Daily Press


Why is it racism when Harvey Gantt gets "only" 37 percent of the white vote in his recent contest with Jessie Helms but not racism when Helms gets only 6 percent of the black vote.

The voters of North Carolina sent a message that they were not ready to elect Gantt, not because he is black but because he is a free spending liberal from the Kennedy/Metzenbaum camp of the Democratic party.

It's about time that the news media in this country give the Southern voter a little more credit for having a brain and the sense to look past a candidate's skin color to his political beliefs.

Robert E. Schofield III

Newport News


In your article of Nov. 2 on the opening of tundra swan season, Grey Wheeler states that "besides the fun of shooting them, it represents a challenge." What fun does anyone derive from ending the life of anything, regardless of whether or not it is challenging? The real crux of the matter is that these animals are not edible or put to use in any other way but as trophy displays in the dusty dens of Wheeler and other hunters and as testimonials to a high degree of hand/eye motor skills. Anyone who can walk and chew gum simultaneously can ambush a swan with a scatter gun; they are not noted for their swift takeoffs. I doubt these "trophy hunters" will ever grasp the notion that nature is best appreciated through binoculars, and animals are best left to live out their lives doing what they do with as much right to this planet as humans. Maybe wild swans have an even greater right to life as they impact ecology far less negatively than humans who don't have hunting seasons placed on them to cull their gross overpopulation.

I'm sure Wheeler and other hunters are otherwise nice people in life, but if they would only reroute those same energies and finances they expend in collecting firearms and killing other creatures into pursuits such as fighting to protect our non-human earth life, which has no legislative voice, I think they would find giving to nature more emotionally fulfilling than taking from it.

John Sharp



Have you heard the latest in radio station "leap-frog"? Well, it is the Duck! The pleasant-sounding radio station in Williamsburg, Soft 96, suddenly became the Duck at 9 p.m. Oct. 30. I was listening to the station's soft music and every once in a while there was a duck call! Then suddenly at 9, the sound of a record needle going across a record was heard, and "Welcome to Richmond's newest oldies station, WDCK, the Duck, with 12 oldies in a row every hour." We can now add a Duck to the Fox (106.9) and don't forget the Bull on FM 99. What is also interesting is that the music jingles are the same as WLTY's oldies 95.7. Now we have oldies 96.5.

Why has the Duck changed to oldies? All four stations play oldies in the same market; how can they survive? Well, the Fox and FM 99 play other stuff. At least 95.7 and 96.5 will both play hits from the '50s, '60s and the '70s. But who wants to listen to oldies all day? Not me!

We, the listeners, are besieged by flip-flopping radio stations who try to copy each other. The Fox has '70s at 7, so oldies 95.7 has '60s at 6. COOL 105.3 used to have cartoons at drive-home time; 2WD and JOY 95 now have programs that are similar. I see JOY 95 changing slightly, and perhaps with more oldies (33 percent) and a bit harder hits some of the time (but not the Fox), maybe I can become a one-station man again?

Christopher Smith



Every time I drive on the interstate, I cannot help thinking of all those young men we have sent to the Middle East who are there for the purpose of securing protection for our right to use gasoline as if there were no tomorrow.

If I try to maintain the posted speed limit, whether it is 55 or 65, I never have to pass another vehicle, truck or car. I would estimate that most of them are exceeding the speed limit by at least 10 mph. Average gasoline consumption per mile increases rapidly at speeds over 55, so these people are wasting fuel just to get somewhere a few minutes early, probably with no urgent business when they arrive.

I am sure we could live without the oil we received from Kuwait, and I am not convinced that the government of that country was a model of democracy.

Don't get me wrong. I do not approve of the tactics of Saddam Hussein and I would like to see his kind eliminated, but I don't think the United States has to be the only nation to offer our young men to protect the world from such despots.

It is wrong to try to emphasize patriotism when the real reason is to protect our profligate lifestyle.

Charles F. Janes



Reader Nancy Childress evidently feels that she should be permitted to frolic with her six-pound dog on public property without the "handicap" of a leash required by law.

She apparently has not considered that our leash laws were enacted for the benefit of all dog owners to keep their animals out of traffic, off of private property and for the public safety, one of the prime responsibilities of all governments. I doubt that any dog owner in Newport News would admit that his or her pet is vicious, would chase cars or would bite even if provoked to do so.

Were Childress to be living in wide-open farming or mountainous country and had no close-in neighbors with small children, then perhaps she would be free to run her pet without a leash. Unfortunately the city of Newport News is not wide-open country and reader Childress will just have to suffer, perhaps a lot more than does her dog, by keeping it restrained on the required leash.

Some might feel that a six-pound dog is little more than an "ankle nipper,"

but it can bite just the same and we must remember that small children walk much closer to the ground than do we adults. Frankly I would not wish to risk a possible lawsuit from a traffic accident caused by a wayward pet, damage to private property or, in a worst-case scenario, harming an innocent child attracted to one's pet.

William H. Watkins



It is unconscionable that the members of Congress have once again voted themselves a pay raise while hundreds of thousands of S&L; depositors have been victimized out of their life savings because of miserable government controls. We the people demand that the pay raise be repealed and that the amount of money intended for the greedy politicians be used to compensate the victims of the S&L; ripoff. Their losses were caused by the negative oversight approach of every elected member of the government who failed miserably in their legislative responsibilities.

The taxpayers of the nation also demand that any future efforts by congressional members (Senate or House) to vote themselves a pay raise must be voted for by a national referendum. Politicos seem to forget that it is the people who butter their bread.

James G. Lane


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