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Letters to the Editor

Don’t Shift Taxes to the Poor

Editor, News-Register: After hearing that Governor Justice and many of the legislators in Charleston want to eliminate personal income taxes, I am very upset. I do not mind paying my taxes when the money is used for us — like good roads, schools, parks etc. According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy West Virginia, our state income tax is progressive, meaning it is setup so that higher-income residents pay a larger share than low- and middle-income residents. It is much fairer than the federal setup. How do the Governor and legislators proposed to pay for ...

Time to Cut Military Spending

Editor, News-Register: I am a pacifist even though I have served three years on active duty in the U.S. Military. I am not religious. I believe in science; faith doesn’t work for me. I won’t believe in an afterlife until someone can scientifically prove to me of the existence of such a place. (I do highly respect the good human work religions do.) So according to my way of thinking, you only go around once. A life—any life—is therefore very precious. Killing is wrong. Period! I am not naive. There are times when it is necessary to take a life to save other lives; ...

W.Va. 2 Project Not Worth It

Editor, News-Register: Your reporting and subsequent editorial on the widening of W.Va. 2 from Proctor to Kent is typical of your lack of research and questioning. I travel this section regularly and I attended all the public meetings and studied the engineering report. ADT, average daily traffic, typically guides road improvement projects. When queried, engineers told me that the ADT in this case “barely qualifies this section for upgrades.” The W.Va. 2/I-68 committee ignored the ADT and maintained that this project would unleash incredible economic development. Traffic from ...

Team Effort Needed With Virus

Editor, News-Register: For West Virginia’s 602 nurse anesthetists, (the just passed) CRNA Week feels less about celebrating our profession and more about honoring those who touched our lives, and whose lives we touched, during the year of the pandemic. Across West Virginia, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists who have been providing critical care on the front lines of COVID-19, and those who have been providing anesthesia care behind the lines, want to recognize our healthcare colleagues with whom we’ve toiled side by side to provide comfort and healing to our patients. It ...

Time To Redesign W.Va. Flag

Editor, News-Register: There is nothing offensive about West Virginia’s flag, other than how boring it is. Our state has a proud and rich history that should be celebrated in a unique flag we can all be proud of. The current design is dated and does not adequately express our individuality. There are states like New Mexico, Maryland, and even Ohio that have unique flags that one can immediately identify. Our flag is the state seal on a white and blue background. Our flag breaks what vexillologists, those who study and design flags, call the primary rules of good flag design. It ...

Consider Education Options

Editor, News-Register: Amidst this wretched COVID pandemic, it is time to consider the long-term damage that has been done to a generation’s education. Although the effort has been sincere, online programs simply have not provided anywhere near the same amount of learning as a normal year. Certainly by next fall we should be on a normal, five-day-a-week schedule. It is time to consider massive efforts to catch up these children that have lost a year of school, and any way that time may be caught up. Could we extend the school day, or the school year? Any plausible approach ...