Do stores invite crime by having money inside?

If women are partially guilty of rape by dressing attractively, aren’t banks and convenience stores guilty of robbery by being places known to have cash on hand? Should “a fool and his money are soon parted” be a legal defense when fraud is involved in a crime?
The proper response to “Christians” giving out these leaflets would be to throw hot coffee into their faces for provoking your anger.

H. Stephen Midkiff
Mt. Vernon, Ky.

Attention served the greater good

It is amazing how sex and religion can generate so much hysteria. The more dialogue on these subjects the better we come to terms with who we are as a people.
Congratulations for finding and writing this article. You gave your newspaper national and international attention and served the greater good.

Justa Nutter
Fresno, Calif.

People should use good common sense

Unquestionably blaming any part of a rape or any other crime on the victim, is about as stupid as it gets but there is another side to the issue. A person in a long checkout line at a convenience store has every right to pull out $10,000 cash to pay for a cup of coffee, but in the world we live in, is that a wise thing to do?
However lame the presentation in the pamphlet, given that normally dressed young lady at the drive-in, there is a common sense, risk management side to the issue that should not be lost by everybody’s anger. You may have a right to the behavior, but that doesn’t lessen the suffering once you become a victim. Somewhere between that pamphlet and good common sense, there’s an important consideration young people today should think about while getting dressed.

Edmond M. Robertson
Hampton Va.

Representative should live squarely in district

Morgan Griffith lives in the 6th Congressional District. It wouldn’t be right for the 6th District to have two Congressmen and the 9th District none.
Someone from Salem can’t possibly understand the complex issues facing Southwest Virginia today the way Rick Boucher can.
Griffith is from the Roanoke Valley, and so is Congressman Bob Goodlatte. Two Congressmen who live just a few miles from each other? And no Congressman from anywhere in the 9th? Outrageous.
Griffith can talk about trees in his yard falling into the Ninth District all he wants to, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is from Salem and doesn’t really know anything about the needs of Southwest Virginia.
Give me a break, Morgan Griffith. You claim your school bus rode through the Ninth on the way to school. Do you really think that qualifies you to represent the 9th District?
Griffith says that because his school bus rode through the 9th District when he was young, he knows enough about us to represent Southwest Virginia in Congress. He thinks that because a tree in his yard in Salem fell over and landed in the 9th District (really!) he understands to complex needs of the Ninth District? This is insulting to the intelligence of 9th District voters.

Leslie Turner
Appalachia, Va.

We are all responsible for our own actions

As a Christian, I appreciate your leaflet article in bringing to light the misguided belief and actions of these individuals. I also appreciate that you focused on the individual and not Christianity.
We all are responsible for our own actions and choices which is taught in scripture and nowhere in scripture can you find a message blaming a woman for a violent crime, such as rape, being committed on her. That message is not a tenant of Christianity.
Scripture does teach about modesty in everyone and how anyone has the potential of being a stumbling block with their actions and words. However, the choice to act is always that of the individual.

Bob Wilson
Florence, Ala.