ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 19, 1996 TAG: 9611190034
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
THERE HAVE been numerous articles recently concerning juvenile delinquency and how alarming it is that offenders seem to be getting younger and committing more violent acts.
It seems to me the problem lies more with the parents and persons working in our juvenile system than with the juveniles, and with parents' and the system's lack of real caring and intestinal fortitude.
There are many children and youth screaming for help who are being ignored or dropped through the cracks of the system. In Roanoke city, children as young as 11 years old can miss an unlimited number of school days just by hanging out on the streets. They are not being picked up, charged with truancy or even given failing grades. A 12-year-old can be caught stealing from a shopping center plus stealing a car, and the juvenile judge refuses to assign a probation officer to the case. Instead, the judge merely instructs the child to go home, mind his mother, clean his room and go to school.
When home is this child's problem, the lack of intervention by the system is a lack of justice for the child who eventually will be just another statistic in the penal system or the cemetery.
JULIA GREER
ROANOKE
Science created by man; not vice versa
DESPITE any presuppositions about an Almighty God, all religions are philosophies of life. As such, they're value-laden. Despite any presuppositions about the practical utility of a scientific theory, none is value-laden. None is even value-tinged. Instead, a scientific theory exists in and of itself, relying on experiment and observation to continually reaffirm its truth. Only man can attach value to science. After all, man created science; science didn't create man.
In his philosophical ramblings, Cal Thomas (Oct. 30 column, ``The evolution of the pope'') seemed utterly oblivious to this fact. If God created the Earth, then he created its laws. To understand its laws is thus to understand part of God. He created man in his image, gave him creativity and free will. (He didn't give these to any other animal.) To understand creativity and free will is thus to understand part of God. To embrace it and the laws of the universe is to embrace God.
Only to the extent that man denies his creativity and free will is his life meaningless and empty. Creationism has nothing to do with it. Creationism no more instills meaning in the life of men than the ice-cream man instills life in his ice cream. A man instills the meaning of life in himself. God gave him creativity and free will. God didn't define the meaning of his life, for the meaning of his life is what he does with it. So who cares where our bodies came from?
STEVE BURNKRANT
BLACKSBURG
Correction
JOE PAINTER, an attorney, does not represent Tyrone J. Edmond, as was stated in Alice Lane Davis' Nov. 17 letter to the editor (``What's race got to do with it?''). He represents Brian Edmonds.
Public radio's intent is being abandoned
HEAR! HEAR! I agree with Demetri Telionis' Nov. 1 commentary, ``Please, let's have less talk and more good music.'' The fact that public radio has always been the repository of classical music is being overlooked. Where else can one find the classics in music or offbeat, funny or thought-provoking shows? Not on today's commercial radio.
Our local public-radio station's early-daytime programming on weekends doesn't include the classics. (Detroit, Kansas City, Tampa, Gainesville, etc., all have stations with much more air time devoted to the classics, which is what has attracted listeners to public radio over the years.)
An inane talk show on Saturdays precedes (when the Met is broadcast) the opera. A blend of the ridiculous and sublime. On Sundays, I am thankful that ``A Prairie Home Companion'' hasn't been relegated yet to the ash heap. Yet after that laugh-provoking program comes not ``Bach's Brandenburg Concerti'' but ``Mountain Stage.''
It seems that local programming is being gradually moved away from the original intent - offering what cannot be found elsewhere. When it finally has been determined that classical music should go the way of the dodo bird, what will be left to hear? Just more of the same pop stuff that in 25 years will be neither noted nor worthy of remembering. I suppose classical-music lovers aren't vocal enough to persuade the powers that be here in Roanoke to rethink its programming. Too bad for them and us.
JOAN SCHNEIDER
ROANOKE
Use Virginia coal to generate power
IN RESPONSE to Ronald L. Poff's Oct. 30 commentary (``Western Va. needs AEP line'') supporting the building of American Electric Power's 765-kv power line across the Jefferson National Forest:
No one disputes that as population grows in Virginia, we will need more electrical power generated (although energy-conservation measures by the state's power companies could alleviate the need).
However, Poff would lead us to believe that the only way to supply this power is by building a massive, 765-kv power line from Ohio through West Virginia and Southwest Virginia to provide electricity to Northern Virginia. This electricity would be generated by burning high-sulfur coal from the Midwest, so that not only would we have to suffer the environmental consequences of the power line itself - 180-foot towers, herbicides, electromagnetic fields - we would also suffer the consequences of more acid rain in the East.
The fact is we produce a better grade of coal in Virginia and send much of it overseas. Why can't we produce the electricity we need? In other words, why not use our own coal and create jobs in Virginia instead of creating acid rain to fall on us?
Another fact Poff didn't tell us is that the power outages in five states that occurred this summer resulted from huge power lines sagging to the ground, causing the blackouts - a very real hazard when lines are asked to carry as much power as the proposed 765-kv line. It seems to me that we need to re-evaluate our dependency on huge power lines and grids vs. smaller generating plants.
DELBERT E. JONES
CHRISTIANSBURG
Problems on river will get worse
IN RESPONSE to James and Barbara Flint's Oct. 28 letter to the editor, ``Articles on river have been slanted'':
I think the Flints and the Supreme Court need to open their American history books. Around 1776, there was a little thing called the Revolutinary War, which was fought to free us from rule by the king of England - free to have our own country with our own laws.
I know the problems along the Jackson River are numerous. They range from how the Gathright Dam was built to who does and doesn't get to fish in the river. However, the Supreme Court's decision could have a grave effect on every fishable stream in Virginia. Therein lies the real problem.
The Flints' problems will continue to grow after Jan. 1, 1997 when Catharine Tucker (board member of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries) and Trout Unlimited take control of the 16 miles of river below the Gathright Dam.
By the way, I think Outdoors writer Bill Cochran does an outstanding job.
DALE ARRINGTON
SALEM
Exit ramps here are real killers
THE VIRGINIA Department of Transportation and Dr. Jack Kevorkian have something in common. Kevorkian assists suicide to terminally ill people. VDOT assists in providing suicide exit ramps - such as Interstate 581 onto Hershberger Road and Peters Creek Road, and northbound and southbound onto I-81 off of I-581. These exit ramps should have been extended or changed years ago.
It seems like one or more accidents occur each week on Hershberger Road getting off I-581, going into Valley View Mall. Yield signs are about as useful as snow shovels in Florida. Other states should loan VDOT some engineers to design exit ramps where suicide isn't a part of everyday life.
But if we're lucky, they might build another Virginia Tech football stadium on Hershberger Road. Then the exit ramps would be updated with no problem before the first game.
ROGER SHELTON
SALEM
LENGTH: Long : 151 linesby CNB