ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 26, 1995                   TAG: 9502270014
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


EDUCATION CUTS HURT BIOTECH OUTFIT

In addition to losses of academic clout at Virginia Tech, the state budget-cutting gurus need to be aware of the potential for significant loss of business opportunity here in the state as they trim higher education budgets.

Our company, BioSystems Technology Inc., located in Blacksburg primarily because of the significant synergy we could gain from relationships with talented staff at Tech like Dr. Greg Ferry (featured in your Monday article "Tech losing more than money"). BioSystems has become one of the country's fastest-growing environmental biotech companies largely because of relationships with Tech staff.

Losses of talented staff diminish our ability to compete in the highly technical biotech arena. Already the loss of Dr. Ferry to Penn State is forcing us to consider moving our research arm to Pennsylvania. Any calculations regarding a "savings" to the taxpayer as a result of budget cuts to higher education should include the loss of tax dollars on the other side of the ledger as business opportunity leaves the state.

H.W. "Buck" Cox Jr.,

President, BioSystems Technology Inc.

Blacksburg

Don't ignore sexual harassment

Mr. McKissack might take an avid interest in local news and events, but he clearly knows little and understands less about the relationships between girls and boys at either Blacksburg Middle School or Blacksburg High School. In a guest column in last Sunday's Current, ostensibly in "the interest of a balanced debate," he demonstrates more interest in rhetorical flourish than either in balance or understanding. I agree that the classification of all slights as sexual harassment is misguided. But to dismiss these girls' concerns because of any hyperbole or overstatement is verbal browbeating and the same overreaction that keeps many children from speaking up. Balance does not dismiss the expression of these concerns as a picture of Hell.

While Mr. McKissack might not see such behaviors as harassment, I wonder how often his butt has been pinched or sexual innuendo and labels been used to intimidate and quiet him? We cannot let our schools or our children tolerate and ignore the sexual harassment and lack of civility that have become too common in teen lives.

C. Theodore Koebel

Blacksburg

`Spay Day' on the way

The majority of Americans are unaware of the benefits of spaying and neutering their pets and allow their animals to mate freely. As a result, between 14 million and 17 million dogs and cats are euthanized each year in animal shelters.

You can help save the lives of millions of animals by participating in the Doris Day Animal League's "Spay Day USA" Feb. 28.

The pet population explosion will go away only when pet owners start taking responsibility for spaying and neutering their pets. For information on "Spay Day USA," call your local humane society at 382-1166 or contact the Doris Day Animal League at 227 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., No. 100, Washington, D.C. 20002 or call them at (202) 546-1761.

Cary Hopper

Blacksburg

Town needs curbside recycling

For many years, my family has recycled the paper, plastic and glass that accumulates quickly in most households. It has become increasingly difficult to do this in Christiansburg. Most conscious communities will pick up your recyclable goods with the trash. I thought it would eventually come to Christiansburg, but I've expected this for far too many years now.

I had been taking our recyclables to the landfill where they accepted all types of material. However, on a recent visit I found all the recycling dumpsters behind locked gates with no signs to let you know its hours. I was there at 4 p.m. on a Saturday, which I think would be a common time for most working folks to deposit their trash. It would be a nice facility if one could get to it. So, frustrated with the fact that I had a full truckload of recyclables and nowhere to go, I ventured out on a search for other civic recycling stations only to find them filled to the brim. It took hours to find a place to deposit them. It would be in the town's and the public's best interest to make it easier to recycle!

Wake up Christiansburg! Tell your town council members that you're tired of always being the last community to take on new, worthwhile projects. Blacksburg has it, so why can't we?

Dave Kingma

Christiansburg



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