ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTER
IN YOUR Nov. 8 editorial (``Does Tech need big-time football?''), the word ``ridiculous'' was used six times and the word ``sad'' was used three times in an attempt to describe the current situation with the university's football program.
It's ridiculous and sad that The Roanoke Times feels compelled to continue lambasting the Virginia Tech program, a trend that started with former sports editor Bill Brill more than 20 years ago.
It's ridiculous and sad that such negative posturing shamed Montgomery County into an extraordinary grand-jury hearing, which included only football players. It's also extraordinary that only football players were targeted out of a melee that included hundreds of people.
It's ridiculous and sad that this newspaper has, in essence, convicted the players before they have had their day in court.
It's ridiculous and sad that you fail to mention that the University of Virginia athletic program has experienced similar problems with its athletes. (They were convicted.)
It's ridiculous and sad that The Roanoke Times fails to realize that a university's cultural identity and respectability include all facets of life, including competitive athletics.
In light of the problems occurring nationwide with collegiate athletic programs, what Tech needs from your editorial staff is positive reinforcement of the action taken by the university, and proactive suggestions that could apply to all programs, not a shallow recommendation that the Tech program become a sacrificial cow.
It's ridiculous and sad that readers of this newspaper continue to be fed such knee-jerk negativism.
DIANE J. SOWDER
ROANOKE
Boy's death may help save others
I WOULD like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful people who tried to save my son's life, and those who were there for my family and me after he died.
In particular, I'd like to thank the Fincastle Rescue Squad and the doctors and nurses in Community Hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for their countless efforts to save Brian. My strength has come from the overwhelming love and support from my co-workers and friends at Total Action Against Poverty and Head Start, Roanoke Cement Co., my children's teachers and classmates, churches, neighbors and my family.
Thank you, Roanoke Times, for helping to raise the awareness level of the dangers of inhalants (Oct. 29 news articles, ``Drinking antifreeze kills teen-ager'' and ``Signs your kid may be `huffing'''). One thing Brian said was that ``a lot of kids are doing it, Mom.'' If those words can haunt others as they have haunted me, then our efforts and his death will not have been in vain.
KATHRYN WEDDINGTON
TROUTVILLE
Life's sacred web has room for all
IT'S AMAZING that Cal Thomas (Oct. 30 column, ``The evolution of the pope'') can decry the arrogance of science so arrogantly. How sad that he feels it would be demeaning to be related to monkeys, and by extension to all else that is ``lower.'' What a cramped universe as compared, for instance, with the Lakota [Sioux Indians] and their ritualistic prayer, ``we are all related,'' which views the web of life as a sacred hoop comprising animals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects, trees, plants, rocks and the rest of creation in addition to humans.
Science's contribution is the story of the sacred hoop's grand unfolding over billions of years, of incessant creation vs. creation once upon a time. And to those assuming, like Thomas, that evolution means ``pure chance in a random universe, with no creator, no purpose, no destiny and no hope,'' I extend the invitation to discover just the opposite from writers such as Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme and Matthew Fox. Their creation-centered spirituality (not to be confused with the biblical creationism Thomas champions as being ``sublimely indifferent to change'') celebrates change for being revelatory of spirit on the rise! That the pope, albeit belatedly, affirms the compatibility of evolution and religion is reason to cheer.
CHARLES C. FINN
FINCASTLE
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB