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Child molestation trial report vilified the victim

Re: "Jury: Minister abused girl," June 21 Virginia news story:

Not since the 1990s have I read an article where the victim of a sexual assault was so vilified. In a society where so many sexual assault cases go unreported that we can never know the true number, how can the reporter portray the events of a child molestation case as though the now-charged child molester is the victim?

The end of the story should not have left us mourning a man kissing his wife on his way to prison. We should be left celebrating that this little girl knows that even though she may have been molested by a trusted family member and attacked by a stranger in the press, there are people willing to stand with her: family members, investigators, commonwealth's attorneys and even 12 strangers on a jury.

Reasons to switch to McCain

A recent telephone call from one of my sons living out of state helped me with personal angst about Hillary Clinton not going all the way to the convention, for the party's sake.

How could I possibly vote for Barack Obama? He sounds good, though extremely light on substance. I try hard not to vote with blinders-on party line.

My son reminded me that even though he couldn't stand President Bush, we have been safe from attack on our wonderful country. He said, "We need a president who understands the importance of military strength against those who wish us harm." He explained that no one can promise to have our boys home in any time frame. They can only state the intent to work toward our leaving Iraq.

He also said, "I do not agree with everything John McCain says are his views on certain issues. These are minor compared to his strength of experience."

I would have to agree that McCain will not weaken our might. I can rest now, knowing my vote will be for a strong candidate in every sense of the word who will steer us in the right direction for our country.

Don't buy Obama's snake oil

I have never been affiliated with any political party. I don't even bother to vote. My reason for not voting is that candidates chosen by each party are politicians, whose main purpose is to keep feeding at the public trough for as long as they can convince people that they have all the answers.

However, this past presidential exercise has been unusually entertaining. The Democrats portray Republican John McCain as so old and living in the past that he should be put adrift on some ice flow and cast off to his own personal Valhalla.

On the other hand, Barack Obama is most reminiscent of an Old West snake oil salesman. You know, the guy who traveled from town to town, striding smoothly in front of the folks and eloquently pitching his cure du jour, guaranteed to fix whatever ails them.

Obama has also become known for his longtime friendships with the who's who of the I-hate-America crowd from whom he is now trying to disassociate himself.

So choose your poison, folks. If you go with Obama, it won't so much be a choice between God bless or God damn America, but rather God help America.

Rejected drugstore had a lot of pluses

I was surprised and disappointed to read that three Botetourt County supervisors, who I thought represented the best interests of the county and its residents, had rejected the request of Walgreens, ("Botetourt Co. rejects building new Walgreens," June 25 news story).

One of the supervisors asked why Daleville needed three drugstores. One of the best ways to keep prices low is by competition. With the high price of drugs today, we need all the competition we can get.

Few people realize that Walgreens offered to spend thousands of dollars to improve traffic safety and provide an organized traffic flow. This would be a vast improvement over existing conditions.

The appearance around that Daleville corner is pretty sorry. Walgreens planned to destroy those old shaky boxes and erect a building that would be worthy of its location and would make the county proud.

How many tax dollars would the county have received? What do the three supervisors who voted against Walgreens at this location propose to locate there instead?

I love Botetourt County and consider it to be a modern Garden of Eden. I expect the best. I am not sure we are getting it.