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2009.11.21

Gasparoli: Learning a new appreciation for Roanoke

How lucky we were that Dad landed here

Tom Gasparoli
Gasparoli is a former journalist who is now in media relations for the state of Virginia. He lives in Richmond.

My picture of the Roanoke Valley has become so much clearer over the last month, 30 years after I graduated from Andrew Lewis Middle School, got some more education and then moved away to live and work in many other cities as a reporter. I compared them all to Roanoke, of course, because Roanoke was all I knew. When people asked, I would say the valley was "noncontroversial," but I realized later that was probably because nearly everything I did as a journalist was controversial in one way or the other. I didn't pay much attention to the news while growing up here.
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Posted at 09:57 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | 2 Comments

2009.11.20

Smith: Educate people for better health

Health education key to prevention

George Smith Jr.
Smith, of Shawsville, is a retired family physician.

The national debate on health care reform might be good for our country. In spite of the fact that it has become so politicized, it is causing some of us to examine the status and quality of health care in America. Several recent articles in this newspaper have pointed out the fact that our health care system is not the best in the world in spite of the exorbitant cost. The system should not be blamed. The basic problem lies with individual Americans who are making unhealthy lifestyle decisions.
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Posted at 07:09 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | 2 Comments

2009.11.19

Price: Make reading programs work better

Reading programs need to be revamped

Betty G. Price
Price is a reading remediation therapist for Professional Reading Services.

"Seventy-five percent of the country's 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for military service largely because they are poorly educated, overweight ... " These words, as reported in The Roanoke Times on Nov. 7, delivered shock waves ("Political notebook: Obesity, poor education obstacles to enlisting"). Whose research is this; from where and from whom did this information come? Certainly, there is cause for alarm over poor language skills -- the basis of all education -- and the growing problem with above-average sugar consumption, but the news that only 25 out of 100 of our young citizenry are educated and/or healthy enough to be recruited is cause for either universal alarm for false reporting or red-faced embarrassment.
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Posted at 08:41 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | No Comments

Clements: Remember who Veterans Day honors

Veterans Day is for the vets

Don K. Clements
Clements, of Narrows, is a retired lieutenant commander of Chaplain Corps for the U. S. Navy.

First Place for Rude Dude of 2009 has got to be Kanye West -- without a doubt. His barging in on Taylor Swift's moment of honor at the MTV awards is out of reach for anyone to try to take away. But the U.S. media tried hard this Veterans Day to climb up out of second place. Actually they do it every year, but when my favorite media, ESPN, gets in the act, I sit up and take notice.
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Posted at 08:33 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | 1 Comment

2009.11.18

Nova: Women's health shouldn't be sacrificed for reform

A flaw that must be fixed

David Nova
Nova serves as vice president for Planned Parenthood Health Systems in Roanoke.

The Roanoke Times correctly noted that the House vote to establish near-universal health care coverage came "at a steep cost to women," ("Flawed health reform," Nov. 10 editorial). That cost, issued as an amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., eliminates abortion coverage by private insurance companies "even to women able to pay for insurance themselves." Unfortunately, The Roanoke Times downplays the amendment's consequences and tacitly accepts the flawed measure as an inevitable price of reform. Instead, the amendment should be vigorously opposed.
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Posted at 07:34 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | 14 Comments

Andersons: An even field for small farms

Start playing on an even pasture

Debi and R.B. Anderson
The Andersons own Anderson Grass-Fed Custom Beef in Bland County.

Great news! Big Fat Food is attacking our small lean farm. We receive four monthly farming magazines. About six months ago, we noticed a trend. Sprinkled among articles and ads for feeds, seeds, semen and sprays were articles and ads opposing non-industrial food. "They" are even making false claims that "we" are making false claims. It's as if talking points are being released. When Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," spoke in Wisconsin, the Farm Bureau bused in several hundred industrial farmers to protest. How cool is that?
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Posted at 07:31 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | No Comments

2009.11.17

Baker: Build a better rail system

Let's work to build a rail system

William E. Baker Sr.
Baker was president of Solar Systems of Virginia Inc. in the early '70s when our need to alter our national energy priorities became apparent. He is a retired U.S. Naval Air Reserve captain.

"Rail passengers travel back in time" (Nov. 9 news story) took me back to 1942 when, as a wide-eyed 6-year-old, I rode the Norfolk & Western passenger train to Washington. My dad worked for the streetcar company here in Roanoke, and was a representative on the Federal Transportation Board. He had to attend a major conference in D.C. and decided to take me along.
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Posted at 07:14 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | 2 Comments

2009.11.16

Edwards: Bringing transparency to health care prices

Health information for Virginians

John S. Edwards
Edwards, of Roanoke, is the state senator for the 21st District.

The rising cost of health care is a major driver in the move to reform health care. Less understood, but also a concern, is the pricing of health care procedures by particular health care providers. The wide variance in prices charged for the same procedure from one hospital to another is as inexplicable as it is unknowable beforehand. As Princeton health care economist Uwe Reinhardt has noted, the pricing of hospital procedures is "opaque" to the public.
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Posted at 07:24 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | No Comments

Brown: Not all smokers are litter bugs

Don't blame all for the stupidity of a few

Gibson Brown
Brown, of Salem, is a Coast Guard aviation veteran and writes for the Voices of the Valley editorial panel in The Roanoke Times.

I'm not much on stereotyping. One particular stereotype making the rounds lately is the constant bashing directed at those choosing to smoke. Not all smokers have the exact flick-a-butt mentality, same zero respect for people and nature, same disrespect for anything resembling manners, or smoke the same amount, at the same places, or for the same reasons.
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Posted at 07:23 by The Roanoke Times Editorial Board | Category: Columns | 26 Comments

2009.11.15

Radmacher: Kaine looks back at his term

Kaine saw much progress in his four years

Dan Radmacher
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.

Gov. Tim Kaine would have every right to some disappointment, maybe even a little bitterness, as he prepares to leave office. His four-year term was far more difficult than anyone had reason to suspect when he won election in 2005, and it was capped by a turnover of the governor's mansion to Republicans after eight years in Democratic hands. But in an interview last week with The Roanoke Times editorial board, Kaine seemed positively chipper. Breaking the goals for his term into three broad categories of executive, legislative and political, he enumerated the successes he saw in all three.
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Posted at 10:34 by Dan Radmacher | Category: Columns | 13 Comments

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