Voice of the people

Drug test teachers and school staff, too

From reading your article in the July 28 edition, I think the Cabell County Board of Education is trying very hard to implement a very good drug testing program and is taking all the necessary steps to ensure its success.

My big question at this point in time: Does the Board of Education have a drug testing policy in place for testing the teachers in our middle and high schools? If not, then when can we expect one for those who are coaching and teaching the children?

Most of our students at one time or another look up to a teacher or a coach and rightfully so, because most all of our teachers and coaches are worthy of this respect. But in all fairness and to keep a level playing field and nice parking lot, the teachers and staff should be tested, too.

Paul L. Jordan Jr.

Huntington

Helmick wrong to kill retiree tax cut

In a meeting with Mr. "Spud" Terry, head of the Coalition of Retired Public Employees (CORPE), West Virginia state Sen. Walt Helmick stated he deliberately kept a bill meant to increase the tax exemption on local, state and federal retiree pensions from coming to the floor for a vote in the last Legislature. He did this even though nearly all of his committee was in favor of the bill.

Sen. Helmick stated that he held up the bill for two reasons: He believed one-third of the tax revenue lost by West Virginia would benefit federal retirees, and he knew of a federal retiree with a pension of $72,000 a year playing golf every day and he didn't think this was fair. Trying to be diplomatic as possible, I would call these two statements less than intelligent.

In answer to Sen. Helmick's first statement, a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court (Davis v. Michigan) requires states to tax federal, state and other public employees equally. Further, federal retirees only make up 25 percent of the group, not one-third. He would have known that had he read the literature provided him. I will not dignify the second statement with an answer.

Except for a select few, local and state retirees do not receive any cost-of-living increases. Whatever their pension is when they retire, it remains the same until they die.

Based on some rumors about a future high-paying job in state government, Sen. Helmick will be able to play golf every day when he retirees.

John L. Sheely, Jr.,

president

NARFE W.Va. Federation of Chapters

Martinsburg, W.Va.

Obey the speed limit around park

Nope, not yet. Four dollars and more per gallon cannot slow you down.

Especially you. Oh, in such a hurry, speeding, the 20 mph limit not meant for you. You knew you hit them. You felt them crush under your tires into the unyielding pavement. Not one but two.

Oh my, you did notice, didn't you? The music wasn't that loud or your mindless chattering on the cell phone so distracting? Whatever, you were not focused on driving or obeying the law, and you kept on going, leaving the carnage for someone else to remove. The lifeless lumps of vibrant feathers that moments before clothed the waddles and quacks of a pair of mallards on their way home to Fourpole Creek.

The killing scene was across from the church on Enslow Boulevard on June 28. The ducks weren't afraid of you, but I am. I'm an early morning walker and risk my life on the boulevard's narrow sidewalk. Whenever I ride my bike across Washington Boulevard, or across 12th Street or 13th Avenue or 8th Street, I am afraid of you, even on the path alongside North Boulevard and Memorial Parkway because you may jump the curb, speeding.

I am always afraid of you because you consider our park and the roadways that frame it your personal expressway. We with our bikes, strollers and pets are nuisances to you, like annoying speed bumps.

So I ask all lovers of the park to join me. Let's enforce the 20 mph limit by driving it. Let the speeders steam and stew as they pike up behind us every time we safely drive our parkways. They will find another route.

(Another dead duck in the turning lane on Washington Boulevard close to Meadows School on July 3. Did you make the light?).

Sue Hanshaw

Huntington