Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 23, 1995 TAG: 9501230063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The bill has prompted two NRA bulletins on the Internet, alerting cyberspacers nationwide to work against the proposal.
Roanoke Del. Clifton ``Chip'' Woodrum, who introduced the charter bill at the city's request, said he thought the firearms ban made sense.
``I don't know why you'd want to carry a gun in a public park, unless you want to get the drop on a Little League umpire,'' Woodrum quipped.
\ Del. Tommy Baker, R-Radford, got a lesson in ecumenical awareness Tuesday when he invited a preacher from back home to give the daily invocation in the House of Delegates.
The Rev. Gordon Shinn, pastor of Heritage Church-Assembly of God, twice evoked the ``precious name of Jesus Christ'' in his brief prayer, much to the dismay of the three Jewish members of the House and a visiting group from the Jewish Women's Club of Richmond.
Betty Jaffee, a schoolteacher who listened from the gallery, said she felt the prayer excluded her from the workings of her own government.
``I happen to pray to God,'' Jaffee said. ``There's no need to name him.''
Shinn later explained that he meant no disrespect, adding that he was a ``supporter of the Jewish people.''
Shinn is far from the first pastor to mention Jesus in an invocation, but Richmond Del. Eric Cantor said it was unfortunate that it coincided with the day he invited members of the Jewish Women's Club to attend the House session.
Baker later apologized to Cantor for the prayer. ``I didn't even notice,'' Baker said. ``I hadn't even thought of it.''
\ Mention political philosophy to House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell and be prepared for a lecture.
The Vinton Democrat has heard all he wants to hear from Republican Gov. George Allen about the conservative philosophy behind his proposed budget cuts.
``In all due respect to Rush Limbaugh,'' Cranwell said in an interview last week, ``there's no great philosophical principle that drives most people. Most people are all over the spectrum - liberal on some issues and conservative on others.''
For instance, he said, a person might be conservative on social issues but favor lots of spending on education. Cranwell said Allen's single-minded approach to the budget is most threatening in the area of public education.
``He's got a double-barreled assault on education - not only reduced funding, but this whole issue of charter schools,'' Cranwell said. Charter schools are publicly funded institutions that can be run by private groups for select groups of students.
Cranwell sees them as a step toward dismantling all of public education, and from there toward dismantling social unity.
``If you think about it,'' he said, ``the single unifying experience for all of us is the public education system. ... This is going to start splitting people apart.''
The acerbic House leader has begun repeating a mantra concerning what he thinks Allen's true philosophy is: self-advancement.
``I've said it before, but I think all that is designed at trying to create a certain national stature so he can be vice president,'' Cranwell said.
\ Do Montgomery County and Blacksburg have the right to impose personal property taxes on vehicles driven by Virginia Tech students?
That is the $200,000-plus question that state Sen. Madison Marye has been trying to answer since the General Assembly passed a little-noticed piece of legislation last year.
The bill changed the law that provided that vehicles be taxed in the locality where they are normally parked or garaged. Montgomery County officials interpreted the old law to tax out-of-town students, whose cars are parked at Tech most of the year.
Marye said Tech students paid ``several hundred thousand dollars'' in personal property taxes to Montgomery County each year.
It was unclear how much Blacksburg collected.
But the old law drew a lot of complaints from students, who would get a bill even though they or their parents already paid personal property taxes on the car in their hometown.
``It was headache upon headache,'' said Del. Howard Copeland, a Norfolk lawyer who succeeded in changing the law last year so vehicles are now taxed in the city or county where the owner has his or her ``domicile.''
Marye, a farmer serving in this lawyer-dominated General Assembly, has been trying to figure what ``domicile'' means for college students. Does the new law mean, for instance, that Tech students who transfer their voter registration can be taxed in Montgomery County and Blacksburg?
Copeland said the answer may be ``yes'' because voter registration is the ``strongest'' indication of one's domicile.
But state Attorney General James Gilmore III muddied the legal waters last week with an opinion that voter registration is only one factor in the domicile.
``A person's domicile is essentially a matter of subjective intent known only to that person,'' Gilmore wrote, adding that domicility can be determined only on a case-by-case basis.
The Gilmore letter left Marye scratching his head. ``It's a wishy-washy opinion,'' Marye said.
\ The General Assembly operates a toll-free hot line on which constituents can leave messages for any legislator.
The number is: (800) 889-0229. It's staffed weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
\ The General Assembly handles thousands of bills. Which ones are you most interested in following? Let us know:
Phone: 981-3119; or (800) 346-1234, ext. 119.
Fax: 981-3346.
E-mail: dyancey @ infi.net
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB