Roanoke Times (VA) Sinks to New Low!

1. Roanoke Times will no longer allow any gun shows to advertise in their paper!!!
2. MMM has its protest at a church instead of the Richmond gun show
3. This is TOO FUNNY! The Daily Press accidentally gives VCDL yet ANOTHER great plug!

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1. Roanoke Times will no longer allow any gun shows to advertise in their paper!!!
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Every time that I think the Roanoke Times has sunk as far as the toilet will let them go, they seem to find a new dent in the porcelain.

Because of the Virginia Tech massacre, WHICH HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH GUN SHOWS, the Roanoke Times is no longer accepting any advertising from gun shows!

What's damning for the paper is this statement from Mary Whelchel with the Roanoke Times to Annette Elliott of Showmasters Gun Shows:

"The Roanoke Times has amended their policy after the Virginia Tech massacre. It was initiated in the advertising department ***to be more in line with our editorial stance*** and I think you know what that is," said Mary Whelchel. "I have nothing good to tell you. We will no longer accept advertising from The Roanoke Valley Gun Show."

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! So they admit that they are going to discriminate against anyone or anything that their editorial department doesn't agree with?!??! How's that for censorship?

We've known for a long time that their news department is influenced (controlled?) by their editorial department. Now, it appears that they are publicly acknowledging that their advertising department is falling into line and will also be controlled by the editorial department. They should just change their name to "Pravda" and get it over with.

We need to FLOOD their email and telephone lines protesting their effort to silence gun shows and to silence US.

We need to cancel subscriptions to the paper (be sure to tell the paper WHY you can cancelling your subscription).

We need to tell those that advertise with the Roanoke Times that we will not be doing business with them until they stop such advertising.

We need to bury them with Letters to the Editor decrying their foolishness and unfair attacks on a business that had NOTHING to do with the massacre at Virginia Tech.

We need to send letters to other papers to light a fire under the bigots that run the Roanoke Times (the same paper where columnist Christian Trejbal basically called the people in western Virginia knuckle-dragging racists). The rest of Virginia needs to know that the Roanoke Times has picked an innocent scapegoat to beat and that is wrong and shameful.

We need to have a huge turnout at the Showmasters Gun Show next weekend in Roanoke just to send a message to the Roanoke Times! Bring your friends and family, too! (http://www.showmasters.us)

The bottom line is we need to hit the Roanoke Times in their pocket book every time we get the chance. The Roanoke Times laid off a bunch of employees earlier this year, let's keep the pressure on until they realize that there will be a stiff price to pay for attacking the people and businesses they are supposed to be serving.

Here is the contact info, VCDL. LET'S ROLL with emails over the weekend and then a volley of phone calls on Monday! Let's make them rue the day that they ever thought to blame you, me and Showmasters for what Cho did.

mary.whelchel@roanoke.com (540) 981-3378 Retail Head Advertising
temika.hopson@roanoke.com (540) 981-3329
daniel.mirenda@roanoke.com (540) 981-3398
debbie.meade@roanoke.com Director Retail Sales

To cancel online go to http://www.roanoke.com click Contact Us, click Home Delivery, click For any other reasons, fill in form, Message: cancel subscription & give refund and click Continue. You're done!

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2. MMM has its protest at a church instead of the Richmond gun show
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The Million Mom March, knowing that their ideas don't have a prayer, moved their Richmond gun show protest from the Showplace to a church across the street from gun show this afternoon.

They had a mixture of men and women dressed in black (well not all of them, some were actually wearing white or gray).

As I crossed the street to get to the church, press from local TV stations (channels 12 [NBC] and 6 [CBS]) and the Richmond Times Dispatch came over to interview me. I gave them handouts stating the truth about each of the Million Mom's lies.

One of the MMM leaders came stomping over to see what all of the press were doing near the street. She was not happy that they were interviewing me.

Even though VCDL members and other attendees at the gun show didn't know about the last minute change of venue, we still had over 20 members at the protest, including quite a few women of all ages, all of whom were open carrying! Some member brought signs and held them right next to the MMM's signs, getting our message out quite nicely.

Our message? Gun control played a major roll in the deaths of those 32 people. Also, of course, there is NO gun show loophole.

After the lie-in was over, I took the reporter from Channel 12, the NBC affiliate, into the gun show, as she said she had never been to one. Although she wasn't allowed to tape (but was told she would be able to in the future with sufficient notice), she spent about 20 minutes walking around and taking everything in.

I explained to her what the 'assault weapon ban' farce was all about and showed her the evil parts of such a weapon - the folding stock, the pistol grip, the flash suppressor, and the ever deadly bayonet lug. She was taken aback.

I explained that the food, holster, ammunition, clothing, and coin vendors she was looking at were included in the anti-gunners' count of 'unlicensed gun show dealers.' I explained that they do this deception to make gun shows seem like there are far more private sellers than there really are. She was quite amazed at the small number of private sellers, as well as the small number of guns those sellers offered, as compare to the huge tables that commercial vendors had.

I also took her back to the room where the Virginia State Police run the background checks on purchasers. I explained that in Virginia, if a felon tries to buy a gun, while he is waiting for the approval, the police immediately arrest him.

All in all, I think she was glad she came in to the gun show so she could better understand the issue.

Several of our members video taped the event and I should have some links to the videos soon.

Protesters call for change at gun show
By Sunni Blevins, NBC12 News
The issue of gun control came to a head today in Henrico County as protesters gathered across the street from a popular gun show.

Exercising their first amendment right, dozens of people turned out to protest, not the gun show itself, but what they think is a loophole in Virginia law that allows private sellers to sell someone a gun without doing a background check.

Also there, a group of people who are pro-gun who say they don't want anyone to interfere with their second amendment right to bear arms.

32 people representing not only the 32 victims at Virginia Tech, but the average number of people who are murdered everyday.

They remained for three minutes...representative of how long it takes to buy a gun in this country.

Steps away, others gathered...silently showcasing their pro-gun position...and opposition to this groups protest across the street from a weekend gun show.

"We had a problem at Virginia Tech, but it wasn't the gun, it was somebody that picked up that tool and had the blackness of the heart to actually murder someone and that's the problem," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

"One of the main problems we have is guns getting into the hands of the wrong kinds of people, Cho's a perfect example" [That is NOT MY quote. It must be from Andy Goddard, below. - PVC]

Andy Goddard's son Colin survived that fateful day at Virginia Tech...after being shot four times.

Now, Andy says he'll do what he can to stop gun violence...and believes gun shows are a good place to start.

"There are people in their [sic] right now selling guns today without going through the background check system," said Goddard. "They are selling what they call a private collection, or they are just unlicensed dealers who are just selling guns and all you need to be able to get guns in there is this stuff."

"There is nothing you can do inside a gun show that you can't do outside a gun show," said Van Cleave. "A person who is selling privately isn't required to do a background check to sell you a gun, but that's true anywhere. If you came to my house, and I wanted to sell you a gun...I don't need to do that." ["That" being a background check. - PVC]

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3. This is TOO FUNNY! The Daily Press accidentally gives VCDL yet ANOTHER great plug!
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Well, the Daily Press isn't happy that we took one of the Daily Press's quotes about VCDL and put in on our web site as a promotional statement for the group.

In their anger to set the record straight that they were NOT giving us a complement, they have just given us, you guessed it, another promotional piece! Hahahaha! You can't PAY for this kind of thing ;-)

"Virginia Citizens Defense League . . . is on a mission to root out every nugget of gun control it can detect in Virginia. It has been behind campaigns to make sure concealed weapons are allowed in local government buildings, even civic centers, and fought to open up state and local parks to concealed weapons."
The Daily Press - Nov 27, 2006

"[VCDL] campaigns for the right of gun owners to tote firepower in all kinds of places ... including outdoor festivals and college campuses."
The Daily Press - Oct 20, 2007

Here's the article link and the snippet about VCDL. Enjoy! No duct tape needed, just a Kleenex to wipe your eyes with:

[SNIP]
But for sheer audacity in using someone's words for your own end, it would be hard to beat the Virginia Citizens' Defense League. At the top of its Web site, the group features this excerpt from a Nov. 6, 2006, Daily Press editorial: "Virginia Citizens Defense League ... is on a mission to root out every nugget of gun control it can detect in Virginia. It has been behind campaigns to make sure concealed weapons are allowed in local government buildings, even civic centers, and fought to open up state and local parks to concealed weapons."

Yep, we said it. But it was hardly meant as a compliment to this group, which campaigns for the right of gun owners to tote firepower in all kinds of places we don't think it belongs, including outdoor festivals and college campuses.

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This is truly moronic. Newspapers are already losing advertising revenues hand over fist to Google and other online venues. Now they’re rejecting advertising? Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

That’s the beauty of the free enterprise system. You’re also free to cut your own throat.
They have a right to refuse the advertizing. You have the right to do all the things you’ve listed above. The market will sort it out.

5 posted on 10/22/2007 9:36:03 AM PDT by beelzepug ("One should never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.")

We need to tell those that advertise with the Roanoke Times that we will not be doing business with them until they stop such advertising.

That's the only suggested tactic that might be effective.

I’m surprised that any newspaper feels that it can afford to turn down advertising.

Here's a corrected update on contact info @ The Roanoke Crimes -

Debbie Meade is no longer Director of Sales, she's the new Publisher/president.
And Karen Trout is no longer there. Letters should go to letters@roanoke.com.

Also, here is a Showmasters pdf flyer for the Gun Show scheduled for October 27-28, 2007 at the Roanoke Civic Center.

Well Freepers, it looks like it's up to us to get the word out on this upcoming Gun Show in southwest Virginia.

Freep On ! ! !

Well, the lib-run Roanoke Times is in the wrong part of the Commonwealth to be doing this kind of stupid stuff. Other than the liberal bastion of Blacksburg (because of Virginia Tech), the rest of the area is hard core Conservative, and this is a good way to keep on offending potential subscribers. Last time I checked the rag was still in trouble, with its readership in the tank, largely because of the last stunt it pulled, with the gun owners database.

Let it sink...I read the much more Conservative Bristol Herald Courier for my regional news anyway.

I'm a Tech alumn, and even after having been processed through Blacksburg I don't agree with this h0rsesh!t.

I'm going to write them a letter.

It's probably an empty gesture, but at least I'll know I've been heard.

I’m a Tech alumni as well, graduating from grad school there in 1999. When I was there all of the departments had been wholly subverted by the libs. It was really sad to see this, considering the school’s prior military background.

When I was there I knew a fellow who kept a .357 Blackhawk in his room on the first floor of Lee Hall. He wasn’t the only armed student, either. He was no danger to the student body, but would have been a major contributor to campus security had the occasion ever presented itself.

My letter to the Roanoke Times !

” As a parent of a Virginia Tech graduate, I think that your decision to not run gun show ads is STUPID! This posture against firearms is one of the many of the reasons people are leaving the news in print world and reading the news on the NET ! You are going the way of the dinosaurs . “

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