ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 13, 1995 TAG: 9512130009
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
MERCHANTS fuss about sagging sales this Christmas season. They blame everything from high consumer debt to shrinking paychecks. Lack of a Christmas atmosphere in stores may also be a cause of low sales.
Ten years ago we could enjoy traditional Christmas music in almost any store. Most stores displayed scenes of the Nativity, Santa and his elves. Santa listened to the children and treated them like people. Often they got a little treat.
With such a combination, we felt the season, and felt that we were part of a celebrating crowd. Now, Christmas shopping isn't much different from shopping on any busy Saturday.
Traditional Christmas music has been replaced by either any-time-of-year music or hopped-up versions of ``Jingle Bells'' and other songs that, though wintry, are theologically neutral and seasonally sterile. Christmas scenes have given way to booths where T-shirts and costume jewelry are sold.
Children can still talk to Santa, but their parents may face a camera operator whose attitude is that if their children are to sit on Santa's knee, parents should pay an inflated price for a picture of their doing so. Santa seems to be in assembly-line mode. You can forget about a treat.
We used to drive 150 miles just to spend a special day Christmas shopping with grandchildren. They loved it. We still have small grandchildren, but it isn't worth the trip anymore.
This year, our Christmas shopping was all done before December. Most of it was done by the Fourth of July, and 95 percent of it was done through catalog and television phone-in orders. It may have cost a little more, but waiting at the cash register in a line of people who don't seem to be having fun is no fun.
KEN VAN GORDER
VESTA
Local arts shine in `The Nutcracker'
I READ with interest your Dec. 3 Extra section article (``On their toes'') about Franco and Dagmar Jelincic and their Radford University ballet program. I appreciate the effort this newspaper put forth to present this article. It's good that the public becomes more aware of outstanding educators and arts programs in our midst.
Another such program with fine, professional instruction is right here in the Roanoke-Salem area. Terri Post is the excellent artistic director of the Southwest Virginia Ballet. Her students include many who have graduated from the Radford program. They include Terry Timko Mayer, former Roanoke Magnet School of the Arts instructor, and my daughter, Sharon Honer Allen, who is now assistant to the artistic director of the Northwest Florida Ballet Company.
Readers interested in dance can see the fruits of Post's 30-member Southwest Virginia Ballet plus more than 50 others as they present ``The Nutcracker'' at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17. Roanoke area audiences can be doubly proud to have this production since the Roanoke Symphony adds the charm of live, professional orchestral music in this joint production. The Roanoke Children's Choir will be featured in the ``Snow Scene.''
Congratulations to The Roanoke Times for recognizing the fine arts, and I encourage you to continue to do so.
VICKI HONER
ROANOKE
Pearl Harbor's anniversary ignored
THE 54th anniversary of the cowardly attack by the empire of Japan on our naval base at Pearl Harbor went unnoticed in The Roanoke Times. At least I couldn't find any mention of the anniversary of the surprise bombing and killing of 2,500 brave American soldiers and sailors.
As far as I'm concerned, Dec. 7 should be a national holiday - like Memorial Day and Veterans Day. After all, it was the men and women who gave their lives in defense of our nation who made it possible for those reading this newspaper to have the freedoms that they enjoy. Can anyone imagine what our lives would be like today if we had lost the war? Think about it, and thank God that we won!
BUD FEUER
ROANOKE
A situation better told than shown
I WAS utterly disgusted to see a picture of a used condom on the front page of your Dec. 2 newspaper. The photograph went along with your article, ``Unwanted neighbors.''
This could have been expressed in printed words instead of a picture. I thought The Roanoke Times was a family-oriented newspaper.
GOLDIE P. SPAUR
PEARISBURG
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB