ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608190126
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
AS A TAXPAYER with little need to respond to editorials (read that: silent majority), I was struck nevertheless by what was omitted in your Aug. 7 editorial, ``Dole's tax-cut switcheroo.''
Your hit on Dole's proposed tax plan omitted the fact that the 30 percent immediate tax cut in 1981 helped spark the greatest increase in federal revenues in many decades. Despite this revenue increase, the federal deficit increased, due to a lack of spending constraints and entitlement changes (read that: Congress). This is just the message sent by most taxpayers who bothered to vote in the last elections: The public sector needs these restraints, similar to what the private sector has been required to achieve.
The current 2.5 percent annual economic-growth rate is anemic relative to our potential. Let's again unleash the potential of the private sector by reducing taxes and the government, and letting the local spirit of helping others pay off. Lowering the tax burden, even by the 15 percent to be phased in under Dole's proposal, will raise all boats in the rising tide (a John F. Kennedy phrase).
Entitlements, while valued, are too generous. I could support easily alternatives to federal social programs that now result in less than 50 cents of every $1 reaching the program target. Credible charities do considerably better than that!
Your candy-store analogy was what really prompted me to write. The many presidential favors recently issued as election-year politics tend to make most taxpayers sick. No wonder many are disenchanted with the political process and don't even bother to vote, much less voice an opinion. I choose to do both, and also choose to subscribe to more than one Virginia-based newspaper!
As Michael Jordan says, ``You've been briefed!''
DOUG BOWMAN
RADFORD
All we get is noise and hockey
THIS YEAR we celebrate 25 years of the Roanoke Civic Center. This is a complex that, if we didn't have it, we would want and need. Roanoke city couldn't afford to build such a structure today, yet the city has allowed it to decay through neglect.
Both the city and society in general have changed drastically since the center was built. The old days are gone, and Roanoke isn't the draw it once was. Instead of trying to keep up with the larger arenas, Roanoke should seek out events that can be held here without a major investment of capital.
In my youth, I attended many events at the Civic Center. Most events in this day and age are not entertainment, but are merely flashes of ear-splitting noise pollution. The majority of my friends and family will not attend any event the Civic Center has.
What a shame to see the facility fall on hard times! Why are we being penalized for not liking hockey by having more hockey? Variety would be a nice change. Save the Roanoke Civic Center!
SANDRA CHAPMAN
ROANOKE
A new low in political remarks
IN RESPONSE to Chuck Jarrell's Aug. 6 letter to the editor, ``Polls show what fools mortals be'':
Some readers would conclude that he equates Bill Clinton to the Antichrist. I find that appalling.
It's one thing for Jarrell to make this inference in his letter; it's quite another for this newspaper to print it. It's wrong for The Roanoke Times to do so. Clinton is, after all, president of the United States. This goes beyond the worst election-year rhetoric.
Incidentally, I am a conservative Republican who did not and will not vote for Clinton.
WALTER C. WILSON
BLAND
If illegal, they don't belong here
I WISH someone would tell me why America should be expected to support and educate children of illegal aliens. For that matter, why should illegal aliens not be sent home?
Am I missing the meaning of the word ``illegal''?
HARRY MARTIN
ROANOKE
Medical billing is very complex
IN YOUR newspaper recently, an ad enlisting persons to attend a free one-hour seminar on medical billing for physicians was noted. I am now in my 35th year of medical practice in the Roanoke Valley, and we have a full-time office staff that does our billing on state-of-the-art computer systems, including electronic claim filing as mentioned in the ad.
The procedure of sending bills for services has become increasingly complex, and continues to expand on a daily basis as new insurance products enter the market. Some physicians in areas other than Roanoke may have more than 100 different insurance companies or products that they are attempting to bill properly for care given to patients having these different insurance products.
There are only three billing services listed in the yellow pages of the local telephone directory this year. And while billing services do make money, they require an extreme degree of sophistication, which is constantly in flux.
This letter to the editor is written to inform persons who might be interested in medical billing that it's an extremely complex and difficult procedure. And before any major investment in time or money is made, they should check with persons knowledgeable in the field. I am sure a number of physicians in the area could be contacted, including my office, for additional information.
GERALD W. ROLLER, M.D.
ROANOKE
Literally, it showed a bigoted attitude
REGARDING Don Terp's Aug. 11 letter to the editor, ``Anonymous help wasn't for profit'':
His efforts to aid those he considers literacy-impaired are probably laudable. However, Terp's blanket, stereotyped opinion regarding literacy in Roanoke as opposed to the literacy taken for granted in the Northeast is an example of attitudes that perpetuate the climate of ill will between natives of this region and Northern transplants.
Surely he doesn't really believe there is no one in the Northeast who could use similar aid! Such bigoted judgments do more to point out his shortcomings than they do the supposed shortcomings of the people in this area with whom he lives.
JUDY HENSLEY
ROANOKE
Newspaper offers a voice of reason
REGARDING Kenneth Robertson's Aug. 9 letter to the editor, ``Goodlatte perceives public's mood'':
His letter took those of us who are old enough to remember prayer in public school on a trip down memory lane. I remembered the class of 1958 at Jefferson Senior High School where, because of overcrowding, all seniors had homeroom in the auditorium. Our Jewish classmates were forced on a daily basis to sit through a Christian devotional reading and prayer offered in Jesus' name. Even at the tender age of 17, I saw the inequity of the situation.
I, too, memorized the 23rd Psalm and the Ten Commandments at Sunday school and with my parents' help. Even in the good old days, parents didn't rely on public schools for their children's religious and moral education.
After a 23-year absence, I recently moved back to the Roanoke area. My practice has been to read the op-ed pages of local newspapers to discern the political, religious and moral mood of a community. Imagine my surprise when, shortly after my return, I learned from a letter to the editor that evolution is still a moot issue! My thanks go to The Roanoke Times for being a voice of reason in the Roanoke Valley.
PHYLLIS FLESHMAN REHOR
ROANOKE
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