Rural Voters See Through Attacks on Obama

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I live in very rural Virginia. I didn't graduate from college, and we consider farm a verb. I am exactly who is supposed to be not voting for Barack Obama.

However, there is a tendency to attack Obama's ethnicity, color, religion, childhood, and patriotism, because opponents have nothing else to attack. They don't give rural voters credit for thinking on our own -- for being smart enough to see through all the goofy stuff.

How do you attack hope? How can anyone argue with Obama's message? They can't. Obama gives us Bubbas, and everyone else, the opportunity and the credit to think, to change, and to do amazing things!

Keep the hope alive and forget all the goofiness! Vote Obama! Vote change!

Rachel Castello-Dunn. Dillwyn.

Fuel Taxes Impose Very Low Costs

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I find it hard to believe that our legislators are squabbling over one of the lowest costs of operating an automobile, and one that contributes so much to its pleasure and safety. It is said that the average automobile is driven 1,000 miles per month. If we assume the average driver gets 20 miles to the gallon, that is 50 gallons per month. If the fuel tax is increased by 10 cents per gallon, that is an extra $5 per month in taxes. This is a small cost when compared to a college education, which is going up at a rate of $100 per month.

Even with this increase, the fuel tax still would be one of the smallest expenses of operating a car. It also is one of the fairest, as the consumption is related to the vehicle's wear and tear on the roads. The fuel tax is more of a user tax than any other tax I know of.

It is argued that road improvements are needed only in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. If one looks at the number of deaths on rural roads, compared to the number of miles traveled, it is obvious those roads need work. The secondary roads were built to very low standards, and the ones carrying the most traffic at the time were built first and to the lowest standards. Those roads are badly in need of spot improvements -- and under present circumstances no funding is in sight.

George W. Habel Jr. Richmond.

Who Cares About Feral Cats?

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

There has been a lot of news about feral cats since the Fox television station incident. I cannot believe that the Richmond SPCA (an organization that has done much good work) is suggesting that those wild animals be caught in traps then spayed or neutered and returned to roam about freely. This is ridiculous.

One of my neighbors feeds and waters wild cats, and they roam throughout the neighborhood. I have to clean up their droppings in my front yard. At one point, I had to go under my front porch and clean out the cat droppings because the smell was so bad. During the night they lie on our front door mat, so we bring in unwanted cat hair every time we come in the house.

Recently one of the cats started sleeping on my wife's convertible top and then urinated on it to mark his territory. Another neighbor and I have set traps, but we have been able to catch only raccoons, which we released into wooded areas where they are supposed to be. The feral cats are dirty and disgusting and should be domesticated or eliminated. Maybe the SPCA would take on the job of domesticating them and then finding suitable homes where they would be cared for.

Rob R. Blackmore. Richmond.

Some Types of Guns Kill People Better

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I am sickened by the comment of Phillip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, in Michael Paul Williams' column, "Powhatan Teen's Slaying Raises a Question: Who Needs an AK-47?"

When asked about the AK-47 in the tragic killing of the teenager, Van Cleave is quoted as saying, "I guess when I heard about the AK-47, I just shrugged . . . [the killer] could have used a deer rifle to the same effect."

Just shrugged? A promising young man's life has been violently ripped away and Van Cleave can only shrug and suggest a deer rifle would have been as effective? What happened to the pro-gun lobby's favorite mantra that guns don't kill people, people kill people? Sounds to me that guns actually do kill people -- and some are better at it than others, according to your expert counsel.

Until we recognize and embrace the value of every human life and stop worrying about defending the rights of a few that find it necessary to own assault weapons, tragic stories like this one from peaceful Powhatan will be repeated. It is our responsibility to step forward and pressure our local, state, and national representatives to come up with reasonable gun policies to end this senselessness.

Lisa Kestner Quigley. Midlothian.