Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 Source: Daily Press (VA) Copyright: 2002 The Daily Press Contact: http://www.dailypress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/585 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) AT WEEK'S END CAPSULES OF COMMENTARY ON RECENT EVENTS Not A Good Choice Talk about conflicting messages. There they were: a young woman and two young children in a van, the kids strapped safely into child restraints in the back seat. That's just the way it's supposed to be. But even the best safety seats can't protect children from some threats. Up front, the young woman was puffing away on a cigarette. The van, its windows closed, was filled with smoke, smoke the young children were breathing -- along with the carcinogens that come with cigarette smoke. Presumably this woman would not give these children a martini before supper. Presumably she knows that by smoking cigarettes she's exposing herself to increased risk of disease and premature death. Presumably she cares about the children. So, parents and other caregivers, if you smoke, that's your choice. It's a poor choice, but the kids strapped in the back seat don't have a choice. So Pay More For It Speaking of cigarettes, they are taxed at different rates by different states. Virginia's tax? At 2.5 cents per pack, it's the lowest in the nation. You'd think that a state legislature that was cutting education, cutting mental health and failing miserably to meet its citizens' transportation needs might be willing to look at any reasonable approach to raising revenue. The tax could have been increased tenfold and still would have been well below the national average. And maybe some people, put off by the higher price, would decide they could live without cigarettes. Mathews Drug Test Speaking of drugs, the Mathews County school system has decided to put off implementing a voluntary drug-testing program of high school students. Good. There is absolutely no doubt about the good intentions of Mathews officials. But the program would have given incentives to students to submit voluntarily to a "search" of their bodily fluids. What of those who didn't want to submit? Would it be because they have something to hide? Or because they would feel some vague discomfort related, perhaps, to the Fourth Amendment? Searches are not something to be normalized, to be acquiesced to in exchange for free parking at the high school. Over So Soon? As our legislators in Richmond have gone about the unpleasant business of lopping state services to deal with shortfalls in revenue, some of them have used a familiar justification for not trying instead to increase revenue by raising taxes. "A recession," they say, "is no time to raise taxes." Better put a lid on that one. According to some economists, the recession is nearly over. One even says that when the data are in, the statistics will show the recession actually ended in November -- well before the lawmakers even showed up in Richmond for the current session. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh