ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTER
LAWRENCE Duffee's June 3 letter to the editor (``Exempt seniors from school taxes'') really got my dander up! Why should senior citizens be taxed for schools? Because other senior citizens helped pay for his children's schools. And parents whose responsibility he claims it is now to pay for schools are also paying for senior citizens' benefits.
I'm over 50 years old and a member of the American Association for Retired Persons, so I may be considered a senior citizen. But I'm sick of hearing some seniors complain about being mistreated by the government. Sure, their benefits amount to less than what they might earn if still employed. However, most folks now drawing Social Security will - if they haven't already - receive more in benefits than they ever paid into the system. I'm not sure the same will be true for our children.
Consider also the extra ``perks'' senior citizens enjoy. Most restaurants, theaters and other retail establishments offer them discounts. Recently, my husband and I booked three motel rooms - one for us, his parents, and our daughter and son-in-law. Our daughter and son-in-law's room cost one-third more than the other two rooms, which were accorded discounts for senior citizens.
This ``I've got mine, now you get yours'' attitude that's rampant in this country is sickening. We're all in this life together, sharing the responsibilities and benefits given to us. I gladly paid taxes to help pay for my children's educations, and I'll help pay for other children's educations. And I'll help pay for Duffee's benefits because that's the American way.
I'll ``pull my wagon'' as long as I'm able - to the end of my journey, I hope. If I need help pulling it, I hope someone will be there to help me. And if someone else is struggling along the way, I'll feel blessed if I'm in a position to help him or her. What goes around comes around!
GLENDA THOMPSON
COLLINSVILLE
The high price of emergencies
I AM concerned about Roanoke residents who have no health insurance and need immediate care or who live alone with no one to assist them with emergency transportation.
They charge more than $200 for ambulance assistance, but they don't fail to send out requests for donations when they need help! A lot of people cannot afford this fee, and may lie there and die because of it. It's really sad when there's an outrageous charge for emergency help in this valley.
What are people supposed to do when there's an emergency?
TINA BYRD
ROANOKE
Bible isn't always a good guide
A NUMBER of letter-writers to these pages recently have quoted the Bible as a moral authority on abortion. A lot seems to hinge on the translation and interpretation of Exodus 21:22-25. I notice the verse just before that (Exodus 21:20-21) says that a man should not be punished for beating his slave, unless the slave promptly dies from it. It is only one of many passages that support the institution of slavery.
I frankly think the Bible isn't a perfectly reliable guide to ethics.
JOHN B. HODGES
BLACKSBURG
Separate and unequal
Remember "separate but equal"?
Public universities such as the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech once educated only white males. Many people tried to keep from integrating their respective schools. Now, most students think nothing of going to school with a person of a different race.
West Point, the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy are fine military academies. Their training is extremely rigorous. They graduate numerous female cadets who are subjected to the same treatment as male cadets. If women can make it through these academies, why can't they be admitted to the Virginia Military Institute?
Mary Baldwin's and VMI's programs currently run on the basis of "separate but equal." The truth is that Mary Baldwin's programs aren't equal to VMI's. Private colleges can operate with single-sex admission because they're private. But VMI is public - and you can't have separate but equal.
H. TIMOTHY LOVELACE JR.
ROANOKE
Where are the kickbacks?
I SELL real estate in the Roanoke Valley, and I'm confused about the May 20 commentary by Howard A. Birmiel (``Tighter real-estate law targets kickbacks''). The commentary was written by an attorney who said there were going to be tighter laws on Realtors getting kickbacks from mortgage lenders, attorneys or settlement companies.
The new law strengthens existing anti-kickback provisions, such as against payments of any ``thing of value'' pursuant to an agreement to refer business. In other words, attorneys or lenders paying for catered real-estate open-house luncheons or an agent's advertising brochure.
Wow! I must be doing something wrong when I tell my clients to call three different lenders or more. I've never had an advertising brochure made about me. I wonder if my mortgage-lender associates would pay for Glamour Shots? Maybe, for my next new listing, I could get the lawyers in town to cater a luncheon. Montano's would be nice.
I guess I'm just too dumb in this business to do anything except give my clients and customers the choice to go to any lender, any lawyer or any settlement company who will do the best job for them and at the cheapest price. The only ``steering'' I've ever done is in my car.
BRIDGET DeCICCO
ROANOKE
Whitewater is a rising tide
IT SEEMS the liberals are at it again. Many television documentaries, as well as numerous articles dating back for years, call attention to the pecadillos of the Kennedys. Remember Marilyn Monroe? Chappaquiddick and Mary Jo Kopechne? The May 1996 Reader's Digest featured a lengthy article on patriarch Joe Kennedy and his long-lasting affair with Gloria Swanson. What a dynasty!
Now we have Bill Clinton and the Whitewater ghost again. Your May 29 headline declared ``3 friends of Clinton convicted.'' But Clinton was never implicated. Why?
A May 18 news article related that Paula Jones has asked the Supreme Court to allow her sexual-harassment suit against Clinton to go forward. But the president ``asked the high court to sidetrack the case until he leaves office.'' Case closed?
The May 25 news headline, ``Clintons pay $3,400 more for Whitewater tax mistake,'' reflects a drop in the bucket. But even this much admission shows where it's coming from.
Let's keep all these facts in mind the next time we go to the polls.
MILDRED SADLER
SALEM
No coverage of Promise Keepers
I EAGERLY scanned your May 25 and 26 editions for coverage of the Promise Keepers conference held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on May 23-24. I was extremely disappointed by the lack of any coverage of this event in which more than 40,000 men gathered under the theme of ``Breaking Down the Walls'' of racial and cultural prejudice that have tended to separate us.
The purpose of the Promise Keepers is to equip men to be committed to their God, their families, pastors, churches, brothers and communities.
Why was there room on your May 26 front page for articles about a wayward canine, a family's battle over a septic tank and three color photographs of Festival in the Park, and not a word anywhere in the newspaper about Promise Keepers?
RICHARD P. LEGGETT
SALEM
LENGTH: Long : 141 linesby CNB