A welcome letter on the Vinton webpage from Town Manager Pete Peters says “services, activities and events”…make Vinton the ‘ IN’ place to live, work, and play.”
Note that “live” comes first, because without life, one can’t work, play, or do anything else. It recalls the Declaration of Independence: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The strongly pro-life Vinton community however has been roiled by this news: A Connecticut business planning to do abortions has received a zoning permit.
The permit, that the Vinton Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Department approved on May 1, lists the address as 935 3rd St., in an industrial area past the canoe ramp on Tinker Creek. The applicant is Tanya Little and “Summit Medical Center of Roanoke LLC,” with the future property owner identified as “Zero Properties Inc.”
According to the website summitcenters.com, they already do abortions in Detroit and Atlanta and the top banner boasts “Opening soon in VA.”
The zoning application however has some red flags that may seem misleading at best or fraudulent at worst.
The Roanoke Star reached out to the two individuals listed on the application and its related paperwork, Little and Stephen Drahos. We also contacted the Vinton Town attorney with some questions and an opportunity to give any statement. No response has been received from them, but Vinton Town Manager Peters did respond to some questions by email.
The main red flag falls under the section “Verification of Responsibility, Service and Connections.” There are questions about water, sewer, solid waste, storm drainage, and erosion. For each, the applicant answered “owner or applicant,” but for “Solid Waste” the applicant added “(no med. waste).”
Under the “Permit for” question, the applicant wrote “new business–office for doctor’s office (women’s health).”
If this is a clinic for women’s health, wouldn’t there possibly be syringes, blood/urine/stool samples, pap smears, used women’s hygiene products, tumors or growths removed, etc.? If so, does that not all count as “medical waste”?
Moreover, if abortions are to be done, how will the employees dispose of the dismembered body parts of the unborn child victims, the blood from both mother and child, the mothers’ placentas, etc.? Wouldn’t all these materials also qualify as “medical waste”?
In fact, the new owners do plan to conduct physical abortions on-site. Summit Medical Center placed this euphemistic-laden job ad , for Vinton, on Glassdoor claiming “Summit Medical is a center that provides non-surgical abortion, as well as first and second trimester surgical procedures ” (emphasis ours).
In an Aug. 20 email Peters wrote: “Concerning your questions about ‘medical waste,’ that section of the zoning permit relates to Town-provided refuse collection services through our trash cans, recycling bins, etc. That note was added by Town staff to make it clear that medical waste cannot be disposed of in our Town-provided trash cans that are serviced by our Public Works Department. This applies to all medical or dental clinics/offices throughout the Town.”
As a follow-up, The Roanoke Star asked Peters: “1. How is it possible to have “surgical abortions” with “no med. waste”? Does that classify the zoning request as fraudulent? 2. If they try to go ahead with surgical abortions, and they cannot dispose of the dismembered body parts etc. in Vinton trash cans, do you know how Summit will try to get rid of it?”
A gruesome article published in 2014, “ Why Are Aborted Fetuses Burned? ,” states “People have responded with outrage over the news that aborted fetuses were routinely burned at an incinerator in Oregon that used medical waste to generate electricity.” It echoes the Nazi crime of using incinerators to burn the corpses in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Peters is now out of the office but has indicated he will respond upon his return.
A second red flag is the vague if not bizarre description for the “new business.”
It reads: “Office for doctor’s office (women’s health).” In other words, it does not say “doctor’s office,” but rather “ Office for doctor’s office.”
That wording may lead some to conclude the application was approved for an OFFICE, a facility to be clerical or personnel-related only, with no medical procedures done on site.
Peters sought to resolve that by emailing: “In speaking with the P&Z Department staff, the applicant/future property owner was clear about their intention to use the subject property as a medical office and clinic from the time they first contacted us. A representative of the property owner initially submitted a request to verify that the parcel’s zoning classification would allow for a medical office/clinic use and that is when we first became aware of their intention of providing women’s health care services and not just office work. However, the Town of Vinton was not aware that the applicant/future property owner would be providing abortion services and had no reason to suspect such a use. The Town was not involved in the clinic’s recruitment, nor in any way helped the applicant to locate the property in question.
“In any event, under the Town’s Zoning Ordinance, the term “clinic” includes typical office uses in conjunction with medical or dental services (e.g. dentist office, physical therapy office, etc.). It does not appear that the applicant was deceptive in the wording/phrasing concerning the future use, as Town staff always assist applicants with their zoning permit applications to ensure that the information is accurate.”
There are still several unanswered questions.
- Since the facility owners do plan to do abortions, then why does the zoning application have no references to “abortions” or “pregnancy termination” etc. anywhere in its wording?
- Since “women’s health” is a common euphemism for “abortion,” which has a more negative connotation, why did no one in the P&Z office notice that before approval, especially since a few seconds of web searching can reveal that Summit does abortions?
- If the claim “no medical waste” can be proven to be false and fraudulent, what steps does the Town of Vinton plan to do to rectify this situation where it was misled?
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Vinton is a somewhat-independent town within Roanoke County, with varying jurisdictions. For example, Vinton oversees zoning and has their own trash service, but the County gives Certificate of Occupancy, etc.
Lindsey Ward Callahan is widely known as a former TV anchorwoman in the Valley but is now Development Director at the pro-life Blue Ridge Women’s Center. Her view of the Vinton controversy is below:
“This news further proves what Blue Ridge Women’s Center has been telling supporters about Roanoke since the overturning of Roe v. Wade: Roanoke has become an abortion hub. Our sidewalk advocate friends tell us they have witnessed a significant increase in out-of-state license plates over the past two years. As states south of Virginia have passed tighter restrictions on abortion, women and men are turning to Roanoke seeking services to end a pregnancy.
“Please join us in praying that the Lord intervenes and stops the progression of yet another abortion facility in our midst. We don’t want even more bloodshed in the place we call home.”
–Scott Dreyer
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