposely promote.
It's easy to bash our contemporary leaders today, whose total lack of virtue is evidenced by one embarrassing headline after another. It's very hard to hold them up before our children as models of the virtues we'd have them acquire, unless the accumulation of wealth and concentration of power and privilege are the only standards today. Rather, I'd hold up the lives and virtues of Lee and Jackson as worthy of study and emulation.
WAYNE D. CARLSON
RADFORD
SPCA shouldn't sanction protests
AFTER REPEATED battles and financial fiascoes at the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, it was a relief to those who've supported the SPCA in saner days when Steve Davidson accepted its presidency. He's understood the need to exhibit fiscal responsibility if the shelter is ever to be able to get out of the flood plain and build the new shelter that's so badly needed. He understands the need for the humdrum business of keeping nuts and bolts working on a daily basis.
Davidson also understands the need for a more conservative stance if the shelter is to continue enjoying local governments' support. He understands there are supporters who might risk even their employment if demonstrating against various businesses becomes an official action of the SPCA.
I'm one of those who sent a proxy vote, but mine was for the slate of the nominating committee. My proxy was one of those not permitted because it was submitted improperly by me (my fault). The Roanoke Times & World-News is obligated to mention this since news stories give the impression that only those votes of the opposition weren't allowed. Discarding of votes was done on the basis of the manner in which they were submitted, not on the basis of for whom ballots were cast.
I don't quarrel with any member demonstrating against those they feel are guilty of needless cruelty to animals. Many hunters share their disgust with a place that calls itself a hunting preserve, but is actually a place to go and kill semi-tame animals who cannot escape. However, I urge extreme caution in making demonstrations some sort of litmus test for membership, or making this an official act of the SPCA.
Please don't turn this fine organization into what appears to the public to be a bunch of wild-eyed extremists. I'm afraid this group is about to win the battle, but ultimately lose the war. For the sake of those creatures who need the shelter, think carefully about what's at risk.
LEE D. FITZGERALD
FINCASTLE
by CNB