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The newspaper and black Americans are showing racism

I try not to practice racism and have to admit it's getting harder to ignore the clear condoning of racism by your newspaper. First the price paid to erect a statue of Martin Luther King was ridiculous. Now, when a clear and evident example of racism is shown by Barack Obama's pastor, The Roanoke Times all but swept it under the rug.

What gives this minister or any person the right to compare America to terrorist countries? Most of these people don't deserve to live in a country as great as America if they think they are persecuted because of their color. While it is true some of their ancestors and mine may have been enslaved and wronged, the current generation knows none of this firsthand.

If people really want to end racism, then quit acting as if you are owed something because of your race. In reality Obama seems to be racist because of his almost completely abandoning his white heritage and living as a black man.

Obama's speech on race inspired

I was lucky enough to be able to catch Sen. Barack Obama's speech in Philadelphia, and I am impressed.

It is far and away the most moving, mature and heartfelt exposition on race and our society I've heard from a politician in my lifetime.

He reminds us that while things are not perfect, they are better -- and it is within our grasp to improve it even further.

Just such a man got the nation in this mess

James Richardson, Jr. in his letter ("A poor lot to choose from for president," March 19) suggests that we need "a good conservative, Christian, Southern man for president." I wonder if he realizes that is exactly what many people were scared into voting for in the last two elections, and we ended up with George W. Bush.

Bush even declared himself to be a compassionate conservative. Where was his conservative self when he decided to launch a war against a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack on us?

Conservatively speaking, he has caused the deaths of almost 4,000 American service people, with thousands more maimed and scarred for the rest of their lives. These figures do not include the thousands of innocent people killed because they had the misfortune to live in Iraq.

Americans are bearing the brunt of an economy that has sunk to almost disastrous proportions. We have a staggering debt with an interest that is unimaginable. I think we can forget about the compassionate part.

A Christian? That is not for me to judge. I can only look at his decisions and wonder how he resolves his Christian religion with those decisions.

As a Southerner, these qualifications would not get my vote.

Eating at a restaurant is not a right either

In John Thisdell's commentary "College was obliged to take action when a student broke the rules" (March 19), he points out that attending college is a privilege, not a right.

This logic seems applicable to the nonsmoker's letter to the editor asserting that smokers shouldn't have the right to smoke in the restaurants she patronizes ("Nonsmokers should be able to eat anywhere," March 13). Borrowing Thisdell's logic, eating at a restaurant is a privilege, not a right; if you do not appreciate a restaurant's rules, you don't have to put up with customers who do. And I'm saying this as a nonsmoker.

Voters have a chance to do better

In answer to James Richardson Jr. ("A poor lot to choose from for president," March 19 letter), I agree completely that we are in bad shape with the poor leadership we have in the White House now.

But I disagree that we have no good choices. Either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama would make strong, outstanding presidents with the American people's good will and our place in the world their priority.

From the description of his choice given in his letter -- a really good conservative, Christian, Southern man -- it is too bad George Wallace is not still alive. (That's a joke, people.)

There's more at stake than payday lending

I attended Gov. Kaine's town hall meeting at Patrick Henry High School and could not believe that all the news media could talk about was comments about payday lending. Most of the newspaper story ("Govenor visits, talks about payday lending," March 18) was about that, and also radio and TV.

I think clean air and less pollution, not to mention blowing the tops off mountains to get coal, should have been a lot more important. These are all the things we will get if Dominion Energy is allowed to build another coal-burning plant in Wise County.

If you believe all the hype about clean coal, there is no such thing today. So what we will get from those smokestacks will be carbon dioxide. The CO2 emissions in Virginia rose 34 percent between 1990 and 2004, a rate nearly twice the national average.

We will also get sulfur dioxide, the leading cause of acid rain; fine particulate matter, a major cause of asthma, cancer and heart attacks; and mercury, which can cause brain development defects in fetuses and impede intellectual development in children.

Let's tell Kaine and Dominion Energy to invest more in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Letters to the editor should get more space

We have more literate people in the United States of America than we did 100 years ago. So why has the size of the page for the letters to the editors stayed the same?

We currently have less of a publicly written voice, unless you're a paid writer, than our ancestors had 100 years ago. It is now time to expand the "letters to the editor" page to one full page of letters.

When the political season heads into the final two months of a campaign, I hope you consider adding an extra page of letters from our extended local community of readers.

The newspaper is the cheapest way to reach a large group of people.

Our community needs more space to let our individual opinions be heard, where we can sit in our living rooms before or after work, drinking coffee or tea, and think about what our neighbors in our community are concerned with. When we share the thoughts in our hearts and mind, we build a better community of one, from many.

Mill Mountain zoning prohibits a restaurant

Mill Mountain Park, like all Roanoke city parks, is zoned as "recreation and open space," or ROS. There are 14 allowable land uses under ROS zoning, three possible uses under special exceptions and two accessory uses. ROS zoning prohibits restaurants.

Interestingly, Valley Forward is using the name Rockledge Community Center for its commercial development proposal for this city park. Even more interestingly, community centers are one of the allowable uses of ROS land.

Why would Valley Forward call it a community center if 70 percent of the square footage is planned for restaurants? Surely, it is not mere coincidence that restaurants are prohibited under ROS zoning, but community centers are allowed.

I encourage city residents who oppose the commercialization of city park land to become informed about each mayoral and city council candidate's position on the future of Mill Mountain Park. The willingness to uphold existing zoning is a critical issue impacting every city neighborhood and resident.

David Bowers, independent candidate for mayor, has clearly articulated his opposition to commercial development in Mill Mountain Park. I applaud him for expressing a clear position, and hope that all candidates will provide an equally definitive statement.