A recent blog entry captured the frustration of dozens of readers fed up with speed demons tearing through their Roanoke Valley neighborhoods, oblivious to the speed limit.

Readers, meet Granville Hogg of Northampton County on Virginia's eastern shore.

Hogg devised a do-it-yourself speed trap to put the brakes on the leadfoots racing down his rural road, killing his lambs, neighbors' dogs and area deer. Hogg had his own speed-limit signs made to state specs and posted them in his front yard.

Voila! The speed limit on his road instantly dropped from 55 mph to 35 mph. The signs looked authentic enough to fool even a state trooper who issued a few speeding tickets based on the phony baloney signs.

The scam, er, civic activism, lasted about six months until authorities began to smell a rat. Threatened with prosecution, Hogg immediately removed the signs. His neighbor calls him a "hero." I wouldn't go that far, but he sure gets points for originality.

Al Sharpton must be in a camera-starved frame of mind these days. Last month, he was on the national stage at a protest march in Jena, La. Last week, he was in D.C. calling for the folks at Justice to start doling out hate-crime prosecutions like candy. According to Sharpton, this Jena 6 thing and this explosion of nooses thing are completely off Justice's radar screen.

White-on-black hate is despicable. But equally so is black-on-black hate. When and where is that protest, against these people who have claimed neighborhoods and made law-abiding citizens virtual hostages in their own homes? When do we rise up against those who threaten others with harm if they dare tell authorities who the criminal low-lifes are and what they do?

If Al wants to shine the spotlight on hate, he needs to shine it on self-hate as well.

There is no honor among thieves. If you believe Roanoke police, the dope boys are turning on each other, jacking each other's homes to get stashes of dope, dollars and guns. I read reporter Reed Williams' story in Saturday's paper and watched the online video recount by a victim, whose home was invaded last week.

Some victims of these crimes are offended that police categorize them as drug-related home invasions. I don't blame them. But at the same time, it probably wouldn't hurt to make sure everyone under their roof is an upstanding citizen.

Blacksburg, a college town, has a problem with too many bars, too many late-night revelers and too many drunken brawls. Go figure.

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• Posted by Shanna Flowers in State & national issues
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