LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Car license law needs work

Recently, Meredith Oakley wrote about making veterans aware of special car tags available to them. I am a veteran and retired from the military and I am a strong advocate for veterans' rights, although I have never served in a war or conflict. There is additional information regarding availability of the special car tags.

It seems that you do not have to prove that you served in actual combat in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom or the Persian Gulf War because of the way our legislators wrote the law. You can take a DD-214 form from any of those periods to the revenue office and get the special plate even if you were a unit clerk at Fort Polk, La., for two years and never left the country during that period of service. We have regular veterans mocking veterans of foreign wars by laughing that they have a Vietnam veteran car tag and never set foot in Vietnam.

Yes, we do need to make war veterans aware of these tags. Yes, our legislators need to amend the law so that the same proof required for Medal of Honor and Purple Heart tags would be required on conflict and war tags. It would be very simple to do because it shows on the DD-214 if a person served in war, how long and where.

I would qualify for the tags for Vietnam, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Persian Gulf War the way the law is written. But the only plate I will take advantage of is the Armed Forces Retired plate because that is doing right and is the only one I earned during 42 years of service.

JOE FINLEY FordyceKey factor overlooked

The issue of electricity generation and transmission is a complex one, as was pointed out by staff writer Bill Hornaday's recent news story, "State power station a sleeping giant," but one important factorin the debate was overlooked. While it may be true that Entergy can and should continue to invest in the transmission grid, there is a fundamental difference betweenEntergy, which is regulated by the Arkansas Public Service Commission and is legally obligated to provide power for its customers, and merchant plant owners like Entegra that are looking to sell their electricity at the highest possible cost.

With natural gas prices at rock-bottom, it's no coincidence that Entegra wants to run the plant as much as possible. But if Arkansas ratepayers do end up paying for transmission upgrades for the Union Power Plant, what happens when natural gas prices go through the roof like they did last summer? Will Entegra be willing to sell electricity here in Arkansas at a reasonable price then? Doubtful.

As your story pointed out, transmission upgrades are big bucks, tens of millions. Let's make sure they're worth it before Arkansas ratepayers are left on the hook.

PAUL D. CHOATE El DoradoOnly so much to spend

Your editorial, "Lessons from a Macadoodles," seemed to have been composed with little if any investigation into the background of the Springdale liquor business. As a Springdale resident of more than 75 years, I feel qualified to speak.

Macadoodles is going to put in a retail liquor store and convenience gas station side by side across from an existing retail liquor store and convenience gas station. I fail to see the logic in how Macadoodles is going to, as your editorial stated, "pump funds into a city's coffers"; additional funds, that is.

There are only so many dollars to be spent on retail liquor sales in Springdale regardless of the number of stores. A study of retail liquor in Missouri will show lower prices because of the tax structure. Macadoodles will not bring Missouri prices and customers to the Springdale market. Customers will have to come from the customer base already buying its liquor in Springdale.

I also would point out that the current Springdale Liquor Association stores are owned by local people who are and have been involved in civic projects and have been good business citizens for decades. They pay property taxes within the city and have a payroll for several dozen employees, which also contributes to the community.

It appears that the city wasted taxpayer money in traveling to Little Rock to endorse the Macadoodles application before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board when a formal endorsement in a City Council meeting could have been forwarded to the board and achieved the same result.

BILL WALKER SpringdaleKrugman's facts fuzzy

Paul Krugman claimed that over a trillion of our deficit has been due to the "big Bush tax cut." That is just untrue. But it is a widely held belief. The fact is that federal income tax receipts were $1.85 trillion in 2002. They had reached $2.4 trillion by 2006.

How do we reconcile the Krugman assertion with the tax receipts fact? Well, he simply multiplied the new tax rates times the earlier tax base. What he leaves out is the impact of human behavior. The lower tax rates spurred greater financial activity and thus greater payments to the Treasury.

This is a perfect example of political fact fuzziness, and both sides of the spectrum are guilty; therefore, we must be vigilant and not accept everything we read as truth. This is especially true during the debates over energy, health care and bailouts.

LOWELL McCLANAHAN ConwayBalloting isn't the issue

A lot of discussion has taken place on the Employee Free Choice Act in our community. I strongly support efforts to increase wages and improve benefits for minority workers. However, it is important that we all understand the impact that this legislation would have on workers and minority business owners.

A large number of people I have talked with falsely believe that there is an exemption for small businesses. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Businesses of all sizes would be subject to the rules it puts in place.

Both sides dispute whether this bill eliminates the secret ballot vote. I contend that this is not the issue. The issue is whether the bill guarantees that a secret ballot vote will take place. The answer to that is no.

Minorities in our country view the secret ballot as a sacred right, and they should. There should be no question that employees deserve a vote as a standard procedure in the organization process, whether that vote is requested by the employees or the employers. Employees should not be pressured by anyone to not have a vote, which would be a likely result under this bill.

Finally, we should not be fooled by efforts to take out the "card-check" provisions when they can simply be readded by amendment at a later time. Sen. Blanche Lincoln is doing the right thing for minority workers by opposing EFCA. I hope Sen. Mark Pryor will join her.

CHARLES E. WILLIAMS Little RockFeedback Results quesitonable On a recent Monday evening right at meal time, I got a recorded call from Sen. Mark Pryor asking me to participate in a telephone town hall meeting. How nice for him. This way he doesn't have to face anyone or answer any questions or explain any positions, and the results could be what he reports them to be.

I hung up. I may be dumb. Big Lottery Ernie told me I'm dumb. But I'm not that dumb. Why spend 10 minutes on the phone when the results are recorded even before my answers?

CHARLIE BURTON Little Rock Actions raise doubts The behavior, or misbehavior, of so many people at the town hall meetings on health care reform indicates to me a strong need for mental health care provisions in any reform legislation that might emerge.

DEENER WARDLOW Little Rock