Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050034
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I needed a sedative after that fiasco. It appeared that some downtown businessmen have no use for us. I've never in my life seen a group of people so rude. They pushed us, bumped into our wheelchairs, and hit us with objects they were carrying - never once saying they were sorry. After being asked several times to ``please move over just a bit,'' they repeatedly stood in front of those in wheelchairs so they couldn't see the race. Some vendors walking about looked right over us, never asking if we wanted something. (Thanks to the nice person passing out bagel samples who stopped at each of our people!) I drove a motorized scooter, and people refused to move so that I could get by. The more suits that showed up, the ruder things got. (Some cyclists, as tired as they were, talked with some of us.)
This was the first time in five years that I've been on the market, and probably my last. Now I see why several people have complained to me about not feeling wanted downtown. Disabled people have feelings, issues, wants and desires like everybody else. They also have money that could be spent downtown. This really was a letdown for those of us who had looked forward to seeing a world-class event like the Tour DuPont.
Perhaps the future will bring change - maybe a space for the disabled to sit and enjoy a downtown event, without the constant feeling that we're not wanted in our own city. I knew it would be hard to bring about an improved handicapped awareness, but I never dreamed it would be like this. I'm physically disabled by polio, a disease. But after leaving downtown, I felt more like I was the disease.
Come on, Roanoke, give us a break. Treat us like anyone else, and you might find out that you may even like us. Let's see some hospitality that the South is supposed to be famous for.
JIM KIMBALL
Chairman Handicapped Educational Rehabilitation Organization
ROANOKE
`Contract With America' is needed
WELL, so the fuzzy-minded liberals and Democrats don't like the Republicans' ``Contract With America.'' As per usual, they don't even know what it is!
Next to the Ten Commandments and the U.S. Constitution, this contract is the greatest. Now be honest, and see if you agree.
Balanced-budget amendment and line-item veto.
Welfare reforms.
Stop violent crimes.
Strong national defense.
Tax cuts. Amen!
Protect our kids.
Raise senior citizens' earning limit.
Roll back government regulations. This deserves a hallelujah!
Common-sense legal reforms.
Congressional term limits.
If this isn't what the doctor ordered, then Gen. MacArthur was not the greatest. Furthermore, I'll change my political registration from Republican to Democrat.
This country needs this desperately. If we don't get fiscal integrity, it's goodbye America.
R. KEITH WHITLEY
BEDFORD
`Conservative' label won't stick to GOP
WHY DO people call our current crop of Republicans conservative? Conserve means to save or preserve. What do these so-called conservatives conserve?
Not the national Treasury, which under voodoo economics, no new taxes and big tax cuts for the rich (while borrowing to satisfy the Pentagon's insatiable appetite for new toys) put us into a national debt never before imagined in wartime or the Depression. Now they want to cut every social program for the middle class and poor, to give yet another tax break to the rich and further increase the national debt.
Not the Constitution, which they want to change in several ways with ticky-tacky unnecessary amendments.
Not clean air and water, which they believe can be polluted for all of us for the benefit of industries without social consciences.
Not our national forests and parks, which belong to us all, but which they would allow to be exploited for wood, minerals, oil, gas and anything else of value to generate more wealth for the wealthy, and a used-up resource that can never be replaced.
Not even our most precious resource, our children and young people. They would eliminate prenatal and early-childhood nutrition programs, school lunches, Head Start, Americorps, student-loan subsidies, and almost every program that benefits the next generation by helping to produce healthy, drug-free, educated and independent citizens.
Not the public's health, as they stoutly defend the rights of tobacco and liquor lobbies, and defend possession of deadly and concealed weapons by almost anyone.
As we consider this list (mostly from the ``Contract With America''), it's difficult to understand how the Christian Coalition - supposedly following Jesus, the friend of the poor, women and children (who weren't respected then, either) - can continue to back this assault on God's world and its country's most defenseless.
ANNA MITCHELL
BLACKSBURG
Renters don't pay fair tax share
ARE real-estate taxpayers in Roanoke County aware that apartment dwellers in the county do not pay real-estate taxes? Yet they get the same education, police and fire protection, and all other benefits our taxes pay toward. I want them to have these benefits, but I also want them to pay their fair share of taxes for them.
Supervisor Bob Johnson will tell you that apartment owners pass property taxes they pay on to apartment dwellers. I'm sure they do, plus maintenance, insurance and every other cost. But the market will determine how much they can pass on.
Also, since real-estate assessment is done every year, our real-estate taxes have increased. The tax laws need to be changed, which the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors says can be done only through state legislation. I contacted Del. Chip Woodrum and Sen. Brandon Bell for advice on the proper way to proceed with this, and have received no response from them. I'll voice my disapproval of this lack of response at the polls in November, and from there on.
Let's start our own term limits - at the polls. It's time we taxpayers stood up for our own best interests.
LYNN H. ANDERSON
ROANOKE
Salem doesn't need sewer-rate increase
SALEM City Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on May 8 to receive citizen input on Salem's 1995-'96 recommended budget. One recommendation calls for a 37.5 percent increase in the sewer rate! This increase is supposedly to be used to cover the debt service on bonds needed to pay for Salem's share in renovation work at the regional sewage-treatment plant. To put the real meaning of this rate increase in perspective, consider these facts:
Over the years, Salem has amassed a large cash reserve derived from electric, water and sewer utility profits. This reserve fund is in addition to the $15 million of utility profits that have been regularly transferred since 1976 to Salem's general fund. There's no way to tell from documents normally available to the public just how much money is now in this reserve fund. But as of June 30, 1994, the utility-profits reserve fund had at least $5.6 million in it.
On April 10, Salem City Council voted unanimously to take $1,582,591 from the utility-profits reserve fund and spend it on the cost overrun of the new baseball stadium.
The recommended budget calls for $1,037,000 of 1995-'96 utility profits to be transferred to the general fund.
It's obvious that we don't need a sewer rate increase! If City Council uses wisely the utility-profits reserve fund and stops transferring its profits to the general fund, there will be plenty of money available to pay for Salem's share of the renovation work. This is what informed citizens should tell their elected public servants and employees at the hearing!
AARON SMITH
Treasurer
Salem Taxpayers Association
SALEM
by CNB