December 31, 2007
For Wednesday, we're writing about franking, the congressional authority to send out junk mail to constituents on the taxpayer dime. Rep. Virgil Goode is one of the less abusive of this privilege, for which we commend him. The rest of Congress, though, should stop killing trees.
Hunting for truth about hounds
A Virginia study of hound hunting and the conflicts it causes will allow informed debate.
Hunters sometimes are a paranoid bunch. The slightest hint of scrutiny sets them off defending tradition against encroaching modernism. It is therefore no surprise that a Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries review of hunting with hounds has hunters reflexively on the attack.
Read more.
Delay new taxes and fees in NOVA
Collection shouldn't begin until the Virginia Supreme Court rules on a constitutional question.
Will the messy consequences of the transportation package the General Assembly passed during its last session never cease? The legislation authorized the Northern Virginia Regional and Hampton Roads transportation authorities to raise money for roads in those traffic-clogged parts of the state. That meant imposing seven new taxes and fees, effective Jan. 1.
Read more.
Year-end reflections
Steve Huff
Huff, a family physician from Patrick County, is a Roanoke Times columnist.
Oh-Seven has been quite a ride;
We laughed and we cursed 'till we cried;
Let's start at the first,
Mix the best with the worst,
As opinion and whimsy collide.
Read more.
The LOST debate
Will Reisinger
Reisinger is a resident of Blacksburg and attends law school in Ohio.
There is an intense political and legal debate going on just below the surface in Washington. The controversy has to do with whether the United States should ratify a somewhat obscure international treaty, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also called the Law of the Sea Treaty -- LOST to its opponents. Surprisingly, however, the LOST debate is taking place entirely within the Republican Party (Democrats all support it) and is indicative of a fundamental debate about the future of the GOP itself.
Read more.
Monday's letters can be read here.
December 30, 2007
A Homestead Act would strain localities
Lawmakers pander to homeowners by having everyone else pay higher taxes for local services.
It is easy for lawmakers to look tough on taxes when they are slashing someone else's revenue. With a shortfall cramping state spending, some in the Virginia General Assembly realize they cannot target state finances for cuts. Instead, they push a Homestead Exemption Act that would let them posture while counties, cities and towns deal with the fallout.
Read more.
The realities of animal fighting
Animal fights are cruel and bloody. They also often involve gambling, drugs and organized crime.
Credit Michael Vick for one thing, if nothing else: His high-profile arrest and guilty plea highlighted the sordid, cruel world of dogfighting. State Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry County, wants to ride the resulting wave of revulsion to pass a bill making dogfighting a qualifying offense under Virginia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
Read more.
New River editorial
Maybe if he offers $1 billion for the road
Pulaski County residents still have uses for Neck Creek Road.
Southwest Virginia's only billionaire wants Pulaski County to give him a road. Randal J. Kirk's personal wealth might lend some insight into the arrogance of his request, but it is irrelevant to the substance of it. Officials should look at his petition as if it had come from any other citizen, and as such petitions go, it is almost laughable.
Read more.
Cheaters corrupt the year's best shots
Christian Trejbal
Someone always has to spoil the fun. On most days, The Current prints reader-submitted photographs on page 2, hundreds of them in a year. "Your Best Shot" showcases the moments that make the New River Valley special. For some end of the year fun, the paper selected 30 of the year's best photos and asked readers to choose the best of the Best Shots in an online poll.
Read more.
Special clothes aren't required for a special Christmas
Bridget B. Winston
Winston traded a newspaper career for a more demanding job -- motherhood. She continues to write in her free time -- after changing the diapers, putting away the toys and lulling her son to sleep. She lives with her family in Christiansburg.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I searched high and low for "Baby's First Christmas" apparel. It wasn't hard to find in the department stores, toy stores and children's clothing stores. But they don't seem to make it in my baby's size.
Read more.
Rockledge is not just about a restaurant
Jay Foster
Foster is president of SoftSolutions. He lives in Roanoke.
Some regions have a certain "new economy" attraction that is beyond question. For example, when I meet people who are working in Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston or Raleigh, the question "Why is your firm located there?" never comes to mind.
Read more.
Downtown apartments are critical
Bill Carder
Carder is executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc.
A glimpse into the past: downtown Roanoke in the 1930s -- bustling streets filled to the brim with cars, people of all races, creeds, ages and economic strata -- shopping, working, playing and living. Downtown -- a thriving urban environment. Living in downtown and its adjacent neighborhoods was efficient, functional and desirable. Families, the elderly, young couples, rich and poor alike lived in or near the center of our city because it was where they worked and the goods and services they needed were provided.
Read more.
Sunday's letters can be read here.
December 29, 2007
Pakistan on the verge
Bhutto's assassination crushed the best hope for a stable and democratic Pakistan. Negotiating the dire path ahead will require great skill and diplomacy.
The strategic importance of Pakistan in the war against Islamic extremism cannot be overstated. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan -- which President Pervez Musharraf supported -- both the Taliban and al-Qaida found sanctuary in Pakistan's remote tribal regions.
Read more.
Is he giving points?
As if Virginians needed one more reason to cheer for the Hokies on Thursday, there's a ham on the line. In the grand tradition of elected officials wagering on collegiate athletics, Gov. Tim Kaine and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius are backing their teams in the Orange Bowl with meat.
Read more.
Growth isn't necessarily good -- or inevitable
Michael Abraham
Michael Abraham is a businessman who lives in Blacksburg.
My late Grandpa Henry was a crusty, upstanding New Yorker with little patience for my impertinence. To warn me against an impending faux pas, he'd curtly insist, "It just isn't done." One does not question conventional wisdom, he would admonish. Perhaps no wisdom in contemporary American economics is more unquestioned than the inherent rightness of growth. In the collective mind of economic developers, politicians, businesspeople and everyday citizens alike, growth is not only inevitable, but natural and desirable. The intrinsic worthiness of growth as a social construct is inviolable and sacrosanct; few argue against it. Yet as we enter this new century, natural constraints are forcing us, often kicking and screaming, to re-evaluate.
Read more.
Saturday's letters can be read here.
December 28, 2007
Next week: As Virginia legislators begin tinkering with state dollars in the upcoming General Assembly session, legislators from the Roanoke area must make sure that money proposed for the Roanoke City Health Department survives. The department's long-awaited move to a better location is long overdue. Additional state funding will ensure the move happens.
For Saturday we're writing about Gov. Tim Kaine's wager with the governor of Kansas on the Orange Bowl. Is a Virginia Ham really the best symbol for the state?
Note: Kaine's office is aware that there is a mistake in the press release. The game is on Jan. 3, but that is Thursday, not Saturday
For tomorrow, we'll write about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and what it means for both Pakistan and the United States.
Pork is pork, even when it's local
The earmark problem will never be solved as long as legislators like Bob Goodlatte continue to make sure their districts get a fair share of pork.
Your mother wouldn't accept "Everyone else is doing it" as an excuse. But that's the best Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, could come up with when the Heritage Foundation called him on more than $1.8 million in federal spending the conservative group deemed wasn't of "national necessity."
Read more.
Moran's misplaced good intention
The intent of a Toy Safety Act is good, but Virginia should keep its nose out of what is federal business.
Four days before Christmas, as Virginians scrambled to find toys safe enough to place under their trees, Del. Brian Moran announced the Virginia Toy Safety Act, a measure that aims to keep unsafe toys off store shelves statewide.
Read more.
No one has given up on Day Avenue
Joseph Lee
Lee is chairman of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Recently the development efforts of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority have resulted in dividends for the citizens of the city of Roanoke with the unveiling of the much-anticipated Carilion medical and education complex in South Roanoke and the burgeoning downtown condo and apartment market.
Read more.
Friday's letters can be read here.
December 27, 2007
This week: The state Supreme Court has not yet ruled whether the Northern Virginia Regional Transportation Authority had the power to levy new taxes and fees to generate revenue for transportation projects and services in that traffic-clogged part of the state. But on Jan. 1, the seven new taxes and fees will take effect. Why the rush? The Hampton Roads Transportation Authority, which was given the same power as Northern Virginia's under the flawed transportation package the General Assembly approved earlier this year, moved its implementation date to April 1. The Northern Virginia authority has failed to do the same, and a legal challenge looms. The new taxes and fees should not be imposed until the Virginia Supreme Court issues a ruling.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is studying hound hunting int he commonwealth, and hunters are worried it will lead to limitations. Maybe, maybe not. The debate should take place after the facts have been gathered by the department. At least one hunting tradition, letting people and their dogs trespass on private property, certainly deserves reconsideration.
Torture is un-American
Sen. John McCain has a proposal for a corps of specialized interrogators to ensure America doesn't think it needs to torture suspects.
America should never torture prisoners, even suspected terrorists. "These tools are not American tools and the easy way is not the American way," said Republican presidential candidate John McCain during a commencement address at Newbury College in South Carolina. Yes, these are dangerous times, and "enhanced interrogation techniques" may occasionally provide information that could disrupt terrorism plots and save lives. But McCain, who knows all too well the realities of torture, believes there is a better way. He proposes a 20,000-strong corps of soldiers trained in strategic interrogation.
Read more.
Let localities make the smoking call
Not just Hampton Roads localities should get the authority to ban smoking in restaurants.
The Hampton Roads region will push the General Assembly hard to win the ability to restrict smoking in restaurants. As a recent editorial in The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot noted, city councils representing more than 1 million Virginia residents have petitioned the General Assembly for permission to ban smoking in local restaurants.
Read more.
A tip at year's end
John Long
Ever hear of a carrier's address? I thought for this festive season I'd leave the weightier matters of the news aside and, assuming my role as a local historian, recall an almost forgotten holiday tradition.
Read more.
Thursday's letters can be read here.
December 26, 2007
For Friday: State Del. Brian Moran proposes that Virginia take action where the federal government has dragged its feet. No, not illegal immigration, but keeping unsafe toys off store shelves. Moran's Toy Safety Act would fine merchants who knowingly sell recalled toys. State lawmakers should keep their hands off this proposal, however well-intended. Toy safety is a matter for the feds, not Virginia.
Virginia lawmakers in January will consider sending a constitutional amendment to voters that would allow localities to exempt some people from some property tax. Later in the week we'll argue that giving localities more power over their own destiny is usually good, but this amendment needs a lot of work if it's going to help and be fair to all Virginians.
Renewing commitment to Chesapeake Bay
The rallying cry of 'Save the Bay' is no match for out-of-control development. The goals for 2010 will not be met. States must try harder.
Early this month, Gov. Tim Kaine said the biggest wastewater treatment plants and industries in the Chesapeake Bay's Virginia watershed were on target to meet nutrient reduction goals by the end of 2010. Woo-hoo!
Read more.
Art deserves better than a swine culture
Support for the arts shouldn't rise and fall with budget forecasts. Consistent funding is needed.
Earlier this month Roanoke's mayor and council invited the city's lawmakers to lunch, hoping they'd bite on advancing the city's legislative agenda. One item of prime importance to city leaders is tapping a uniform, predictable funding stream for arts and culture. Roanoke already sets aside some local funds, but city officials and arts boosters hope that with dedicated state funding, they would no longer need to trek to Richmond, hat-in-hand, begging for money.
Read more.
Declarations of diplomacy
Dennis Welch
Welch teaches and lives in Blacksburg.
In his column "Try true diplomacy instead of PR" (Dec. 2), Price B. Floyd critiques efforts "to fix a public diplomacy problem" -- namely, the U.S. government's abysmal image abroad -- "with public relations solutions." Price recommends, instead, "broadening dialogue between American ... institutions and their counterparts abroad" and replacing Karen Hughes, President Bush's hapless pick to improve the White House's image overseas.
Read more.
Wednesday's letters can be read here.
December 25, 2007
AIDS isn't limited to homosexuals
Teresa M. Hoback
Hoback, who lives in Roanoke, is a gay rights activist and a member of the Roanoke Pride Committee.
Debbie Thurman's commentary "One true way to prevent AIDS" (Dec. 11) is nothing more than a gay-bashing, homophobic waste of paper.
Read more.
Don't surrender your weapons
Jim Ludington
Ludington, who lives in Roanoke, is the executive director of Arise America Ministries.
After the Virginia Tech shootings, and again after the Omaha mall shootings, liberals dominated the newspapers and TV talk shows with demands for stricter gun control. More rational voices tried to explain that you can't stop the criminal-minded (or criminally insane) from getting and using weapons, but liberals in lock step shouted all the louder.
Read more.
Read today's letters here.
December 24, 2007
For our Sunday Current editorial, we're writing about local billionaire Randal Kirk's asking Pulaski County to close off a public road that runs through his property. The county should not comply.
Finish out the Day
Roanoke's housing authority must see the Miller's Hill project through to completion. People who bought homes there deserve that.
The Miller's Hill project was unveiled two years ago as a grand undertaking by the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Refurbish 17 early 20th century homes, market them at $200,000 and upwards, and in the process breathe new life into a blighted block of Day Avenue Southwest. The housing authority and the city of Roanoke cannot lose sight of the project's intent, and the long-term benefits that neighborhood revitalization can bring. They owe that to the people who bought into the vision and purchased homes there.
Read more.
Punish illegal secrecy
Judges can give some bite to Virginia's open government laws.
Public officials who disregard the commonwealth's open government laws might finally have something to worry about. State law is supposed to guarantee citizens can monitor their government. Meetings must be open and announced in advance. Officials must hand over documents when citizens ask.
Read more.
Decking the halls, or not
Ray Stubblefield
Stubblefield, who teaches earth science at Franklin County High School, is a Roanoke Times columnist.
Christmas is almost here. For many people it's their favorite time of year. I know for my wife it is, despite the fact she is totally exhausted by the time it arrives. She starts decorating the house the day after Thanksgiving, only after she takes down all her Thanksgiving decorations, which couldn't go up until all the Halloween stuff is stored away. She's serious about decorating.
Read more.
Train doctors to keep us well
Dr. George R. Smith Jr.
Smith is the former president of the Free Clinic of the New River Valley. He lives in Shawsville.
Building a new medical school in Roanoke that will offer a traditional four-year program plus a fifth-year master's degree is not appropriate. We need a new innovative program that will help improve health and lower the outlandish costs of traditional medical care. We need a new type of program that trains physicians who will have the knowledge to help their patients stay healthy as well as treating them if they become ill.
Read more.
Monday's letters can be read here.
Finish out the Day
Roanoke's housing authority must see the Miller's Hill project through to completion. People who bought homes there deserve that.
The Miller's Hill project was unveiled two years ago as a grand undertaking by the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Refurbish 17 early 20th century homes, market them at $200,000 and upwards, and in the process breathe new life into a blighted block of Day Avenue Southwest.
Read more.
Punish illegal secrecy
Judges can give some bite to Virginia's open government laws.
Public officials who disregard the commonwealth's open government laws might finally have something to worry about.
State law is supposed to guarantee citizens can monitor their government. Meetings must be open and announced in advance. Officials must hand over documents when citizens ask.
If only everyone followed those simple rules.
Read more.
Train doctors to keep us well
Dr. George R. Smith Jr.
Smith is the former president of the Free Clinic of the New River Valley. He lives in Shawsville.
Building a new medical school in Roanoke that will offer a traditional four-year program plus a fifth-year master's degree is not appropriate. We need a new innovative program that will help improve health and lower the outlandish costs of traditional medical care. We need a new type of program that trains physicians who will have the knowledge to help their patients stay healthy as well as treating them if they become ill.
Read more.
Decking the halls, or not
By Ray Stubblefield
Christmas is almost here. For many people it's their favorite time of year. I know for my wife it is, despite the fact she is totally exhausted by the time it arrives.
Read more.
Read today's letters here.
December 23, 2007
A moral and political imperative
Virginia's leaders are united now on reforming the state's mental health system. They'll need to sustain that interest after the public's attention wanders.
Virginia's mental health care system will get a needed infusion of money and attention in the upcoming General Assembly. The April 16 mass shootings at Virginia Tech have guaranteed that.
When Gov. Tim Kaine unveiled his reform package in Richmond recently, state Republican leaders joined him and his fellow Democrats at the news conference. Such bipartisan solidarity is unusual in Virginia these days. No one even mentioned the state's disappointing revenue picture. No one dared -- not in the aftermath of 32 homicides by a single deranged student who then killed himself.
Read more.
EPA chief plays politics with waivers
This inexplicable ruling is just one more administrative misstep Congress needs to examine.
Last week's hoopla over a new federal energy bill came off as a sincere effort by the Bush administration to at last acknowledge that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles are contributing to climate change.
But it didn't take long for the administration to repay the auto industry, and offer a mea culpa for sliding away from long-held skepticism.
Read more.
Current editorial
Time for the road to catch up with the cars
Christiansburg must constrain development until Virginia 114 is widened.
The Christiansburg Town Council a month ago did something unusual, perhaps even unique in the pro-development town's history: It turned down a developer. Councilman Mike Barber predicted it would not be the last such vote. He was right.
Read more.
U.S. health care is expensive and dangerous
By Dan Radmacher
In the debate over the nation's health care, there is an oft-repeated claim that the United States has the best health care system money can buy.
Sadly, that simply isn't true. Despite spending nearly twice the percentage of our gross national product that other nations commit to health care, the quality of the U.S. system lags far behind.
Read more.
Read today's letters here.
A gift treasured for a lifetime
Nelson Harris
Harris is the mayor of Roanoke.
In my box of ornaments, there lies one that never reached its destination. It's not ornate, just a colorful Santa glued to a piece of wood. Santa grips a brown bag of toys in one hand and a candy cane in the other.
Read more.
Kids know right from wrong even if they don't think
John Sappington
Sappington, who lives in Rockbridge County, is a retired clinical psychologist and an author of scientific literature.
Using evidence from electronic imaging, some scientists conclude that impulse inhibiting parts of human brains don't mature until age 25. Behavioral anecdotes illustrate the point. Drivers ages 16 to 25 are most likely to damage cars and therefore pay the highest insurance premiums.
Read more.
Read today's letters here.
December 22, 2007
More wheeling and dealing on roads
Well, what do you know? Economic conditions do change, and transportation funding is vulnerable. Virginia Republicans are shocked!
We worry, though not as much as Virginia's overwrought Republican lawmakers, that Gov. Tim Kaine is setting a risky course in shifting $180 million in transportation money from one year to the next in his biennial budget.
But it is the course House Republicans laid out for him, and future governors and legislators, when they insisted earlier this year on using paste and string to patch together a transportation package, rather than create an adequate, dedicated revenue stream.
Read more.
The Heat is on
The Heat Basketball Academy provides young men an option. Those able to pay for it gain an opportunity to hone their basketball skills and possibly attract attention from Division I colleges while not sacrificing years of eligibility playing at smaller schools.
Read more.
U.S., state should push next-generation vehicles
Jack Kennedy
Kennedy serves in various advisory capacities to Gov. Tim Kaine and the General Assembly advancing technology public policy. He lives in Wise.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, recently concluded with 10,000 delegates from 187 nations agreeing to the Bali Roadmap, designed to bring about meaningful negotiations leading to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the next climate conference, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.
Read more.
Read today's letters here.
December 21, 2007
Saturday, we'll talk about why we're worried that Gov. Tim Kaine is setting a risky course in shifting $180 million in transportation money from one year to the next in his biennial budget -- and the hand Republican lawmakers had in it.
For Monday we're writing about a court decision in Madison County. A judge there fined a sheriff for willfully withholding public records from a citizen. Such a punishment is unheard of. Hopefully it will become common practice to give open government laws some teeth.
Minimum tax, maximum headache
The Alternative Minimum Tax needs serious reform. Congress enacted a one-year patch instead, and refused even to find a way to pay for it.
Congressional Democrats passed an expensive, inadequate and temporary fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax -- and ignored their pledge to pay for any tax cuts with tax increases or spending reductions.
Read more.
Fairview's fine; what about the others?
Students deserve safe schools. In Roanoke, that might mean attending a different building.
Fairview Elementary School will sparkle when students return in January. For $400,000, it ought to. Apparently, that is the going price for reclaiming a school from the rats. Not that it isn't money well spent. The rats needed to be evicted and the school had to be made safe and sanitary for humans. No one can expect much learning to take place in classrooms where rats drop from the ceilings or skitter across the floor.
Read more.
Va. ignores mercury threat
Catharine Gilliam
Gilliam is the Virginia program manager of the National Parks Conservation Association.
If a mercury thermometer breaks in a school classroom, officials act quickly to remove students from harm's way until the hazardous mercury is removed. Given the harmful effects of mercury, we might reasonably assume that state policies protect us from exposure to this toxin.
Read more.
Friday's letters can be read here.
December 20, 2007
For Sunday: This week's hoopla over the new federal energy bill came off as a sincere effort by the Bush administration to at last acknowledge that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles are contributing to climate change. But it didn't take long for the administration to repay the auto industry, and offer a mea culpa for sliding away from skepticism. The EPA administrator on Wednesday rejected California's nearly 2-year-old waiver request that would have allowed the state to enforce its own tailpipe emissions standards.
For tomorrow, we're writing about Congress' lame short-term fix of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Designed to keep millionaires from evading all federal income taxes, the AMT is now hitting some taxpayers making as little as $30,000.
Congress didn't go for a permanent fix, and lawmakers didn't even pay for the year-long fix they did enact.
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