www.roanoke.com

A cruel story behind the puppy in the window

The article "Discount dogs" (Jan. 2) is an ad, not a story.

The story is where pet shop puppies come from -- cruel puppy mills, almost always -- and where they go when nobody buys them.

The store employees probably have no idea themselves. They are too busy "moving the inventory." What a way to think of living, breathing, feeling creatures that depend on people for care.

The puppies arrive on a truck, and when they're sick or too big or not attractive enough, they go back on the truck.

Find out where they come from and where they go when they're not sold at pet stores, and then you'll have a news story.

State workers take it on the nose -- again

The governor of Virginia's proposed budget asks for no new taxes and no raises for state employees. In essence, instead of taxing everyone, this budget proposes to tax only the state employees.

As usual, it is the commonwealth of Virginia's own civil servants, who typically earn less than their private-sector counterparts, who are asked to sacrifice.

Iowans have a democratic process

We owe the people of Iowa a vote of thanks. They have experienced weeks, months, years of a blitz of political propaganda but have prevailed. They seem to have chosen candidates from both parties with integrity and honesty, who have the best interests of the whole country at heart.

The Iowa system gives the people the chance to examine candidates up close and personal to see past the sound bites manufactured by slick handlers (e.g., Karl Rove) and dispensed by talk-show hosts to manipulate gullible voters.

Much has been said in the campaign about how the country is divided against itself, immobilized politically. The main culprit is gerrymandering, partitioning states into bizarre voting districts designed to make it impossible to vote out entrenched politicians who then have no motivation to compromise.

Both parties have been guilty of this. By this means, voters in the Roanoke area have effectively been disenfranchised.

Iowa is the only state that has outlawed gerrymandering, giving all voters equal power to counterbalance the deep-pocketed contributors.

When we clean house in November, let's put in politicians who will pass a similar law to protect the whole country.

Fight crime, not code violations

I have been following the stories about Tony Lawhorn and his condemned houses not only because he's a relative, but because I think it's simply unjust what Roanoke is doing to him.

To put a man behind bars, especially for Christmas, just because his house does not come up to code is ridiculous.

Rapists, drug dealers, pedophiles and other criminals are roaming the streets and neighborhoods of Roanoke, yet the city is wasting money on officers who are following up and trying to catch Lawhorn, a gentleman trying to reconstruct a piece of Roanoke's history.

This just goes to show that Roanoke's trying to make a buck or two off an innocent man.

I've known Lawhorn for years, and he's a great person. The city needs to focus on the real problems of Roanoke.

Let large gift to arts inspire smaller one

My thanks to Nicholas and Jenny Taubman ("Couple give $15 million to museum," Jan. 1 news story). I hope that many folks in this area will emulate their generous $15 million pledge to the Art Museum of Western Virginia.

Impossible, you may say. True, neither I nor any of my friends have anything near $15 million to give. But each one of us could easily spare $15. When a large number of supporters gets behind something, it will succeed. We can't wait for others to provide us with the new museum and its expanded programs -- we need to step up to the bat ourselves.

After all, what is $15? For that, you can enjoy an opera at the Jefferson Center and support Opera Roanoke. And so in a like manner, for $15 you can count yourself among those bringing more art and art activities to our region.

And as a note to those who want new industries and jobs for our region, remember that places with a lively arts experience attract those with jobs to bring.

Make your own modest gift and help make this area better than ever.