ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190058
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
A taxpayer subsidy for television?
I READ your Feb. 11 news article, ``R&B has plan to put cable in Roanoke's public housing,'' with amusement.
I find it difficult to justify the expenditure of $20 or more in my own budget to pay for cable or satellite television; therefore, I don't buy the service. How on earth will people in public housing find the money?
I thought we taxpayers subsidized public housing so the people living there could afford the rent.
JAMES R. TICHENOR III
BUENA VISTA
Parental notification is common sense
I FIND it hard to believe that for the past 18 years Virginians have allowed certain politicians and lobbyists to misrepresent them in the state legislature on a matter of such basic common sense as parental notification concerning abortions.
Commentary, such as David Nova's (Jan. 24, ``Communication begins with parents''), that tries to redefine the issue as the parents' fault for failure to communicate with their child is drivel. Nova's justification for opposing parental notification - other than his undying devotion to Planned Parenthood - is that it's a legislative fad, that it causes wasteful expenditures on litigation, and that it makes teens fugitives who travel to other states to get abortions.
Why do pro-abortion forces defend the woman's right to decide if her child (in the womb) lives or dies, but they deny parents the right to be part of a decision with their child in a matter of life and death?
If it hadn't become unconstitutional to review precedent set by a higher authority, those lawmakers who oppose the parents' right to be informed when a daughter seeks an abortion should refer to the Fifth Commandment: ``Honor your father and mother.'' Obedience isn't always easy, but the results are life-giving.
By the way, it would be good if opponents would also refer to the Sixth Commandment.
LARRY NECESSARY
DALEVILLE
Seeing red in the government
IT SEEMS to me that the United States has taught Russia and neighboring countries how to be democratic, and they have taught us how to be communists.
The new gun law approved by Congress and the president is outrageous and downright unconstitutional. When will it end?
In my opinion, what's wrong with this country began when the South lost the Civil War, even though the South was definitely wrong on the slavery issue. The federal government has too much power, and most of our rights are being eroded, little by little every day.
This country is being run by the ``haves,'' and the ``have nots'' don't really have a say-so on how this government is run. The ``haves'' keep it in the family, as do communist and dictatorial governments.
DANIEL M. FLOWERS
ROANOKE
King elevated our social standards
IN RESPONSE to Donald R. Johnson's Jan. 27 letter to the editor, ``King's communist leanings recalled'':
A communist is someone who believes in the economic system where property is owned collectively and there are two separate classes.
Practical problems have no ready solutions in communism. This has always been a challenge to communist governments, and now is a challenge to their successors. The end result is socioeconomic chaos in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia.
Martin Luther King called for the sons of former slaves and slaveowners to come together. His dream urged that blacks and whites, Jews, Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants join together.
King earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He began planning a multiracial poor people's march on Washington to demand an end to all forms of discrimination and the funding of a $12 billion "Economic Bill of Rights." While planning this peaceful demonstration, he was assassinated.
In 1983, his birthday was rightly made a national holiday. He wasn't a communist or a racial agitator, but a man who brought about great moral and social standards for all people.
H. TIMOTHY LOVELACE JR.
ROANOKE
Why not develop Mill Mountain?
INSTEAD OF attacking Mill Mountain Zoo in defending Mill Mountain, why not be honest and admit that the mountain and the zoo complement each other very well (Joe Kennedy's Jan. 22 column, ``Let's not tarnish our shining star: Mill Mountain'').
The issue appears to be development and commercialism, which various individuals feel will exploit the natural state of the mountain. What could be more natural than a zoo with wildlife? The zoo should be recognized and praised for the wonderful and beneficial resource that it is.
I am in favor of any development, commercialism or expansion on the mountain. I will always be in favor of improving any of our assets.
I'd like to mention to Betty Field, Joe Kennedy and others who like to hike and commune with nature that there is this trail - the Appalachian Trail - close by and is supposed to be very nice. You can hike and enjoy yourself there without bumping into any zoos or restaurants.
J. COLVILLE LAMBERT
ROANOKE
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