DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  106 lines

LETTERS TO EDITOR -- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

CAMPAIGN '97

Neither candidate's

tax plan a winner

I read with interest the gubernatorial candidates' responses to your question on taxes and spending in the Oct. 1 Pilot. I am amazed that they missed the point of the tax proposal. The obvious issue is: Who should control local budgets?

Both proposals to deal with this tax are bad. Mr. Gilmore's is the scarier of the two. With his proposal, the state will decide how much of the taxpayers' money will be returned for local use and how much will be used elsewhere. I wonder if Mr. Gilmore also believes that it would be a good idea to eliminate the state income tax and count on the federal government to distribute money fairly. If so, I suspect he is the only person in the country who has faith in the integrity of the IRS.

Mr. Beyer's proposal is not significantly better. I do not see how we can expect the local government to be concerned about spending with this proposal. There is likely to be little concern about raising local taxes if the politicians can say that local tax increases will result in an equal reduction in state taxes.

Our only hope is that the legislature may be intelligent enough to reject both proposals and thereby keep local politicians responsible for local taxes and spending.

David Waltrip

Virginia Beach, Oct. 4, 1997

HIGHWAYS

4 more qualities

leading to road rage

I agree with Joan Mann's Sept. 28 letter, ``6 reasons for rampant road rage.'' Let me add to her list:

Drivers are in too much hurry.

Drivers are very discourteous.

Drivers are too inattentive.

Many drivers are unqualified!

An earlier writer pointed out that driver's licenses are renewed with minimal effort. If you can see, you are renewed. There is no recertification process for drivers unless they lose their licenses.

I'm not sure when and why licensing drivers became an entitlement program, but I believe it needs to change. Pilots must be recertified. Drivers should also be recertified.

Charles E. Niles

Norfolk, Sept. 29, 1997

It's criminal behavior

With all due respect to Joan Mann, there are no reasons for road rage. It is the immature behavior of those unwilling, or unable, to tolerate what they cannot control.

It is criminal behavior and should be treated as such. I would be quite willing to have my taxes raised to provide the police necessary to control and stop it.

Alice M. de Schweinitz

Virginia Beach, Sept. 29, 1997

Who needs a race track

when we have I-64?

For years there has been talk about a race track for NASCAR-sanctioned events in the Suffolk area. I am a big race fan, but do we really need it? An early morning trip to work makes me feel like I am part of the action.

My starting line is Dominion Boulevard, and along the way we have all the excitement of NASCAR. There is the pace car (state troopers), entrance to pit row (Greenbrier on-ramp), exit to pit row (the interchange), cars into the wall, high speeds, drafting (tailgaters), fans (rubber-neckers) and my finish line, the Military Highway exit by the airport.

The race is hardly over, though, because I have to do it three more times in a day. I have seen it all on I-64, but the thing that gets me the most is the drivers who know they have to get off at a certain exit but insist on staying in the far-left lane and forcing their way over at the last possible second. Twenty or 30 cars behind them, an accident takes place because of all the quick braking for one bad driver.

Jim Dillon

Chesapeake, Oct. 3, 1997

ENVIRONMENT

Wetlands venture

stresses restoration

While the Sept. 22 article ``$25 million venture banks on stockpiling wetlands'' provided a balanced discussion of the proposed wetlands bank, it should have emphasized restoration rather than preservation as the goal of this commercial venture in the historic Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina.

The primary focus of this privately owned wetland compensation bank is on the restoration of wetlands on agricultural lands, not preservation of existing swamp. Ditches will be plugged and wetland hydrology will be restored to farmed areas that were historically wetlands in the Dismal Swamp.

While this bank will include preservation of high value and threatened wetlands in the historic swamp, no bank credits will be generated solely from wetland preservation. Bank credits have been designed to ensure that operation of the bank will result in no net loss of wetlands.

We appreciate the in-depth research and interviews by reporter Scott Harper. However, based on the number of calls to this office with offers of swampland for sale, we felt a clarification was necessary.

Steve Martin

Environmental scientist and

project manager

Norfolk district

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Norfolk, Oct. 1, 1997

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