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Roanoke sheriff is fixing the jail's deficiencies

Re: the letter from B.J. Mullins, "City sheriff needs to be replaced" (Feb. 19):

I take exception to Mullins' statement about the department falling apart and nothing being done to fix it. I have been with the sheriff's department for 30 years and have been maintenance supervisor for the last eight. Under Sheriff Octavia Johnson's administration, more has been done to fix and improve the department than was done in the eight years before she became sheriff.

The jail is 30 years old and in need of repairs. During the past three years, major repairs have been done to the air-conditioning system. The jail's intake office was remodeled to make it more efficient to book inmates. Administration offices have been remodeled and old furniture replaced.

Several projects are under way to upgrade security. A contractor is replacing the outdated fire alarm system, which will save the city thousands of dollars each year in false alarm fire calls. In the planning is a project to update the jail's security camera and intercom systems.

The sheriff's desire to improve the department is limited only by the amount of money in the sheriff and city budgets.

Sergeant Maintenance Supervisor Roanoke City Sheriff's Department

But aid to Iraq makes sense?

The neocons in Congress are voting no and blowing their tops over President Obama trying to rebuild the economy in the U.S. Yet, they think nothing of giving Iraq $100 billion to build their economy.

Transit officials should be ousted

Two months after two Valley Metro employees became suspected of illegally procuring transit funds to benefit themselves, they remain suspended. The employment status of Chip Holdren and Matt Wynn remains unclear. Given the clear appearance of impropriety, if not criminal activity, it's baffling that they've not been permanently replaced.

Surely both men knew that a personal relationship existed between Holdren and his wife, reason enough not to award the contracts in question.

Roanoke's residents are entitled to answers to these questions:

Are these men still being paid? If not charged and convicted, does First Transit intend for them to retake their positions despite their incompetence? (It's one thing to have evidence for a conviction, but a lower standard applies to appearances of impropriety.) Initial contacts to Valley Metro's manager have yielded no answers to these questions. Roanoke deserves better.

Start with cutting the city manager

To save Roanoke money, we could eliminate the position of city manager. That's what we elect the city council and mayor for: to govern. If they are incapable of governing, fire them all and elect those who can.

Cut their pay to $1 a year. That's about what they're worth, since the current group couldn't mismanage their way out of a wet paper bag with a hole at both ends. End the hiring of out-of-town consultants at $100,000 or so a shot and start listening to the people.

Council members could also start maintaining things. It's cheaper to do that than fixing years of neglect. If they did, they wouldn't have had to spend $300,000 on the roof of Mountain View. If they'd hired exterminators, mice in the City Market Building wouldn't have become an issue, etc.

It won't solve all of the city's financial problems, but it would be a productive start.

Negative ads just keep coming

The negative political ads running on TV currently, sponsored by the Republican National Congressional Committee, are truly disappointing. I thought we were through with these ads with the conclusion of elections in November, but not so.

What we need now are positive and optimistic messages in newspapers, TV, radio and personal conversation. A more optimistic outlook will bring about better times sooner rather than later.

Attack ads have already started

The 2010 election campaign has already begun, as is evidenced by the television spots appearing on local and cable channels against Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello. These spots, sponsored by the Republican campaign committee are entirely negative and are indicative of what we will see throughout the next two years: an assault on U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The strategy is clear. Don't mention the president. Tie all new policies to Pelosi and Reid while demonizing them in the process, and do this primarily in districts where the 2008 margin of victory was small. Some things will never change. With these Rovian-style tactics the "party of no" will continue to live up (or down) to its reputation.

Closing rest stops is a false economy

Re: "1,500 jobs, rest areas on VDOT's chopping list," Feb. 20 front page:

What a to-do. No rest stops on Interstate 81 in our area this summer. How short-sighted is that? Women will once again be at a disadvantage when traveling on the highway. Men can always find a tree or a bush to hide behind.

Virginia misses a great opportunity to create jobs and have state-of-the-art rest stops. We have such antiquated rest stops already, and when the economy improves we will be way behind the times if we close these places now. They will be in such decay that nobody will want to rebuild them. Not to mention how unsightly they will become.

Virginia needs to make travelers in and through this area comfortable, and having good rest stops is to our advantage in the long term.

I hope Virginia and VDOT will wake up and rethink this so that we can all enjoy the beautiful state we live in.

Real conservatives don't rack up debt

When Republican Ronald Reagan became president our federal debt was $1 trillion. In his eight years as president, the debt increased to $3 trillion. When the elder George Bush became president, the debt increased in four years as much as it did under Reagan in eight years. When President George W. Bush left office, the debt was more than President Reagan's and President Bush's debt put together.

Republicans call themselves conservatives. Conservatives do not tolerate debt. The record shows that Republicans are more than disingenuous in their conservative claims. I live in Bedford, a city of approximately 6,600 people. We owe close to $36 million. Bedford City Council members would probably call themselves conservative, also.