
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 17, 1995                   TAG: 9503170023
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LET THE RICH SACRIFICE TAX CUTS

I WATCHED C-Span recently to see how the voting went on the balanced-budget amendment. After its defeat, I listened to the speeches. One Democrat who voted against it declared he had done so because Social Security hadn't been granted immunity from the budget knife. Orin Hatch, a conservative senator, took the Democratic senators to task. He said he was sure any American senior citizen would be glad to sacrifice to keep America great.

I'm a senior citizen , and I am willing to sacrifice to keep America great. But I also feel that having been born during the Depression, having worked hard to raise a family, and having paid my share of taxes, I've already sacrificed quite a bit. And may I remind the senator that others, a few years older than I, fought in a great war and sacrificed arms, legs and their lives for their country. Should we now be forced to sell our homes because we can no longer afford real-estate taxes and health insurance required because Medicare has been cut to the bone? Will we have to choose between medicine and food?

And when we speak of sacrifice, will we hear a few words about those obscene congressional pensions?

While Republicans who adhere to Hatch's particular ideology are busy asking seniors to sacrifice and are taking food out of poor children's mouths, could he explain why the wealthy can't give up on tax cuts until our deficits are significantly lower? After all, don't they, too, want to keep America great?

Hatch needs to face reality and admit that in 1981, his party gave us a giant shove in the direction of record debt. I distinctly remember reading that President Reagan was livid because Jimmy Carter had submitted a budget with an $80 billion deficit. What a paltry sum that seems now. I wish I had paid attention to the budgets Presidents Reagan and Bush handed in over the next 12 years. I know the Democrats bear a share of the blame for our debt mess. But what scares me is that Phil Gramm, who helped Reagan with his voodoo economics, is now running for president. He's going to balance the budget, build up defense and cut taxes $300 billion. Sounds like deja-vu all over again to me.

LENA MAY FRANKLIN

VINTON

Bedford losing thousands of books

IN RESPONSE to Ray Garland's Feb. 9 column (``Allen's gamble: so much risked, so much lost''), and his statements concerning the impact of proposed state funding cuts on the Bedford Public Library:

State aid is restricted to specific purposes that support public services: primarily, the purchase of books, magazines, newspapers, videos and audio cassettes. This year, state aid represents 25 percent of the Bedford library's operating budget, and 100 percent of the book budget. Lost state aid hurts the library's ability to serve the public, and almost always results in lost books.

Regarding local support of the library, Bedford city and Bedford County taxes contribute more than 70 percent of the library's operating budget.

Construction of the new $2.4 million central library in Bedford is being funded by $1.6 million in general-obligation bonds to be paid for by local taxes, and by more than $570,000 in contributions from local individuals and corporations.

In addition, the Friends of the Bedford Public Library donated $2,000 for an opening-day collection of books, and the group is raising funds for a $10,000 endowment to support future book purchases.

Bedford citizens are supporting their public library with tax dollars and with private donations. However, cuts in state aid over the past six years have cost these citizens tens of thousands of dollars, and thousands of books.

It will be left to some future historian to determine when the ``end of the civilized world'' occurs. However, since libraries are charged with the task of preserving and making available the record of civilization, continuing cuts in library funding can be seen as a step in that direction.

TOM HEHMAN

Director, Bedford Public Library

BEDFORD

Principal sent the wrong message

I'M SHOCKED by the actions of Martha Cobble, principal at Cave Spring High School, after condoms were distributed by a student at the school (March 7 article, ``Roanoke County student disciplined over condoms''). To discipline a student for a reasonable reaction to the AIDS epidemic shows a distressing lack of judgment and an unwillingness to face the fact that teen-agers are going to be sexually active, are mature enough to understand the dangers, and understand what can be done to protect themselves.

Our government spends millions of dollars on AIDS education. The use of condoms is part of that education. What kind of mixed signals are school leaders sending students when they condemn them for accepting the reality of this deadly disease and discourage them from doing what they can to prevent its spread?

BETH GARST

BOONES MILL

by CNB