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Turn Countryside into tournament course

I would like to add to Sam Pillis' comments about Countryside Golf Course (July 21 letter to the editor, "Countryside could enhance the mix").

First of all, I live at the golf course and have researched other municipal courses owned by a city or local government. I have found that Buena Vista has one, the county of Henrico has one, the city of Fairfax has nine and Virginia Beach has 11.

The owners of these courses are making "tax dollars."

I have also researched having a PGA pro like Arnold Palmer make the course a "Signature Course," in which they would develop the course to a pro status and could enhance bringing PGA and LPGA tournaments to Roanoke. Can you just imagine the revenue for hotels alone?

If the city can spend all the money it wants on an art museum or other throwaway ventures that may or may not draw people, why not develop the golf course to bring in revenue that is a sure thing?

Once this course is developed, it will be gone forever.

We'd soon run into extinction

I am writing in response to the question that was posed by Robert Casey in his July 16 letter to the editor "Maybe the Chinese are on to something."

He asked why we can't execute officials here in the United State as they did in China recently. The answer is very, very simple.

If we started getting rid of all the politicians, lawmakers and officials who do things that may cause harm to someone or they are found guilty of doing wrong, we would have no one left to run the country.

Exciting times for Roanoke

Some exciting things are happening in Roanoke.

The Riverside Center is transforming an industrial eyesore into a modern medical complex, medical school and hotel.

Roanoke's past was its rail and industrial base. Its future is as a medical center (along with banking, insurance, etc.) and this reflects that change, as well as creates jobs. Once the flour mill comes down, the aesthetic change will be dramatic.

Ukrop's has added a quality-of-life amenity to city living, and the investment is spurring a rapid transition of the somewhat run-down thoroughfare. Numerous new structures are being built or planned.

The condo and apartment housing bustle downtown is restoring handsome old buildings and will help revive downtown business.

Despite its well-founded design controversy, the art museum will be an asset for conventions, the City Market and tourism.

I believe the proposed amphitheater's economic feasibility is "iffy," as Mayor Harris has observed. The "For the City" ticket ran on a platform of converting the Victory Stadium site into a concert venue, and they're keeping their word.

Bulldozing beautiful Elmwood Park for a stadium isn't a good idea.

Downtown businesses need to focus on a "park and shop" program like we once successfully had, and restaurants need to offer more variety and more reasonable fare than simply high-end dining.

Pen or sword? Which is mightier?

When I saw the headline on Randy O'Neill's July 17 commentary "One right protects all others," I thought that was a great title. It struck me immediately that the "right" that would be discussed was free speech. I learned otherwise as I read.

What is mightier, the pen or the sword? And why did our Founders choose one as the First Amendment and the other the Second?

Just a couple of thoughts.

No honor for a thief

I was appalled at The Roanoke Times' choice to make it front-page news, continued on the inside fold, about Christopher Brandon Goad.

When I started reading the July 17 news article "'A dance with the devil'," I thought it was going to be an uplifting article on a young man who tragically had been killed in the line of duty, in a car accident or after a courageous battle with cancer.

Instead, I was shocked to see an article on a common thief. His mother said he wasn't stealing; he was just providing for his family.

Does it make any difference that his theft was from a corporation rather than the home next door, or perhaps our own home?

However, the decisionmakers at The Times chose to honor a thief and send the message to others in the community that stealing is OK, as long as you are doing it for your family.

The next thing you know we will be asked to contribute to his funeral fund. Would it be OK if we stole the money to make our contribution?

Not encouraged by the work of the Tech panel

I attended the July 18 Virginia Tech review panel meeting in Charlottesville. The preliminary report on the incident is a recital of the treatment of the disturbed individual.

At every step during the process, the report lists the statutes that were followed, demonstrating complete legal knowledge.

At the public hearing, child and adolescent psychiatrist Aradhana Sood and Judge Diane Strickland called for more gun control laws.

They evinced their support for the gun-control agenda, which is not in their purview. This is not surprising, since gun-control advocates typically capitalize on tragedy.

The mental health officials made the decision that the individual was competent to have full legal firearms rights and privileges.

The victims' families want to know why their children died to keep this from happening again. The police department denies responsibility for providing vital community services.

The mental health professionals selectively apply the law for political purposes, to the detriment of public safety.

The Tech administration holds that the privacy of a mentally disturbed individual far outweighs the lives of our children.

The review panel, from its remarks to and treatment of the families, is a complicit party in all this.

Is this where the America we love is heading?

Few families of violence are compensated

How many people are shot and killed and their families receive no compensation?

The Virginia Tech families were offered $150,000, and they seem to think that is not enough. Their friends and neighbors donated this money in remembrance of the victims.

The families should be thankful for any amount they receive.

We found a way to leave Korea

Some generals, both retired and active duty, as well as certain U.S. Department of Defense officials, have been recently quoted as saying what a monumental task it would be to disengage in Iraq, taking conservatively between 18 months to two years to accomplish.

I was only a private first class in the Marine Corps in December 1950, but I saw firsthand what can be accomplished if the will to do so is present.

At the conclusion of the Chosin Reservoir campaign in North Korea, the logisticians of the combined Army, Navy and Marine Corps command planned and executed the orderly outloading from Hungnam, North Korea, of 105,000 military personnel, 91,000 North Korean refugees, 17,500 vehicles and 350,000 tons of cargo in 109 ships.

This brilliant performance, accomplished in two weeks, Dec. 10-24, proceeded in a continuously shrinking perimeter under constant attack by an organized force of about 100,000 Chinese.

The only supplies of any consequence left behind were 400 tons of frozen dynamite and 500 1,000-pound bombs, all of which were destroyed when the port was demolished.

So, please, generals, let's see a demonstration of the expensive education the taxpayers have afforded you for 30 years.

1st Marine Division, Korea