Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130025
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In your editorial the day after the verdicts were announced (Oct. 4, ``What was the trial about''), you refer to ``a history in which whites have regarded police as protectors, and blacks for hundreds of years were the ones victimized ... '' I think all citizens of this country, regardless of race or any other considerations, have an absolute right to expect that police officers testifying under oath are telling the truth.
I feel great sympathy for the Brown and Goldman families. But what about the racial minorities, lower-income whites and their families, who have been victims of police brutality, fabricated evidence and lies in the courtroom? Why shouldn't juries tell police, ``If you're not going to be honest and fair, we're not going to convict the defendants you arrest and bring before us''?
The so-called trial of the century was clearly much bigger than the two innocent victims or the celebrity accused of killing them. As you suggested, it may not have been the best place to attempt to right society's wrongs, but let's consider the question you used to close your editorial: `` ... was justice done?''
If rogue elements in the LAPD and in police departments around the nation get the message, more justice will have been done than the conviction of any one defendant could ever provide. Maybe not for the Browns, the Goldmans or for Simpson, but for the rest of us.
WILLIAM D. BESTPITCH
ROANOKE
Rob Hagan is right man for the job
BOTETOURT County is growing and changing so fast that we need to keep our best people in government. Rob Hagan has proven that he can handle the office of commonwealth's attorney with his success as a prosecutor and 15 years' service to our people.
I was a teacher and principal in Botetourt schools for 36 years, served three terms on the Board of Supervisors, and also served on the School Board. In my service, I've seen the need for outstanding leadership such as Hagan provides in law enforcement.
We need to appreciate public officials who are dedicated to more than a government paycheck. His dedication shows as a parent and his work with children, churches, schools and civic groups.
We need to support the good people that we have in government. I know Hagan is the right man for commonwealth's attorney.
HAROLD E. WILHELM
TROUTVILLE
Pigs are preferable to many people
IN RESPONSE to all those opposed to having pot-bellied pigs as pets and to those who don't like animals in general:
Those opposed to pigs say they smell, are dirty, disruptive, an eyesore, a nuisance, etc. I take offense at those ideas. I'm around many dirty, foul-smelling people almost every day. There's no excuse for anyone to be nasty and dirty and to smell bad. Some people smell much worse and are dirtier than farm pigs, much less pot-bellied pigs. People have the filthiest mouths, including bad breath.
I've never heard any animal make filthy comments or yell obscenities. People are mean and cruel. Animals don't rape, shoot, stab, kidnap, molest or abuse you, or commit arson.
Pigs an eyesore? Look at some of the trashy, cluttered yards. Noisy animals? What about stereos so loud the ground around everyone close vibrates, or foul-mouthed drunks and bullies, etc.? I much prefer an oink, squeal, bark or crow.
I take offense at ignorant, mean people picking on defenseless animals and their owners. Are they jealous that they're not capable of giving unconditional love? People should be half as decent and good as animals that seldom if ever kill, abuse or abandon their young.
I'm proud that I was raised to love and know how to love. My heart breaks for all the unloved and abused people and animals in the world.
DONNA A. GRAY
BUCHANAN
Radio ad speaks volumes of Edwards
QUOTING Ronald Reagan, ``There you go again!''
Democratic John Edwards' radio ad criticizing Republican Sen. Brandon Bell for introducing only four bills during his four years as state senator speaks volumes about Edwards but little about Bell. Obviously, Edwards has bought into the liberal philosophy of the Democratic Party, where the first stop is always at the feet of government and never at the feet of the individual.
The number of bills introduced by our elected officials, if anything, should be viewed as negative and not positive. Are we not overregulated at the state and federal levels? Is it not reasonable to assume that there's some nexus between this problem and the hundreds of bills introduced each year by politicians in various legislative bodies? Why then should we applaud an incumbent or a candidate for his promise to be more aggressive in introducing bills within the legislature? Haven't voters clearly indicated their desire for less regulation, not more?
Not only has Edwards apparently not listened to the voters during past elections, but he also fails to, as Paul Harvey would say, tell the listener ``the rest of the story.'' Edwards doesn't inform the listener that Bell was a member of the minority party these past four years in Richmond, serving in a legislature where it hasn't been uncommon for Republican-sponsored bills to be killed in committee one year only to reappear and be passed as Democrat-sponsored bills the next. Under those circumstances, perhaps four ain't such a bad number after all.
JAMES LOWE
ROANOKE
Teen-agers are our future voters
I WOULD like to comment on the articles and editorials your newspaper has printed in recent weeks about the young people who gather at the City Market.
One of the biggest failings of adults is that most of us forget that we were once kids ourselves. How self-righteous we who were teen-agers in the '60s have become. We look at the baggy clothes of young people today and long to revive the ``conservative'' tie-dyed T-shirts, bell-bottom hip huggers, miniskirts and mirrored sun glasses. We see short, spiked, multicolored hair and become nostalgic for long, greasy hair, bangs, mutton chops and Fu Manchu mustaches.
While visiting the City Market area during different times of the day and evening, I observed groups of young people just hanging out and talking. What impressed me most was the polite and friendly way in which the majority of them conducted themselves.
To borrow a phrase from Ann Landers, city officials had better wake up and smell the coffee. As amazing as it may seem to some of us, judging from the number of well-written responses on your Opinion page from young people, those individuals read the newspaper and take interest in community issues.
Take note, Roanoke: These harassed and maligned young adults are future voters!
RICHARD BALDWIN
ROANOKE
Democrats fear charter schools
IN RESPONSE to the Oct. 1 Horizon section article by Joel Turner, ``To fix what is broken ... or to protect what works'':
Under ``The Allen agenda'' subheading, Turner writes that ``His education proposals have included:
``Charter schools: These would be experimental schools that would be financed with public funds but operated by independent groups. They would provide choice in public schools, and have been approved by several states, but Democrats in the General Assembly and some educators fear charter schools would siphon off funds and top students from public schools and lead to resegregation of schools.''
If Turner's reporting of the ``fears'' of the Democrats in the General Assembly and some educators is correct, then they also appear to be discriminatory. Their prediction that charter schools would ``siphon'' top students from public schools, indicates that no (or few) minority student(s) would be included in this group. It's my experience in private schools that ``minority'' students excel as often as ``nonminority'' or majority students, when given the opportunity and a good education. Maybe the real problem they fear is that the public-school system will not measure up to the competition, which, as many of us know, they do not.
WILLIAM B. LEY
BLACKSBURG
by CNB