LETTERS: February 9, 2008

newsroom@newsandtribune.com

February 09, 2008 01:08 am

— Hoosiers shouldn’t be taxed for bridges

An important consideration has so far been ignored in the discussion concerning possible tolls on the proposed Ohio River bridges. That consideration is the fairness and the political practicality of making Hoosier drivers help pay for Kentucky’s share of the cost of construction.
Indiana has already raised its $1.1 billion share of the project’s costs by the lease of the Northern Indiana Toll Road. This was a controversial measure in Indiana and one that Kentucky politicians, Democrat and Republican alike, do not appear likely to copy.
However Indiana’s share was raised, the fact remains that Indiana is now ready, willing, and able to pay its fair share without resorting to tolls on the new bridges, much less on the Sherman Minton or JFK bridges.
If Hoosier drivers are required to pay tolls to cross a bridge for which their state government has already paid its fair share, Hoosier drivers will effectively be paying a large part of Kentucky’s fair share as well as their own. The benefit that Indiana rightfully expected from the investment of $1.1 billion in toll road lease revenue will be swallowed up by our financially weaker sister state, instead of benefiting Hoosiers.
This would obviously be a good deal for Kentucky — “don’t tax him, don’t tax me, tax that Hoosier behind the tree.” But what Indiana governor, state legislator, congressman or transportation department official would ever agree to let their constituents be double taxed in order to fulfill Kentucky’s financial obligations on a joint project? Would Kentucky lawmakers consent to such a thing if the shoe was on the other foot?
Hoosier drivers should be exempted from paying any of the proposed tolls until Kentucky finds it necessary to pay its share of the cost of construction. It would be charitable enough if Indiana agreed to let Kentucky keep 100 percent of the tolls paid by Kentuckians and residents of all the other states, except Indiana. Considering Kentucky’s financial woes, this much interstate benevolence might be agreeable. But, for Kentucky to hit Hoosiers with bridge tolls under these circumstances would be an imposition too far.
Agreement must be reached to either exempt Hoosiers from the proposed tolls or to equitably divide the toll revenue between the two states. Any such agreement should take into account the $1.1 billion being invested by Indiana upfront. If Indiana government received a share of these tolls, it could issue rebates to Hoosier drivers in the Falls Cities region for their costs. In this way, Indiana could preserve the benefit to which its $1.1 billion dollar investment should entitle its citizens, toll-free transit of Ohio River. Let Rep. Richards and Sen. Williams take note: Indiana will not pay its fair share twice, anymore than Kentucky would if the tables were turned.
— Steven M. Fleece, Charlestown

Reader: Blacks are important part of U.S. history

I collect old books. My favorite ones are old school textbooks about American History. My oldest volume dates back to 1840. I have quite a lot of books from 1880 to 1930.
Would you believe that these books make no mention of African-Americans other than slavery. One does mention Booker T. Washington, but says nothing at all about his philosophical opponent, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, a co-founder of the N.A.A.C.P.
Frederick Douglass, Crispus Attucks, Gabriel Prosser, Phillis Wheatley, Nat Turner, Toussaint L’Ouverture . . . not one of these people are mentioned. No creditable American History textbook today would omit them.
As Black History Month unfolds during February, be aware that it began in 1926 as Negro History Week. Dr. Carter Woodson, the second African-American to receive a Harvard Ph.D., intended for the week to be celebrated by schools across the country. Given the fact that as a race African-Americans did not exist in schoolbooks (other than as chattel), something “outside the box” was necessary.
Then, as now, it was important for all Americans to know and be taught at school that African-American history was American history made by Americans in America.
White racism created Black History Month. I feel certain no one more so than African-Americans wish such an event did not need to exist. The good news is that it gives all of us an opportunity to fill-in all that empty space the old school books left for us. And the fact that African-Americans still insist that they be included in the story (and rightfully so) makes it obvious they want no more or less than what whites have given themselves.
— Ken Miller, Charlestown