Letters To The Editor

Freedom of Choice Act Will Curtail Freedom

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

To require doctors to perform abortions against their understanding of natural moral law is unconscionable. These physicians would be prosecuted (some would say persecuted) because of religious beliefs that abortion is an intrinsic evil and the life of an unborn child must be protected from harm. Hospitals could lose all government funding because of their refusal to perform abortions. Church leaders are gravely concerned that passage of the bill will greatly curtail our First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.

Passage of this bill could rend this nation so severely that it may be necessary to employ the passive resistance tactics of Martin Luther King Jr. to right the situation. Readers should contact their elected representatives to stop this bill. As national health care is debated, we must also maintain eternal vigilance to ensure that the present rules permitting medical personnel to obey their conscience are not undone. Separation of church and state does not preclude morals and ethics in politics.

Our unalienable rights have been given to us by God, as clearly expressed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence -- and we should expect our government to protect these rights.

Charles H. Crum Jr. Ruther Glen.

Other Agencies Could Maintain Rest Areas

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

As we speak, VDOT is moving ahead with plans to mothball the SRAs beginning July 1, the middle of tourist season. The planned cost of this? No more than $2 million -- or about $60,000 - $80,000 for each of the 25 chosen ones. Of course, this is a VDOT estimate after all, and the real cost is probably $3 million-$5 million. VDOT is currently spending the next fiscal year's revenues in this fiscal year. If the rest areas are ever reopened, the cost of that could run between $10 million-$15 million.

Maintaining the facilities can, however, be easily handled by another state agency -- the Department of General Services' Division of Engineering and Buildings. The agency's Bureau of Facilities Management, unlike VDOT, is funded in large part from the same pocket where most of Virginia's tourism-related revenues end up.

Elimination of the very facilities truckers depend on for rest would have a catastrophic impact on safety. The price for that could sadly be paid in blood.

John D. Crim. New Market.

Va. Tech Families Support Gun Reform

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

On April 16, 2007, our cherished loved ones were in the right place at the right time: students and professors actively engaged in the pursuit of education with hopes of making a better future for themselves and others. Brilliant, dedicated, beautiful, self-sacrificing lives were ended needlessly by gun violence, and the horror of being hit by bullet after bullet will be re-lived by the survivors for the rest of their lives.

As we observe the two year anniversary of the tragedy, we remain extremely disappointed in Virginia lawmakers for not closing the gun show loophole, and we hold them accountable for their inaction on gun violence prevention. They abdicated their responsibility to protect citizens of the commonwealth by failing to pass legislation to prevent the easy access to guns by the mentally ill, convicted felons, and others ineligible to purchase weapons.

Progress has been made in mental health reform, but a mentally ill person can still walk into a public gun show and purchase a weapon without a background check. In a statewide poll conducted by Christopher Newport University last year, 68 percent of Virginians said that requiring background checks on all firearm sales at gun shows was their highest priority for the General Assembly, and our legislators chose to ignore them. We expect more from our legislators and will demand our newly elected delegates and governor listen to the citizens of Virginia and close the gun show loophole.

In memory of those who died or were wounded on April 16, 2007, we ask our elected officials to take responsibility for sparing others the pain of gun violence by enacting legislation to prevent the easy access to guns.

Lori Haas. Richmond.