Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 6, 1994 TAG: 9402070246
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The county has been very innovative when it comes to taxing citizens. They tax our houses and cars; anything we eat, drink or smoke; even our utilities. If it wasn't so sad, it would almost be funny - what Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge might come up with next as a type of painless tax, which in reality is a contradiction in terms. I really like Hodge. He's doing what he's supposed to do - get as much money as he can to do as much as he can.
I'm doing my job also. I'm trying to get the county to take as few of my dollars as possible. The Board of Supervisors' job is to balance the two sides. They need to tell Hodge to cut the fat from the budget before he presents it. Of course, he'll state there's none. If he'd let me go over it item by item, I could find a lot.
I've lived in the county for 22 years, and each year I've paid more taxes than the year before. This isn't a record to be proud of. With taxes going up every year and the water bill becoming exorbitant, it's almost as if the Board of Supervisors is trying to run people out.
It's my suggestion that Hodge stop looking at the county's revenue as a big lump of money that must be increased and used up every year. It's not a gift from Santa Claus. Every dollar was earned the old-fashioned way - citizens had to work for it and we don't like some of the ways the county spends it. Just for once, let's have a real tax cut.
DAVID S. COUREY
ROANOKE
Drug has hidden ingredient of cruelty
I'M WRITING to share some shocking information with those who are or will be on estrogen-replacement therapy.
Estrogen replacements are available in two forms: plant-derived synthetic estrogens and Premarin, a drug produced from the urine of pregnant mares.
To produce Premarin, mares are impregnated and forced to stand on concrete floors in small stalls during their 11-month pregnancies while their urine is collected. For months on end, they can neither turn around nor lie down. Many become crippled and some die. Approximately 75,000 mares in Canada and North Dakota were confined for urine collection in 1993. As many as 90,000 foals resulted from this process. Some foals are killed. Most are sold to feed lots to be fattened and then slaughtered for meat.
This horror is unnecessary because equally effective synthetic estrogens are available. Additionally, plant-derived synthetic estrogens are produced under sterile laboratory conditions, contain consistent concentrations of estrogens, and lack the impurities contained in animal waste.
Many doctors and patients don't know how Premarin is made. Please discuss this information with your doctor and request that you receive synthetic estrogens, which don't contain the hidden ingredient of cruelty.
JOY J. BRADLEY, M.D.
ROCKY MOUNT
Rewards from gun registration
THE JAN. 22 letter to the editor by R. Edward Mitchell (``Second Amendment: insurance policy against tyranny'') deserves condemnation for Mitchell's egregiously erroneous interpretation of that amendment, and praise for his valid but difficult solution to the problems it's created.
First, the condemnation: Our most recently retired chief justice of the United States stated on television that this amendment is the most abused of all of our constitutional writings. There can be pitfalls in our Constitution when we base our interpretation on the ``original intent'' of the framers. Nevertheless, the wording is explicit and unequivocal in that the amendment relates the right ``to bear arms'' directly to the ``establishment of a well-regulated militia'' for the internal and external protection of our then-fledgling government. And yet, in his best professional consultative language, Mitchell raises the potential threat that our government could enslave its people unless the populace ``has more guns and more people who know how to shoot them than the government does.'' This is strictly within the National Rifle Association's credo, with its well-known history of arrogance and affluence as the country's most threatening single-interest lobby.
And now, the praise: In his next-to-last sentence, he states: ``We must institute a system of gun registration to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of convicted felons and the mentally disturbed.'' This is splendid, and something with which we're all quite familiar! Everything we own and love is already registered with some municipal, state or federal agency of government except our weapons. It would be a mammoth undertaking, possibly spanning several generations, but its rewards in the saving of lives and wealth would be unending.
KIRK LUNSFORD JR.
ROANOKE
Assault rifles have civilian uses
THERE'S a civilian use for so-called assault rifles.
I'm retired from the military and belong to the Roanoke Rifle and Revolver Club. We shoot matches and have friendly competition with these rifles on our club range. Quite a few have had their military sights removed, a peep sight or scope put on the rifles, and use them for hunting. They make excellent hunting and target rifles.
Figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau show that assault rifles are used in less than 1 percent of crime.
We don't need to ban guns; we need to ban criminals.
GEORGE W. BUSH SR.
ROANOKE
by CNB