Sunday, July 05, 2009
Mission isn't to blame for transients
Mission isn't to blame for transients
Rusty Baker's letter "Rescue Mission draws criminals" (June 30) was absurd. Any city is going to have transients, especially one located mid-Eastern in the country.
I was recently panhandled at a car wash on Williamson Road. I've seen people standing at the exit from Hershberger Road to Airport Road (near Valley View Mall) and at the stop sign at Electric Road off U.S. 220 South. All are nowhere near downtown Roanoke.
Making an assumption that transients are coming from the Rescue Mission is wrong. Yes, they are on Fourth Street in the morning and around 6 p.m., which is when breakfast and dinner are served.
As for being at the library and in Elmwood Park, those are public places. Transients are part of society everywhere.
As for drinking all day, become homeless and see what you wish to spend your days doing.
Consider yourself privileged to have a warm house with a meal every day of the week. The people who go to the Rescue Mission aren't that lucky. I, who rent in Roanoke, would love to own a home near the Rescue Mission. I would consider it an honor. Shame on Baker.
Religious roots are well-documented
Re: "By design, America is not a theocracy," June 22 letter:
Apparently, Mel Quesenberry is ignorant of the well-documented Christian faith that was openly professed by most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, writers of the Constitution and our first president (in his own writings, which Quesenberry has obviously never read.)
May I suggest that one actually read and study real documented history, including the statements, quotes and writings of those who were there and involved in writing the Declaration of Independence and Constitution instead of accepting at face value the purged, watered-down and often intentionally misleading secularized version your public school teachers and professors passed along to you?
I was astonished that such glaring ignorance would be presented in so arrogant a fashion. The irony is amusing.
Vets deserve free health care
It amazes me how Washington thinks our military veterans are heroes, but when the tour is done, they forget us. They make us meet an income check, and if you are over what they say, you have to pay now.
If it weren't for the vets, this country might be in a dictator's hands or communist. Some came back, some didn't. Some came back with all their limbs, some didn't. Some were drafted and had to go, some volunteered.
They deserve free medical care, no matter what. I know a lot of people are without insurance, and that's not fair either, but our vets have given us the right to our holidays, our equal rights and our liberty.
The VA Medical Center is a very good hospital with good doctors and nurses. I have no complaint. Their hands are tied because of Washington, and it seems like poor judgment to give billions of dollars to companies that like the finer things in life that most of us will never see.
Washington forgets: The greatest asset America has is our vets. Join me in the fight for vets' rights. Give us what we deserve.
Enough, already, on Michael Jackson
The lady from Roanoke in the July 2 letters section is exactly right ("Too much coverage of Jackson's death"). The Roanoke Times, radio and television (in particular) have saturated us with Michael Jackson 24/7 since his passing. When is enough enough?
I seriously doubt that even the death of a president would get this much coverage. And who, but a few fanatical fans, would want to take it all in? Our world has to stand still while, over and over, the man's life is relived, his escapades analyzed and every aspect of every occurrence around his passing -- who, why and how -- is analyzed.
The economy, Iraq, Iran, disasters and breaking news have been pushed aside. And for what?
Can't we go on with our lives and day-to-day reporting once more?
Bridge is back, but in the wrong place
The bridge column is back. Thanks. Caryl Solomon is right, but could have said put it back in the Extra section and put that Kakuro in the classified part ("Bridge column is back, and better," June 27 letter). Thanks anyway.
