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Ukrop's neighbors will grow to like the store

In response to Wayne Booth's June 27 letter to the editor "In catering to Ukrop's, city hurts others":

City hurts others. Temporary growing pains, maybe.

But has Booth thought about the increased volume of traffic, revenue and exposure his business and others gain for years to come from having a new neighbor?

Trust your city. They did the right thing this time bringing Ukrop's Super Market to the neighborhood. It is a family-run business, with integrity and values, and they care about their employees and fellow citizens. They take pride in their store and the service that they give.

Booth should be welcoming them with open arms and showing them what truly the Star City is all about: friendly, caring and compassionate people instead of negativity, doubt and complaining. Isn't that part of the problem in the world today?

Please believe me, Ukrop's is a good thing. If not, we will be happy to have them relocate to Salem.

Former Richmonder

Here's what Breiner does for his community

In your June 17 news article "Bell's loss may make district competitive," House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith asked, "What has Mike Breiner done for the community?"

Breiner attends church regularly, and his kids attend public school where he and his wife are active in extracurricular activities.

He coaches T-ball and soccer and volunteers his time with the Gator Boxing Club. His family recycles, and their animal menagerie is mostly rescues.

As a physician, Breiner has always accepted Medicaid patients. He has taken cookies as payment from cancer patients who could not pay.

Each Christmas, he and his office staff quietly choose a patient who has had a particularly challenging year, and present that patient with a generous gift that they need or want and cannot otherwise afford.

Breiner is a small-business owner, not a politician. He doesn't have friends in high places, and he is not wealthy. He is an intelligent individual who has watched our country stumble into crisis for the past few years and is concerned about what life will be like in the future for his children.

As a registered Republican, I will vote for Breiner for Senate in District 22 this November because he is so dedicated to this community.

Payback come November

In reading your June 26 editorial "Driving fast never cost so much," I was almost compelled to dial 911 when I reached the paragraph that said the new fines would only apply to drivers of the commonwealth, and other drivers from outside Virginia would receive the old-style summons without the increase.

Am I missing something, or did we get hosed by our own General Assembly?

I agree. How can our elected, and I stress elected, officials be so narrow-minded to stick Virginians when most people know traffic fines go into the state's educational fund and have for most, if not all, of my 45 years?

Just because a person from Maryland doesn't use our schools, they get a discount on a speeding ticket?

I hope my delegate, a former state trooper of 15 years, stops in and explains the method to this madness.

Remember this my fellow Virginians: November isn't that far off.

Adults also should stop driving and phoning

I think that all drivers should hang up their cellphones. It is not good role modeling for children and certainly is not less dangerous just because we are adults.

We should not expect children to be subordinate; this is an old flaw in child rearing that needs to be corrected urgently.

Child development consultant

Kudos to giving tree and memories new roots

How refreshing to read a happy story in The Roanoke Times. Thank you, Joe Kennedy (June 23 column, "School, tree keep memory of JAC alive"), for bringing us a story of one helping another, for in our busy world we do not see many people taking time to do an act of kindness.

Five stars go to Royce Wickham, who went out of his way to make sure the "memory tree" was saved. Also, to Mount Pleasant Elementary School for not destroying the tree and finding another spot to replant. Good job, folks.

I hope this gives Wickham's RK's Landscaping lots of new business.