Spotlight
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Lynchburg News and Advance.
1
Letter to the editor: Crisis in the Classroom?
Now that the State’s funding, and Lynchburg City Schools’ budget has finally been approved for the upcoming school year, and assuming no increase in local funding, I thought I would offer a different way to look at Lynchburg City School’s upcoming budget. While some say that more is always better, while others say you couldn’t satisfy them if you owned a mint, I decided to look at how much it is projected to cost per day, per year, and per lifetime, per student.
Forget the days when you sent the children off to school with 55 cents milk money.
With a projected budget of $145,434,276, Operations, Grants, Capital Outlay and Debt, for 7,161 K-12 students and 300 Pre-K, that attend at a 92% rate for 177 school days, I calculate it will cost $19,492 annually or $119.70 per child per day that they attend.
While not the wagering type, I would bet that all those that spoke at City Council meetings clamoring for more spending (remember more is always better) come nowhere close to paying the $253,396 lifetime per child cost for 13 years of public education or $272,888 if you add in the Pre-K 14th year. And of course, that assumes these costs will not inflate over these next 13 to 14 years, and they will not need to repeat for a year.
Yes, I am certain there are some divisions that cost more than this. But until the parents and/or caretakers put up more than a quarter of a million dollars per child for “public funded” education, please don’t tell me about a “Crisis in the Classroom." I’m pedaling as hard as I can!
JIM WEIGAND
Lynchburg
2
Letter to the editor: Please pass the word salad
Dear Donald Trump:
You have stated several times that President Biden "took something" in preparation for his State of the Union address. Your allegation is this something temporarily restored the president's mental acuity, something you claim is compromised because of his age and supposed dementia.
I speak on behalf of the millions of American caregivers who have watched with exhausted bodies and broken hearts as our loved ones decline and die from various forms of dementia: if there really were this magic "something" to restore someone's capacity— even for just a few minutes—there is no price that we would not pay for it. Can you even imagine the joy of being recognized one more time by someone who has not known you for months, years? I would have sold my home, my very soul, to have my precious husband back with me, if only for a few joyous minutes.
Why would you be cruel enough to lead your laughing MAGA crowds in making fun of a deadly disease? The person you ridicule clearly does not have any of the symptoms of dementia—such as speaking indecipherable "word salad" when trying to deliver a simple thought.
Actually, YOU show that very symptom, Mr. Trump. Karma is a powerful force. I look forward to seeing you get your just rewards.
DONNA STCLAIR
Forest
3
Letter to the editor: Cronyism enables fraudulent success
More conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court leads to the realization that conservatives’ success is largely attributed to cronyism and corruption.
How are virtuous ordinary Americans supposed to hope to achieve their American Dreams in such a society, economy, government, political arena and System of Justice that mocks and defiles the values of the American people and our Founding Principle of Equality?
Americans do not have any hope of pursuing happiness in the cesspool of cronyism, corruption and the obscene, unearned and undeserved self-aggrandizement of virtue-less, self-aggrandizing un-American globalist corporate oligarchs, who suppress employee’s wages and benefits and repeatedly raise prices on goods and services to embolden their obscene escalation of insatiable greed.
We the people must seize control of our nation and restore virtuous governance or we the people are doomed and OUR greatness and OUR freedom shall be stripped away until conservatives are the only ones enjoying the freedoms they refuse to pay taxes to support, administer and defend.
WENDELL WYLAND
Madison Heights
4
Letter to the editor: Justice for all
"If they can do it to me, they can do it to YOU!" Those are Donald Trump's words.
I agree on several levels. The Justice Department has been dispensing this kind of justice to average folk for 250 years. With Trump, in March 23, people on the Grand Jury indicted him on 34 counts. On May 30, a jury of 12 of his peers, which his defense helped approve, rendered a guilty verdict.
This was a seismic event to his base, and I think traces back 30 years to when Pat Buchanan ran for President. Our political elites have had this view of "rules for thee, but not for me!" view of justice. Never mind the Justice Department is prosecuting Hunter Biden and Sen. Menendez. They are "thees" and should be prosecuted, but how dare anyone impugn the innocence of any Republican leader.
Note that when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, it ends with "... one nation under God, with liberty and justice for ALL." No Republican I know really believes that. By all, they mean mostly themselves. It's why they despise woke. It's why they talk about the Founders (who thought only rich white landowners should vote). It's why they ridicule BLM and Kaepernick, and CRT and more.
In their universe, more rights for others means fewer rights for them. It's why they will continue to support Trump even though we ALL know Trump has ignored the law for 40 years. It terrifies many of his supporters to think, as I began, "If they can do it to him, they can do it to us!" I say thank God they can. Only when everyone faces the same justice can America achieve its full potential, everyone, period.
KENNETH NAUGLE
Forest
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Letter to the editor: Crisis in the Classroom?
Now that the State’s funding, and Lynchburg City Schools’ budget has finally been approved for the upcoming school year, and assuming no increase in local funding, I thought I would offer a different way to look at Lynchburg City School’s upcoming budget. While some say that more is always better, while others say you couldn’t satisfy them if you owned a mint, I decided to look at how much it is projected to cost per day, per year, and per lifetime, per student.
Forget the days when you sent the children off to school with 55 cents milk money.
With a projected budget of $145,434,276, Operations, Grants, Capital Outlay and Debt, for 7,161 K-12 students and 300 Pre-K, that attend at a 92% rate for 177 school days, I calculate it will cost $19,492 annually or $119.70 per child per day that they attend.
While not the wagering type, I would bet that all those that spoke at City Council meetings clamoring for more spending (remember more is always better) come nowhere close to paying the $253,396 lifetime per child cost for 13 years of public education or $272,888 if you add in the Pre-K 14th year. And of course, that assumes these costs will not inflate over these next 13 to 14 years, and they will not need to repeat for a year.
Yes, I am certain there are some divisions that cost more than this. But until the parents and/or caretakers put up more than a quarter of a million dollars per child for “public funded” education, please don’t tell me about a “Crisis in the Classroom." I’m pedaling as hard as I can!
JIM WEIGAND
Lynchburg
Letter to the editor: Please pass the word salad
Dear Donald Trump:
You have stated several times that President Biden "took something" in preparation for his State of the Union address. Your allegation is this something temporarily restored the president's mental acuity, something you claim is compromised because of his age and supposed dementia.
I speak on behalf of the millions of American caregivers who have watched with exhausted bodies and broken hearts as our loved ones decline and die from various forms of dementia: if there really were this magic "something" to restore someone's capacity— even for just a few minutes—there is no price that we would not pay for it. Can you even imagine the joy of being recognized one more time by someone who has not known you for months, years? I would have sold my home, my very soul, to have my precious husband back with me, if only for a few joyous minutes.
Why would you be cruel enough to lead your laughing MAGA crowds in making fun of a deadly disease? The person you ridicule clearly does not have any of the symptoms of dementia—such as speaking indecipherable "word salad" when trying to deliver a simple thought.
Actually, YOU show that very symptom, Mr. Trump. Karma is a powerful force. I look forward to seeing you get your just rewards.
DONNA STCLAIR
Forest
Letter to the editor: Cronyism enables fraudulent success
More conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court leads to the realization that conservatives’ success is largely attributed to cronyism and corruption.
How are virtuous ordinary Americans supposed to hope to achieve their American Dreams in such a society, economy, government, political arena and System of Justice that mocks and defiles the values of the American people and our Founding Principle of Equality?
Americans do not have any hope of pursuing happiness in the cesspool of cronyism, corruption and the obscene, unearned and undeserved self-aggrandizement of virtue-less, self-aggrandizing un-American globalist corporate oligarchs, who suppress employee’s wages and benefits and repeatedly raise prices on goods and services to embolden their obscene escalation of insatiable greed.
We the people must seize control of our nation and restore virtuous governance or we the people are doomed and OUR greatness and OUR freedom shall be stripped away until conservatives are the only ones enjoying the freedoms they refuse to pay taxes to support, administer and defend.
WENDELL WYLAND
Madison Heights
Letter to the editor: Justice for all
"If they can do it to me, they can do it to YOU!" Those are Donald Trump's words.
I agree on several levels. The Justice Department has been dispensing this kind of justice to average folk for 250 years. With Trump, in March 23, people on the Grand Jury indicted him on 34 counts. On May 30, a jury of 12 of his peers, which his defense helped approve, rendered a guilty verdict.
This was a seismic event to his base, and I think traces back 30 years to when Pat Buchanan ran for President. Our political elites have had this view of "rules for thee, but not for me!" view of justice. Never mind the Justice Department is prosecuting Hunter Biden and Sen. Menendez. They are "thees" and should be prosecuted, but how dare anyone impugn the innocence of any Republican leader.
Note that when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, it ends with "... one nation under God, with liberty and justice for ALL." No Republican I know really believes that. By all, they mean mostly themselves. It's why they despise woke. It's why they talk about the Founders (who thought only rich white landowners should vote). It's why they ridicule BLM and Kaepernick, and CRT and more.
In their universe, more rights for others means fewer rights for them. It's why they will continue to support Trump even though we ALL know Trump has ignored the law for 40 years. It terrifies many of his supporters to think, as I began, "If they can do it to him, they can do it to us!" I say thank God they can. Only when everyone faces the same justice can America achieve its full potential, everyone, period.
KENNETH NAUGLE
Forest
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