ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060019
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
REGARDING Roger Shelton's Nov. 14 letter to the editor, ``Seniors will be glad to swap checks'':
Those senior citizens who call it an outrage for government (representing all taxpayers) to think of raising beneficiaries' premiums for Medicare by a modest amount should consider the following:
While we who are in our mid-60s and older grew up in a depression and fought two wars, we are nevertheless probably the most fortunate generation this nation has known. Our parents fought a war and also worked their way through the worst economic depression in our history while raising and providing for us. All this without the benefit of significant unemployment benefits, with only modest benefits from a federal Social Security system that wasn't enacted until the mid-'30s, without a GI Bill for veterans, with no Medicare or Medicaid programs, with no strong trade unions to negotiate health and pension plans, and with few, if any, employer-volunteered plans.
By contrast, our generation was provided a comprehensive GI-bill plan of benefits, and Social Security benefits that far exceed our own contributions to the program and with cost-of-living supplements that few industry plans pay. We also got Medicare and Medicaid plans for which we pay little or nothing but that can pay benefits for us amounting to thousands of dollars. Further, many of us have benefited from employer-sponsored health and pension plans (negotiated or voluntary) for which we paid directly either a portion or nothing.
On the other hand, our children are paying far greater amounts into the Social Security system than we did, with the knowledge that they will probably have to kick in even more to keep the program solvent. Why? Because, among other things, our generation allowed a succession of venal Congresses to increase benefits without requiring the necessary contributions to fund them. We gratefully cheered them on and returned them to office. As for Medicare and Medicaid, it's clear these programs cannot survive as they are without driving our federal deficit out of control - to be rescued (if at all) by our children and grandchildren.
The piper must be paid. Today's seniors cannot continue to be a ``gimme more'' generation. We should be willing to be part of the solution instead of the problem.
RODMAN S. MOELLER
ROANOKE
Democrats have tried to help
SEVERAL recent letters to the editor have hyped the merits of Republicanism. Let me tell you why I'm a Democrat.
I saw my grandfather break down and cry after Herbert Hoover defeated Al Smith in the 1928 presidential election. I was only 10 years old and knew nothing about politics. But I thought a lot of the old man, and I felt that if the Republicans were doing things to make him cry, they couldn't be very nice people. Nothing has happened since to make me change my mind.
To the contrary. In 1933, I had a summer job in a furniture factory making 10 cents an hour, which was the going rate at the time. Then Franklin Roosevelt pushed his National Recovery Act through Congress and my pay jumped to 30 cents an hour. There's nothing like a 300-percent raise to concentrate one's politics.
And it didn't stop there. Over the years, Democrats have given us Social Security, the GI Bill, Medicare, Medicaid, civil-rights reform, and a host of other programs that have improved ordinary people's lives. In every case, the Republicans had to be dragged along, kicking and screaming. They cry ``socialism'' and ``liberalism.'' Well, if some of the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young Republicans had to work for 10 cents an hour, had no medical coverage and no hope of educational assistance, they might consider a dose of liberalism to be a good thing.
JOHN W. SLAYTON
ROANOKE
Higher education is the top priority
I HOPE that Virginia's legislators will put the recent election behind them so they can focus on what they were elected to do: work in the best interest of all Virginians.
One issue that needs to be tops on their ``to do'' list is the welfare of our public colleges and universities. Specifically, they need to look into reversing the more than $420 million in budget cuts - more than any other state in the country - that Virginia's public colleges and universities have had to endure since 1989. Right now, Virginia is ranked 43rd in the nation in tax support per full-time student. This cannot and should not be allowed to continue, particularly as we begin to face the challenges of the next century.
SUE GRIGGS
HUDDLESTON
The future will be stacked with debt
IT HAS been said that $1 million can be defined as a tight stack of crisp, new $1,000 bills approximately 5 inches high. This being the case, $1 billion reaches a height of 417 feet (as high as a 41-story building).
Very soon front-page headlines will read ``National debt now $5 trillion.'' At that time, our stack of crisp, new $1,000 bills will have grown to an astounding height of approximately 395 miles.
So, when we read these headlines, let us not say, ``Ho hum, what's another trillion?'' This debt is yours and mine, and must be paid sooner or later. It's not a pretty legacy for future generations.
JOHN T. CUNNINGHAM III
ROANOKE
Prison guards need public support
IT'S TIME to take a look at an unsung public servant - corrections officers who protect you every day.
It's not the '50s any more. The fictitious portrayal in movies of a mindless brute, little better than the criminals he oversees, just doesn't hold water any more. These men and women are intelligent, sincere and dedicated. Don't they deserve to be fairly compensated for risking their lives to protect yours? In Virginia, there are no weapons on the inside (except primitive ones fashioned by inmates) - no guns, nightsticks or chemical deterrents.
Every day, corrections officers endure one of the most hostile and dangerous environments you could imagine. They face daunting possibilities: contracting HIV; physical assaults; and, in the event of a riot, possibly being killed or gang-raped. This isn't a remote possibility when, in smaller units, the ratio of inmates to officers is sometimes 30 to one. In some larger facilities, the shifts may begin with up to 30 officers short of what's needed to operate safely. In the face of all of this, all guards have to safeguard themselves is the lamentable liability training provided by the state, their wits and their trust in each other. How many of you could withstand the stress? As a veteran corrections officer of 25 years, I've seen it all, and it isn't getting any better.
Many of you voted for Gov. George Allen for his tough-on-crime platform. Did any of you give a second thought to those who work on the inside of the correctional facilities? Did you consider the consequences for corrections officers? Granted, the streets will be safer, but danger to the officers will only escalate.
If you talk to state legislators, they'll tell you that the officers were upgraded in July. You aren't getting the entire story. As a result of this upgrade, an officer who has two years' experience now receives the same pay as one with six years' service. Does this sound equitable? On average, it takes $24,000 annually to house one inmate. Starting pay for a corrections officer is approximately $6,000 per year less. No wonder the morale of officers is at rock bottom and the state has a hard time keeping experienced officers.
I'm retired, but still have a lot of respect and concern for my fellow officers. They need support from Virginia's law-abiding citizens to improve their lot and morale.
DAVE UNDERWOOD
Retired corrections officer
Department of Corrections
Commonwealth of Virginia
ROANOKE
Did they get their money's worth?
IN BETTE N. Gillespie's Nov. 28 letter to the editor (``Via brothers aren't running for office''), she astutely observes: ``It's their money.''
The question we're asking down here on the street is: At what point does a contribution become a purchase?
RODNEY A. FRANKLIN
ROANOKE
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