Letters to the Editor

July 3 letters to the editor

No purpose or need for
city’s wards commission

The city of Morgantown does not have to have wards with equal population. (Monongalia County) Circuit Court sided with the city by dismissing my case asking the city to equalize ward populations.

I accept this dismissal as a clear expression the city is not required to have equal ward populations. I wish I knew this six years ago, when I was nominated to serve on the city’s Ward and Boundaries Commission, responsible for equalizing ward populations. I feel kind of silly.
Not for the court thing, but for being on the commission. What was the point? Why didn’t somebody tell me back then? Oh well.

As I now unambiguously understand, there is no purpose or need for the Ward and Boundaries Commission. I would suggest the city eliminate this unnecessary vestigial appendage of a bygone era. It’s just a modest proposal.

Roger Banks
Morgantown

Democrats’ menu looks
like everything is free

When you go to a restaurant and order from the menu you select the house special or stay with a known quality.

The current presidential debates have now told us that Democrats will give you (the house special) if they are elected president in 2020.

Their menu is, free college education, pay all your past education loans, open borders, citizenship for all illegal immigrants, free health care for all immigrants, Medicare for all, liberal judges that will never overturn Roe vs. Wade, give each adult in the U.S. $1,000 a month, and a lot of love, just to name of a few promises.

I don’t know how we can afford to pay for all of these social programs unless all working Americans pay into a special fund by payroll deduction like you now pay for Social Security. That sure would not leave you much to live on at $15 an hour, unless you receive that $1,000 a month bonus. For $1,000 a month, there will be a lot of people not even wanting to work.

Since most of these candidates are members of Congress, I don’t know why they think they can fix most of these problems when they become president when they couldn’t fix them as members of Congress.

I look at each candidate on stage and try to visualize each one confronting the leaders of Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and other rogue nations when world security decisions have to be made. The commander in chief of our military forces cannot be a wimp but must have the tact to negotiate with our enemies and show no weakness.

I’m breathless waiting to find out if any of them can fix something as simple as a pothole and repairing our infrastructure. As one candidate indicated love is probably the only thing that is free.

William R. Woodall
Waldorf, Md.

Our strength not in our
might but in freedoms

I see where our president is planning a new way to celebrate the 4th of July; a parade with tanks, planes, bands and perhaps him standing above the crowd in review of our military might.

Each one of us should ask ourselves, is this what we celebrate about the 4th or is it our freedoms, our family; to watch our own who have served and are serving on parade; to listen to patriotic music and watch fireworks that celebrate these things with friends and family; to laugh and enjoy our barbecue with each other in our or their backyard devoid of politics.

I think our president has it all wrong; America’s strength is not in our might on display. It is a celebration of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, a celebration of our individual and joint freedoms and our love of family and our dependence on the goodness and ultimate fairness of each other.

Bob Shumaker
Morgantown