Monday, April 26, 2010
Griffith will give 9th District a needed change from Boucher
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Griffith will give 9th District a needed change from Boucher
It's time for change in the 9th District. After 28 years, we, the citizens of Virginia's 9th District, can no longer afford Rick Boucher as our congressman.
During Boucher's term, jobs have disappeared at an alarming rate, our population has decreased and gotten older, and our young people are fleeing for greener pastures. It's ironic (and somewhat shameful) that Boucher shows up and takes credit every time a new job is created, but he refuses to take any blame for our current situation.
Where is Boucher when our factories close, our mines downsize and our economy crumbles? We can no longer afford a do-nothing congressman who takes all the credit but hides from any blame.
Thankfully, we have a choice this November. We can replace Boucher with Virginia House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith. Griffith has represented citizens of the 9th District for 17-plus years in Richmond. During that time, his portion of the 9th District has seen economic development and population growth, and we need him to bring his brand of common-sense conservative leadership to Washington. This year, vote for change. Vote for 9th District values. Vote for Griffith for Congress.
Radford students see hypocrisy in policy
Radford University became a dry campus at the start of the 2009-10 school year. Any student living in a resident hall is prohibited from having alcohol on campus regardless of age.
On March 19, the Faculty Club opened a faculty lounge with a cash bar in the bottom of Muse residence hall. The purpose of the lounge is to bring all the departments together, but it's just one of the many hypocritical actions that have made the student body angry with the administration.
It's a slap in the face to all students to tell them that even if they are 21 years old, because they are a student and not faculty, they aren't allowed to have a beer on campus. Even though students are outraged, it's not a concern to them.
KYLE McCARTHY
Day of Prayer is part of U.S. history
In the April 22 Roanoke Times, I found a small article ("Lawmakers defend Day of Prayer after ruling") that says a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that the National Day of Prayer (May 6) is unconstitutional because it amounts to a call for religious action. The judge did not bar any observations until all appeals are exhausted.
Two dozen members of Congress condemned this federal judge's ruling, saying prayer has long been part of the country's history. I had just received a small poster at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church listing nine locations in Botetourt County where this event would occur. We need to communicate with our congressional representatives before all of our religious rights are taken away.
I read somewhere that President Obama had canceled a special service at the White House for the National Day of Prayer. It offends me and plenty of others that they would consider barring such services.
Taxes don't always go to real needs
There have been lots of front-page news stories and editorials about losses due to budget-cutting, but the possible wasting of $1.3 million has drawn little notice. A recent Roanoke Times article (March 27, "Road widening plan hits bump") was about the delay in widening U.S. 460 west of Salem due to a bid protest.
The low bid was disqualified for not meeting a requirement to have 10 percent of the work performed by minority- or women-owned businesses. If the bidder does not win its protest, taxpayers will pay an extra $1.3 million for this work.
For many years I was involved in responding to bids with this type of requirement and, with rare exceptions, it added unnecessary cost to the bid. Helping disadvantaged businesses is a good cause, but the reality is that in most cases it just fattens the bank accounts of a few individuals at taxpayer expense.
This is only one example of how special requirements add costs to the work but no real value to the taxpayer.
Take waste out of our budget by eliminating these types of requirements so we have more money to spend on important things like the education of our children.
