Motor Voter
The National Voter Registration Act -- known as "motor voter" -- will not lead to election fraud, as your Jan. 19 article (" 'Motor Voter' Gets Mixed Reviews") suggested.
Rather, this law strengthens protections against and penalties for fraud while providing simple and effective means for voter registration.
The potential problems your article cited -- applications by those ineligible or multiple applications -- are corrected by this new law.
For example, if a minor fills out an application, he is not automatically registered to vote. An election official will review the application and refuse to register that person.
Applicants are required to sign the voter registration application, which lists eligibility requirements, and attest to the fact that they qualify subject to federal criminal penalty for perjury.
Nearly 90 percent of eligible voters will register through the Motor Vehicle Administration, where a picture ID will accompany the signature. Mail-in registrants may be required to vote in person. And the law requires states to check the addresses of voters to ensure current and accurate registration lists.
Testimony during hearings in Congress on this law included an extensive nationwide study which found no evidence of registration fraud.
In addition, the U.S. Postal Service and the Election Crimes Branch of the U.S. Justice Department confirmed that there have been virtually no instances of mail registration fraud.
The League of Women Voters believes in protecting the integrity of the electoral system while promoting the active participation of citizens in our democracy.
As we celebrate our 75th anniversary on Feb. 14, we are delighted to have helped remove barriers and to make it easier for virtually all eligible voters to register to vote.
Patty Pollard
Annapolis
The writer is president of the League of Women Voters of Maryland.
55 not 65
Ask anyone who supports raising the speed limit to 65 miles per hour what good can possibly come from this action, and I think they will be hard pressed to give you an answer.
If memory serves me correctly, the speed limit at one time was 60 mph. It was lowered to 55 in the early seventies as a means of fuel conservation. Is this not true anymore?
Also, I believe if you ask any trooper or even someone that has received a speeding ticket, rarely are they given to people going between 55 and 65 mph. I believe speeding tickets will continue to be issued at about the same rate at 65 mph as they currently are at 55 mph.
For those travelers that need to reach their destinations that much quicker, here's a novel idea; leave earlier.
For someone traveling 60 miles, the driver will arrive 10 minutes sooner at 65 mph as opposed to 55 mph. So leave 10 minutes sooner.
For those of you still trying to think of a good reason why we should raise the speed limit, you can stop now. There isn't one.
There are more benefits to keeping it at 55 mph (safety and conservation) than to raising it to 65 mph.
William Fritz
Bel Air
The Arts
It is a sad commentary on the decline of civilization in the United States that the dominant political party and many of this country's citizens are able, like Charles D. Connelly (letter, Jan. 29), to lump arts groups into the same category of "special interests" as the tobacco and firearms lobbies.
(Indeed, the current Republican-dominated Congress seems to believe that these latter two special interests are more worthy of their support than the arts.)
Mr. Connelly asserts that his tax dollars should not be spent on federal programs which "do not benefit the majority of citizens."
His mistake is assuming that the arts benefit only a minority. It would be more realistic to state that different arts appeal to different minorities, which taken together form a majority.
Even one arts organization, such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, plans its seasons to appeal to many different types of audence.
The same can be said for art galleries that rotate their exhibits for the same purpose. There simply is no such thing as an art work that appeals to everybody.
And it is diversity of approach that contributed to the survival of large arts institutions, rather than uniformity.
But such policies cannot be paid for by admission prices alone, nor by private and corporate donations, no matter how generous.
Much of the federal arts money being criticized is in the form of "matching grants," which help attract such donors.
To ask that only users be required to pay for the arts they enjoy would result in driving up ticket prices and reducing audience sizes even further, because only the well-to-do could afford to go to concerts and plays, or attend art galleries.
Mr. Connelly's blinkered view takes no account of the arts' social values, inasmuch as he revealingly characterizes the arts as "entertainment."
Alas, there are many who will write to support this opinion. But if they and the political leaders they support have their way, the United States will be the first so-called civilized country in the world to adopt as official government policy that its artists are not a national resource worthy of government patronage.
Let the answer to Mr. Connelly and to all who agree with him be: It is far better to heed the Biblical proposition that human beings do not "live by bread alone," than the one attributed (rightly or wrongly) to Marie Antoinette, "Let them eat cake."
Gordon C. Cyr
Baltimore
Minimum Wage
Someone working full-time (2,080 hours) at $4.25 per hour earns only $8,840 in a year. This is far below the $14,875 for a year of 35 hour weeks cited by Robert Reno's Opinion * Commentary column, Jan. 16.
The most expensive programs of the "welfare state" (Medicaid, housing assistance, food stamps and other food supplements) mostly go to working poor families.
The sagging minimum wage plus the increase in workers at this level increases applicants for the supplementary programs.
Thus these programs are really an indirect subsidy to the businesses which pay low wages, supplementing the difference between actual ages and minimum living costs.
At 54 per cent of average manufacturing wages, the minimum wage would produce about $12,000 annually for a full time worker. This is still substantially below the minimum needed to sustain a family of four.
There will be no "welfare reform" until there is full employment (that means far less than 6 per cent unemployment) and a true "living wage" whereby a worker can support a family without government subsidies.
If the national government backs away from mandatory redistribution systems without raising wages and increasing employment at the bottom, will the problem be solved? Or will worse problems be generated?
Ronald P. Bowers
Lutherville
Help the Police
In the past year, the Baltimore Police Department has made significant changes to help reduce the threat of crime in our city.
We are making headway and plan continued vigilance to take this city back from law-breakers.
But we can't do it alone. It's a 50-50 deal. To win the fight against crime, individuals must do their part.
The key is your own block. You have got to start saying: We can't have a strong neighborhood if we don't have a strong block, and my block is my responsibility.
Your block's residents must look out for one another and be on watch for trouble-makers.
Your block's appearance must send a message that its residents care and will not stand for disorder and criminal activity.
It's up to you to get started. How? Become a block captain. It is the single most important thing you can do to make our neighborhoods safe from crime.
On March 22, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Poly-Western Auditorium, 4600 Falls Road, we will be hosting a "Tools For Success" seminar to recruit and train block captains. Admission and parking are free.
We will show how block captains make a big difference and will outline the simple steps to get started.
Then, representatives from city agencies will be available to talk to you in small groups. They will explain how their agencies can assist your block and the best ways to access their services.
You will get all the tools you need to become a block captain and make positive moves toward safer Baltimore. You can make a difference.
Your city, your police department, your neighbors and your family need you to get involved. Come join us.
Thomas C. Frazier
Baltimore
The writer is police commissioner of Baltimore.