A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and THE TIMES of Scotch Plains – Fanwood Thursday, May 6, 1999 Page 5
CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK
Local Resident Suggests ProposalFor Federal Tax on Ammunition
I have a proposal in reference to themany killings that have taken place inthe past several months. Simply put, itwould be to place a heavy tax on all formsand types of ammunition.
I believe that this would place anadditional obstacle in the way of gunproliferation and the continuation of morekillings.
There is or has been a federal tax onwhisky, wine, beer, gasoline, cigarettes,tobacco, telephone calls and probablymany more. Why are all of these itemstaxed and not ammunition? Is there anygood reason why ammunition should notbe taxed? Many of these items have beentaxed as a deterrence, some have beentaxed as a luxury.
Certainly, the use of ammunitionand guns is a luxury, and if a tax wouldhelp deter even a few killings it wouldbe a great benefit to society. If theargument is that a gun is a means ofprotection, I say that a small amount ofammunition is all that is needed, sayfive or 10 rounds.
This would not be an exorbitant tax. Ifthe argument is that the ammunition isrequired as a sport I say �OK,� but it is adeadly luxury and should be taxed heavily.
The funds derived from these taxescould be used to fund any type of federalcomputerized system to trace the sale ofand the use of guns and ammunition.
William G. WilliamsScotch Plains
Township Council Should PassResolution to �Reclaim America�
Editor�s Note: The following letterwas sent to members of the Scotch PlainsTownship Council, with a copy sent toThe Times. The letter has been editeddue to space limitations.
* * * * *America ends one century and be-
gins another with a question fewpeople ever thought would have to beasked. Is the American experimentin freedom and liberty sustainablegiven the violence which stalks oursociety?
A Scotch Plains police officer toldme today, �We are out-gunned.� In-deed we are. Whole arsenals of weap-ons exist in private hands in thiscountry, enough for a small or a bigwar. And not just any guns. Gunswhich only one would expect to seeon the battlefield. But it is more thanguns in private hands which pose aclear threat to the public health, safety,and welfare and to the survivabilityof our country.
It is a mass entertainment indus-try which spews out one violent movieafter another, one violence filled songlyric after another. It is disrespecttoward teachers and other authorityfigures. It is the bastardization of theconstitutional right to life, liberty,and the pursuit of happiness to meananything goes anytime anywhere. Itis public officials not acting up totheir public trust.
It is the view that rights come first,responsibilities second if at all. It isa materialism without limit whichonly feeds the self-centeredness ofindividuals.
What can be done? What can youas a Township Council do? You canpass a resolution entitled, �We MustReclaim America.� The resolutionshould include:
1. A condemnation of violence.2. A call for the strictest-gun con-
trol. No one other than law enforce-ment officers, registered hunters, andregistered gun hobbyists may ownfirearms.
3. The placement of metal detec-tors and other surveillance devices inall the public schools. This, of course,is a matter for the School Board todecide.
4. A call for an end to the filmingof shootings and killings and otherviolence in the movies and on televi-sion and in �the news.�
5. A call for the cancellation of the�Jerry Springer Show� and othersshows of this ilk.
6. Dress uniforms in public schoolas a way of establishing a sense ofrespect for authority. Again this is amatter for the School Board.
7. A community vigil against vio-lence.
8. A call for greater parental re-sponsibility, accountability, and in-volvement.
9. �Honor The Police DepartmentDay.� All communities must reaf-firm their support of their law en-forcement officers at a time of grow-ing cynicism about law enforcement.
10. A call for President Bill Clintonto hold a White House Conference onViolence in the United States andhow best to end it.
The very survival of Americansociety and democracy as we knowthem is at stake. Continued violencecan only work to undermine publicconfidence in our ability to maintainlaw and order.
We have more people in prisonand otherwise under the criminaljustice system than any other coun-try in the world. We have morehomicides per capita than in mostany other country in the world otherthan those countries suffering fromcivil and other war. More murderstake place annually in New YorkCity than take place annually inJapan! California spends more onits prison system than on its univer-sity system.
Still, there seems to be no end tothe violence in the United States.
One resolution cannot do it. Norcan ten. But if every communitypassed such a resolution and took thesteps called for in the resolution wewould make progress and lead anincreasingly frightened public to con-clude that we still can make it as acountry, as a people, as a society, as ademocracy.
Dr. Steven SchoemanScotch Plains
How Can Borough Take Dean OilBuilder Seriously in the Future?
The sensitive issue of rental housingdevelopment on the former Dean Oil sitehas arisen once again and deserves com-ment. A �concept hearing� had takenplace on April 19 where the developerhad stated his case and shared variousthoughts on how the proposal was beinghandled.
I must admit that I was rather shockedat his flippant demeanor even after hehad �stood up� the entire community bynot attending the hearing at the ParkMiddle School with his revised proposal.
His reason, if I understand him cor-rectly, was that there was some misun-derstanding as to whether this site wasbeing developed for low income housingand as a result, withdrew his proposal.We as a community feel very stronglyabout this issue and his reason shouldhave been stated at that meeting.
While most of us agree that this siteneeds to be developed, this �concepthearing� proved to be totally fruitless.Had the developers done their home-work, got a good night sleep, and lookedunder their collective pillows in the morn-ing, they would have discovered that anyrental housing, whether luxury or lowincome, is completely out of characterwith the landscape of the borough.
Instead, we as a community had tolisten to references to the �fairy god
mother� and the almighty �L� word. Howthen, may I ask, can this communityseriously entertain any future proposalsfrom these people? How does one notquestion the intent of such a preposter-ous, short-sited proposal of rental unitsof any kind? I felt as if I had been violatedbut, of course, heard no apology. I wouldlike to commend, however, MayorMaryanne S. Connelly and the entireFanwood Council for handling this mat-ter in a gracious and professional man-ner.
What I feel would be responsible de-velopment would be to encourage busi-ness development at this site. If thisproposal fails, then I would suggest thatthe town buy the property and keep it�green and clean� which is the philoso-phy of Governor Whitman and is more inline with preventing over development.
Make no mistake, any so called �de-velopment� revolving around rental hous-ing would potentially represent a serioussetback to revitalization and should beviewed with extreme caution and a morelong-term perspective.
I have yet to hear any advantages ofsuch a project by the developers whodon�t seem to have in mind the bestinterests of the citizens of Fanwood.
John LicataFanwood
Letters to the Editor
Editor�s Note: The following columnis being run as a special ed-op piece inThe Westfield Leader and The Times ofScotch Plains and Fanwood.
* * * * *New Jersey voters this April showed
overwhelming support for school bud-gets throughout the state, with 82 per-cent of the budgets approved. That�s thegood news.
The bad news is that only a fraction ofthe state�s registered voters - 13.3 per-cent went to the polls. This was one ofthe lowest turnouts in recent memory.
We live in a democracy - a participa-tory democracy. It�s a disservice to de-mocracy that so few people take part inschool elections.
Consider what was at stake. A schoolboard�s responsibilities are consider-able from hiring superintendents to ap-proving curriculum to deciding whattexts are used in the classroom.
Beyond the school-book argument forparticipation is the pocketbook one.School budgets make up by far the larg-est portion of the property tax bill - andright now the only part that comes up fora direct vote by the public.
An effective school board can have adramatic effect on the quality of educa-tion in that community by assuring thateducation dollars are spent where theybelong - in the classroom.
With limited polling hours and littlepublicity, April elections draw scantattention in the community, except fromthose committed citizens who wouldwalk barefoot through a blizzard to casttheir votes. As a result, too few of usreally study the budget and make ourvoices heard.
We in state government have workedhard to spark increased, informed par-ticipation by providing the public withunprecedented information. In recentyears, we have re-instituted school re-port cards, published a comparativespending guide, and required districtsto send sample ballots to every house-hold each April. But as this year�s turn-out proved it isn�t enough.
There�s a very logical solution to theproblem. If you can�t get the voters toparticipate in April, get them to partici-
By Christine Todd Whitman
Moving School Elections to Nov.Would Increase Voter Turnout
pate in November.I have proposed legislation that would
move School Elections to November inorder to coincide with the General Elec-tions. School board members who areaccountable to their communities in No-vember will make better decisions therest of the year.
When people take part in a process,they feel more connected to that pro-cess. They have a sense of empower-ment, a sense of commitment, a sense ofresponsibility.
I know that some people are con-cerned about mixing partisan politicswith public school issues by using theNovember ballot. The fact is that wealready put non-partisan, public ques-tions of the utmost importance on theNovember ballot.
It is there that we citizens decidewhether to amend the State Constitu-tion. It is there that we vote on importantState investments such as open spaceacquisition and farmland preservation.
The November ballot has proved it-self an effective means of asking thecitizens� support for fundamental pub-lic questions. And when the issue is asfundamental as the education of ourchildren, we should work to gain thebroadest public participation we possi-bly can.
I don�t know if moving School Elec-tions to November will change the suc-cess rate of budgets. But I am convincedthat it will change the way board mem-bers construct budgets and make othereducational decisions. I am also confi-dent it will change the way people lookat their property tax bills, knowing thatthey had a voice in the process.
New Jersey deserves the best schoolsin the nation. New Jersey citizens wantthat. We also want our property taxes tostay as low as possible, and to feelconfident that our taxes are being in-vested wisely.
Moving school elections to Novem-ber will not solve every problem thatconfronts taxpayers or school boards.Not by a long shot. But it will get peopleinvolved. It will increase participation.And it will help us bring the public backinto our public schools.
More LettersOn Page 21
Scotch Plains Resident Calls BehaviorOf Mayor, Deputy Mayor Arrogant
Lost in the drama and jubilation ofTuesday night�s defeat of the Demo-cratic plan to raise taxes 6.5 percent inScotch Plains was the continued arro-gance of Mayor Geri Samuel and DeputyMayor Tarquin Jay Bromley.
Despite overwhelming pre-meetingpublic opposition to the plan and after an
unconvincing, if not confusing, defenseof their plan followed by almost threehours of one-sided public ridicule of theplan, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor stillsaw fit to vote for the tax increase.
Their vote showed disdain for the citi-zens of Scotch Plains and demonstratedan ignorance of their responsibilities aselected officials.
With over three years left in theirterms, I can only hope that they learnfrom this experience and begin to listenmore to the public and less to their mis-guided political advisers.
Timothy DeeganScotch Plains
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