ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
IN YOUR Jan. 4 editorial, ``Multiply - but not too much,'' you said that ``China has used forced abortions in its population program, a despicable practice denounced by anti-abortion and pro-choice constituencies alike.'' But you didn't say why China would commit such a heinous violation of human rights.
China has more than 1 billion people living within its borders, and they already face food shortages in many parts of their country. Their growing population compounds this problem. If you count up the number of births and subtract the number of deaths, China's population grows by more than 40,000 each day!
To cut population growth, the government limits couples to bearing only one child. Additional pregnancies are to be terminated. This explains, but in no way condones, ruthless and despicable behavior.
Congressman Bob Goodlatte should consider China's predicament. According to the Population Institute, world population increased by 100 million in 1995 - the greatest one-year jump ever. Yet he and other ``pro-family'' representatives continue to vote to cut funding for international family planning and contraceptives for developing countries around the world. As a result, other countries will begin facing the same problems as China. Some will choose the route of coercive abortions.
Congress should fund voluntary family planning now or face a worldwide epidemic of forced abortions later.
SUE STRACKE
CLOVERDALE
Idiocy reigns in budget battles
WHERE has common sense gone? The government is at war - party against party - to balance a budget that a housewife could balance.
Elected officials would deprive the elderly and disabled of adequate medical care, and at the same time fund someone to put a crucifix in urine and call it art. Where I come from, if your art was good, it sold. Why should my taxes be used to support those who can't make it on their own talent?
The government spends more than $400 for a hammer, and says the elderly have no value. It funds groups to research why people say ``ain't,'' when surely that can't really affect the well-being of the public, only the pockets of the researchers.
The government says it has no money, yet can send nonessential employees to Disney World to learn manners they should have learned as children. These are the same employees who were laid off during recent government shutdowns because there wasn't enough money to pay them.
Why are we still sending money to Japan to rebuild from a war it started with the cold-blooded massacre at Pearl Harbor? Japan looks pretty rebuilt to me. In fact, it is buying up our businesses and banks with my money. In affect, our government is saying, ``I feel so guilty for winning a war against atrocities that I will pay you for starting it.''
To cut waste by cutting essentials is like a family balancing its budget by not feeding the children, then buying them a BMW.
Cut waste; stop spending for items that have little value; pay reasonable (remember that word?) prices for supplies. Elected officials should also stop trying to live like kings with fancy parties and junkets at my expense.
The budget can be balanced without having to steal from Medicare and Medicaid. Leaders in both parties are beginning to look like idiots who care for no one but themselves.
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
NEW CASTLE
Bring prayer back to classrooms
IN SOME ways, I agree with Cathy Burdette's Jan. 5 letter to the editor (``Show respect for U.S. traditions''). Something has happened since Thomas Jefferson placed the Bible in the American classrooms as a guiding light to all. What many people forget is that our country was founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
James Madison said, ``We've staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all our heart.''
George Washington said in his farewell address, ``You can't have national morality apart from religious principle.''
America today has a higher teen-pregnancy rate than other nations. To add to this, we also have the highest rates of illiteracy, violent crimes, drug use and divorce. Abortion has wiped out a whole generation of unborn children. By allowing this, we've possibly destroyed future doctors, lawyers, even presidents.
Abraham Lincoln said, ``The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government of the next.'' When schools teach that abortion and safe sex are OK, and that homosexuality is an acceptable alternative lifestyle, then I hate to see what will happen to our country.
The only way to regain America's youth is to institutionalize prayer in the classroom. World history shows time and time again that to allow a mix of religions in a society will eventually cause the destruction of that culture.
DAVID RAKESTRAW
COPPER HILL
Respect sheriff's appointments
IN RESPONSE to Jack H. Atkinson's Jan. 9 letter to the editor, ``New sheriff made a bad decision'':
We are very disappointed that he thought enough of Doug Marrs to vote for him, but does not back Marrs' appointment of his staff, which every elected sheriff has had the right to do.
We remember when Montgomery County Sheriff Ken Phipps was elected, and he hired his own staff to carry out the things he promised the voters.
Marrs has appointed a very qualified chief deputy with lots of experience, and he is well-liked in the county by law-abiding citizens.
We wish the new sheriff the best of luck over the next four years, and offer our support 100 percent.
DARYL and ONETA TOLER
CHRISTIANSBURG
Next time, give the city a hand
THE DIFFICULTY of snow removal increases exponentially rather than linearly with the increase of the depth of snow. Four inches of snow requires little more effort in removal than two inches, but eight inches is more nearly four times rather than twice as difficult to remove as four inches. Snowfall like we recently had was well up on the steeper portion of a parabolic curve of effort of snow removal.
The cleanup following Hurricane Hugo was greatly facilitated by the efforts of volunteers with chain saws. A similar effort with snow shovels would have helped in the recent storm. Snow-plow operators worked 12-hour shifts for 10 consecutive days, and I'm sure the supervisory personnel put in equal effort. Councilman Mac McCadden is correct in stating that what was needed was more effort and less talk.
As for the wretched Jim Maske (Jan. 19 letter to the editor, ``City's excuses piled up with the snow''): Pennsylvania is a great state. The same roads that brought him here run both ways. Rather than spend the rest of his life in misery, he should return to a happier environment. Should he have trouble with bus fare, I'm sure there are a number of people who would gladly help him scratch up the change.
JUNIUS E. CROWGEY
ROANOKE
Snow is gone, so hit the road, Jim
AS A transplanted Yankee, I'm sick and tired of hearing other transplants knock Roanoke. I refer to Jim Maske's Jan. 19 letter to the editor, ``City's excuses piled up with the snow.''
I, too, have lived in much bigger places up North - Michigan, New Jersey and New York. As far as I'm concerned, in none of these places have I felt so much at home as in Roanoke.
Sure, we don't have as much to offer as these other places - high crime to the point that you're afraid to walk out your door for fear of getting mugged, raped or murdered; so much traffic that it takes one hour to go 15 miles; recreation areas so packed that you can't even find a place to sit and eat; $70 for tickets to the theater; racial tensions so tight you don't dare go into certain areas.
Why should we spend all kinds of money on equipment we may or may not use? Can't that money be put to better use on something else? Would I trade my life here for the convenience of having roads cleared like they do it up North? Not on your life!
If Maske dislikes our little ``God-forsaken'' city so much, why doesn't he point his car north and leave us ``yokels'' to enjoy our wonderful valley? We promise him: He won't be missed.
LORETTA NUNN
ROANOKE
LENGTH: Long : 153 linesby CNB