Voter-ID laws tied to health coverage

Editor:

Thanks to the Gazette for publishing Chris Swindell's excellent commentary ("Is denial of health coverage the plan?" Aug. 15), in which he calls out Republicans on their apparent abandonment of some 50 million Americans who lack health insurance, by wanting to repeal Obamacare with no proposal to replace it.

Further proof of this phenomenon can be seen in their voter-ID laws, which were launched in response to voter registration fraud, using the actions of a few ACORN operatives and others who were being paid to register voters. Well, here's a news flash: People commit fraud for more money.

What the voter-ID laws target is voter fraud, not voter registration fraud, where votes are cast fraudulently, and which is so rare that actual instances have not been cited. The effect will be to disenfranchise many of the same people who lack health-care coverage.

In this manner Republicans can write off some 50 million of our fellow citizens and then not have to face the wrath of their targets because these targets will no longer be able to vote against their attackers. It makes perfect political sense, but is it American? It certainly goes against anything I've been taught about the American Dream.

Tim Curtis

Richwood

Gun buyers better served elsewhere

Editor:

In lean economic times, I am baffled by Charleston's city ordinance of waiting three days for a handgun purchase and only one per month.

We now have Cabela's, the foremost retailer of firearms in the United States here in our city, and we restrict the tax revenue that we could get. Case in point, I purchased the same handgun in South Charleston that I could have purchased here for the same price. Would Charleston have benefited from my little tax paid last week? Just multiply my tax by 5,000 sales. Charleston is losing revenue for no reason at all.

This ordinance should be revoked to maximize the tax revenue. Gun owners are very savvy to price and demand; the business leaves Charleston routinely over a 72-hour waiting period. Sadly, so does the tax revenue. If you are buying a handgun, do not buy it in Charleston and come home with it that day. South Charleston or Huntington thanks you for the money.

Scott Carr

Charleston

Broadband service must be incentivized

Editor:

Regarding the Sept. 6 story "By year's end, Internet to be available to 90% of McDowell": In the 1970s, I lived in McDowell County for four years. A prime reason for the stagnating economy in rural West Virginia was the difficulty in communication with other areas. The situation has changed little.

Forty years later, high-speed broadband is exactly what McDowell County and other rural areas need to spark economic growth and job creation. Broadband increases a community's employment levels and can help attract employers and skilled workers.

Despite this good news, West Virginia still lags the nation in the percentage of our households with broadband access. How can we fix that?

First, by urging government to keep faith with the bipartisan policy in place since President Clinton signed the Telecom Act of 1996: open markets, more competition and light regulation. Broadband providers have spent more than $1 trillion to build one of the world's most powerful broadband infrastructures since then, reaching 95 percent of American homes; European-style government controls would only stifle the capital expenditures needed to get broadband to the rest.

Second, by advocating for programs that create incentives for broadband providers to invest in rural networks, such as the FCC's recent reform of the Universal Service Fund to include broadband and proposed changes to the Rural Utilities Service to focus more on unserved communities.

Broadband is a modern technology, but to expand its use we mainly need good old-fashioned common sense.

Robin Corbin

Dunbar

License renewals require documents

Editor:

If your driver's license expires in the next few months, and if your name has changed since your original birth certificate, you will need certified (with raised seal) copies of your birth certificate, marriage certificate and, if necessary, divorce decrees and marriage certificates for every time your name changed. You also need proof of your Social Security number and two proofs of residency.

Birth certificates are available at West Virginia Vital Statistics in the former Diamond Department Store building or at the Kanawha County Courthouse. Divorce records are in the circuit clerk's office. Start early; lines are long. Visit dmv.wv.gov for requirements.

Sandra Myers

Dry Branch