Get your own opinion
Your writer quoted Bob Hodous’ assessment of the film Fahrenheit 9/11 [“Right or wrong,” July 6] based on negative comments made by William Raspberry in his review (Hodous chose not to see the film himself).
However, Hodous quoted only those statements that would substantiate his position on the film (more particularly, on Michael Moore’s take on the president and his policies).
In his comments to your journalist, Hodous did not fully represent Raspberry’s views, including: “I’ve long had my doubts about the president’s intellectual gifts. Moore tempts me to doubt his basic competency.” Nor did Hodous quote “…Or of a man who only pretends to care about terrorism. There is the vacationing President Bush making a grim-faced denunciation of some terrorist action, then turning back to his golf game with: ‘Now watch this drive.’” And he did not add Raspberry’s final assessment, “But I can’t say he [Moore] reached the wrong conclusion.”
Perhaps Hodous would have done well to have spent his $8 at Vinegar Hill Theatre. It’s easier to sustain a biased opinion when one speaks without knowledge.
P. Bower
Albemarle County
Editor’s note: Although Hodous cited Raspberry’s review as the basis for his judgment of Fahrenheit 9/11, reporter Paul Fain actually selected which of Raspberry’s quotes were included in the piece.
Power play
Actually, the fiasco at Three Mile Island, which released a small amount of radioactive steam, fortunately didn’t result in a meltdown, as stated in John Borgmeyer’s article “Energy crisis” [The Week, July 20]. That’s a huge difference. Nevertheless, the dangers of nuclear power can’t be glossed over. For example, the dilemma over whether to store radioactive “spent” fuel rods at Yucca mountain in Nevada, which entails shipment across our country, or to store it locally, has created a big controversy. There are dangers in the former but the latter will eventually prove to be an impossibility.
The problem is practical energy options basically don’t exist at this time. Every known form of power generation has some serious drawback. They either A) generate massive pollution themselves, admittedly of a nature that we are more familiar with and perhaps less afraid of; B) are not renewable and may start running out in the near future; C) are far from technically ready to be brought into general usage; D) detract immensely from scenic views; or E) cost way too much.
If we don’t want brown-outs and rolling black-outs, we may be forced into using more nuclear-generated power. Those who object to nuclear power are not able to suggest any clean, practical alternative that can be used today. As the population inexorably increases, we get further behind in the capability to satisfy the demand for power. I have grave concerns about future quality of life.
It is clear to me that President Bush’s administration is dismantling the attempts at controlling pollution and preserving the environment that were in place at the beginning of his term in office. Perhaps you could print an article on this subject in the future. Start by looking into current degradations in environmental regulations for fossil fuel power plants. Look into the backgrounds of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt (former governor of Utah) and Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton (former attorney general of Colorado). They both have long histories of favoring industry over the environment.
David Y. Miller
Stoney Creek
Editor’s note: According the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor suffered a “severe core meltdown” in which one half of the core, or the central unit that contains the nuclear fuel and control rods, melted during the accident on March 28, 1979. However, the reactor containment building was not breached duringthe accident. For more information go to http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/ fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html#glossary.
Step up the stops
I am glad that former Mayor Maurice Cox has become involved with the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation (ACCT) and is devoting his time and energy in pushing for establishing a street car route on W. Main Street, between UVA and the Downtown area [“Bloated budget blues,” The Week, July 27].
Regardless of that proposal, I believe that there are several projects that can be put into effect almost immediately thatcan increase the number of people using public transportation here in the Charlottesville area.
First, the Charlottesville Transit Services (CTS) buses should be running on Sundays and legal holidays. If we are trying to get people to give up driving their cars and using public transportation, don’t people have transportation needs on Sundays and the holidays?
CTS buses that run once an hour (such as routes 1, 3 and 10) should be running every 20 minutes.
Many people who may be encouraged to use public transportation use the fact that many bus routes are not running on a more frequent basis as a reason not to use public transportation.
Paul Long
Charlottesville
CORRECTION
In last week’s GetOutNow section, we incorrectly listed the Leon Russell show at Gravity Lounge as taking place on Friday, July 30. It actually happened on Sunday, August 1.