Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 20, 1993 TAG: 9309170412
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
However, those younger Americans who are applauding this increase should realize that those big bucks they are now putting into Social Security will be providing them less net Social Security income when they retire. Their pay-out will remain the same, but their payoff will be substantially less.
Therefore, it is not only 5.5 million middle-class senior citizens who are being impacted by this tax increase, but also about 100 million middle-class Americans who are now working.
Maybe this is OK; it may even be fair. But I am sick and tired of slick politicians trying to pull the wool over my eyes. If we ever bail our country out of debt, it will be the middle-class citizens who do it. And they should get full credit for their contributions.
ALLAN B. JOHNSON
HUDDLESTON
\ Not sons of the South
IN REFERENCE to Noel R. Wood's July 31 letter to the editor (``What next? Ban Old Glory?''):
The United Daughters of the Confederacy lost their patent, not the right to use the seal. As to the vote of our senators, we should expect no less. Neither one is a Virginian or even a Southerner. Now we have a native-born Californian who says we should elect him governor because his father was a ``sports legend.'' If he were trying to go to Washington and not Richmond, he would fit right in.
9WALLACE F. KABLER
LYNCHBURG
\ An unfriendly takeover
ROANOKE city residents beware! City Council's plans to buy Roanoke Gas Co. will pass on hidden taxes to city residents. Currently, the gas rates are controlled by the State Corporation Commission. Until now, this commission has ensured that valley residents have the lowest natural-gas rates in the state.
However, if City Council moves forward with this plan, gas rates will be controlled by the city, not the State Corporation Commission. City control of local gas rates provides a convenient way to pass taxes on to residents without publicly raising the tax rates.
In addition to this, Mayor Bowers has said that he wants to revitalize and rebuild Roanoke. I can't believe that he would consider this takeover in the wake of a nationwide recession and the First Union takeover of Dominion Bank.
DON SHELTON
ROANOKE
\ Evolution's great mysteries
IN A RECENT letter to the editor by Alexander S. McDowell (Aug. 9, ``Nature's power, mankind's mind''), we read that Copernicus was called a heretic and was nearly murdered because of his belief; that evolution of mankind is not only granted, but is very clear; and that the will of mankind, together with the ability to interact and co-exist, determines if mankind will survive.
However, Will Durrant in his book, ``The Story of Civilization, Vol. VI,'' states very clearly that Copernicus, in his lifetime, was never branded a heretic or nearly murdered. In fact, ``Pope Leo X, informed of his theory, expressed an open-minded interest, and asked a cardinal to write to Copernicus for a demonstration of his thesis; for a time the hypothesis won considerable favor at the enlightened papal court.''
Concerning evolution, wasn't it Rachel Carson who came up with the really novel idea that no one was present at man's early beginnings, and therefore evolution is not really all that clear, nor is it granted?
Now about the will of mankind to interact and co-exist: We try, but rarely do we succeed. Maybe we don't know why or how. If only we hadn't evolved but were created by one who loved us, perhaps we could ask him and he would send one to teach us how to love one another just as he loves us. Perhaps this has already happened, but the will of man sometimes blinds the eyes and plugs the ears so that we believe more in ourselves than anything else.
In this light, it seems that while man may tell you that the Earth is not the center of the universe, he continues to believe that he is the center, responsible for his own evolution, his own being, the life within him, and he is capable of saving his own self from himself with his own arm.
MARSHALL R. TACKETT
BUCHANAN
\ Won't pass the smell test
REGARDING possible city government takeover of Roanoke Gas Co.:
You can send a pig to school, outfit him with wings, let him sleep to tapes of aerodynamics, f+ibuto he'll never fly.
You can put inexperienced, quarrelsome, non-accountable public servants (elected or employed) in charge of natural-gas distribution and dream that will work someday also.
Utility users better blow the whistle when they see someone who is already out on a limb sawing it off, because gas begins to smell like money.
We already have more than enough government ``help'' that hurts. Gas distribution in Roanoke ain't broke. Don't ``fix'' it.
BARBARA JONES
ROANOKE
\ Taxpayers won't forget
TAXPAYERS: Remember those who voted for the largest tax increase in the history of our country? It is time to elect people who will represent the taxpayer.
PAUL M. WAGONER
FANCY GAP
by CNB