Overtime is used to game retirement system Re: “Officials seek limits to Metro hours to ensure safety,” June 24
The Examiner has done a good job exposing the safety aspects of excessive use of overtime by Metro drivers, operators and other personnel. I agree that this is an important issue, and the media has not adequately exposed it.
However, the impact of overtime on retirement outlays should also be investigated, and not just at Metro, but other organizations including state and local governments.
I want to know why future Metro riders or taxpayers should pay more to fund an employee’s retirement for possibly decades just because they manipulated the system by working overtime hours the last few years. Retirement pay should be based on base salary and longevity, and it should be an average of at least five years of base salary to minimize gaming the system.
Another issue with defined-benefit retirements is bogus promotions late in the career to boost retirement pay. This goes on all the time in state and local governments.I have no idea how to stop it, since the supervisor that approves the bogus promotion is probably planning to do the same thing himself.
Bob Hugman
Woodbridge
People of all races commit hate crimes
Re: “Blacks must not remain silent about America’s new racists,” June 22
For every black person who has committed a hate crime, there are probably three more white people attacking a black person because of his or her race.
Annie Lee, an Asian American, was murdered by a white man. Was that a hate crime? If so, the media never mentioned it.
Very few of the crimes reported in Walter E. Williams’ column seemed to be racially motivated other than the victim and perpetrators being of a different race. White people kill or harm people outside their race all the time and no one calls it racially motivated.
Yet when a black person commits a crime, it suddenly becomes an indictment of an entire race.
Hugh Kelly
Manassas
Caveat emptor still applies
A recent incident thattook placeshould be a warning to anyone who has been approached by individuals representing normally reliable and ethical corporations.
A few weeksago, representatives from one of the telephone companies came to our door and stated that our current telephone billing system was being phased out. Instead of our normal charges of about $70, the company was offering a reduced rate of $50 with both local and long-distance calls free.
Being naturally cautious, I requested that the offer be put in writing and gave them my email address without signing anything. One hour later, a message on the computer welcomed me to FiOS at a base introductory rate of $90 — with no ability to reply that I had neither discussed nor agreedto it.
Two days and four hours on the phone later, I finally canceled theunrequested service. I got the impression that this wasnot unusual.While the corporation itself may have been unaware of what was occurring, phone calls and letters to its headquarters elicited no response.
The moral to the story is reject anyone soliciting house to house, no matter how reliable you think the company they represent is.
Nelson Marans
Silver Spring
