Letters, 4/15: Tax singles out singles

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Talk about unfair, biased legislation. This inheritance tax revision is a joke and not a very funny one if you are single and do not have children. I am single and do not have children.

Just who is voting on this decision? The senators are almost all married and/or have children. Guess whose taxes will be cut by more than half? That’s right, anyone who is married and/or has children.

Now guess how they are going to replace those tax funds. They are going to increase inheritance taxes on single people who do not have children. This is to be based on the fact that I call my heirs niece and nephew instead of son and daughter. (They will pay 1 percent over $40,000 each, while my estate will pay 13 percent of everything over $15,000).

They claim this will protect the children. Check the recent obituaries; the vast majority of people dying are 80-90 years old. Their “children” are 40, 50, 60 years old. Frankly, I think they should be able to protect themselves.

Being single, I have paid and paid and paid taxes all my life. More than my fair share when you consider the fact that I have not sent one child through your school system and seldom use any of the state services families use on a regular basis.

As I see it, this is tantamount to stealing from my family. With a $500,000 estate, two children, they would pay $4,200; my niece/nephew would pay $61,100. Fair? I think not.

I can stop this by relocating to Wyoming. They do not have this tax, in fact.

If this goes through and I have to leave, I will take with me my estate, my property tax payment, my investments, my state income tax dollars, my charitable contributions, my 16 hours of volunteer time and all the sales tax dollars my spending produces.

Think about it. When all the seniors with financial stability leave Nebraska because of their outrageous taxes, you will be left with only the elders who need financial aid.

Sharon Brehm, Lincoln

Don’t dog ‘Grey’s’ story

This is in response to the April 10 letter about the “aspiring journalist” feeling “utter disgust” (strong words) about an article (LJS, April 4) that a “Grey’s Anatomy” star adopted a dog from a Nebraska animal shelter. Any time a Hollywood star has anything to do with Nebraska, that’s news. Even if they just merely come to visit.

I think that you should remember that just because it doesn’t appeal to you, it doesn’t mean that other people won’t be interested. I thought that the article was refreshing. I also believe that it gave exposure to this animal shelter and may encourage more people to adopt from a shelter. Apparently it was newsworthy, because I heard them also talking about it on the radio.

Additionally, who selected you to “speak for aspiring journalists everywhere”? Isn’t that just a bit pretentious? I’m sure that it’s possible that others may not share your views. Maybe you can have your own radio show or talk show that you can present your own opinions.

Sunny Lambert, Lincoln 

Death penalty support

They call us up to go to places called Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other place there is a brush-fire war. The reason they do this is so we can go to these places and kill the bad guys. These bad guys are the guys that threaten our way of life. They hate and they murder and destroy. We do this for them at great risk of our own lives. Some of us even lose our lives, or the use of our legs, eyes, hearing and arms. We become disabled because of this. They now call us veterans and heroes and say that they support us fully and thank us.

I have a question that I would like to ask our state senators. Why don’t you want to protect our families and friends back in Nebraska and kill the bad guys there, who hate, murder and destroy, by keeping the death penalty intact? Why do you worry so much about cruel and unusual punishment?

Have you ever been in a rice paddy 10,000 miles from home, in the dark by yourself, scared out of your mind not knowing if you’re going to live or die? Have you ever had to sit in a wheelchair, knowing that you will never get out of it, or lost an arm or both arms or your sight or hearing?

Ladies and gentlemen of the Nebraska Unicameral, it is your turn to kill the bad guys in Nebraska. Now is the time to show your support for your veterans, as you say you do. Please vote against any change in the death penalty, unless you would support a bill to make it quicker to carry out. You are lucky you don’t have to risk your lives or legs, arms, eyes or any other parts of your bodies, as we did. You are either for us or against us; we will know by the way you vote.

Jack Schnebel Jr., Lincoln 

Fling the mud back

Not a day goes by that we do not see some mud being flung either by a candidate or the political party they represent.

It will end only if we as a group band together and tell these politicians enough is enough. Next time we get one of these mailings, write on them “This is garbage. Return to sender.” If there is no return address, look it up in the phone book and mark it “Moved. Forward this garbage to.” Imagine at party headquarters the day these all start coming back. These people are driven by polls, and this would be the most accurate kind of poll. Next public forum, make every question related to whatever mudslinging they did. Put them on the spot and have them explain how the political party controls any part of his/her campaign. We did have an election, and almost nobody showed up.

Mike Deal, Lincoln, former mayoral candidate

It’s not justice

I do not pretend to know the pain and anguish felt by families of murder victims. I can only assume that their grief is never ending. But the death penalty only serves to create more family-member victims. State killing perpetuates a cycle of violence and suffering as it models killing — a failed-policy answer to killing.

However understandable the desire of murder victims’ families for retribution, however sincere their belief in the justice of taking one life for another, the death penalty cannot be justice for the families of the condemned, who themselves have committed no murders.

Neither the death penalty nor life in prison without parole will bring the family members’ victim back. But life in prison would keep another family from becoming ensnared in the cycle of hope and despair that capital punishment inevitably breeds.

M.J. Berry, Lincoln

Teachers are dedicated

Joel Christiansen (letter, April 4) complained that teachers and students don’t spend enough time in each other’s presence. He was referring to the early dismissals for teacher meetings called Professional Learning Communities. There are only two possibilities how he could reach this conclusion. One, he has no child of his own in the school system, or he needs child care for these hours.

I do work for Lincoln Public Schools, but I am not a teacher. I also have a son in the public school system. Never have I met a teacher that didn’t spend way more than their scheduled hours working and preparing for their curriculum. Even on weekends, they have been in and worked because there are just not enough hours in the school day.

My son’s teachers even gave out their home phone numbers so he could reach them if he needed help. Teachers only get two planning periods in a day (some teachers don’t even get this much). During this time, they have to do all, call parents, meet with students, plan  and coordinate with other teachers, etc. All this while constantly being interrupted. Not much can get done. 

During PLCs, teachers can get together and coordinate their efforts, see what works in the classroom and what needs more attention. PLCs are wonderful for our students.

Elke Roby, Lincoln