Thursday letters
Irish and morality in today’s letters to the editor.
Pick of the day: Preserve the St. Patrick’s Day parade
The question asked by Jim Baldwin in Tad Dicken’s article “Festival going less green this year” (Feb. 10 news story) remains unanswered: “Why mess with the formula?”
It has taken 20 years to develop the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Celtic festival into an event that draws an estimated 15,000 people to Roanoke. The parade-goers and those who remain for the Celtic festival brave unpredictable March weather because of the Celtic theme, the Celtic music and food, and to enjoy “being Irish for the day.”
Instead of continuing what works — bagpipers, pipe and drum bands and dancers — we now see a step backward away from the Celtic emphasis of the day. Apparently, the thought is that visitors to downtown Roanoke to view the second largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the Southeast will remain to be entertained by “a couple of Irish- and Celtic-flavored acts” and “a couple of rock and pop acts.”
Roanokers have spoken over the last 20 years. They appreciate what the St. Patrick’s Day celebration has become. They will speak again, and we will see declining attendance and a resulting economic decline, to the detriment of downtown restaurants and shops.
Why mess with the formula?
PAUL YENGST
ROANOKE
February 14, 2013 - 8:13 AM
One letter wrote,
“Recently, The Roanoke Times has printed numerous personal, local, national and international articles (some with pictures) regarding individuals and partnerships that are immoral and unbiblical,” and “I wish to remind your staff that vulnerable children are exposed to this information as they occasionally scan the paper for historical or interesting articles.”
Probably the writer expects that the RT will continue to report murders and rapes. Surely she considers these acts immoral and unbiblical? I bet she won’t mind if the paper shows pictures of bankers indicted for embezzlement, or sports heroes who beat up their girlfriends, or drunk drivers who killed someone, or the latest arson. I bet she was absolutely delighted when Bill Clinton was on the front page for his extramarital activities.
But a picture of two gay people holding hands — heaven forbid a child should see that. Now, you could argue that stories about gay people trying to secure their civil rights aren’t newsworthy. The ironic thing is that what makes them newsworthy is the persecution and discrimination that gay people have faced and continue to face, all because of the ignorance and sheer bigotry of the writer and those like her.