Letters to the editor

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 27, 2006

Watchdog needs teeth

The news media in this part of Kansas should improve on its historical role of holding public organizations accountable to the taxpayers. If taxpayers were better informed, we would be more reluctant to keep adding to our own sales tax burden.

The Joint Economic Development Organization, the beneficiary of a Shawnee County sales tax assessment, may be collecting $15 million in sales tax dollars each year. Yet this organization has not produced any public budgets or financial reports to account for these funds. The only reports JEDO has made readily available to the public are related to GoTopeka, the recipient of an annual $5 million distribution of sales tax proceeds for economic development.

Washburn University, which also gets sales tax money from the county, has recently entered into a $214,000 leasehold construction contract to improve a portion of a property leased by the university and appraised by the county at $102,000. The chairwoman of the Washburn University Board of Regents failed to abstain from the vote approving this contract, in spite of the conflict of interest caused by her business and personal relationships with the landlord.

It seems that our public servants provide poor stewardship of the funds entrusted to them, and the local media is lax in holding them accountable for their transgressions.

MARY LOU HERRING,Topeka

Needs are clear

I am responding to the letter from Dewayne Burgess (Aug. 21). Here is the kind of change I would like to see. The Democratic Party I would like to vote for, unlike the current Republican administration, would be willing to accept reality and to learn from mistakes rather than deny them forever.

The Democratic Party I would like to vote for, unlike current Republicans, would understand that petty, partisan politics must be set aside because we are in a serious fight for survival.

We don't need more tax cuts and corporate wealth. We don't need more TV commercials slyly urging us to become more greedy, hedonistic and slothful. We do need a sense of purpose, a shared sense that there is something worth sacrificing for, and some concrete tasks to do.

The Democratic Party I would like to vote for would understand that, though we may hate the basket of trouble the current administration has created, we are in Iraq and our fate is now inextricably entwined with that of the Iraqis.

Above all, the Democratic Party I would like to vote for would understand, unlike the Republicans, that the "war against terrorism" needs to become a campaign to win hearts and minds. The bankrupt approach of killing the enemy has only served to create more terrorists.

The Democratic Party I would like to vote for would focus our efforts not on seeking and destroying terrorists, an impossible job, but on protecting ourselves from them - securing our ports and borders, securing at-risk facilities, improving intelligence gathering. I am waiting to see if this Democratic Party exists.

LOU HOOVER,Topeka

Paying their own way

This is in response to the letter from the Rev. Richard Taylor of Berryton (Aug. 23). Sir, with all due respect, your statements with regard to the trucking industry need a few corrections.

My husband has been a truck owner operator for 26 years. He works hard for a living and without any tax subsidizes. Where do you get idea that the trucking industry is getting tax subsidizes? Please tell us where that is so we can go sign up.

Sir, we pay taxes - lots of them. We pay fuel taxes for each and every mile we drive in each and every state. In some states we even have to pay a highway use tax just to drive on the road.

Then let's talk about the heavy use tax that we have to pay every year for the pleasure of driving on the sometimes less than wonderful highways. For a single truck, that amount is $550 a year. Imagine what it is for a fleet of trucks, let alone what that comes to for all the trucks on the highway. And all of that money is supposed to go directly to maintenance and repairs of the roads. If you have issues there I suggest you take it up with the government.

This country moves on trucks. How many trains pull up to the back the local grocery store to deliver milk for you and your family? Yet the government does subside the train industry heavily.

We have enjoyed taking Amtrak and would like to take train trips in the future. But there comes a time when you have to support yourself.

We have to pay our way, and so should Amtrak. If the public is interested in saving passenger service on Amtrak, let them buy tickets to travel that way.

EDIE ZARGER and DAVE TOOF,Topeka

There's a difference

I always read Bill Roy's column and 95 percent of the time I don't agree with him. But, because of his education, his experience as a doctor and as a congressman I respect his opinions. That is, up until his column of Aug. 19.

I was pleased to see he opened the column with the good news that British Intelligence had prevented a plan that could have killed 4,000 people or more.

That is good news, and if I understand correctly, the British had some help from the United States and Pakistan. Even more important is that some intelligence methods so opposed by most Democrats and the left were used in this discovery.