Tuning in to Ted
Thank you for re-publishing Ted Turner’s insights on the country’s broadcasting mess [“Distressed signals,” August 10]. Turner is one of very few heroes in an industry dominated by villains. The radio stations listed in your sidebar on media ownership covered the jukeboxes for the help but failed to list WTJU, the only local station aiming above the lowest common denominator. It was founded by students at UVA and is owned by a student corporation. It’s totally local.
It also should be noted that National Public Radio is available here at five places on the dial. While the ownership isn’t local, NPR adds a vital dimension to our broadcast choices. According to NPR, Charlottesville has the highest per capita listenership to public radio in the nation.
Rey Barry
Charlottesville
Pole position
Despite my awesome admiration of your ordinarily omniscient Ace, I must sadly note that he has flunked in the “Frequent flyer trials” column of your August 17 edition. He failed to find out the real reason for keeping posters off utility poles, which is to protect utility linemen by preventing the addition of another hazard to an already perilous job. Staples and nails (even string) used to attach posters to poles can interfere with the proper seating of the climbing spikes (called gaffs) attached to the lineman’s boots, so that the spike may come loose from the pole and then drop (pushed by the weight of the boot and leg) to injure the lineman in the other leg (called getting gaffed). If the kinetic energy of the dropping boot and leg or the disturbance it causes is sufficient to dislodge the lineman’s other gaff as well, then he will fall. Since he is restrained close to the pole by his safety belt, the consequence is that he will get a bellyful (maybe a faceful too) of nasty (BIG) splinters on the way down (even with a drop of only a few feet). So nailing or stapling posters onto a utility pole is just as irresponsible as throwing banana peels onto a sidewalk, since it is a deliberately created hazard that may result in serious injury to someone.
Jerry Deily
Charlottesville
Arrested development
While I can appreciate David Breeden’s hearty pro-growth stance [“Cut the red tape,” Mailbag, August 17], I can assure him that not all of us “south-of-towners” feel like we’re getting the second-class treatment. Frankly, I’d wager that most of us are happy to be the yin to the 29-corridor yang—and don’t feel that the “potential” of an interstate exit should be gauged by its proximity to generic commercial enterprises.
Rather than inconvenience the great lot of us (with increased traffic and the eyesore of major development, for starters), I’d prefer to see those who feel the weight of deprivation pack up and head to where the action is. There’s a lovely neighborhood immediately west of the Barracks Road Shopping Center, for instance.
And please don’t worry: The rest of us will continue to drive the extra five miles to Route 29 (or to Pantops Mountain) to do our shopping.
John Kokola
Albemarle County
Inspiring speech
Thank you for reporting on the experience of John Miska and his attempts to express his free speech rights on the Downtown Mall [“Demilitarized zone?,” The Week, August 24]. Although I do not know Miska, I fully support his rights to pass out flyers on the Downtown Mall or any other property that receives public funding. Isn’t that an essential part of our nation’s heritage?
Speaking with your fellow citizens in the town square is a quintessential American experience, and a right guaranteed to us by the Constitution. No bureaucrat should be able to prevent someone from exercising their free speech rights, and I’m ashamed that it went so far as a City police officer asking Miska to leave or face arrest. Aren’t the police supposed to be here to protect our rights, not deny them?
As a libertarian, I have spent time before on the Downtown Mall speaking to area residents about our candidates, and I will be doing so again this fall in support of our presidential candidate, Michael Badnarik. I sincerely hope that the City will not try to prevent my political speech rights.
In the modern political environment, we seem to constantly debate who can run ads in support of candidates, how much money we are allowed to spend to support candidates we like, and many other legal loopholes that only serve to make it harder for incumbents to lose their political office. (The Libertarian Party and Michael Badnarik oppose these violations of our rights by the way, unlike Bush or Kerry, who only want to outlaw each others’ pet special interests from speaking out.)
The proverbial “soap box” on the town square is one of the last remaining legal venues for a person with views different than the two major parties to exercise their free speech rights. We can’t afford to lose that right to meddlesome local officials.
Arin Sime
Chair, Jefferson Area Libertarians
Crozet