Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506060005
SECTION: EDITORIALS PAGE: D-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Ordinary consumer items that used to be ``made in the USA'' have vanished. Pick up a stainless steel knife or fork, a shirt, a coffee mug, a pair of walking shoes, or a car jack and you will find it made in an Eastern bloc country. China and Japan have been shown guilty of industrial espionage. Both countries have restrictions on the importation of products made better and cheaper in the United States.
Why shouldn't we put tariffs on Japanese cars - not just luxury cars, but all automobiles and parts imported in this country? We can produce rice, apples and other food cheaper than can Japan, and we could sell it there, at much below the local produce prices, were it not for trade barriers.
As for American automobile dealers, let them sell Ford, General Motors and Chrysler products, thus assuring American workers' jobs.
American consumers may well look to a comparison of the enormous trade deficits and the federal debt. A day of reckoning will surely come. Without local manufacturers of consumer products, we'll eventually be at the mercy of foreign producers. A very poignant example of this outcome was the effect of the closing of the last mill in this country manufacturing velveteen cloth. Immediately, the price of velveteen - imported, of course - rose by 33 percent.
If you buy foreign goods, especially those in unfair competition with American products, the ``pink ticket'' you receive may well be your fault. Caveat emptor.
JAMES A. HANCOCK JR.
BUCHANAN
A critical time for the environment
THE CONTRACT With America being pushed through Congress may have a few unpublished riders. It may turn out to be a contract on the environment and 25 years of progress toward clean, drinkable water, swimmable rivers and breathable air.
It also could mean the end or negation of the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act. The bald eagle, the very symbol of this great country, has been brought back from the brink of extinction because of this act, signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1973.
Nixon said then, ``Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.'' I couldn't agree more.
This is a critical time for environmental protection. Sacrificing our environment to satisfy short-term, selfishly guarded enrichment of timber, mining and development industries is insanity.
When we're judged by what we have done with God's world, it will surely be prominently considered what riches and diversity we leave, not what riches we have exploited and destroyed.
CARY W. HOPPER
BLACKSBURG
Congress must end fraudulent spending
ARE we going to let Congress make us pay for the deficit when Congress caused it?
Letters to the editor in your newspaper have warned us that members of Congress, all departments created by them and the laws they have passed have thrown our tax money ``down the drain.'' But lawmakers haven't listened to us because we haven't made them, and now they plan to pick our pocket again without changing their own spendthrift and fraudulent habits.
George Engleby's Aug. 15, 1989, letter (``Budget packed with pet projects'') cites the following: $25 million for a private airport near Fort Worth, Texas; $10 million to subsidize sunflower seed growers; $2.1 million for a national survey of American sexual habits and attitudes; $6 million for American beekeepers; etc.
Also, does it make sense to subsidize tobacco farmers while paying for television ads warning people not to smoke?
Most of us are aware of the congressional post-office scandal, savings-and-loan bailouts and exorbitant charges paid to contractors by the Pentagon and other government departments. Misused funds by such departments seem endless.
Even the Department of Education has diverted our tax money to such anti-family, special-interest political organizations as the Feminist Press, Planned Parenthood, PUSH-EXCEL and others not a part of our public-school system. Such use of tax money should be curtailed by cutting the funds or abolishing the department.
Are we going to let Congress cut and tax Social Security, Medicare and all other entitlements while it pays big pensions to government workers and its own members who left office due to fraud? Abolish all such pensions, and roll back automatic pay raises. Lawmakers shouldn't set their own salaries, and they should live under the same rules as we do. Congress doesn't have to cut anything but its own corruption.
GERTRUDE H. SIGMON
FERRUM
Tailhook story wasn't fully told
REGARDING the so-called Tailhook scandal: It bothers me that several aspects have been ignored by the news media.
First, these annual get-togethers by our Naval officers were private parties. As such, it seems the women who attended weren't required to do so as part of their official duties.
Second, it was well-known that these celebrations tended to become a little wild. Even assuming that some of these women weren't aware of this, it seems that if it offended them, they could have left. In other words, they were neither forced to attend nor forced to stay.
Third, the drunkenness of the men was played up in the media. But from less biased accounts, the women involved weren't exactly blameless. According to these accounts, when authorities attempted to pinpoint several of the accused officers, none could be convicted because their women accusers were either too drunk at the time or too ashamed afterward to testify and identify any one man.
EMILY BURGESS
MARTINSVILLE
Support emergency personnel
FOR AN eighth-grade civics project, I volunteered at the Cave Spring Rescue Squad. On my last day of volunteering before my project was due, the May 21 Horizon section article ``Too Late'' appeared. I had read the article, and as a call came into the station, I started timing. The volunteers and units left the station within 35 seconds.
There are a lot of factors that affect response time, and I think the article was negative in its overall description of Roanoke County's EMS.
I'm sure there are ways of improving, but there are a lot of dedicated volunteers and paid professionals who give their time and risk their lives for those needing help. I think a pat on the back, a ``thank you,'' and more financial support from our local, state and national governments would be a more positive way to improve our emergency services and the people who work with them.
I plan to continue to volunteer, and I hope that others will also.
TODD BRYANT
ROANOKE
Taxpayers can't afford the `savings'
REGARDING the Roanoke County water/sewer billing change:
The plan is to save $6,000 a year by changing from quarterly billings to monthly. The start-up cost is about $34,000. There will also be added postage costs, but from ``another budget.''
Money is money. How much additional postage cost? About 17,000 invoices are mailed quarterly. Changing to monthly billings will add an additional eight mailings per year - 17,000 x 8 x .32\ $43,520. That's mail-out cost. Taxpayers will pay the same amount of postage to mail back - another $43,520. Add additional costs for envelopes and invoice stationery going out, envelopes and bank-check usage back, plus miscellaneous other.
Going to a monthly billing system will triple labor costs out and in. So, a first-year cost will likely be more than $120,000 plus labor. Annual costs thereafter probably will be $100,000 plus labor.
For this kind of expenditure, all we get is $6,000 annual savings, plus some cash-flow improvement. One wonders if even one county taxpayer would approve this cost/benefit proposition.
Let's cancel the billing change. We can't afford it.
ROBERT E. CARTER
ROANOKE
by CNB