OCR Text |
Show Sun Advocate Opdmbom 6a Tuesday, January 25, 1994 Letters To The Editor Everyone needs access to long-terhealth care m Editor: There is a widely accepted myth that long-teris only for older people who need nursing home in 1990, 10.6 million people of all The fact is m needed care care. ages care. Long-tercare refers to services like respite care, personal assistants and day care to aid those who need help with everyday activities like bathing, eating and dressing. As the nation debates health care reform, we must work to include long-tercare in any legislation that is passed. urge you to contact yoursenators and congressional representatives to voice your opinion on this important matter that affects people of all ages. long-ter- m m m I Dr. Ken Creer AARP state director Questions bicycle tax Editor: It appears our lackluster state representative is at it again. Last year, Rep. Tom Matthews took aim at the Division of Wildlife Resources. He and his Cowboy Caucus buddies devastated the DWR treasury, which resulted in major cutbacks in the division this year. Now he is taking aim at the mountain bikers. Mr. Matthews needsto get out a little and spend some time in the fresh air of southern Utah. Apparently, the smoke-fillerooms of the state capitol are affecting his d thinking. Matthews has introduced a bill in the Utah Legislature that would impose a $1 0 tax on each bicycle sold for an adult in the state. He claims the machines are having an impact in the state and riders need to begin payMr. ing their way. agree mountain bikes and riders are having an effect Utah. Both good and bad. If you talk to most of the business owners in Moab, they will tell you they can spend the dollars they receive from mountain bikers just as readily as those that used to come in from mining and the pitifully few coming from local ranchers. They are glad to see those new dollars Staff columns Dealing with violent crime ASHBY Sun Advocate publisher By KEVIN le I in coming in. My beef" with Mr. Matthews is his one-trac- k thinking. He appears to have an agenda for just one group livestock owners. could go along with Mr. Matthews proposal if he applied the same logic to the sheep and cattle industry in Utah. believe if you sent 1 ,000 mountain bikes down a trail and then sent 1 ,000 head of sheep down the same trail, the damage left by the sheep would far outweigh the damage done by the bike riders. Maybe we should place I I the same $10 head tax on the sheep so their owners can begin paying their way. What do you think, Mr. Matthews? Do you represent all the public or just those sharing your interest? Represent all of us. N. Layne Miller TURN IN A PUSHER The information gathered as a result of the folliowing is confidential and will not be divulged to anyone outside the CarbonEmery Drug Task Force. Any information you may provide, even if only a partial description will be evaluated and placed into a composite file of all other information gathered hopefully to provide a full picture of the problem as it exists. Action will be taken on every submission. Thank you for your cooperation. Name of suspected drug dealer: Nickname: Many, and what seems like most, Americans are now trying to enact stiffer gun control laws, even to the point of abolishing guns. But what they are missing is the concept of what thousands of in place gun control laws have accomplished or not accomplished. I admit that there is an increase in violent crime, but lets review what has happened in the past. Usually, what we hear is support all causes the National Rifle Association (NRA) opposes. This is an organization with more than 3 million members whose primary objective is firearm safety, training and education. There already are more than 20,000 gun laws on the books nationwide and of Americans live under about some form of waiting petwo-thir- ds gun-purcha- Method of dealing: Location of dealing Drug(s) being dealt: Price: Main Amount: purchasers: (LE. school kids, truckers, etc.,) List any other suspected Illegal activities: Code name you wish to be known by May we contact If If you? YES NO mall When by phone yes, then how: by we may contact you by mall, what Is your address? not, then will you contact us again using the same code name, NO should you have further Information? YES If If Yes Call 637-847- 7 Please take a few minutes and invest 25 cents in a stamp. You can help in the fight against drugs. Take a stand and get involved! The life you save may be your child's. Please mail to TIPS Sun Advocate Box 870, Price, Utah 84501. se riod. The NRA, in fact, has more than 30,000 certified instructors teaching about 1 million safety courses a year. This has contributed to a decline of more than 80 percent in the number of fatal firearms accidents since the turn of the century, 38 percent in the past decade and 17 percent in the past year. For its efforts, the NRA recently was honored by the National Safety Council for outstanding community service. -- offenders are the true assault weapons that need to be banned. How do we stop the revolving door of criminal justice from spinning further out of control? The latest scientific nationRewide poll conducted by Luntz-Websearch shows that a mere 7 percent of Americans think that guns are a cause of violent crime, while only 9 percent consider added gun control a solution. Most Americans see prevention programs and criminal justice reform as solutions to rising violent crime. Even the NRA is taking action. Its Crime Strike Division was instrumental in advancing a measure on the ballot in Washington state calling for life sentences without parole for criminals convicted of three serious crimes. A similar proposal has been introduced at the federal level. Crime Strike helped pass victims rights constitutional amendments in five states. And CrimeStrike helped craft and pass juvenile justice reforms in Arizona and Colorado. If we have a crusade, it should be one with fairness and balance, strengthened by accuracy and thoroughness in dealing crime issues. Just the gun control-violeon guns is control out with more coming not the answer to our violent crime problems. I hope our legislators look a little deeper than the surface solutions being presented to them. er nt (Guest column Restoring order in America By RICHARD LESHER President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce In 1744, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen ofLondon drew up an address to the king in which they stated that various confederacies of great numbers of persons, armed with bludgeons, pisevil-dispos- Associates of Dealer People seem to ignore the NRAs supcomputport of mandatory point-of-saerized background checks before handguns may be purchased. They also overlook the fact that while many gun controls have been enacted, the violent crime and homicide rates have not been reduced. They have, in fact, skyrocketed. Why? Our criminal justice system provokes more crime by paroling criminals too early. And that happens too often; the average time served by a criminal is only about 30 percent of his prison sentence. The slaying of James Jordan, father of basketball star Michael Jordan, is striking evidence of our failing criminal justice system. One of the suspects in the slaying had been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. He had served less than two years of a life sentence before being paroled just two months before his arrest in Jordans slaying. The other suspect was free, although under indictment on an armed robbery charge. State criminal justice systems should adopt federal sentencing guidelines that keep convicts in prison for 85 percent of their sentences before they become eligible for parole. Until rising violent crime is curbed and current atmosphere of fear is changed to a climate of safety, we would do well to recognize that unchecked criminal activity is the core problem - repeat violent ed tols, cutlasses and other echo of that London mayor of two and a half centuries ago asked the president to mobilize the National Guard and send it into the streets to restore order. The parallel between modern America and 18th century London offers two obvious lessons. One, we are not the first society beset by a breakdown in urban social order. Large dangerous weapons, infest not cities provide individual only the private lanes and paslikewise but the public anonymity that can, under sages, streets and places of usual certain circumstances, foster concourse and commit the rampant criminal behavior. most dangerous outrages Indeed, any amateur histoupon the persons of your rian could easily cite dozens of other examples of cities that Majestys subjects. not had have temporarily lost control improved Things much eight years later when of their streets. the noted British writer HorTwo, no matter how lawless ace Walpole recorded: One is a given city becomes, the citiforced to travel even at noon zens can restore order once as if one were going to battle. they become exasperated That description could easi- enough to demand serious action. The London of today is ly be applied to major sections of many American cities today properly regarded as one of where the basic social fabric is the safest and most orderly in tatters. cities in the world. The United States can and Indeed, the very capital of our nation features almost must face up to the catadaily gun battles which the strophic situation that prevails in large sections of our police are unable to suppress. Recently, the mayor of major cities. in a haunting Washington Congress has recently I, approved money for more police and prisons, and that is part of the solution. The infamous revolving door of our criminal justice system keeps professional crooks in circulation. Until hardcore career criminals are forced to fear the law, they will continue to hold it in contempt and prey on society. Likewise, we must make some terribly difficult decisions regarding our welfare system which inadvertently subsidizes the root cause of much of the crime problem illegitimacy. Young men without strong role models all too easily become predators in the streets. We must replace welfare with workfare and restore the social opprobium that once discouraged out of wedlock births. Finally, we must undertake a national campaign to foster real economic opportunity within inner cities, offering clear and viable options to people who now perceive none around them. Whats missing is a vibrant small business sector. Somehow, the inner city minority community has lost the entrepreneurial spirit that was once its distinguishing characteristic. We have to help get it back. None of this beyond ourwis-dom or power. We lack only the will to the task and commitment to see it through. |