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Roanoke needs Wishneff to watch city council

I have been following city council for years. I know that they are all a bunch of sneaks who will do anything to get what they want.

I can't believe that a man who calls himself a preacher could go behind closed doors and spend the taxpayers' money. But at the same time, maybe I can. Preachers get their money from the church members like there is no end.

I have since felt that Sherman Lea is going over to the wolves den and siding with them. But Brian Wishneff has stood his ground. We need someone like him to be on council to vote against the gang of spenders and let us know when council is doing something underhanded again.

Wishneff is just what our citizens need, and more of him. Mayor Nelson Harris and the rest of the behind-the-door, "For the City" bunch need to get out and stop wasting our money on ugly and embarrassing art museums that make the city a laughingstock.

We, the citizens, await hearing that most of those on city council have left the building and the city of Roanoke.

Garst has abilities that Salem needs

I am writing to wholeheartedly endorse Lisa Garst for Salem City Council in the May 6 election.

Salem is facing a period of financial stress due to capital projects that are either under way or on the drawing board. Some of these projects include the new electric department as well as renovations to City Hall, the Civic Center and several school buildings. Council candidates should have a strong business background to assure tax dollars are spent wisely.

Not only is Garst a business owner, she is organized and methodical in her approach to tasks. She also is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to numbers, budgeting and financial matters. She is always prepared and would serve the citizens of Salem well.

Please join me in supporting Garst.

Don't ignore a major child-support issue

Your paper's editorial on the issue of child support fails to tell your readers of even a tiny fraction of Virginia's child support problems -- caused by Virginia's own government ("Making parents pay child support," April 22).

Your paper failed to cover the issue of nonattorney employees of the Division of Child Support engaging in the unauthorized practice of law -- which has resulted in probably 1 million legally unenforceable child support orders.

In response to this blunder, the attorney general introduced House Bill 1382, which not only gives nonattorney employees of DCSE the ability to engage in the practice of law prospectively, the bill attempts to block courts from making a determination that orders entered prior to July 1, 2008, are legally void and unenforceable simply because a nonattorney employee signed the pleading, which caused the order to be entered.

Thus, Bob McDonnell is attempting to change the rules of the game well after the game has been played. This paper has consistently shown the ability to do investigative reporting on a plethora of issues. Why not assign a reporter to do a story on this? It is a problem that could potentially bankrupt the commonwealth.

Oil prices at the root of economic woes

A guaranteed way to get the economy back on its feet is to get the oil prices down to $2.25 a gallon for regular, $2.35 plus, $2.45 for super and no higher than $2.75 a gallon for diesel for six to 12 months.

The economy will come back. To do this, the people must stick together. Truckers all over the U.S.A. must stick together and call or write Washington, D.C.

There's no shortage of oil. The oil companies have the market cornered and are using it to rob the people and make billions.

Lower oil prices will bring back the economy. It's the oil prices that has everything so high. There is an old saying: Live and let live. That's what the oil companies need to do. And they will still make billions. Because without trucks, nothing moves to the stores, gas tanks or anywhere else.

A tankful of HOPE was barely adequate

Because gas prices are soaring and shortages are looming, I thought I better try the alternative energy source called HOPE (High Obamatane Petro Energy).

From Vinton to home I gave a tankful a try and found it performed very well on the downgrades but poorly in getting over hills.

Barely adequate, but it may have to do until next May, when President Obama can ask Ahmadinejad in a face-to-face meeting, without preconditions, to sell us some sweet crude at reasonable prices.

Meanwhile, I have inventoried sources of HOPE and found that the domestic supply is small and variable.

Virginia and Nova Scotia have HOPEwells and in Massachusetts and Ohio it occurs on the surface in HOPEdales.

North Carolinians make it from scratch in HOPE Mills. Arkansas, Kansas and British Columbia have HOPEs, but the mode of occurrence is not specified.

In Chicago, HOPE flows profusely out of a crack in the floor of a church basement. This source is only available by barter; you have to turn over your "broken soul" to be fixed. If your soul is not fixable, forget it.

This still leaves vast areas of the U.S. and Canada without any HOPE. What to do?

Developers don't need to cut down every tree

Earth Day 2008 -- What a perfect time to reflect upon preserving our natural resources.

Why is it developers in the Roanoke area routinely clear all of the trees prior to construction? I've observed much the opposite when similar development takes place in and around the Richmond area, where minimal land is cleared for buildings and homes, leaving native trees intact wherever possible.

A recent example, the Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare facility is under construction off Hollins Road in the Northeast part of Roanoke.

Where a beautiful, scenic wooded hillside once existed, an ugly stripped dirt construction area can now be seen, with even the roadside trees having been unceremoniously removed.

Another recent example, near completion, would be the housing development on the hillside behind the Hollins Food Lion, where every tree within the development area has been removed (unnecessarily, I might add).

Why do our area developers continue to do this, knowing it is bad, not only for the flood danger it promotes, but for the negative aesthetic legacy it leaves for current and future residents of and visitors to our beautiful valley?

I-81 'passing lanes' sound like a ruse

I object to the Virginia Department of Transportation plans to expand Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County -- under the guise of needed "passing lanes." This is a travesty and a cover-up to expand the entire highway north to south. VDOT should be stopped and forced to reconsider what really needs to be done.