Government employees work for their benefits Re: “Pay only thing better about government employees,” From Readers, Jan. 12
In regard to Ben Arnold’s response to Bill Spruce (“Highly trained federal work force has no comparison,” From Readers, Jan. 10), as a former hard-working government employee (now retired), I paid for the benefits of government work.
I also saw my share of contractors. I was not impressed with many of them.
My guess is that Ben Arnold is one of those contract employees who was fired for poor performance. Maybe he couldn’t make the cut as a government employee.
Mary Evans
Arlington
Fund all groups working to reduce animal suffering
Re: “Critics question spending by Humane Society of the United States,” Jan. 10
Didi Culp’s condemnation of other animal protection groups in order to solicit donations for her own is shameful. All groups that work to reduce animal suffering are important and deserve support.
PETA helps animals directly as well as by educating and influencing the public to make animal-friendly choices. Our mobile spay/neuter clinics have performed more than 78,000 no-cost to low-cost sterilizations, preventing countless animals from being born into a world bursting at the seams with homeless and unwanted ones.
Our spay/neuter public service announcements have brought the urgent message that sterilization is the key to ending animal overpopulation and homelessness to countless people. PETA’s Community Animal Project fieldworkers are on the road every day and on call 24/7, providing hands-on help to abused and neglected animals.
All animals feel pain and deserve to live — not just the ones who share our homes. That’s why PETA also works to end the abuse of animals on factory farms, in laboratories, in the fur industry and more.
Daphna Nachminovitch
Vice president, Cruelty Investigations Department
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Norfolk
D.C. wrong to raise parking fees for handicapped
Re: “D.C. to cut free handicapped parking,” Jan. 9
D.C.’s new ploy is to squeeze more money out of the handicapped by charging them for parking. The handicapped can park at any regular D.C. meter free for four hours, so why would they pay to park at a “red meter”?
The argument to start charging the handicapped for parking is the same shibboleth that nearby jurisdictions have conjured up: That counterfeit handicapped placards are supposedly flooding the Washington area. But police officers can just run the license plate of the automobile in question to determine if the driver is a qualified disabled person.
The alternative argument — that the hang-tags themselves are legitimate, but a poser “borrowed” it from a real handicapped person — can be solved by requiring the use of a visible medical appliance such as a brace or wheelchair to qualify as “legal handicapped person”. This may put a burden on the able-bodied caregiver who uses a vehicle with handicapped plates to run errands, but it’s better than charging the truly handicapped for parking.
Donald S. Browne
Arlington
