Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.

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@roanoke.com
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Dan Casey

Recent columns

• There's a slip twixt cup, lip for Roanoke coffee shop owner
• 82 years of food fit for the King
• At work, on floor, in life: Rick Schmitt had all the right moves

• Column archive

Read Dan's blog

• Has Rick Santorum let the dogs out against Mitt Romney?
• Pistol-packin’ Ariz. lawmaker wants to ban classroom cursing
• Caption This! (Would you buy pizza from this AG?)

Every now and then I really step into a pile of you know what.

And one of the great things about working here at The Roanoke Times is, there's no shortage of readers willing to let me know.

Last week's column about a monument to Union soldiers recently installed at Lynchburg College evoked a slew of e-mails and blog postings.

The column noted the umbrage some Virginians take to the notion of such a monument. This New York-born writer concluded with the fact that the Civil War has been over for 144 years, and a question:

"Isn't it time we gave that stuff a rest?"

I received lots of answers. And many of them were a resounding "No!"

"No 144 years is not enough, sorry!" writes Jan Oedel of Troutville. But Oedel kindly added: "You have been here long enough to be considered an adopted son, we can overlook the earlier New York days."

Thanks, Jan!

Next up was George Stone.

"We have not forgotten, at least through my generation (born 1940)," writes Stone, of East Roanoke County. "Remember, my grandparents were children of veterans of the war."

A member of the Fincastle Rifles Chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Stone also notes: "We already have an affront to our ancestors in Richmond. A statue of President Lincoln and Tad [Lincoln's son] on a park bench while Richmond still smoldered in April of 1865."

Becky Witt of Salem writes:

"You asked why, after 144 years, we Southerners can't give the hard feelings a rest. As a grandmother who was born and raised in Virginia, I may be able to give you a little insight.

"I never owned a slave, my family never owned slaves, nor in all of my life have I ever met anyone whose family did own slaves. BUT, we are still looked down on by those of the Yankee persuasion as being responsible for all of the humanitarian wrongs of the past 150-200 years."

Not everyone agrees, however.

Carl Rosen, who moved to Roanoke from New York via Richmond, writes:

"I love living in the South, I am proud that my children and grandchild are Southerners. But the Civil War, oops, the 'War of Northern Aggression,' has ended."

Michael Howdyshell of South Roanoke says he believes strongly in Southern heritage and states' rights. His family has been in Virginia since the 1600s and he's a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

"I however do not have a problem with the memorial," Howdyshell writes. "I'm sure the Northern boys were gallant and brave and fought, as my ancestors did, for what they believed to be right.

"I kid folks about 'damn Yankees' coming down here, but the truth of the matter is I love the fact that all parts of our great country are different and have different heritages."

Amen, Michael. (And readers, you can see more responses on my blog.)

More on guns

In a recent column about an online handgun competency test that I took and passed, I wrote, "But at age 50, I'm about as experienced with handguns as the Virgin Mary was with sex when she conceived Jesus."

A number of readers immediately took me to task, and they were right. My own mother told me I deserved to be fired.

For the record, there was no intent to bash Christians or Roman Catholics with that line. (I am Roman Catholic).

What I was trying to say was, "I'm a handgun virgin."

I blew it. Sorry, readers. I'll try to do better in the future.