THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
As I head to the store to buy my lottery ticket in my used car, I am struck by several things:
1. As a state employee, I am very grateful for my 2 percent pay raise. There have been a number of years since 1980 when we received no pay raise.
2. As a parent, I am pleased that my husband and I can continue to pay the sky-rocketing tuition for our two college-age students who are happily studying in the higher-education system in Virginia.
As a taxpayer, I am delighted that Governor Allen had the wisdom to appoint Penelope Kyle as state lottery director and that he proposes that she receive a pay raise of 22 percent, a fact which bothers me not at all even though the raise is considerably more than half of my entire salary.
Ms. Kyle will need this raise, as she says, if ``down the road, . . . we're talking about three private-school payments.'' Wasn't it awful of us (?) to require Ms. Kyle to give up her excellent, higher-paying position at CSX?
With any luck at all, she will require even more lavish increases as her now preschool-age children reach college age. It is clear that Governor Allen has appointed a person who understands, perhaps in ways he does not, that both public education and higher education in Virginia are in great jeopardy. Ms. Kyle is clearly planning for the future.
When the state decided to engage in the lottery, many citizens got the impression that the proceeds were going to support and enhance education at all levels in the state. Many of us have hoped for that. Now we see that exactly that has happened: Penelope Kyle should be better able to afford her children's private education.
Why am I buying a lottery ticket today? I hope that I will win and that my income over the next 20 years will come close to Penelope Kyle's. Actually, 7.1 million-to-one odds that I might win are probably even better than the odds that Governor Allen will increase support for education at all levels in Virginia. Am I hopeful in the new year? You bet I am.
JANIS KREBS SMITH
Norfolk, Dec. 31, 1994 by CNB