We're working on an editorial for Sunday's NRV Current about Virginia Tech's plans to improve campus diversity and race relations. The proposal contains plenty of good ideas, but they come with an $899,000 price tag over five years. If this is going to work, Tech administrators must commit to funding it for all five years in the face of potential funding challenges in coming years.
Montgomery County's intermodal secrecy
A loophole in state law gave supervisors cover to choose litigation in secret.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors this week launched a last-ditch effort to block an intermodal rail yard planned for Elliston. Supervisors unleashed their lawyers, and thanks to a loophole in state law, they did it secretly. The lawsuit didn't come as a surprise. Supervisors, many county residents and neighbors of the Elliston site have fought the intermodal yard since it was first mentioned. They failed to convince state leaders and Norfolk Southern to go somewhere else, so now they will beg the courts for relief.
Read more.
Rasoul will debate himself on YouTube
A candidate can't host a debate without leaving the impression the deck is stacked in his favor.
Sam Rasoul, the Democratic candidate for Virginia's 6th Congressional District, had a bright idea: Have voters prepare questions on YouTube for all the candidates, select some and then have the candidates answer them on camera.
Read more.
Soul food
Linda Whitlock
Whitlock, a Roanoke Times columnist, is an adjunct English professor who lives in Salem.
Guilt is my faithful companion of late. I feel guilty about the food I eat (clogs the arteries, don't you know) and the food I waste (the leftovers I throw away could feed a person for days in some countries). I also feel guilty about the packaging the food I eat comes in (fills up the landfills) and the plastic bags I bring it home in (ditto on the landfills and a waste of precious oil).
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Countryside neighbors blindsided again
Valerie Garner
Garner is chairwoman of the Countryside Neighborhood Alliance. She lives in Roanoke.
In May 2005, the Countryside neighborhood in Northwest Roanoke woke to the morning Roanoke Times newspaper to find that Roanoke had taken an option to purchase the Countryside Golf Club property ("Week in review," May 8, 2005 Virginia section). The neighborhood was in shock. I decided to e-mail the councilman whose name was quoted in the paper to find out what was going on. That was Brian Wishneff. Wishneff and Councilman Sherman Lea along with Brian Townsend (with the planning department at the time) came to my house. There was no room for every neighbor, so they lined my driveway, hallway and back porch.
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Sharing a little dinner and conversation
Richard Radcliff
Radcliff of Blue Ridge is a volunteer for Meals on Wheels.
Meals on Wheels merely tells us what and how mechanically one does the job, but there is more to it than just meals and wheels; there is the magic of one on one (or two). If you need a passion to keep you alive and helping people, you can find it with Meals on Wheels. Of course, it will cost you, but take it out of your church tithe. It will do more good than a bus or pew cushions.
Read more.
Read Thursday's letters here.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
"I have a dream today!"
- Martin Luther King Jr., 45 years ago today
What's your dream?
We're working on an editorial for Thursday about the Montgomery County Board of Supervisor's decision to challenge an intermodal yard in court. They charge that the planned intermodal rail yard in Elliston violates the state constitution.
We think their argument is pretty weak, but the focus of the editorial will be on how they decided to appeal. There was no public vote and little public discussion. Everything took place in secret. Alas, a loophole in state law allows that, and it's something lawmakers should fix next year. Meanwhile, shame on supervisors for again cutting the public out of deliberations.
A YouTube debate in which residents of Virginia's Sixth Congressional District post video questions with the candidates then responding is a nifty idea. It might have been a great way for people to get to know relatively unknown candidates Democrat Sam Rasoul and independent Janice Lee Allen and to hear Rep. Bob Goodlatte explain what he's been up to in Washington, D.C.
But it's not going to happen and for good reason: Rasoul was the organizer of the debate.
Virginia's governor appeared on The Daily Show Tuesday night. They talked about what it was like being a contender to be Barack Obama's running mate, the vetting process and what comes next. Kaine said he plans to finish his term as governor, and after that it's wide open.
Oh, and they talked about his eyebrow. Kaine brought a button for host Jon Stewart. It looked like the logo in the poster shown at right. I so want one. Who says the governor doesn't have a sense of humor?
City schools, they are a-changin'
Roanoke's staff and students have adapted to many changes that are expected to make the system better. More and bigger changes are planned.
Great expectations accompanied Rita Bishop upon her return to Roanoke last year. Those familiar with Bishop's former stint with city schools placed tremendous faith in her ability to right a listing system.
Read more.
Tropical Storm Fay won't end drought
Southwest Virginians should conserve water voluntarily.
The creek that runs across the eighth hole at Countryside Golf Club in Roanoke was dry Monday evening. The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay might have provided some water to it temporarily, but recent rain will not end the drought that lingers over Southwest Virginia.
Read more.
Get serious about underage drinking
Bill Shiner
Shiner, of Max Meadows is a retired professor.
The Roanoke Times got it wrong again. Its editorial supporting the "Amethyst Initiative" of a number of badly misinformed college and university presidents is ill advised, at best, ("A sober talk about the drinking age," Aug. 20).
Read more.
'Moonshine gas' isn't as good
Jim Marchman
Marchman, of Blacksburg, is a professor emeritus at Virginia Tech.
As I drove home the other day I passed two gas stations that were having a price war of sorts, with very welcome lower prices than those found at other stations in town. Both stations posted the same price and both had an ample supply of customers at their pumps. Only one thing struck me as odd, and that was the patrons of one station were seemingly oblivious to the fact that, despite the equal posted prices at both establishments, their fuel was costing them more per mile than the gas from the other station's pump would have cost.
Read more.
Read Wednesday's letters here.
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