The Virginia Organizing Project tries to find as many ways as possible for people to become more active citizens. This page lists recent opinion columns that individuals have written to push for much needed changes in our communities, our state and our country.
This is a list of articles, please click on each title for details.
Cheryl Talley Letter to the Editor 11-14-08
Editor:
It was early on election night. I, along with fellow Democrats, had come to the Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant in downtown Harrisonburg to watch the returns. A big tent had been erected in the parking lot. One of the organizers lowered the TV sound briefly and announced that cars parked in the municipal parking lot next door had to be moved immediately.
It was then that I glanced out of the nearby plastic window. Ten feet in front of me was a police car. Two policemen were trying to get a handcuffed man in a gray hoody into the back seat of the squad car. I was close enough to see the policemen’s faces straining with effort as they tried to fold the man’s rigid body into the back seat. After a few moments, one of the officers went through the other back door and helped pull the unwilling rider into the car. The entire incident took less than three minutes. I didn’t know who the man was or what he had done. However, I did I notice my reaction to the incident. After scanning the scene I immediately searched the face of the hooded man in order to identify his race. I couldn’t see him clearly, it was dark, he had a hood over his head and the incident lasted only a few moments but in my mind’s eye I saw clearly two white cops and a Black man in handcuffs, an image so familiar that I could construct it out of a dimly lit scene.
As each ensuing moment of the Obama presidency is photographed, filmed, downloaded and broadcast a new image, an unfamiliar image will be presented to the American psyche. For those of us already trained to expect to see Black men in handcuffs more so than in business suits, it may require some time to get used to the image of Barrack Obama sitting in the Oval Office, shaking hands with world leaders or boarding Air Force One. It undoubtedly will be difficult for some Americans to think of him as “our” president when we have been used to our leaders being white men. But President-elect Obama was indisputably elected and if his election does indeed usher in a new political era it will also create a unique opportunity to examine ourselves as a member of a race, as a citizen of a nation and a part of what has never existed in the world, one nation of many races.
Although it is tempting to consider Obama’s victory as an inevitable result of American’s upward march toward racial equality, the history of American race relations shows that negative reactions, setbacks and backlashes often follow victories. Reconstruction was followed by fifty years of legislated Jim Crow in the South, defacto Jim Crow in the north as well as unprecedented violence against Black people. Just as civil rights laws did not change all hearts and minds, neither can the election of an African-American address continued racial disparities or racist notions. The thoughts and feelings that are spurred by images of white policemen and a Black man in handcuffs; of a group of brown men climbing a border fence or for that matter, images that render Asian-Americans invisible and Native Americans virtually absent, all point to a need for the substantive dialogue on race that we, as a nation, have never had. The power of images is that they elicit feelings, feelings influence beliefs and beliefs can eventually become public policy. Hence, there are reasons that Black men are disproportionately jailed in our country and that a fence is being built on our southern border. It will be left to historians to debate whether Barrack Obama could have been elected president under anything less than the direst of national circumstances. However, the real legacy of the first African-American president will be how personal attitudes, community actions and legislative policies that adversely affect people of color will change in America as a result of his election. That is the change we all need.
Cheryl Talley
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Martha Hicks Letter to the Editor 9-23-08
Dear Editor,
I retired three years ago after teaching for 30 years in Virginia's public schools. I have a pension, for which I am grateful, through the Virginia Retirement System. The benefits from that pension were partly paid for by me when I began to teach, then my school system took over the payments. While teaching I did pay for part of my health insurance.
Now I pay all my health care premiums, as well as dental, and the costs have risen dramatically in just three years. The total cost for both health and dental are nearly a quarter of my pension (and continuing to rise yearly). The costs are only a quarter of my pension because I have had to increase my deductible to afford it.
I work a part-time job to make ends meet and I cannot imagine not being employed or active. I am so lucky to be able to continue to work, collect a pension that I deserve and live life to the fullest. While lucky, I am, like many other Americans, an accident or illness away from bankruptcy and financial ruin.
My sister is in her second year post chemotherapy and radiation and I know she is concerned about her health care coverage as well. She is still employed and has great insurance but she couldn't leave her job because her new health care program might deny her coverage due to pre-existing health conditions.
My sister and I are not just isolated exceptions but part of the growing trend that unfortunately has become the norm in health care coverage in this country. About 50 days from now, my sister and I will be joining with millions of others in making the most important choice of elected leaders in more than a generation. I hope everyone will educate themselves on the health care plans of the Presidential candidates. Health care needs to be affordable, accessible, and comprehensive.
Martha Hicks
Lynchburg, VA
Op-Ed: Community organizing is no joke 9-11-08
Community organizing is no joke
By Karen C. Waters
I am a community organizer. I make change.
I am my brother's and my sister's keeper. This is one heck of a big responsibility; one I believe is no laughing matter. Thousands of others like me understand we are in this together, and shoulder the heavy burden to create healthy, just and inclusive communities by harnessing the collective wisdom, energy and efforts of folks willing to sacrifice for the common good. We forgo high-paying jobs, evenings and weekends at home, fancy offices, big expense accounts and public recognition. You can find us in church basements, community centers or walking neighborhoods that others are content to drive past, or on rural back roads that are sometimes impassable.
In big cities and small towns all across America, we solve problems, find resources, manage tight budgets, motivate and mobilize people to rise above their own expectations of themselves, their neighbors, and even those with whom they fundamentally disagree. The job title is one you may not have heard, but the functions are certainly familiar -- working with everyday people to activate a communications network like Paul Revere, organizing peaceful demonstrations like Mahatma Gandhi, speaking truth to power like Martin Luther King, changing policies to benefit children like Marian Wright Edelman, advocating for the poor like Mother Theresa, and partnering with others to get things done like Bush 41's thousand points of light.
While recently some have mocked and laughed at my life's work, I am deeply privileged to work with residents to improve their quality of life as Executive Director of the Quality Community Council and to serve on many community boards and task forces. Helping teachers to make sure that parents, even if they're homeless, disabled, or unable to read well, understand how we can work together to make our schools the best they can be; knocking on hundreds of doors to tell residents how to save our planet by recycling and conserving precious natural resources; teaching families miles from the nearest grocery store to work cooperatively, organically growing the vegetables they need to reduce their risk for obesity, diabetes, and cancer; showing the mother of a murdered youth how to convert her plea for safety to action, challenging City Council to adequately fund the police department before she has even buried her son; empowering a teenager to educate her neighbo rs on gun violence prevention; organizing forums and dialogues to forge consensus on our community's needs; plus registering enough voters to hold leadership accountable should those needs go unmet.
Although the pay is not much, the rewards are great, and well worth being the butt of petty political punchlines. It was no joke when a low-income retired veteran thanked me for "bringing back America like it used to be -- everyone helping each other." It was no joke when I was told by a teacher that a middle schooler wrote an essay naming me as his hero. It was no joke when a graduate of our leadership program was sworn in as the mayor. At the Quality Community Council, we know that Community Values are American Values, and we believe it takes Courage to Make a Difference.
Karen Waters
Charlottesville
Kara West Letter to the Editor 9-10-08
Dear Editor,
I am a very lucky woman and I know it. I have no out of pocket expenses for healthcare thanks to the forward thinking of my progressive employer. Unfortunately many working Virginians don’t enjoy this basic benefit. I haven’t always been in this position, and while it feels luxurious, it should be commonplace. Every Virginian deserves comprehensive, affordable and portable healthcare.
As a former small business owner I struggled with providing health insurance for my four employees, and I simply wasn’t able to do it and provide a living wage at the same time. In the first year of the business I wasn’t even able to buy insurance for myself.
My guilt over not being able to provide this benefit was alleviated somewhat by the fact that three of my employees were either still in school or young enough to be covered by their parents’ policies, but this is not an excuse for our lack of healthcare options. The fourth employee, a single mom, had insurance (at a premium which took a sizable portion of her wages) through her other full-time job. Her sad reality was that she had to work one and a half jobs to provide the basics for herself and her son.
The time is now for our elected officials to make quality healthcare for every Virginian an affordable reality.
Sincerely,
Kara West
Charlottesville
Clarence Shelton Letter to the Editor 9-8-08
I think it is really important that we start having politicians listen to the serious problems that we have here in Martinsville and Henry County. Our officials keep talking about what they are doing, but we need to have better communication from them. We need to be told the truth about what is happening here.
When politicians don’t listen, people keep struggling every day with how they are going to pay their light bill, feed their kids and buy fuel. Every person here has been affected by NAFTA, and when they lost their jobs, they didn’t just lose their paychecks. They also lost their benefits. This hurts them and their families, and it is very real.
We need to help these displaced workers and the elderly who are on fixed incomes. We need to raise the minimum wage area jobs, and we need to provide health care for the people who do not qualify for Medicaid because right now, they are on their own.
Whatever category you fall in, we should all come together to make sure that our politicians hear our message all of the time, not just when they are up for election. If they are going to talk the talk, we need to make sure they walk the walk.
The Virginia Organizing Project is working in our community to help give people tools to help people form this unity. I think this is really important to make sure our politicians follow through on their campaign promises. I want to encourage everyone who can to join in with this group to form a stronger voice.
Clarence Shelton
Martinsville
Fred Glover Letter to the Editor 9-8-08
Dear Editor:
In these trying economic times, there are a great number of concerns. Well-publicized is the price of gas at the pump, and how it has caused a ripple effect on things like the price of food. I think just as critical of an economic emergency is the cost of health care in today’s economy, and how our teachers have great difficulty caring for their families.
Up until the first of the year, I was a teacher in Bedford County. I was quite proud to be a teacher in Bedford County, but found myself financially struggling with my choice of profession, especially when it came to caring for my family. By putting my wife and infant daughter on the family health care plan 4 years ago, it took a $625 chunk out of my pay. On top of that, when my daughter was born we were billed by the hospital for more than $1500. On a teacher’s salary, and with a new mouth to feed and care for, these bills were quite staggering. I had to leave teaching, but I have spoken recently with former colleagues now that say that the family plan for Bedford County is now in the range of $700 per month coming out of the employees’ pockets. And to be fair to my former employer, these conditions exist across the state in many places.
While these are economic hard times, we need to make sure we are taking care of the people that pave the way for our children’s future. My hope is that lawmakers will make a commitment to ensure that the people who will be teaching my daughter next school year will afford to care for their own children when they get home from taking care of mine.
Sincerely,
Fred Glover
Lynchburg
Blair Smith Letter to the Editor 9-8-08
Dear Editor,
As a new member of the Virginia Organizing Project, a statewide grassroots social justice group, I was drawn to the work VOP is doing to make health care access affordable for everyone. When I was growing up, health care never seemed to be a big issue for my family. It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized how the health care system and insurance companies charged absurdly high rates for hospital bills, visits to the doctor, and other essential services.
In 2002, my father was diagnosed with kidney failure and multiple myeloma cancer. He had just begun a new job with an exceptionally good pay rate, but when he became terminally ill, the medical bills went sky high, and he was no longer able to work. My mom made less than $30,000 a year, so she could not afford to pay the bills on her own. Insurance paid for most of the hospital bills, but prescriptions were almost $80 per bottle, and my father had to take multiple medications.
In 2004, my father passed away, and the money we received from his life insurance policy had to be used to pay for his medical bills. We ended up losing our house, and had to move. The health care system failed my family at a time when we needed affordable health care the most.
Just recently, I had surgery for a pilonidal cyst, and because of rising health care costs, my mom had to pay a $200 co-pay plus medicine and surgery fees. With the amount of money she makes each year, it is almost impossible for her to even afford a yearly physical. At my mother’s age, health problems may start to arise and going without a physical for years in the long run may result in even more health care problems.
My personal experiences with the health care system have opened my eyes to the changes that need to be made. For many, insurance is too expensive to afford and too limited in its coverage. Please contact your elected officials and remind them that everyone deserves access to quality and affordable health care.
Blair Ebony Smith
Williamsburg
Murray Whitehill Letter to the Editor 9-5-08
Sirs,
Summer has now passed and the school season is upon us. Perhaps one thing that our school system could focus on is everyday math. Our children need to be taught that when a store has a 30% off sale, you are not 'saving' anything -- you are spending less. If you have the mindset of spending less you have a better chance of not falling into the clutches of one of our societies most fiscally vicious parasites, the payday and car title lenders.
There were some laws passed recently that quieted the loudest of the complaints about this industry but it is still there, sending many into what is essentially indentured servitude. That is something most thought we outlawed decades ago. But no, our state lawmakers accepted over half a million dollars in 'political contributions' last year from this industry, and surprise, it is still ruining lives and collecting great profits.
The industry claims it would be put out of business should it be forced to become less of a loan shark business and more like a reputable lender. They also claim that people would suffer greatly were they not able to borrow at usurious rates. I wonder how the residents of WV, MD, and NC where these 'lenders' have been banned are managing.
Communities have an obligation and duty to help those in trouble and to educate them to avoid problems. The failure of our legislators to control this industry is making if difficult if not impossible for our communities to do so.
Sincerely,
Murray Whitehill
Ivy
Op-Ed: There are big holes in our health insurance system 9-2-08
There are big holes in our health insurance system
I know because I'm an insurance agent
by Jessica O'Brien
As an independent health and life insurance broker in Williamsburg, I deal with people looking for health insurance coverage on a daily basis. It is very satisfying to be able to help folks find affordable, comprehensive coverage that offers them security in the event of a medical problem, and many of the health insurance plans available in Virginia do just that. However, for many people, the search for affordable coverage is a painful process. There are several common scenarios which leave Virginians in very difficult situations. Here are some examples.
Employees with employers who offer health insurance and who then pay a portion of the premium out of their own paychecks -- Depending on the health rating of the whole pool of employees (including all insured dependents) assigned by the insurance company, the health insurance premiums may have been increased to a level that is unaffordable to many employees.
When offered a job, wouldn't it be a good idea to ask your potential employer about the cost of the company's health coverage before accepting the job?
Employees whose employers do not offer health insurance and individuals who do not have traditional employment -- Depending on the health of the employees or individuals and any dependents they wish to insure, individually bought health insurance may be rated high (multiples of the "healthy" rate) or declined. Each insurance company has different criteria for accepting new clients and must be applied for separately. In the worse-case scenario, a "guaranteed-issue" policy is available from Virginia's Blue Cross Blue Shield. This policy is often quite expensive and does not cover any pre-existing conditions for one year.
Does it make sense that the employee will be paying a high premium for a plan which, for the first year, will not cover the very condition which caused him to take the plan in the first place?
Dependents of employees who cannot afford the employer's group dependent coverage -- These Virginians face the same obstacles as employees and individuals who are not offered employer coverage -- their health determines what coverage they can get. A "healthy" dependent will be offered standard premiums, while an "unhealthy" dependent faces high rates or the "guaranteed-issue" policy with its high rates and a one-year wait on pre-existing conditions.
Isn't that a risky and frightening situation for lots of families?
Employees leaving their job -- While federal laws such as COBRA exist (guaranteeing the availability of continuous coverage for employees who leave their employment or lose their coverage, and which help many people when they are between jobs), the cost of a COBRA plan is often beyond the reach of many families -- often way more than what they were previously paying.
In the situation where an employee leaves his or her employment and has not found employer-group coverage by the time COBRA runs out (18 months), though continuous coverage is guaranteed to that person no matter what his health condition, do you think it is fair for the insurance company to charge its highest premium (which it often does)?
These are some of the difficulties facing Virginians today. In my practice, I often cannot help those people who most are in need of health coverage.
When I began working as a health insurance broker many years ago, my manager always said, "The only thing that buys good health insurance is good health." While this is true and exactly the right message for an 18-year old who doesn't think he needs to bother with health insurance right now, being immortal, it is little comfort to those who are not so lucky.
"SO, WHATCHA GOT THERE?" 8-21-08
The day was over, the boss man asked, "So, whatcha got there?"
"Two-hundred eighty five bundles," I replied.
He screamed, "You're cheatin'. Can't count good."
At the age of 10, I protested, "Count them yourself. There are 285 bundles."
My brother was only six and a half. I don't know why we did this along with three neighborhood friends. This incident has stuck in my craw all these years. I chew on stuff. I've been masticating for almost six decades about this.
Joliet, Illinois, 1949. Some truck farmers wanted help getting stuff ready for market. Did our parents see a 'help wanted' notice and sign us up?
Bushel baskets of thousands of unpeeled, dirt encrusted scallions were dumped at our feet. We peeled off the outer skin to make the scallion clean for the market. With 24 we tied them together. That was a penny's worth. We kept good count and stacked the onions into custom-made cardboard boxes.
The big old boss man scoffed, spit and repeated, to me, "You cheat."
At that moment, Mr. Smith, our ride home, showed up. We five dirty, hot little kids piled into the car and left, unpaid.
We didn't get the $2.85 owed to us on our last day. We had 285 bundles of 24 scallions each or 6,840 onions or 1,368 per kid if we peeled at the same rate. We evidently had no recourse. That number 285 has stuck with me all these years.
The 'cheat' was hiring little kids. That was illegal even in 1949. He paid way below the 40 cents/hour minimum wage. We returned home stinking of onions. Mom and Dad talked about 'ethics' at dinner. This guy was the first dishonest adult I met.
This is a small, insignificant story from the last century -- peeling onions for a two-bit truck farmer.
Now, move into the 21st century. Inhumanity is rampant where work ethics are concerned. Think about the injustices in our own communities done by us to other ethnic groups -- namely those people without documentation -- those 'illegal' immigrants who are being cheated at every turn. They're 'illegal' just like we were as kid laborers in 1949. We weren't feeding destitute families. We were making money to buy bubble gum and baseball cards.
"So, whatcha got there?" Whatcha got is 37 million undocumented people in the US today -- some working under the table for low wages often cheated by boss men looking to make a faster buck. Who's the culprit? The employer? The employee? I believe that answer is simple. Think of all the stuff stuck in craws today.
"So, whatcha got there?" Whatcha got is a serious moral dilemma which needs to be addressed before another half century goes by. In 1949 we see middle class kids with white privilege screwed. Today, much harsher penalties await 'undocumented' human beings who share our planet who are here now working to alleviate dire poverty. They are being cheated here and now. So, whatcha gonna do?
Sandra Brian Lore
Op-Ed: Transportation funding plan going down the wrong path 6-6-08
Transportation funding plan going down the wrong path
By Dave Shreve
The Virginia Organizing Project and its Tax Reform Committee commend Governor Tim Kaine for his recent efforts to publicize and push for expanded investment in the state's transportation network. There is little doubt that Virginia faces an ongoing road maintenance funding deficit, that there is ample need for public spending on innovations beyond automobiles and asphalt, and that there must also be significant roadway improvements undertaken throughout the Commonwealth.
We also applaud the Governor's contention that higher gasoline taxes not be included, for, as he has explained it at several Town Hall meetings in recent weeks, this would "hit the hardest those who have already taken the hardest hits" at the hands of our "stagflationary" national economy. Yes, the gas tax is simple and it appears to be a logical choice for roadway funding, but it is also one of the most regressive choices. As a percentage of income -- the only sound way to assess tax equity (and on one critical level, tax soundness as well) -- gasoline taxes take the most from those who have the least. First adopted by all states in the 1910s and 1920s when only 30 to 40 percent of American families owned automobiles, the gasoline tax was something of a luxury tax that quickly became a much more regressive user fee. Moreover, when Virginia adopted its first gasoline tax, a highest-in-the-nation three cents in 1923, no state had yet to adopt a sales tax and only eleven had individual or corporate income taxes. Sounder alternatives, in other words, had yet to be established or tested very effectively.
Out of VOP's decade-long study of the state's tax system, we contend that no public official -- including Governor Kaine -- has put forth a transportation funding proposal that adheres to sound public finance principles, including the critical concern for equity reflected in the Governor's rejection of new gasoline taxes. Asking localities to shoulder the full responsibility ignores ongoing state funding deficits and encourages the fragmentation of what ought to be a state system, but also compels transportation funding at a place where it is certain to be regressively financed. Relying on sales tax increases at any level is to rely upon the most regressive of the three major tax vehicles employed by the Commonwealth and its municipal governments. User fees, including tolls and higher vehicle registration levies, are even more regressive choices, if also seductively less prominent or visible. Financing any public investment in this fashion may well serve to plug short term deficits, but it will also force the state to rely upon taxes that grow less slowly than the economy, that dampen economic activity by depressing the consumer demand of those who spend virtually all that they earn, and that will most assuredly force taxpayers to address recurring funding shortfalls.
The Virginia Organizing Project has proposed as an alternative a two-part transportation funding plan. First, we would raise new revenue by imposing a small income tax surcharge. A five percent surcharge (not a 5 percent rate increase but a 5 percent charge added to existing tax liabilities) would raise approximately $450 million. We recommend using up to $400 million of this amount to finance ongoing maintenance deficits, with the balance dedicated to interest payments on newly issued revenue or general obligation bonds in the amount of $600 million. The proceeds from these bonds should be sufficient to finance the new transportation investments for Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and throughout the Commonwealth. Such an approach would also finance these investments as they should be financed -- on the basis of ability to pay -- and it would rely on the state's sterling credit where it should be counted upon -- to finance relatively long-lived state assets.
As we see it, there is no compelling reason not to finance this or any other investment on this kind of a moderately progressive footing. Often expressed concerns that transportation needs not compete for the same general funds as education and health care assumes, illogically, that all revenues aren't paid out of personal or corporate income. The critical question ought to be not which categories of spending fall under which dedicated tax vehicle, but whether or not any new investments are financed in an equitable and efficient manner. As we have witnessed many times before, the prospective pinching of one priority to pay for another occurs only when we rely upon regressive taxation.
We urge Governor Kaine and all interested parties to consider our more progressive and sustainable proposal.
Shirley Rothman Letter to the Editor 05-29-08
Is there anyone out there who can help us in Mecklenburg County? The Planning Commission and the County Board of Supervisors are ignoring the citizens. Osage Bio Energy LLC from Glen Allen is forcing an ethanol plant down our throats. This is the same outfit that is attacking Hopewell. Osage has never made a drop of ethanol, but the Tobacco Commission (TICR) approved $1,000,000.00 to run a water pipeline 13 miles to the site, a beautiful farm on the edge of Chase City that Osage wants rezoned heavy industrial.
Meanwhile, Governor Tim Kaine visited South Boston, 30 miles down the road, to promote his program of land conservation and preservation. Then he awarded our county $650,000 in grants to help pay for the water pipeline to this ethanol plant, that will spew 700,000,000 (7 hundred million) pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air.
Over one thousand four hundred (1,400) people from Chase City, Clarksville, Boydton, Skipwith and the county have signed statements of opposition to the location of this plant. We have 700 acres of industrial parks sitting empty in the county without rezoning this beautiful 600 acre farm right next to a town.
All the national news concerning ethanol is negative. The taxpayers are paying twice for this insane federal program providing subsidies to the manufacturers and then the taxpayer pays taxes at the pump. The state is also paying subsidies.
People in Mecklenburg County need to find an organization, a good law firm, or a hero/heroine to come to our rescue right away. We have a war chest pledged to help with the fight. Please email us at info@preservemecklenburg.org or call 434-372-8363. Do it now.
Ida O'Sullivan Letter to the Editor 04-21-08
Editor:
Recently Governor Tim Kaine hosted the Governor's Forum on Land Conservation in South Boston at the Prizery to focus on land and family farm conservation in Virginia. Judging by the standing-room only turnout, there was a great deal of interest by both the public and private sectors from across the state.
Participants were welcomed by Virginia State Senator Charles Hawkins and Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources L. Preston Bryant, Jr. The keynote luncheon speakers were Governor Kaine and Ward Burton, NASCAR driver and creator of the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation. Additional speakers with varied and extensive expertise addressed the benefits and tools to be used for land conservation and the financial incentives available. The advantages of open space, water quality and wildlife habitat protection were also stressed.
"Our land is too precious to lose," stated Senator Hawkins in his opening comments. This all sounds well and good. If Governor Kaine, Senator Hawkins, Secretary Bryant and other officials are so concerned about land preservation and conservation, they need to stop the proposed ethanol refineries in Virginia. They need to provide action, not just talk about it. Here in Mecklenburg County hundreds of acres of pristine farm land of woods, fields, a pond and stream next to Chase City are under threat of being developed into an ethanol refinery. Presently attempts are being made to rezone the area from agricultural to heavy industry.
So we have this to say to Governor Kaine: You stand to be known as the one that allowed the destruction of the rural charm that is the heart of Virginia. If you so love Virginia and the way of life you treasure, you MUST put a stop to the ethanol train wreck.
Let's hope one of the governor's aides brings this to his attention.
Ida O'Sullivan
Chase City, VA
Judith Jae George Letter to the Editor 03-18-08
Dear Editor:
The time has come to take a serious look at why Virginia has one in 44 adults in the prison system and why they are kept there so long. A top-to-bottom review of our entire parole system seems in order, giving serious consideration to releasing those who clearly have demonstrated they pose no threat to society.
Holding the dubious distinction of having the lowest levels of approval in the nation, the Virginia Parole Board, in 2007, had a 5 percent release rate -- we Virginia taxpayers continue to pay mightily to keep those eligible inmates behind bars.
Virginia currently houses an estimated 9,000 persons who pre-date the 'no parole' law. With their limited resources, the three full-time and two part-time Parole Board members determined eligibility to an estimated 6,000 inmates in 2007, resulting in deliberating an estimated 6.5 minutes per prisoner.
Currently, there is no "risk assessment" given to those eligible. In other words, any prisoner, regardless of his rehabilitation progress or lack thereof, is considered equal --and we continue to pay. The $31,000 estimated annual cost per inmate doesn't include the cost the state supplements many of these families due to the year after year loss of that incarcerated loved one's income.
How much is too much? Prior to abolishing Virginia Parole in 1995, our parole release rate was as high as 45 percent. Is the answer to build more prisons? At your expense, the estimated cost to build each prison is $100 million, and don't forget the operating costs.
No Virginia, I don't want bad people on the streets, I only want those who have done their time back in the community, earning their own keep.
Judith Jae George
White Stone
Sarah Thomas Letter to the Editor 2-27-08
Dear Sir,
I am a fourth year student at the College of William and Mary, majoring in history and Jefferson Studies. I support President Gene Nichol, a man who stood up for what he believed in. Gene Nichol is and will always be an important part of the Tribe.
President Nichol's tenure as President marks the shortest in our long and varied history. With the oldest continually operating academic building in the country, our College represents the promises that higher education offer America. The values that Nichol represented at William and Mary -- integrity, equality, diversity, and justice -- are to be followed. On the other hand, the Board of Visitors' actions -- full of cowardice and betrayal -- are examples of actions that should not be followed. People look to us for example. I say we should look to President Nichol. He did the right thing. He is an honorable man.
In the past months, the media have reported on "Nichol's controversial presidency" of the College. Nichol did not bring about the controversies. Others -- a vocal and wealthy minority of alumni and politicians -- have brought controversy upon our great President.
All that Nichol did was to try to make William and Mary a welcoming and open place for everyone. He fulfilled his oath of office by protecting our first amendment right to free speech. He continued Thomas Jefferson's important legacy by attempting to make the Wren Building a place of religious freedom. He opened the College's doors to low income, underprivileged students by providing full tuition scholarships through the Gateway Program, which in turn has increased Pell eligible students by 20% over the last two years.
As a student, I am saddened by the actions of both the Board of Visitors and the Virginia Assembly. I have, however, never been more proud of my historic institution when thousands gathered and sang the alma mater in support of President Nichol. Like him, we did what we thought was right. It's high time that others in this country do the same.
Lisa Catterton Letter to the Editor 2-25-08
Dear Editor,
As quoted in the article, "A useful service or trap?" which appeared in the February 12th Richmond Times Dispatch, a payday loan borrower stated, "I don't mind paying $15 for a $100 loan if my kid has shoes on his feet and there's food on the table." A person in need of a short-term loan for basic necessities such as shoes and food has a crisis. People in crisis can only think about the immediate dilemma. If children are involved, the dilemma is heightened and the need to find a solution is even more immediate.
Why deny an opportunity to get cash fast from a payday loan, when a credit check is not needed? Many low-wage workers do not pass up the opportunity to get a payday loan when they are in need of money fast, especially when the payday loan industry can offer cash in about ten minutes.
In survival mode, thinking of making ends meet is priority, not the consequences that would follow after making a decision. Unfortunately, the consequences of obtaining a payday loan will most likely worsen the situation. Payday loan borrowers are not really aware that they are about to enter into a cycle of debt after obtaining a loan.
Supporters of the payday loan industry say the payday loan industry helps low-wage workers. With interest rates as high as 390% that are not regulated like other small business loan offices throughout the state, the only people the industry is helping is their employees. Many loan borrowers take out more than one loan. Additional loans are most likely used to pay for the initial loan borrowed, because of lack of funds. At such high interest rates and the probability to get additional loans to pay back the first one, borrowers enter a cycle of debt from which they cannot escape.
Reforming the payday loan industry is the only answer to helping these citizens. Reforming the payday loan industry respects the dignity and worth of a person. Justice can only be reached by regulating interest rates (APR) for the payday loan industry.
Larry Yates Letter to the Editor 2-21-08
Editor:
Payday lending is not just an issue for those who get caught in the debt trap. For many of us Virginians who don't expect to use payday loans ourselves, it is still deeply disturbing to see these stores proliferate faster than fast food or fancy coffee franchises. This generates an uneasy feeling that the social contract just doesn't work, that things are coming apart in some hard to define way. After all, even baby boomers were born in a day when usury laws (which of course reflect Biblical values) kept legal loans under a strict limit. Back then only a thug could dream of squeezing unwary debtors dry the way that payday lenders do now with the legal sanction of the General Assembly.
It makes sense, then, that the Republican leaders of the House of Delegates have taken the lead on this issue. They are standing for conservative principles; Virginia law prohibited payday lending as we see it now from colonial times through 2002. Though their proposal -- House Bill 12 -- will certainly protect many Virginians from the debt trap, it may be more important as a signal to their Republican core constituency that they hear how uneasy those constituents are about payday lending. It is also a signal to those who are younger or more socially liberal that there is more to the conservative moral agenda than enforcing sexual rules.
Of course, House Bill 12 is a compromise. It keeps the opportunity open for those who want to get an occasional loan and are willing to pay the high price. But the legislation sends a clear message that a business model whose survival depends on trapping and bleeding consumers is unacceptable.
After the House's passage of House Bill 12, the real battle is in the Senate. The pro-payday industry positions taken by key Democratic leaders are an education for those who think that one party is always "the good guy." A good outcome in the Senate will require principled conservatives and principled liberals to override the opportunistic middle.
All of Virginia's state legislators must hear the growing unease of the people, to which they have been a bit deaf. Though not all Virginians are caught in the payday trap, every Virginian is living in a society where that trap is condoned by law. And most of us don't like that a bit.
Michael Ahern Letter to the Editor 02-20-08
To The Editor:
Over the next several days the state legislature will consider legislation intended to reform the payday lending industry. The House of Delegates has passed a bill that would stop many of the predatory practices typically inflicted on Virginia citizens who can be categorized as the neediest among us. The Senate version is a watered down bill that allows these evil predators to get around many of the measures intended to protect our citizens from industry procedures intended to create a circle of debt from which there is no end and inflict economic harm upon their victims with interest rates which when compounded can rise to hundreds of percentage points. Loan sharking is too nice a word to attribute to these predators.
It is disturbing to hear that many of our legislators, particularly those in a Democratic led Senate, would accept the feeble rationalization justifying these practices offered by the payday lending industry and their lobbyists. At a recent state Senate Commerce and Labor Committee meeting I attended in Richmond, the "industry" paid 50 or so employees to come to Richmond wearing signs urging a "no" vote on the House legislation. Much more disturbing is the likelihood that they also paid many, many times that amount in campaign contributions to the legislators who should be serving the public and not an industry who inflicts so much harm on our neighbors and members of our community who need our help the most.
I have personally spoken to several of our legislators who could only offer the weakest excuses for their "no" votes in support of the industry. The excuse heard most often by the industry and legislators is that the poor would have no other place to go for necessary loans from time to time. Can these inhumane people actually hold themselves up to be some kind of benevolent social service agency, helping the poor while literally stealing what little assets they own? If there was ever an anti-Robin Hood, or for that matter an anti-Christ, here you have it!
I would urge you to state an editorial position that would encourage your readers to support the stronger House version of this bill and not to be fooled by the "industry supported Senate version.
Sincerely,
Michael Ahern
Oak Hill
Robert L. Tripp Letter to the Editor 2-19-08
To the editor:
As Democrats and residents of Fairfax County for 34 years, my wife and I are appalled at the role Senator Richard Saslaw has taken to undermine efforts to put a cap on the interest payday lenders can charge to people in desperate need of a loan -- almost always the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens.
Saslaw's willingness to bend to the wishes of the lenders' lobby is a disgrace. Surely he can live without the campaign money the lending industry has given him -- about $48,000! Why must he support the greed of the lending industry?
So much for being a so-called liberal! Saslaw is betraying the liberalism he generally proclaims. So much for the hope aroused by the Democratic take over of the State Senate.
Denise Smith Letter to the Editor 02-14-08
Editor:
I guess Governor Tim Kaine figures that it's best to get a whole lot of white men together to figure out ways Virginia can take on "climate change." It's a gigantic topic, with lots at stake for all of us. So why is Governor Kaine afraid to have a diverse group around the table?
When the Governor initially appointed 32 people to the Commission on Climate Change, he named four women and a handful of people of color — most of the people sitting around the table when they convene will be white guys. The Governor has since added five more people to the commission, including one more woman and one person of color. Three more white men.
Though a Commission is comprised of people for what they can bring to the table, I am sure there are people of color and more women who have the interest and the qualifications to sit on this Commission. Diversity is the key, bringing all citizens and communities together to find solutions to Virginia's problems. Maybe the Governor needs to get a briefing on Virginia demographics. Virginia's population includes 50 percent women. But the Commission on Climate Change will be 14 percent women.
For someone who was a civil rights lawyer, it sure seems a bit odd that so few people of color were named by the Governor to the commission. Again, back to a note about Virginia demographics: 20 percent African-Americans, more than 6 percent Latinos/Latinas, and 4 percent Asian-Americans. Not even close. And are there any Native Americans at the table?
And while any politician could rationalize having six state legislators and six representatives from local governments, it seems like the Governor would be hard pressed to justify having thirteen corporate folks and only five representing citizens groups.
The Commission on Climate Change is expected to issue a report, with recommendations, by December 15, 2008. Maybe, just maybe, they will at least have a open process so women, people of color and citizens groups will have a chance to be heard.
Sincerely,
Denise Smith
Rocky Gap
Patricia Chafee Letter to the Editor 02-06-08
Editor:
Back in the 1950s as I was trying to earn money in the summer to help with college expenses in the fall, I worked for a printing firm alongside two little old ladies, bent almost double from the hard labor they had experienced even as children when there were no child labor laws.
Also, as I was growing up, I remember Tennessee Ernie Ford singing, "I owe my soul to the company store" -- expressing the enslaving cycle of payday money going to take care of past bills and workers never getting ahead.
Now there are payday lenders charging exorbitant interest rates so the poor end up borrowing money over and over again to pay their debt. One loan calls for another to pay the last loan.
Lately, I've read of a possible interest cap of 36 percent. Granted that 36 percent is better than 72 percent but where did the "low" rate of 36 percent come from? Doesn't sound like a low figure to me.
As Americans we can be proud that in the past, laws have been passed to aid the helpless, but we need to be ever vigilant to have laws and policies to help the poor and abased.
The golden rule that Jesus taught, "to do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is an excellent guide for any age and time.
I am only one person with one voice and one pen, but I ask for mercy for the poor, and I implore the powers that be to think long and hard about this situation and act to make changes for the better.
Patricia Chafee
Afton
J. Horejsi Letter to the Editor 2-1-08
Dear Editor:
Governor Tim Kaine is to be commended for proposing an increase in Virginia's Foster Care program benefits. This is encouraging. Virginia should also say "yes" to a long-overdue increase in TANF benefits. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program provides time-limited assistance so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives. Virginia has allowed benefit payments for TANF to lag far behind inflation. Currently a family of three receives less than one-fourth of the amount needed for a minimal standard of living, as set by the Federal poverty level.
Why are TANF benefit levels important? Because poverty harms children. Poor children are more likely to have health problems and developmental disabilities; they are less likely to succeed in school; and they are at greater risk for abuse and neglect. Additionally, the cost to the state would escalate tremendously if Virginia does not adequately fund TANF and children in TANF households are transferred to the Foster Care program.
TANF benefits have increased only one time since 1985, a 10 percent increase in 2000, compared to a 95 percent inflation increase over that same period. Imagine the outrage if Social Security recipients had received only one modest increase in benefits since 1985. Under Welfare Reform, TANF families leave the program after a maximum of 2 years. TANF caseloads have declined by 58 percent since 1995, while federal funding has remained constant. We need to invest these considerable savings in helping the hard-to-serve families who remain on the rolls. As a matter of basic fairness, we owe it to Virginia's needy families to restore at least a portion of the buying power they have lost to inflation.
Under Welfare Reform, setting payment levels for TANF is primarily a state responsibility. As the Governor and General Assembly complete Virginia's biennial budget over the next month, they must address the needs of Virginia's neediest children by using TANF funds for their most fundamental purpose, providing a temporary safety net for families working toward financial independence.
Harvey Yoder Letter to the Editor 01-30-08
Editor:
I want to thank payday lending institutions for all of their recent newspaper and other ads. They have enlightened me so much about why we should not compare their rate of interest, over 350 percent as computed on an annual basis, with the typical amount of interest charged, which they insist is not exorbitant at all for an emergency two-week loan. Their logic is so persuasive I'm thinking of using it the next time I'm charged with speeding, as follows:
Judge: Mr. Yoder, you're being charged with going 350 mph in a 35 mph speed zone. What do you have to say for yourself?
Me: Your Honor, please understand I have never traveled anywhere near 350 miles for an entire hour. That would be inexcusable, of course. I was going at that rate of speed for only a half mile stretch, and for 5 seconds at the most, and only then because otherwise I would have been really, really late getting to work.
Judge: Yes, yes, of course, Mr. Yoder. That makes perfect sense. Case dismissed.
Harvey Yoder
Harrisonburg
Laura Granruth Letter to the Editor 01-29-08
Editor:
According to Benjamin Franklin, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Well, Virginia, here we go again with another year of an erratic state budget. Are you tired of it yet? When will we learn that we can raise revenue in a more stable and predictable manner than we do now?
Like many states, Virginia relies heavily on sales taxes and property taxes to fund services. In a good economy, this can be good news as consumers buy things and property values are good, meaning that state revenues can be decent -- maybe not always sufficient, but decent. But, let the economy stall and we are in a jam. Revenues that legislators thought would be there do not materialize as consumers stop spending and housing values plummet; programs and policies they promised and planned to implement falter. So, instead of Virginia making good, steady progress, we have fits and starts of progress and retrenchment.
We can do better. Much better. And the good news is that we know how to do better and the economic theory is sound.
The Virginia Organizing Project believes that one way to keep Virginia moving forward is to scrap our reliance on unstable property and sales taxes in favor of a progressive income tax. Incomes are more stable overall, even in challenging economic environments, than are sales and property taxes. Shifting our emphasis for revenue collection to income taxes would allow state and local legislators to plan more efficiently and effectively for community needs and remove us from the guessing game of annually estimating wildly fluctuating sales and property taxes.
We are in an economic slump and currently there are no plans in the 2008 General Assembly session to change the tax code. We need to encourage our state legislators to make some changes -- and quickly -- before the slump completely overwhelms us.
Sincerely,
Laura Granruth
Centreville
Annette E. Blankenship Letter to the Editor 1-28-08
Editor:
It has come to my attention through family members and friends of incarcerated individuals in the Commonwealth of Virginia that correction officers of the opposite sex are strip searching inmates in our prison facilities. As of January 1, 2008, a new procedure that allows strip searches by the opposite sex went into effect, according to the state Department of Correction's operating manual.
Another concern is that inmates' showers and toilets are wide open and we have correction officers of the opposite sex watching over them, around them and/or above them depending on what correctional facility it is. This is happening in men's and women's state prisons.
I know if I was caught looking in a window at unclothed people I would be considered a "peeping tom" and charged, don't you think? What is happening needs immediate attention. It is a very cruel and inhumane thing to happen to men and women. They are already sexually violated over and over just to see their families when they go out to visiting rooms and at the end of the visit because of the worry of contraband.
Our prisons should be run better by starting to treat the inmates as human beings instead of treating them like caged animals.
Op-Ed: Those payday loan ads are very misleading 01-25-08
By Jacqueline Phillips
I would like to respond to some of the things I hear payday lenders saying in their misleading ads on TV, radio and in the newspaper. I can answer these statements because I work with consumers who have experienced the "debt trap".
I work with people through an asset building tool called an Individual Development Account (IDA). In the IDA program, individuals are taught financial literacy and learn new money management skills they never received anywhere else. They were often treated poorly by the lender, even harassed and threatened. Until I explained to them that they had options, they did not know what to do. I thank God I could help them.
More than 95 percent of payday lending customers pay back their loans on time.
Response: They do this by paying off the first loan and getting another one, sometimes for a second loan or a larger amount minus the fees so they can pay their current expenses.
Most use payday loans to cover unexpected expenses or a temporary reduction in income.
Response: The first time, but subsequently, many end up in debt and don't know how to get out. Let's set the record straight: MOST borrowers cannot pay them back without taking out a new loan. Do you realize that with the "COMPROMISE" of reform you will just be prolonging the inevitable?
Banks and credit unions, unlike payday lenders, typically do not offer $100 to $500 loans for short periods.
Response: This is not true. Locally-owned smaller banks do provide these, and credit unions have special products specifically for this.
In fact, credit unions even require a membership and a minimum balance to qualify for a loan.
Response: Yes, but membership is free and usually the balance is only $5.00. I am a member of one.
Before payday loans, many people were forced to borrow from family or friends, unregulated off-shore Internet lenders, illegal loan sharks, or bounce checks and fall into bankruptcy.
Response: Why would you not borrow from family or friends with no interest or fees and a longer payback period, rather than pay over 300% APR and find yourself in a situation and have to revert back to that anyway? How do you think people get out of debt if and when they do? It certainly isn't something that the industry does to help them. (I also notice you put "illegal" in front of loan sharks. So, you agree there are "legal" loan sharks? I can assume we all know who they are.)
Unlike credit cards, payday lenders may only charge $15 for every $100 borrowed; the average late fee for $100 dollars on a credit card is $37.
Response: I thought we were talking about paying "on time"? Why would we have a late fee, the credit card cash advance is only 3%, not 15% right up front, and they give you 20-30 days to pay. Isn't that more than 2 weeks? Are you really looking at the TRUE figures?
If payday lenders close down, many people will lose their jobs.
Response: And where did these employees come from? More than likely another job. Can you provide information that implies these people were unemployed when the payday industry opened their doors?
Payday lenders are willing to work with customers to allow several months to repay the loan without added interest.
Response: Why all this generosity now? There has been a payment plan option, but no one ever volunteered to give this information to the consumer. Why do you think that is?
Some people use payday loans irresponsibly and get themselves into trouble.
Response: I know first hand that the industry takes advantage of the least financially educated and most times, those with the least capacity to pay back the loans. I am against payday lending and car title lending being the most ridiculously and outrageously expensive option. I can't see where a service is being offered; it is more like a disservice.
So, nothing really makes sense other than having the Payday and Car Title Lending Industry come under the same regulations as the rest of the lending world. At least the consumer will have a fair chance to pay back what they borrow and not be trapped like a mouse in a maze, searching to and fro to see where the next payment to the PREDATOR will come from.
Please support the 36% cap on payday lending.
Jacqueline Phillips
Cedar Bluff
Op-Ed: I-81 Plans: A Cautionary Tale for All Virginians 01-07-08
By Kim Sandum
Just before Christmas, some of the people I work with sued the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) over plans to expand I-81. It needed to be done. The story of I-81 is a cautionary tale for the rest of Virginia about a state agency that too often won't listen to the locals.
That doesn't have to be the case. Because for nine years, government officials, business leaders and citizens in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County worked with local VDOT staff to address transportation needs in our region. Ideas for a north-south bypass around the City were set aside, in favor of much-needed east-west road connections between homes and jobs, which also would reduce local traffic on I-81.
But in the case of the I-81 study, VDOT planners ignored our hard work and sent to the FHWA a single, incompatible approach for I-81: widening the scenic highway to eight lanes through 79 percent of the Shenandoah Valley, at a cost of $11 billion, funded by tolls.
That is bad enough. But Rockingham County is one of two locations on the entire I-81 corridor to be burdened with a new highway bypass, a concept rejected during our regional planning process. The bypass could plow through Rockingham's agricultural reserve and two Civil War battlefields.
There was tremendous public outcry over VDOT's I-81 plans in April, 2006. More than 1,000 people attended six hearings. Ninety percent of them spoke out against tolls and highway widening, in favor of options like moving truck freight to rail. VDOT reports that it received 2,600 written comments, 80 percent opposed to tolls and 78 percent in favor of rail.
VDOT even ignored our state legislators. Senators Emmett Hanger and Mark Obenshain and Delegates Matt Lohr, Steve Landes, Chris Saxman and Todd Gilbert staunchly opposed massive widening and I-81-only tolls by introducing numerous bills in the General Assembly since 2002.
But VDOT's final I-81 plan was little changed. It rejects the multiple lower cost, lower impact options supported by local governments and citizens groups like mine: select safety improvements, diversion of truck freight to rail, better speed limit enforcement, increased transit and improvements to local road networks.
In response to our complaints (and to the lawsuit filed last month by conservation groups) VDOT's spokeswoman soothingly insists that only spot improvements to the highway are being pursued and that there isn't any money for major widening.
Well, I'm not sure what plans they are reading in Richmond. But it certainly isn't the four-inch-thick report we read, the I-81 Tier 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), submitted by VDOT to the federal highway administration for approval.
In their document, you'll find eye-popping diagrams showing 12 lanes as the "Maximum Width Template" for widening and 20 lanes for the "Maximum Width Cloverleaf Template" for interchanges. A chart outlines that most of the I-81 corridor gets four or more new lanes and the rest gets two new lanes.
VDOT also failed to study obvious community impacts from their proposals. Buried in a footnote in the FEIS Executive Summary, it says: "The potential effects in this Tier 1 study … do not include the impacts from potential corridors on new location." The document does not address the residences, businesses, battlefields, recreational facilities, schools or anything else in the way of the proposed bypass in my community.
VDOT's final report also grants them the authority to pursue their application to toll I-81. When federal officials approve the application, VDOT will have plenty of money for highway widening and bypasses. Locals like me will pay for a road we don't want.
The deadline to challenge VDOT's I-81 plans was December 17, 2007. Without legal action, the only I-81 proposals to move forward to the next phase of study would be major widening and tolls. The lower cost, lower impact options we supported would have been excluded, legally, from further consideration.
Reluctantly, several conservation groups filed suit to stop the clock and give citizens, legislators and local governments time to convince VDOT to reopen the FEIS document, address its flaws and incorporate more balanced options for addressing congestion and safety problems on the highway.
Expansion of an interstate highway will have major impacts on any community. We can do better than the current I-81 plan, beginning with VDOT listening to the locals.
Kim Sandum of Harrisonburg is executive director of the Rockingham Community Alliance for Preservation Inc.
Kim Sandum
Harrisonburg
Maura Ubinger Letter to the Editor 12-18-07
Editor:
I'd like to call attention to a segment on NBC Nightly News on December 14. It was about Darryl Hunt, a man from North Carolina, wrongly accused of murder, now exonerated and using the money awarded him to create The Darryl Hunt Project, www.darrylhuntproject.org, which works to help people recently released to society to be rehabilitated, find jobs, etc.
Most people generally don't think about the fact that a lot of recidivism is caused because rehabilitation programs don't exist within the prison, while people are incarcerated. There's still too much of a "lock 'em up; throw away the key" mentality, when, in reality, most prisoners are eventually released, come out with no skills, no money, usually no homes to return to, and no job prospects. Prison is seen as punishment (not that it oughtn't be that too) but also needs to be a place of rehabilitation and looking toward what will happen to a person upon his/her release. There is a move in this direction with such things as "The Second Chance Act", a bill now awaiting passage by the U.S. Senate. The public needs to be aware of such efforts and contact their legislators on these important issues. This is true on both the federal and state level.
To learn more about what's out there, contact such groups as "The Sentencing Project" www.sentencingproject.org, and The Justice Project, www.justiceproject.org, as well as Virginia CURE, www.vacure.org.
Maura Ubinger
Abingdon, VA
Larry Yates Letter to the Editor 12-17-07
Dear Editor:
We should all welcome the recent decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to allow crack cocaine sentences to be reduced retroactively. But we should also pause to recognize what it means. This decision is a clear statement about a social phenomenon that most Americans want to deny -- institutional racism.
This decision is a recognition that thousands of our fellow citizens were given outrageous mandatory sentences on the basis of their race. While the current decision is welcome, most of these people -- and their families -- have already suffered irreparable damage. A climate of fear, despair and cynicism has been promoted in African-American communities. All this happened without the involvement of any Klansmen or "hate groups." It was carried out by ordinary legislators, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement personnel in full public view, mostly without ill intent.
It is this same type of racism that leads to disparate experiences in health care, employment, access to housing and education, and voting rights, and to other continuing denials of human rights to African-Americans. Until the white majority in particular recognizes that its actions and inactions, regardless of any conscious prejudice, continue to have these impacts, we cannot begin the next stage of our healing. In 1995, the Southern Baptist Convention joined other denominations in this process, when it "apologize(d) to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism in our lifetime," and pledged to work to "eradicate racism" from their Convention. I hope that all denominations, political leaders and anyone with a claim to leadership among whites in the USA will join and continue such efforts. Nothing is more critical to the improvement of our nation's moral and civic values.
Larry Yates
Maurertown, VA
Op-Ed: Congress Pardons Corporate-Farm Turkeys 11-20-07
By Rev. C. Douglas Smith
The nightmare haunts the greatest of cooks and strikes fear in the youngest of turkey basters among us; the guests arrive for Thanksgiving dinner but a tragedy has struck that will rumble even the most patient of stomachs. The table is set for everyone to celebrate and give thanks for the blessings around us but someone dropped the butterball leaving everyone wondering when they will be served.
This scene strikes fear in all of us, but it is a scene recently played out in that parallel universe of Congress just last week.
The Farm Bill, a mainstay of agricultural policy, is a once every five years piece of legislation that speaks to the core American belief that investments in the underdog are always a winning strategy. The massive legislative exercise includes allowances for small farmers, nutrition support for poor families, and important conservation programs that protect national resources like Virginia's own Chesapeake Bay.
All of these initiatives speak to the shared responsibility we have as a community to help lift vulnerable families and ecosystems out of the mire that traps them each day. 2007 is likely the last opportunity Congress has to reform the Farm Bill before 2012, but partisan bickering has meant that this has become one among many of half-baked legislative packages left incomplete.
The Farm Bill titles are important for agriculture, food production and rural support. With well over 504,000 Virginians relying on Food Stamp benefits each month, Virginia is directly impacted by reforms in the Farm Bill. At a mere .97 cents per meal, Food Stamps are an important subsidy but hardly provide enough for families in need. This bill is important for our neighbors in need and should not be put on the back burner any longer.
Additionally, with small farmers under pressure each passing year, most of us can imagine how important it is that we offer programs and innovations that help local farmers provide nutritious food to local school programs. Water sources, agriculture, school programs and even rural development are impacted by the Farm Bill and they all need attention from our decision makers.
But in a nightmarish turn of events, Congress was unable to cook up even a vote on the Farm Bill last week. The table was set and all of the guests had arrived, but a much too partisan Congress could not end debate on the over 200 amendments weighing it down, sending their sweet potatoes home for a two-week break without closure on the bill.
So what's the rub, you ask? Big corporate farms, owned by those icons of the agricultural industry like David Letterman and basketball player Scotty Pippin. It seems that from 2003-2005, Pippin pigged out on $78,945 in government handouts for land he controls in Arkansas and he is just one of a long list of multi-gazillionaires who are milking the government of farm subsidies.
Corporate commodity programs are taking advantage of large loopholes and commodity price supports that were meant for small farmers back in the 1930's. They are participating in a kind of corporate-farm welfare that not only increases land prices for small farmers, but reduces available resources that could go to conservation and the Bay.
Like Uncle Louie who serves himself all of the green beans before anyone else can get them, the big corporate farms suck up our tax dollars leaving table scraps for rural communities and other important programs.
The solution to the Farm Bill conundrum is simple. Congress should reduce big-farm commodity payments to groups like the rice, corn, wheat, soybean, and cotton growers and shift the savings to conservation, rural development, and nutrition. This plan would provide a fairer and more equally balanced opportunity for Virginia's farmers to stay competitive, and at the same time, protect vulnerable families who are now facing record gas prices, rising mortgage defaults, and higher food costs.
There is no excuse for Congress's inability to take a bite out of corporate-farm commodity payments. These payments are anti-market and distort trade here and abroad. Let's hope that Congress can take the next two weeks to eat a few slices of humble pie, get some resolve, and come back with their energies set on doing the work of the people to run the government. This is what Americans expect and need. Washington does not need to be a series of nightmares, it needs to be providing a fair and efficient legislative system and it can do that by reforming the Farm Bill this year. They should not pardon a few corporate turkeys who are gobbling up our tax dollars.
Rev. C. Douglas Smith
Executive Director
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Richmond
Maura Ubinger Letter to the Editor 11-13-07
Editor:
Indeed, I agree with those who say, "Let's repeal the Payday Loan Act! -- Now!" It's incomprehensible to me how any company can be so unconscionable as to charge $15 in interest per pay period, even when one is paid weekly, on every $100 borrowed. Talk about usury!
I understand that state Delegate Harvey Morgan, chief patron of the original authorizing legislation in 2002, is so disturbed about how things got so out of hand that he is actively seeking to have the law changed.
I agree with the Virginia Partnership to Encourage Responsible Lending that we should impose a 36 percent cap on the interest rate for "payday" loans, just like all other small loans in Virginia.
Maura Ubinger
Abingdon
F. W. Richards, Jr. Letter to the Editor 10-23-07
Dear Editor,
Could someone out there please help me? I am so confused!! I attended the Tobacco Commission meeting July 11 in Danville. At that meeting, Senator Frank Ruff and Delegate Tommy Wright voted to award $1,000,000 to run a water pipeline from Boydton, Va. to the middle of a farm field near Chase City, VA to provide water for a company, Osage Bio Energy LLC, that has never produced a drop of ethanol. Even County Administrator Wayne Carter had to tell the committee that the company had no financial report to present and only distributed ethanol. One member of the committee said it was unprecedented to give out money like that, but he was ignored. Senator Ruff asked former mayor Charles Duckworth if Chase City had any problems with its wells and Mr. Duckworth alluded to there being some problems with our water supply, but no specifics, as I recall. So, the politicians gave away $1,000,000 for a water line if the ethanol plant gets built. They made it sound as if it were for the needs of Chase City's water problems. Do you see why I am confused? Please read on.
On September 23, I had the pleasure of seeing Senator Ruff at Prestwould, where he told me the pipeline was for Chase City's water needs, again. On October 7, I had the pleasure of seeing Senator Ruff at the parade and stew in Skipwith, VA, and he told me that Chase City really needs the pipeline for its water needs so it can hook up if needed in the future. I was still not convinced!! Guess what? I went to the Chase City Town Council meeting on October 8 and without anyone asking about the water, Mayor Duke Reid announced that Chase City has no problems with its wells or water quality even during this long drought suffered by this area of the country. Of course, he did remind us that all citizens should conserve our natural resources at all times for generations to come, but we have no water problems!!
Do I listen to Senator Ruff and Mr. Duckworth or Mayor Duke Reid?
I'm so confused!! Can you help me, please?
Maybe I'll just ask the politicians to give me $1,000,000 to run a pipeline to my backyard for an irrigation system and new swimming pool. I do not have a financial statement either and have never owned a pool. That should qualify me!!
Sincerely,
F. W. Richards, Jr.
Chase City
Rhonda Seltz Letter to the Editor 10-16-07
Dear Editor:
The vote to override President Bush’s veto for the additional funding for SCHIP will be Thursday, October 18. I implore the thousands of families who have children covered by FAMIS (SCHIP) to call Congressmen Virgil Goode (202-225-4711), Bob Goodlatte (202-225-5431), Randy Forbes (202-225-6365), Eric Cantor (202-225-2815) and Congresswoman Thelma Drake (202-225-4215) to ask them to change their votes to now support SCHIP. I also ask working families with uninsured children who cannot afford health insurance to call these U.S. Representatives.
I have worked tirelessly over the last eight years to improve access to health care for our children. As both a health care advocate and taxpayer, I know the additional funding for SCHIP is a vital investment. Do not believe the false information being circulated. SCHIP will not and has never covered illegal immigrants. SCHIP does not cover families who can afford health insurance.
I have looked directly into the eyes of families who are embarrassed to ask for government help but have no other choice when faced with monthly family premiums in excess of $1,000 per month or when private insurance companies tell the families their children are uninsurable due to pre-existing medical conditions. This bill does not create government run health care; it creates cost effective protection for our nation’s children until a new federal administration can come up with something better. The Bush Administration has had seven years, and now Bush has vetoed the only hope of doing something positive for health care in this country. I urge Virginia’s representatives in Congress to please listen to your constituents and vote to override the veto!
Rhonda Seltz, M.S.
Riner, Virginia
Who Shall Live & Who Shall Die? 10-16-07
By Jack Payden-Travers, Director
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
October 16, 2007
Once again Virginia is the site of national death penalty news. Two years ago it was a question of whether the Commonwealth would execute Robin Lovitt and earn the dubious distinction of holding the 1,000th U.S. execution since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976.
On Wednesday, October 17, 2007, Virginia is likely to be the state where the true impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to review lethal injection as a method of execution is determined. Is there to be a national moratorium on executions or merely a stay that the Court intends only to affect certain states? Some 13 states have halted executions pending the Court’s ruling by June or July 2008 in Baze v Rees, a case wherein two Kentucky death row inmates have challenged their state’s use of lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed one Texas execution since deciding to hear the Baze challenge, but the states of Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi and Nevada have failed to stay executions already scheduled.
Executions are on hold in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee. Even Texas, with an execution record that quadruples Virginia’s, appears to have halted executions last week after the U.S. Supreme Court stayed their execution of Carlton Turner on September 27 and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the execution of Heliberto Chi on October 2.
Meanwhile, back home in Virginia, Chris Scott Emmett is scheduled to be the 99th “legal homicide.” Although Governor Timothy Kaine is personally opposed to the death penalty, his office has stated he believes lethal injection to be constitutional. A clemency petition is presently before the governor, and a ruling on Emmett’s lethal injection appeal in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is awaited. It is unlikely that any final determination will be forthcoming until late in the day on Wednesday the 17th.
The question in my mind as I prepare for a Fill the Field vigil that evening in front of the death house at the Greensville Correctional Center is this: Why should it be legal to execute someone by lethal injection in Virginia but not in Maryland or North Carolina or Tennessee? What is peculiar to Virginia that permits us to proceed when other states are proscribed from using the same three-drug protocol? Indeed how can anyone be allowed to kill a human being with this chemical combination when the American Veterinary Medical Association in the year 2000 banned it as “cruel and inhumane” for use on cats and dogs? Is a human life worth less than a dog’s? Do not justice and common decency require that a human being be treated at least as well as an animal?
If the courts fail to stay Wednesday night’s execution, it will be up to Governor Kaine to decide if equal justice and fair play are to be the hallmarks of his administration or if an indefensible Virginia exceptionalism will continue to call the shots.
Bruce Elder Letter to the Editor 10-03-2007
Letter to the Editor:
The City of Staunton, Virginia recently unanimously passed a resolution requesting that the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia strongly consider an interest rate cap on consumer loans. The resolution was distributed to every city, town and county government in the Commonwealth.
In an effort to provide some background information on why such an action has been taken, I provide this explanation. From 1732 until 2002 the General Assembly of Virginia provided usury protection for her citizens. This protection vanished with the Payday Loan Act. The floodgate was opened and thousands of quick cash outlets suddenly showed up overnight. In fact business is so good that there are two payday lenders for every McDonalds in our state. These lenders offer two-week loans on postdated checks for a fee of $15 for every $100 borrowed. This is an interest rate of 384% APR. If this is the first time you have ever heard this, please read the last sentence again -- it is not a misprint. These loans often trap borrowers in a nearly unbreakable cycle of debt.
The situation created is not unique to Virginia; in fact, predatory lending to service members led to the adoption of the Talent-Nelson amendment by the U.S. Senate that limited the amount interest a military family could be charged to 36% APR. This law took affect nationwide on October 1.
The General Assembly has the opportunity to extend this protection to all of our citizens and put and end to this abusive practice. If you agree, please take a moment to call your Mayor and Council and urge them to adopt a similar resolution.
Bruce A. Elder
Staunton
A Poverty of Imagination 09-28-07
By David Stoesz, Ph.D.
Do payday loans trap consumers in debt or provide a financial service to the un-banked?
Undoubtedly, Virginia has been a windfall for the payday loan industry. In 2006 lenders made 3.5 million loans to 433,537 Virginians worth $1.3 billion; the average customer borrowed $365 and paid $793.66 in interest for 14 loans.1 According to the Center for Responsible Lending, very few customers are able to pay-off loans within the typical 15 day period, the vast majority take additional loans, the interest of which can reach an annual rate of 386 percent.2
“We train our sales staff to keep customers dependent, to make sure they keep re-borrowing . . . forever, if possible,” admitted Mike Donovan, a former district director of one of the region’s largest lenders, Check ‘n Go. “We seek out low-income African-American and Latino neighborhoods because we know that is where our most profitable client base is located.”3 The Check ‘n Go business model encourages “customers to borrow up to 85 percent of their gross income, more money than they actually receive in take-home pay.”4
During the past session of the Virginia legislature, a proposed cap on interest was successfully opposed by payday lenders which made $86,496 in candidate contributions and spent $1 million on lobbying. Such an effort served the interests of the five largest lenders opposing regulation — Advance America of Spartansburg, South Carolina, Check into Cash of Cleveland, Tennessee, Ace Cash Express of Irving, Texas, CheckSmart of Dublin, Ohio, and QC Holdings based in Kansas—which shared the $175 million in payday loan fees, money that migrated from the pockets of working Virginians to out-of-state corporations.5
While the Virginia legislature struggles with the issue, others have been more effective. The federal Talent-Nelson Act limits interest rates charged to military personnel to 36 percent. Recently, the Staunton City Council formally asked the General Assembly to restrict payday loan interest rates. Citing the Biblical injunction against usury, the Virginia Interfaith Council began a similar initiative; “We know that Jesus would never condone the charging of 390 percent interest,” stated Rev. Charles Swadley of Lakeside United Methodist Church.6
Payday lenders argue that they provide an essential service to those who are high credit risks, many of whom are un-banked. There is a kernel of truth in this assertion insofar payday loans are discretionary—no one has gun to their head when they use a personal check for collateral and agree to pay the amount advanced plus fees from their next paycheck. Opponents of payday loans are quick to cite the vicissitudes of poverty, which make low-income families vulnerable to predatory lending, yet this explanation isn’t very satisfying. After all, many poor families prosper by making prudent financial decisions, and avoiding payday loans would be one of them.
A more cogent question would be, Why haven’t alternative financial services been developed so the poor don’t resort to payday loans? If the American fringe economy operates on the scale of $78 billion annually, surely there are sufficient opportunities for more constructive ways to meet the financial service needs of low-income families.7
The good news is that the outline of such a financial infrastructure is beginning to emerge. Virginia’s Community Action Programs, for example, provide tax preparation assistance to low-income families so they can claim the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Yet, the number of eligible families obtaining refunds could be improved; a 15 percent increase in EITC refunds would net Virginia $72.8 million. More to the issue, almost 50 percent of EITC refunds are converted into refund anticipation loans with high interest rates, effectively reducing the value of the benefit.8
The state Department of Housing and Community Development operates the Virginia Individual Development Account program which provides $2 to every $1 a low-income family saves for purchasing a first home, paying for post-secondary education, or starting a business. Despite the merits of the program, only 152 Virginians currently have VIDA accounts.9
The bad news is that this infrastructure is incomplete. The EITC initiative fails to help employers of low-wage workers obtain refunds through the Welfare to Work and the Work Opportunity tax credits even though this could augment the payroll of small businesses. Virtually every welfare recipient leaving public assistance for a job through the Virginia Initiative for Employment (not) Welfare is eligible for the EITC, yet the Department of Social Services lacks a systematic plan to help them access those refunds.
Most immediately, the Commonwealth has failed to encourage the deployment of those financial services — savings, checking, loans, and financial advice that most of us take for granted — which would make predatory lending unnecessary. An exemplar is Self-Help of Durham, North Carolina which provides an array of financial services for low-income families. Enhancing the financial services network for low-income families would not only reduce the hemorrhaging of funds to out-of-state payday loan corporations, but would also optimize federal refunds due to low-income workers and their employers.
That the plight of poor Virginians is exacerbated by payday loans there can be little doubt. That we have failed to develop viable alternatives to predatory lending is evidence of something else entirely: the poverty of our imaginations.
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Footnotes:
1 Bureau of Financial Institutions, “Payday Lender License Activity 2004-2006.”
2 Jill Aldebron, “”It’s Still Payday Predation,” Center for Responsible Lending, September 7, 2007.
3 Jim Siegel, “Are Blacks Main Target of Payday Lenders?” The Columbus Dispatch. September 13, 2007.
4 Nikita Stewart, “Former Payday Lender Offers Apology as Vote to Cap Interest Rate Nears, The Washington Post. September 13, 2007
5 Mason Adams, “Payday Lenders Put Their 2 Cents In,” Roanoke Times. September 2, 2007.
6 Pamela Stallsmith, “Payday Lending a Moral Issue?” Richmond times-Dispatch. August 24, 2007.
7 Howard Karger, Shortchanged: Life and Debt in the Fringe Economy (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005).
8 Lucy Gorham, “EITC Achieves Gains but Challenges Remain,” Marketwise. Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, Spring 2007.
9 “About VIDA,” Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, 2007.
David Stoesz is a Professor of social policy at Virginia Commonwealth University and the author of Quixote’s Ghost: The Right, the Liberati, and the Future of Social Policy (Oxford University Press, 2005) which won the Pro Humanitate Literary Award for 2006.
Bob Broxton Letter to the Editor 09-17-07
To the Editor:
Something historic happened in the little town of Staunton, Virginia on Thursday, September 13, 2007. The Staunton City Council passed a resolution that asks the General Assembly to stop certain “exploitative” practices of payday lenders by capping interest rates at 36% APR.
The resolution was introduced by Councilman Bruce Elder. He stated shortly after it was passed that he will “send copies of the resolution to every city government, town government and board of supervisors in Virginia. We want this everywhere. What we have done tonight is we have thrown a pebble in a pond. The ripples by the time they reach Richmond should be a tidal wave.”
Let’s hope that every city, town and board of supervisors in Virginia follows the example of the City Council in Staunton and that every candidate and incumbent for the General Assembly recognizes and listens to the overwhelming majority of citizens who are appalled at the predatory practices of payday lenders. A current web poll (by the Dail Press) shows 83.5% of respondents believe payday loans are "a scam."
Congratulations and thanks to the Staunton City Council.
Sincerely,
Bob Broxton
Richmond
Linda Moore Letter to the Editor 09-10-07
Dear Editor,
One of Mecklenburg County's most valuable resources is Buggs Island/Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston. We should be very concerned about the falling water levels and how we can protect our water supply now and in the future.
The proposed ethanol plant on the Butler Farm has many unforeseen downsides. Among them is the huge water consumption required by ethanol plants. This proposed ethanol plant has requested up to 1.5 million gallons of water per day or 525,000,000 gallons per year from Gaston Lake. An average household use is about 200 gallons per day; this ethanol plant usage is enough to supply at least 7,500 homes per day. People who get their water from Lake Gaston as well as other towns who want to gain access to this water should be apprehensive about the vast amount of water consumption that an ethanol plant will need. Osage, the company making plans to build the facility, stated that this plant would operate in the beginning as a corn based plant. Water is an important part of making corn-based ethanol. A corn ethanol plant uses 3 to 4 gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol produced.
Virginia Beach is drawing 60 million gallons of water from the Lake Gaston pipeline per day. Chesapeake, Virginia is considering an ethanol plant and this should be of concern to the residents of Mecklenburg County. Chesapeake's deputy city manager, Amar Dwarkanath, has stated it aims to pipe in as much as 10 million gallons of water per day from Lake Gaston for their proposed plant. With the low water tables at Buggs Island/Kerr Lake and the drought situation in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina's shrinking water supply, the water usage of ethanol plants will have a major impact on Mecklenburg County's lakes. What better time is there to say NO water for the proposed ethanol plants?
It was only a few months ago that the Roanoke River Basin Association gave the go ahead to provide Osage with water for their ethanol plant. Now Mr. Addesso, vice-chairman of the Roanoke River Basin Association, says that Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston need to find ways to cut water consumption. How can the Roanoke River Basin Association say yes today for 1.5 million gallons of water per day for a proposed ethanol plant when we do not know what tomorrow will bring?
What better examples do we need for Chase City, Boydton, Clarksville, South Hill, and others to voice our stand AGAINST the proposed ethanol plant to our local officials?
Linda Moore
Chase City
Ward R. Scull, III & Michael Lane Letter to the Editor 08-30-07
Editor:
The Daily Press editorial of August 27, 2007, "Sub-prime conduct, Legislators must fix loan shark interest rates" is right on target. Last year’s victory for the well financed and powerful payday loan industry was a victory for the loan sharks and a loss for the people and state of Virginia. There is no doubt that that the payday lenders will be even more aggressive and generous with contributions in the coming session of the General Assembly.
Talk of a compromise, proposed by the payday lenders, is rampant. But is it realistic to negotiate with loan sharks? The performance of payday lenders has not improved in the past year. If anything it has deteriorated with allegations of intimidation and threats to borrowers that have been entrapped in their cycle of debt.
There should be no compromise with payday lenders. The fact that the Congress has protected the military from payday lending and that more and more states have banned payday lenders should inspire our legislators to impose a 36% APR cap or ban payday loans all together.
Virginia justly prides itself as the number one state for doing business. That reputation is soiled with the reality that we legalize the disreputable and usurious practice of payday lending. This year there should be no compromise with loan sharks.
Sincerely,
Ward R. Scull, III and Michael Lane
Virginians Against Payday Loans
Newport News
www.stoppaydayloans.org
Ida O'Sullivan Letter to the Editor 08-30-07
Dear Editor,
I am deeply concerned about proposed ethanol refinery construction in several areas throughout Virginia. The ethanol industry and government officials are trying to push the ethanol refineries down our throats.
The industry cannot survive without subsidies; subsidies that do not come from Washington. They come from you and me, our children, our grandchildren and our friends and neighbors from our hard-earned money through the taxes we pay. Financial help comes in the form of low or no interest loans, grants and even per gallon assistance. We are the ones that will be repaying those loans.
One letter to the editor I read recently said, in effect, that the EPA and government regulators would never allow a refinery to be built that did not meet set standards. In April 2007, the EPA lowered standards for ethanol producers to allow them to operate with fewer rules, ignoring environmental concerns. The change increases allowable pollution refineries may emit from 100 tons annually to 250 tons -- that is 5 tons a week! It also allows plants to bypass certain vents and minor pollution sources when calculating emissions. So much for concern for the people.
We here in Chase City, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, are facing a situation where Osage Bio Energy proposes building a 55 million gallons per year facility, to be doubled to 110 million gallons per year. A portion of the 600 +/- acre site needs to be rezoned from agricultural to heavy industry. This Butler Farm locale is a pristine area of woods and pastures. It borders Chase City's residential areas. There are 9 industrial/business parks in the county, with over 900 acres available to develop.
Ethanol refineries make poor neighbors. The demand for ethanol cannot become the basis to lay waste to our water, land and way of life, especially in rural areas. To quote a Loudon, Tennessee resident that lives near an ethanol refinery, "If you ain't got one, you don't want one!"
Ida O'Sullivan
Chase City
Michael Ahern Letter to the Editor 08-29-07
Dear Editor:
Over the past several months, many in the media have engaged in sensationalistic and unfair treatment of undocumented immigrants in news coverage involving crime, emphatically pointing out the accused individual's legal status. This would not have been the case six months ago. The murders in Newark, NJ and the hit and run accident on Rt. 95 come to mind. These senseless acts of violence are indeed terrible and the persons responsible should be brought to justice and punished appropriately. But the entire Latino community should not be subject to repercussions as a result.
The spin built into these stories inevitably suggests that the crime would never have occurred were it not for "our immigration problem." In order to sensationalize their reporting, the media is throwing fuel on the fire. This is particularly true in local jurisdictions considering unjust ordinances affecting immigrants, such as Prince William and Loudoun counties and in Herndon. This media practice encourages hate groups in those communities to motivate and mobilize their members against people who have come to America in desperation -- simply to feed their families and avoid having every third or fourth child die from malnutrition or some fatal illness in their home countries.
The media also fails in its responsibility to present the true nature of our immigration situation. During the recent trial in federal court in Hazelton, Pa., for instance, Hazelton's claim that "illegal aliens" (undocumented workers) were to blame for high crime rates and economic decline was proven wrong and inaccurate.
In fact, it was conclusively shown that undocumented Latino workers were the least demographic group likely to be involved in criminal behavior. It was also demonstrated that the city had gone from a substantial deficit to a fiscal surplus over the period of time examined and that the Latino community had much to do with the economic development that occurred. Hazelton is subject to funding both sides' legal expenses which now exceed $3,000,000.
Finally, with respect to the self righteous talk on the rule of law and amnesty, I would remind you that the great majority of undocumented workers did not come here with intent to break the law. No, instead, often with just the shirts on their backs, they came in dire straits, stashed away in metal box trucks, in temperatures exceeding 120 degrees, then running across the desert chased by vigilantes with guns to a strange country where they hoped to find opportunity like millions of immigrant families before them. And, they simply hoped to feed and house their families. Many of our families were treated with similar unfairness and violence in our past. We should now learn from those mistakes and forgive those who would relive our troubled history. We should instead treat those coming here to America at great risk and cost with kindness and respect.
Michael Ahern
Oak Hill
Law enforcement should be even handed for all 08-23-07
By Janice "Jay" Johnson
In 2001, after one shark attack, the corporate media frightened us with the Summer of the Shark. But unfairness to sharks doesn't really matter to the sharks.
Today's media myth is a "crime wave" by undocumented immigrants, and it's not as harmless. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the "war here at home" against illegal immigrants is "even more deadly than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan." A recent Harrisonburg Daily News-Record editorial found a "pattern" of immigrant crime based on three murders and two drunk-driving deaths in the whole United States.
These exaggerations would be funny if it weren't for their results.
For example, recently, Pedro Guzman, a mentally disabled U.S. citizen, was deported to Mexico because he couldn't produce documents or explain himself. His family, also U.S. citizens, searched for him for three months before finally finding him, hungry, disoriented, and almost unrecognizable.
Other U.S. citizens of Latino descent are already making plans to carry their passports at all times. Though their families may have been living in the same New Mexico or Texas communities since before 1776, now they may be seen as aliens in their native land.
If there is a "pattern," it's that our law enforcement officers, courts and probation and parole officers don't get the funding and support they need to keep track of all violent criminals -- immigrants or not. Some Virginia probation officers have a caseload of more than 100 offenders. That's why most local law enforcement agencies don't want to add the job of catching immigration offenders to their already heavy burdens.
I don't know about you, but if a loved one of mine is murdered by someone who should have been in prison, it will be no consolation to me to find out that the murderer was a legal U.S. citizen.
The Virginia Organizing Project's campaign against racial profiling takes the stand that our laws should be enforced effectively and even-handedly, without regard for anyone's race or ethnicity. We can't make our law enforcement decisions based on media myths.
Janice "Jay" Johnson is the chairperson of the Virginia Organizing Project.
Janice Johnson
Newport News
Katy Pitcock Letter to the Editor 08-22-07
Editor:
Around Virginia, local officials are being swept into the current of trying to "fix" the national immigration situation with hard-line local action. Unfortunately, it's not the first time Virginia's local leaders "made a statement." The last time, the movement was called "Massive Resistance." Then, the civil rights of African-Americans were targeted. Schools were closed and pools were bulldozed. It was not Virginia's finest hour.
Few leaders from that era are now proud of their actions. Thanks to the courage and leadership in the African-American community as well as allies amongst caring whites, this destructive, fear-driven approach to public policy was eventually defeated.
Why repeat a mistake? We are a community -- parents, children, teachers and churches. Let the national leaders deal with national problems. A legal pathway to work authorization is a complex issue. Locally, fathers need to work to provide for their families, mothers need to care for and nurture their children, teachers need to educate, nurses need to promote health, pastors need to support spiritual growth and political leaders need to lead, not follow trends. In each community in Virginia, we have the opportunity to be proud of our actions -- this