Another recycling vote is needed

Having lived in Ashland over 27 years, I am anxious for our community to begin a recycling program that will benefit our environment.

We have taught our children to recycle from the time my daughter attended Holy Family school and she continues to recycle at Virginia Tech, but she comes home and we still have no program in place except to drop off at overflowing bins that we as a city pay to have hauled off.

We could have considerable savings to our city and the cost we pay to landfills. We could have income generated from the sale of these recycled goods if we were to begin a regional recycling center. This would bring us closer to the ultimate goal of curbside recycling.

In October 2007, a committee composed of representatives from Boyd County, Ashland and Catlettsburg was developed to explore a regional recycling program. The goal was to provide residents with a recycling plan that would pay for itself and eventually create a surplus of funds.

The findings were remarkable. For example, Maysville, with a population of 9,000, has had a recycling program since 1996. This has resulted in a 98 percent reduction of trash to their landfill. Lexington recycles not only their trash, but those of surrounding counties, thus making a handsome profit.

This ABC committee decided to model its efforts after Maysville and Pikeville.

The committee received a grant from the Kentucky Division of Waste to purchase needed equipment for a recycling facility. That grant will expire June 30.

Boyd County commissioners supported this program. On May 7, the Ashland commissioners noted not to partner with our county to establish a recycling center.

I encourage citizens to attend the June 4 Ashland commissioners meeting to ask them to revisit the topic of recycling.

Janice W. Christian, Ashland



Bailouts have not helped economy

Recently the Federal Reserve released its economic forecast. The facts unfortunately do not bode well. The latest forecasts were revised to reflect a higher unemployment rate (between 9.2 percent and 9.6 percent). In addition, the GDP dropped.

Weren’t the recent TARP bailouts, major auto manufacturer bailouts and mortgage bailouts supposed to solve all this? Our government has stimulated this economy so far to the tune of a $2 trillion deficit this year. I thought this was supposed to save us from certain economic doom?

Meanwhile local, state and federal governments have proposed and/or implemented tax increases to cover for supposed budget shortfalls. Our politicians want to tax seemingly everything including junk food, cigarettes, gasoline, cars, houses and so on. Sadly, it seems that like an addict they can never ever have enough. Even recently, according to the Washington Post, some in Congress are floating the idea of a national Value Added Tax! As a former resident of the state of New York, I know first hand how onerous taxation drives businesses away to lower tax states.

A case in point is the state of Maryland. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Maryland couldn’t balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25 percent.”

Rather than stay and take it, Maryland’s producers left the state. I wonder when some of us will wake up and see that we are slouching toward fascism. Will we have to get to the point of mile long lines in front of the local supermarket for a piece of bread like in the old Soviet Union?

Marcelo Ruriani, Flatwoods



She so appreciates her firefighters

Saturday night, May 23, I awoke to a siren screaming in the distance. It was our local siren for our volunteer fire department.

I stepped out my front door to see if my neighborhood was OK or if I could see where they were going when I noticed the sky with an orange glow. It looked like all of downtown Greenup was on fire. My husband and I got in the car to go see what was on fire. What I saw prompted this letter.

A local business was completely ablaze. Several fire departments were already there and the firefighters that were on location worked with amazing dedication and bravery. From what I can find out, there were a total of five departments fighting this very large fire and all there worked like a well-oiled machine.

As I watched with amazement, I realized that I, as well as others, for years have taken our local fire departments for granted. I don’t think we appreciate our volunteers as much as we should, not just Greenup but all volunteer firefighters who have to be a rare and special types of people. These men and women risk their lives and take time from their families to protect myself and my community, at no charge. That means a lot to me.

I don’t know about everyone else, but the next time I see a volunteer firefighter, I am simply going to say thank you. I hope your readers would join me and do the same.

Andrea Harris , Greenup