Letters to the Editor for Wednesday, April 18, 2018

The military industrial complex is spending taxpayer money to such an extent that we have eight times more military equipment than all the other nations combined and to add to that insanity, our wonderful Congress just passed a bill that will hike up these military expenses even higher, part of which will run up the national debt by in excess of a trillion dollars. This is happening at the same time that some of our kids in public schools are using textbooks held together with duck tape.

The “war on drugs” is a bust. We would be better off just taking away the guilt and helping these poor souls break the habit. We could do this by creating an ABC store for drugs and using the money for treatments. Stop putting these people in prison. Take the drug profits, treat them ’til they’re clean and get them back in the workforce!

The gun lobby and the NRA are scaring everybody by proclaiming in a very loud voice that the government is coming to “get your guns.” Nobody ever explains why the government would want to do such a thing, but that hasn’t stopped them from saying it. Because of this “fear,” Congress cannot pass a single law to keep guns away from sick people. The other day, I actually saw a young man walking his two dogs and he was wearing what looked like a flak jacket. This is what it’s come to.

I have to say that I am almost glad that President Trump is doing such a terrible job as the leader of this country because at least his insanity is waking up America to the new reality that he and Congress are not going to fix the problems that plague our country. While Trump is helping his rich friends get even richer, people are waking up to the reality that unless they do something this train is going to go off the rails.

There’s a saying that cops use sometimes when they try to describe the reality of fighting crime: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” If we are going to keep our nation free from these tyrannical influences, we need to stay focused on getting some of these characters out of office and put people in there with some common sense. Those high school kids from Florida are right. Most of the talk coming out of Washington is B.S.

VINCENT HOVDA

Lynchburg

The meaning of community

When the Lynchburg Area Veterans Council approached Daryl Burgess about a pilot program to raise money through each store we learned a lot about community values and patriotism throughout his Quick-e stores. With 43 years of making life easier for customers, Burgess, president of Quick-e, did not hesitate. With the highest reputation as someone who values hard work, dedication and the success of the employees, he demonstrated his support for veterans and for all persons serving our nation’s calling.

The family-owned business has grown to 13 stores from Amherst to Appomattox to Lynchburg to Rustburg. There is no doubt each customer feels the same sense of values and patriotism since they were the ones contributing when they placed whatever change or bills they can into the patriotically decorated plastic jars positioned in each store.

Quick-e has been a great neighbor and friend through many community volunteer hours, and they support many well known charities. During our two-month pilot program, their customers contributed more $2,400 to support area veterans in need.

The Lynchburg Area Veterans Council thanks Burgess for allowing us to place our jars in their stores, and we thank their great customers for their generous support. We look forward to continuing to work with the Quick-e family of stores and their incredible customers.

NEIL JACKSON

Forest

Report the progress

“It’s easier to accelerate progress if you know how far we’ve already come.”

That’s a quote from Bill Gates as he talks about how humans misunderstand progress.

I sense that’s an issue for many today who believe activists and media fan the flames concerning race relations without also reporting the progress. But of course those who profit from the fanning would then lose relevance and income in reporting otherwise because, unfortunately and especially in our current media world, the tragedies travel at Mach 1 while the progress travels like a turtle.

Maybe The News & Advance will consider including more features about the progress so we might focus more on accelerating it.

BILLY MCBRATNEY

Lynchburg