Sunday, March 08, 2009
West Virginia is producing lots of green energy
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West Virginia is producing lots of green energy
Re: your "Short take" editorial "Green homeowners hung out to dry" (Feb. 28):
I would like to respond to your comment that "West Virginia doesn't do much right when it comes to the environment." As a native West Virginian, I am very interested in green energy projects in my home state.
Coal has always been our lifeline. However, are you aware of the many wind farms located in West Virginia producing green electricity?
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center on Backbone Mountain in Tucker and Grant counties has 44 turbines producing 66 megawatts since 2002. Four more permits have been issued for construction of a total of 540 turbines in Greenbrier, Tucker, Grant and Pendleton counties. Tri Cities Power Authority is constructing a hydropower facility at Bluestone Dam in Hinton that will generate 24 megawatts of electricity.
AEP is in negotiations with all of these projects to purchase the electrical energy produced. More than likely, the power you are using to produce this newspaper has West Virginia origins, since most of AEP's large power-producing plants are located within her borders.
Perhaps we should let Northern Virginia sit in the dark while West Virginian homeowners sit around in their clean, fresh-scented clothes.
Liberalism fails to defeat poverty
I was walking through downtown Roanoke a few weeks ago and was approached by a homeless fellow who looked to be about 35 years old, asking for spare change. I gave him what I had and chatted with him a few minutes. It was cold and so I asked him where he sleeps at night. "Under the First Street bridge," was his response.
I did not remember there being a First Street Bridge in Roanoke, until my wife reminded me that's the new Martin Luther King Memorial Walkway. Liberalism is such a pathetic failure.
Stimulus votes disappointed
Two days before the stimulus bill passed, I tried to reach my senators to ask them to read the bill before voting, but their telephones were unavailable. I can understand that Jim Webb, an admitted liberal, voted aye, but Mark Warner campaigned as a centrist businessman. Now we find that both men did not read the bill, nor did their staffs.
Over the years I have worked hard and paid off mortgages on the houses I lived in. Now I find out that my representatives voted to make me help pay off mortgages of irresponsible people who do not qualify for home ownership.
I and a lot of my generation fought a war in Korea against communism. Today's Democrats are pushing this nation into socialism. They disguise it by calling themselves "progressive." I call it communism -- a system that has failed anywhere it has been tried.
The president's budget is now traveling through Congress. I hope and pray that my representatives will take time to debate it, especially since President Obama has stated he will never allow any earmarks during his administration. We are told there are more than 8,600 in this budget. Stop this insanity.
If you want train service, ask now
If you ever hope to see passenger railroad service for Roanoke and Southwestern Virginia in your lifetime, now is the time to contact your senators, congressional representatives, local legislators and community leaders and ask them for this. Ask them to work to get funds from the stimulus package for service for our area, especially funds for high-speed rail.
If you don't know who your representative is, go to www.congress.org to find out. If local voters don't ask their legislators to help make high-speed and passenger rail service possible in the near future for Roanoke and Southwestern Virginia, then this will never happen. There are funds in the stimulus package for railroad service and high-speed rail.
Tell your representatives that you want this. Our local economy needs passenger railroad service and high-speed rail and the jobs this can bring to our area.
Book reviews have turned to kiddie lit
I have subscribed to two other regional papers. The Roanoke Times has been better in content and presentation. However, I have been disappointed in the change to the Horizon book section. Being an avid reader, I looked forward to the book review section every Sunday.
The reviews by Cynthia D. Bertelsen, "Alfred & Emily" -- war's effect on generations of family; Jeff DeBell, "The Legal Limit" -- law, justice in Patrick County; J. Hayden Hollingworth, "The Last Lecture" -- Randy Pausch's final days of life, were in the Aug. 17 issue. Compare those with the reviews on Feb. 22: "Bee Wigged" -- about an enormous insect; "The People Could Fly" -- animal, magical, supernatural and freedom tales; "Letters from Rapunzel" -- a daughter tries to break an evil spell over her dad.
I realize books are important to a child's intellectual growth. Maybe you could put reviews like "Bee-Wigged" online. Children are more tuned in to computers than are old codgers like me. I prefer to hold in my hand what I am reading.
Since the new format started, the reviews have been on stories from celebrities to animals. What happened to thought-provoking books like "The Last Lecture"?
Abortion policy shows left's hypocrisy
Among the flock of birds coming to roost -- Iraqi withdrawal, tax reform, economic stimuli, etc. -- perhaps nothing better depicts the cynical hypocrisy of the progressive left than President Obama's intent to rescind the Bush administration policy of not forcing doctors to perform abortions.
Regardless of one's personal view on abortion, to trumpet the mantra that a woman's body is hers to do as she wishes, while simultaneously mandating by law that a doctor must perform an elective abortion, says all that need be said about diversity, tolerance, inclusion, etc. Oh, and choice.
Closing rest areas will create problems
Re: the proposed closing of Virginia rest areas:
While I understand that budget cuts must be made, I feel that this move will lead to problems for everyone. The VDOT proposal cites that there are supporting businesses to compensate for the closings. I live in Rural Retreat and there is only one store with one restroom and a small McDonald's. There will not be adequate facilities for travelers, particularly during the summer months.
Having worked at these rest areas for many years, I am concerned about where handicapped and elderly travelers will go. Many buses with as many as 100 people aboard use the rest areas. Where will they go?
I am sure that people traveling our interstates are not going to enjoy the sight of fellow travelers and truckers stopped on the side of the road to relieve themselves, as well as the danger of having vehicles pulling back out into traffic going 65 mph. Aren't Virginia interstates deadly enough without adding this?
I urge all citizens to contact Gov. Tim Kaine at www.governor.virginia.gov/ and tell him you disagree with this decision.
