THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050434
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: VERONA LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Nearly 300 people packed a meeting room with half that many seats Wednesday to denounce Gov. George Allen's proposed state spending cuts.
They lined the aisles three deep, held placards protesting cuts in the Virginia Cooperative Extension Center and 4-H programs and jockeyed for position in the hallway to hear the testimony.
The Senate Finance Committee and House Appropriations Committee have held hearings around the state during the past week to hear public comments on the budget amendments. Allen has said that $413 million in spending cuts is needed to help finance his tax cut and prison-building programs.
Cecelia Thomas, 82, of Staunton, said the General Assembly should reject Allen's proposed spending reductions on programs for the elderly. Thomas said the alternative to home care provided by a local agency are nursing homes that are less cost-effective.
``Without it, I would have to move to a nursing home, and I would rather die than do that,'' she told Senate Finance Chairman Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, and the seven other legislators on the panel.
There were 156 people scheduled to speak, and many of the first 50 to address the legislators protested reductions in funding for community services.
Dozens of others signed up to oppose cuts that would affect agriculture, the main industry in the Shenandoah Valley. Allen has proposed substantial cuts to the Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service.
People at the Augusta County Board of Supervisors' meeting room came from as far as Frederick County at the northern tip of the state and Orange County in the foothills across the mountains. by CNB