2009.03.08
Discuss Sunday's editorials
Making sense of the AIG mess
Some financial wizards weren't as smart as they thought. Thanks to their overconfidence, American taxpayers are on the hook for billions.
How's it feel to be in the insurance business? What's that, you say? You didn't know you were in the insurance business?
Every American taxpayer, like it or not, is in the insurance business now. Multiple bailouts of global insurance giant AIG have given the American people ownership of about 80 percent of the troubled company.
Giles County supervisor should go
Howard Spencer has betrayed the people's trust with an unwise project. He should resign.
Howard Spencer is a busy guy. Too busy for some Giles County residents' taste. Way too busy.
Spencer is a county supervisor. He's also town manager for Glen Lyn, home to an Appalachian Power coal-fired plant.
It's the third hat that's rankling some the most, though: Spencer is executive director of the Giles County Partnership for Excellence, a nonprofit agency in charge of the controversial Cumberland Park project.
NRV Current editorial
Hunters and hikers don't mix
A tragedy at Cracker's Creek is inevitable if Radford council remains indecisive.
Last fall, Radford City Council realized it had a problem on city-owned land in Montgomery County. Newly built trails brought hikers and bikers into areas frequented by hunters. Conflict was inevitable.
Rather than lead, the council chose to study the issue. Six months later, the issue has not gone away, and the situation is getting even more complicated and dangerous.
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A hiker is going to get hit with an arrow? Please! I agree that something should be done soon, but sheesh, the likelihood of a hiker getting hit with an arrow is very small. Has there ever been a case in VA of an innocent getting struck by an arrow? I bow hunt and think the likelihood of such an event is infinitesimal.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but aren't dogs supposed to be on leashes in this area? If dogs are getting caught in traps, isn't that the problem of the irresponsible dog owner, not the trapper?
The idea that hunters have other places to go is just ridiculous. This line of thinking is what gave us Plessy v. Ferguson. As long as there are other places hunters can go, then it's fine (separate but equal). Well, it's not fine (see Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka). Hunters cannot prevent people from building trails through the wilderness. The real problem is that hunters don't have to do anything to the land to use it and so they are marginalized because others have to do something unnatural to the land (e.g. build trails and bridges).
When will the RT realize that hunting is part of the NRV's heritage and that hunters don't need to be kicked off of the land because some bikers put in some effort. Hunters would be more than happy to put in effort were it required, but the fact is that hunting is the ultimate in conservation of the natural environment.
Comment by The Dewd — March 8, 2009 @ 10:01 am
RE AIG: Once again you lack of reporting detail leaves people in the dark. The Associated Press reports that two dozen US and foreign financial institutions collected $50 billion from AIG. The WSJ reports that Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank AG each got $6 billion. Also getting money was Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale SA (French bank), Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland, and HSBC. All this said, I wish we could see which other concerns, esp foreign ones, got some big bucks out of this but so far the fed refuses to tell us.
Comment by Al — March 8, 2009 @ 11:01 am
Funny, it seems like the hunters and trappers were there first. People who build where there is a pre-existing use have no right to complain about that use continuing. Especially when it's their own lack of planning that makes it a problem.
The hunters and trappers should not have to pay for the hikers' and bikers' failure to pay attention.
Comment by Jake — March 8, 2009 @ 11:11 am
Thank you for your clear exposition of the AIG mess. I agree with you that congress should have complete information on (as you put it) AIG's "partners in idiocy." But you fail to mention the need for temporary nationalization, which will separate the junk from the good stuff and properly reward or punish those involved. As I understand it, the FDIC has been taking over about two banks a week. Isn't this temporary nationalization? Of course, none of these banks are giant financial institutions like AIG. What's good for the small should work for the giants (and for the country at large) too. The trouble is that the media is still swayed and blinded by right-wing ideology about free-market worship and the evils of government action.
Comment by Frank Munley — March 8, 2009 @ 11:20 am
When biker's and hiker's start contributing to the DGIF like us hunters do then they have no reason to complain about how the land is to be used. and that goes for all public land as well.
Comment by Lee — March 8, 2009 @ 11:38 am
An arrow? A jogger is more likely to be hurt by a wild animal or a pet running loose than a hunter.
Comment by Henry — March 8, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
These decisions should have been addressed before people were allowed to make trails in hunting areas. So the board has already failed a duty.
Trapping can be a barbaric practice that should be done with humane traps or none at all. Regardless of who or what you think might be or should be in the area.
Hunting areas are consistently shrinking, however unless they are exceptionally lazy hunters, I cannot imagine that those woods are going to be full of hunters, but I will also add that the vast majority of hunters do not simply aim at anything that moves, are fairly certain their shot will hit the target and the 'danger' in this situation is more from irresponsible people than hunting per se.
Signage and public awareness efforts should be all that is required for this particular area so that one group's "enjoyment" does not dictate to another group's "enjoyment". And the board should be on duty before the next time trails are requested/planned.
I am a vegetarian. I have no love for trappers, and while I would not hunt, I understand the importance it has for many people and they were there first.
Comment by Sandi Saunders — March 8, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
Radford City Council needs to decide which group gets the right to use the land. I feel like the hunters should have the land by itself during hunting season. The bikers and hikers have Bisset Park and the Conelly's run trails in Radford. In Pulaski Co they can go to the New River Trail and in Montgomery Co they can go to the trails there.
I do not think that the hunters would be allowed to hunt at bisset park or on other trails in Radford.
Comment by fathokieboy — March 9, 2009 @ 4:04 am
Isn't hunting / trapping allowed in state parks during season? And don't hikers use state parks as well? How is this conflict different from that?
Comment by Jim — March 9, 2009 @ 9:23 am
Jim,
Hunting is only allowed in designated areas of state parks.
Comment by Dan Radmacher — March 9, 2009 @ 9:34 am
"but hikers and bikers have few wilderness tracts where they can enjoy isolation. If the city hopes to attract young, fit professionals, trail amenities would help."
The problem I have with this is it appears you try and juxtapose "young, fit, professionals" against hunters. Not only that but also there are a myriad of places to hike in rural SW VA where hunting either doesn't take place or only occurs during certain seasons. Examples are Blue Ridge Parkway trails and GW and TJ National Forest trails. Hey, why not read your own sources for hiking?
http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/hiking/wb/xp-index
Comment by Jim — March 10, 2009 @ 2:38 pm