State makes money from dishonest slots

Editor:

On Jan. 25, Craig Hammond, former mayor of Bluefield, penned a commentary to the Gazette admonishing the Lottery Commission for readying the public for online poker and other youth-oriented games.

Hammond didn't go far enough. Here's the real deal on slots:

Slot machines (gambling) were illegal before they were made legal by the legislature.

Gambling is still illegal unless one has a license.

The state created an industry that doesn't produce a product, that is very addictive and where people have very little chance to return to normalcy once addicted.

Some time in the future when it so devastates the economy, it will have to be repealed. Slot machines are manufactured to systematically take your money, and that's illegal and the reason gambling was illegal from Day One.

Every machine tallies money in and money out. Forget any other number the Lottery Commission makes public, like free plays, and do the math. How can the state and casinos amass fortunes if the machines are honest by design?

Steve Kopa

Weirton

Obama's war on coal harms jobs, revenue

Editor:

Listening to the recent State of the Union address, we were disheartened by President Obama's continued negative sentiments toward coal as a domestic energy resource and as an important factor in our nation's economic competitiveness. This was apparent by the president's failure during his remarks to even mention coal as part of our nation's energy future. Unfortunately, this is just the latest signal that the president's war on coal is going to continue.

For the past two years, the Obama administration, led primarily by the Environmental Protection Agency, has been undertaking a number of regulatory actions that are posing serious challenges on coal production and coal use, particularly in central Appalachia. These include an ongoing "review" of hundreds of coal mining permits that were once declared valid by the federal government, new air regulations that are resulting in the closure of coal-fired electric power generation stations, and the recent unprecedented revocation of an approved coal mining permit.

This war on coal will affect thousands of good-paying jobs and millions of dollars in state and local tax revenues. It also will damage the viability of thousands of small businesses, many of which are core to this state's employment and economic stability.

Our local chamber of commerce implores the president to return to an evenhanded approach to environmental protection that considers job preservation and the economic wellbeing in our region and our nation. All economic factors related to continued coal production must be considered in any future energy policy. For once, this administration needs to provide coal companies and the miners they employ with a balanced and transparent regulatory process that's based on natural science instead of political science.

Paul E. Arbogast

President

West Virginia Roundtable

Charleston

Race aside, architect was still a pioneer

Editor:

The Jan. 21 article in the Gazette "The stats on Staats" by Jim Balow refers to its designer, John C. Norman Sr., as the state's first black architect.

I would like to add a more accurate comment on this brief revisionist approach to historic authentication. A more informative reference would note that my father, John C. Norman Sr., was West Virginia's first certified combined architect and structural engineer, irrespective of any ethnic categorizations. Moreover, his homes, buildings, schools, theaters and churches were designed and constructed throughout the state during a half-century career between 1919 and 1969. During these decades the term "black" was as pejorative then as it is subtly divisive today.

I accompanied him, as a toddler on to a teenager, to many of his construction sites and have archived his extensive canon of original designs and blueprints. I welcome and will respond to any electronic inquiries regarding the details of his remarkable and productive career (jcn...@hotmail.com).

John C. Norman, M.D.

Concord, Mass.

Crossbow hunting would benefit DNR

Editor:

West Virginia keeps refusing to legalize crossbows for everyone. The DNR is complaining that it would cause a poaching problem, but poaching already exists. A lot of people are going across the border to hunt with crossbows causing our state to lose a lot of business. Legalizing crossbows for everyone would generate millions of revenue into our state economy.

Citizens need to contact their elected officials to support House Bill 2436, which is in the Natural Resources Committee. Legalizing crossbows for everyone would create thousands of new hunters in this state at a time when the DNR is millions in the red. This new permit would help fund their daily operations.

Wilmoth Cooper

Harman