ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030003
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTER
YOUR MAY 18 editorial (``That sickening food tax'') on the sales tax on food was right on target. It should be eliminated. So should the personal-property tax, another regressive tax that affects the poor and the middle class more than the rich and well-to-do. The tax burden is shifted from those who should be paying on to those who should not.
Property taxes should also be revised. Why should senior citizens be taxed for schools? Over many long years, they have paid their taxes, have done their duty, have pulled the wagon, have been in the boat longer than others - whatever term you want to use.
It's not the grandparents' responsibility to pay for schools, but the parents' responsibility. Again, the burden of taxes is shifted on to those who shouldn't be paying them. Are senior citizens never to obtain relief?
Congressman Bob Goodlatte told my wife that there are localities in the United States where senior citizens are exempt from paying school taxes. It should happen in Virginia.
As you say, state income taxes should be more progressive, so that those who are making it in Virginia pay their share and not fob it off on the less fortunate. They may not be happy to do so, but it's the right thing to do. LAWRENCE DUFFEE ROANOKE GOP's agenda is common sense
WE SUPPORTED the Contract with America. We believed in less government, welfare reform, a balanced budget, a tax break for our children and grandchildren, our right to own guns, saving our country from bankruptcy and saving Medicare, which will spend $4.2 billon more than its revenues this year.
Bill Clinton and his brigade of liberals have twisted the truth, lied and used fear tactics, not responsibility, to hold on to power. Yet we're called extreme.
If I'm extreme for supporting common horse sense, boy, I'm really proud to be on Slick Willie's list of extremists. Stand up, fellow extremists, and be proud. LEWIS C. HENSLEY HUDDLESTON Adults set a rude example for teens
ON MAY 24, my family and I attended the Aaron Tippin concert at Victory Stadium. We, like many others, took advantage of the free shuttle bus from Towers Mall. To avoid long lines after the show, we left a few minutes early, and were rewarded by a place very close to the front of the bus line.
By the time the Valley Metro bus arrived, the line had grown to more than a block in length. As the bus stopped, several older couples began running to the front of the line. A Roanoke city officer politely informed them that they must step to the end of the line. These people continued to push into the line, even after the officer requested several times that they step back.
I was struck by the fact that had they been teen-agers the behavior wouldn't have been tolerated. In fact, teen-agers might have found themselves in serious trouble with police for their belligerence and disregard for authority.
In light of recent media attention regarding unruly gangs of teens in malls and at public events, the attitudes of these adults were particularly shameful.
As the parent of a well-behaved teen-ager, I was appalled by the example these adults were setting. Perhaps we should all look more closely at where some of our teen-agers are learning their manners. MELISSA GARRETT CHAMBLISSBURG Is a music center a real priority?
AS A MEMBER of a local fraternal organization, I occasionally overhear other members commenting on how Congressman Rick Boucher sure ``brings home the bacon'' - the music center on the Blue Ridge Parkway being their usual example.
I want to look at this music center, and the economic stimulus it's supposed to give this area, to see why everyone is so pleased that Boucher is spending our tax dollars to get it built. Once completed, the center will have cost an estimated $12 million.
If they had been asked, people around here could have come up with a better way to spend their hard-earned money. This tax money could have been used to pay off our national debt or, better yet, returned to the people who earned it in the first place so they could pay their own debts. MARVIN ARNOLD GALAX Mailing bashed Salem's leaders
IN RESPONSE to John Moore's May 15 letter to the editor, ``In Salem, an 11th-hour dirty trick?'':
I think The Beacon is what cost Moore the election. It was slanted in his direction and trashed our present City Council.
People like me love Salem, and City Council has always come through for us. Even when its members' actions have been questionable, their results have always been fantastic.
There was no doubt in my mind to re-elect the incumbents. That left one seat, and Harry Haskins was clearly the people's choice, although he wasn't mine.
The yellow fact sheet that Moore found objectionable stated who financed it. Also, all issues on it responded to the Beacon's second publication. It had to be sent out that way because The Beacon's distribution left no time for clarifications in the Salem Times-Register.
After reading The Beacon and seeing that this well-endowed group stood behind Moore, I decided not to vote for him. Obviously, others did too. SARA E. JOHNSTON SALEM Cartoon's reference was a cheap shot
YOUR MAY 24 printing of the cartoon by Jeff MacNelly of the Chicago Tribune was despicable! It referred to Dole as ``one armed and dangerous.''
What a cheap shot! JUSTYNE THOMPSON ROANOKE Not all Americans paid higher taxes
IN RESPONSE to Hurley C. Lassiter III's May 17 letter to the editor, ``Clinton has much in common with Bush'':
On the subject of tax increases by Clinton, my taxes didn't go up, so I must be in the 98 percent that didn't get a tax increase.
If Lassiter's taxes went up, it's nice to know that someone in Roanoke is well off enough to be in the highest 2 percent. WILLIAM R. VEST ROANOKE Now it's logging without laws
SINCE THE congressional elections of 1994, it has been no secret that extreme conservatives in Congress have been working to overturn many of this nation's environmental-protection laws. They have proceeded in spite of the fact that the majority of Americans do not wish to have such laws weakened. These anti-environmental extremists have met resistance they hadn't counted on. Much of their agenda has bogged down.
However, they succeeded in one instance. It was done through a commonly used gimmick known as a ``rider.'' Riders are attached to pieces of legislation that have broad support. They're often smelly little bits whose purpose is to serve some special-interest group. In this case, the special-interest group is the logging industry, and the legislation was the ``salvage rider'' to the Rescissions Act of 1995.
Proponents say the intention is to enable loggers to remove dead or diseased trees from our national forests that would go to waste. They say this will contribute to forest health, and reduce the risk of fires. It sounds good, but the catch is the rider allows forest managers to waive all other environmental-protection laws relating to logging. In effect, it has created ``logging without laws.''
In the Pacific Northwest, thousands of acres of forests are being pillaged, rivers and streams damaged, and fish and wildlife sacrificed for corporate welfare. The George Washington and Jefferson national forests in Virginia aren't immune. The law applies to all national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands.
There's a remedy, though: legislation that would eliminate the rider and avert further disaster in our forests.
Mistakes can be forgiven - if they're corrected.
ROBERT K. EGBERT
SALEM
LENGTH: Long : 141 linesby CNB