Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100032
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Accordingly, your Oct. 18 editorial (``Tobacco taxes: hush-hush'') endorsing a tobacco-tax increase in Virginia for the umpteenth time is a classic example of this ``tax everybody'' attitude. More disconcerting, however, the editorial unfairly attacks the entire tobacco industry and, implicitly, every man and woman in Virginia who owes his or her livelihood to an industry that creates millions of dollars each month for this state's economy.
This newspaper crusades continually about the ``influence of special interests.'' I submit that we're all special interests in some way. As a taxpayer of Virginia, I certainly think that I meet the definition of a ``special interest.'' When the General Assembly introduces legislation to impose a tax on newsprint, daily newspapers, including The Roanoke Times, which oppose this kind of taxation become a special interest. Indeed, when matters come up in public debate that affect the tobacco industry, the industry does become a special interest.
It appears, though, that The Roanoke Times' vision of a special interest includes anything that doesn't appear on its Opinion page. Any other form of public discourse becomes a ``special interest,'' and, through some convoluted logic I can't understand, is biased and irrelevant.
We manufacture, market and sell a legal product in this country. Your readers shouldn't allow themselves to be misled by Ivory Tower elitists who would like for tobacco to be illegal, but don't have the courage to suggest it.
JAY S. POOLE
Director, Government and Community Relations for Philip Morris
RICHMOND
Provide safe paths for foot travelers
I MOVED here recently from Fairfax, and my family is already complaining about something that could be used here in Roanoke. In Fairfax, there were paved paths that went through woods and off to the side of the roads. These paths let people run, walk, bike, or do anything that would give them exercise. They were mostly like sidewalks, but didn't go through neighborhoods.
I've moved around a lot, and this was the neatest invention that did people real good. On these roads, there were people walking babies, and all the people I saw were having fun. I know that this is a big project, but it will keep people slim and fit. It will also keep people's money from going to expensive clubs just to have a place to run or walk.
SCOTT CROOM
ROANOKE
Aren't kids also due some respect?
KIDS ARE often ignored and treated rudely by adults just because they're kids. I've experienced this when waiting in lines at stores and other places. Even though I may be in line in front of an adult, the cashier will serve the adult first.
I know kids need supervision, and many stores require a child to be under adult supervision at all times. I have no problem with this, because I've seen kids misbehave in stores, which can drive away customers or end up damaging merchandise. But clerks often make you feel like a criminal - as if they expect you to make trouble when you come in.
Kids are always told to "show some respect." Well, maybe it's time some people took their own advice.
RICKY BARNHART
ROANOKE
Thin line separates spanking and abuse
LATELY, corporal punishment has been in the news. Schools have seen mere disciplinary actions turn to ugly beatings. I believe that a child shouldn't be struck by another human being.
On a recent documentary, a 12-year-old boy was struck several times with a "paddle." An English teacher gave him this harsh physical reprimand for repeatedly talking out of turn. His parents weren't notified. The boy was removed from school by his parents after a judge found the teacher not guilty.
My main point is that many parents have been put on trial, jailed and fined for "spanking" their children. This is somewhat of a contradiction.
Hitting a child can turn to physical violence. The child, in turn, may take it out on others. This may not only do physical harm, but emotional as well.
SABRINA JOY GRUBB
ROANOKE
No victories to be claimed
GOV. GEORGE Allen and Becky Dunlop, as reported in the finale of the three-part series in The Roanoke Times on Oct. 23 (``Environment entrusted to private sector''), would have us accept that our most precious resources - air and water - can be trifled with and left to the ministrations of those led by their own self-interests. Thanks go to your staff writer, Cathryn McCue, who has done such excellent reporting on environmental matters, for asking questions that had to be raised, and placing this most important issue in perspective.
When Becky Dunlop, secretary of natural resources, says that environmentalists ``should claim victory and go home,'' she speaks like a politician who has yet to fill a public office. Actually, there's no victory to be claimed, and we don't have to go home. We are home.
And it was due not to regulation but to the leaving of preservation of streams and habitat to individuals, corporations and locales that created the pollution problem in the first place. We must not go back.
GERALD H. HUBBS
BEDFORD
In-your-face pollution
THE ARTICLE concerning the proposed medical-waste incinerator in Bland County (Oct. 21, ``Eased pollution rules may defeat `local control''') points out tremendous implications for local residents who would be exposed to its effluent, but also for other communities that may face difficulty in coping with relaxed pollution-control rules
The accompanying pictures of residents opposing the project included one with terrible irony: A man is pictured smoking a cigarette! I can think of no possible substance from that incinerator that could damage his body to the extent that the toxic effluent from his cigarette is doing already.
A. SIDNEY BARRITT III
ROANOKE
Bias shows clearly in endorsements
WHY DO I have the impression that The Roanoke Times has never met a Democratic candidate for public office that it couldn't endorse, and has never heard of anything Gov. George Allen said or did that it could support?
I'm further impressed by your Dan Rather-style of managing the news, e.g., burying on the back pages the article (Nov. 1, ``Virginians leaning to the right'') about polls that showed the majority of Virginians approving both Republicans and Gov. Allen. Apparently, you embrace the socialist axiom that the end justifies the means.
I have long thought that The New York Times and The Washington Post were the most biased newspapers in the country. Clearly, I was mistaken. Both could take lessons from you.
If only we had an alternative to The Roanoke Times in our area.
ALBERT O. BIRD JR.
CHRISTIANSBURG
Aisle seats used by deaf people
ON OCT. 17, you published an article (``Ask a silly question ... '') in the Extra section about silly questions. One question was asked by a woman who was in need of an aisle seat for her hard-of-hearing husband.
This isn't a silly request at all. I'm also hard of hearing. When I go to a play at Mill Mountain Theater, I often take the aisle seat. My purpose is quite simple: If someone taller than me sits in front of me, I can look around him. This is important because it enables me to read the actors' lips and fully understand what's going on in the play. If I can't see to read their lips, then the play is much less enjoyable.
The box-office employee who thought the request for the aisle seat was silly was simply ignorant. Just because the employee didn't understand the situation doesn't make the question silly. Employees should make sure they understand the situation before dismissing a question.
MARIE E. BOUCHER
ROANOKE
by CNB