Tax hike for police may not be wise

A petition with 800 signers to raise police salaries was presented to the Clovis city commission on Thursday. This is a very small number compared to the city population of 33,000 citizens who pay the taxes.

A commissioner suggested a property tax increase as the answer.

During the presentation, Clovis salaries were compared with Roswell, Carlsbad, Alamogordo and Hobbs. Clovis is paying lower salaries than these communities. Do these communities enjoy larger gross financial income, lower personal taxing, lower unemployment due to higher industrial taxing income for their city coffers?

A complete study and comparison of several areas should be made before we go ahead and place a heavy burden on property owners.

I am a staunch supporter of our city police department. I like the way they serve Clovis. If the salaries or number of police officers are insufficient then I support improvement in both areas.

But why should the property owners alone bear most of the burdens financially? Every citizen enjoys the protection of our city police and fire department. Shouldn’t every citizen therefore support it?

Len Santi

Clovis

More to broadband than advertised

I found the article (CNJ Aug. 29) concerning broadband Internet service very interesting. However, what is more interesting is what this piece failed to mention. There are several down sides to high-speed connection that are rarely mentioned by those who wish to sell this service.

First, and most importantly, is the fact that a broadband connection is always on from the time you turn on your computer until you turn it off. This is a very serious security issue that many fail to consider.

The longer you are connected to the Internet, the more likely you are to become a victim of hackers or the latest virus attack. Users who employ neither a firewall nor the simplest anti- virus software are especially vulnerable to these problems.

With a dial-up connection this is less of a dilemma simply because you are connected only when you wish to be.

Secondly, there is the matter of pricing. I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t need to pay double my current connection rate just to get my e-mail faster.

But what about faster connections? With my puny little dial-up modem I connect to the Net in about 30 seconds. That’s fast enough for me. Most casual personal-computer users don’t need such an expensive service.

Bill D. Middleton

Clovis

Kudos to kind strangers

We often hear about the bad things our young people do but rarely hear of their good deeds. A couple of weeks ago I was very impressed with several employees from McDonald’s on Mitchell Street.

My car started giving me trouble right after I ordered my food. I was hoping to make it out of line and get home to find out what was wrong with it. Fortunately God’s timing was better.

I lost all power just as I got my food. No brakes or anything. Quickly two young ladies and an assistant manager, Casey Mullins, pushed my car out of line to safety, then Casey tried to jump start the battery but it was dead. Casey then got another assistant manager, Shawn Zanderwacker, to help him get the battery out. Then Shawn took me to get a new one, then back to McDonald’s where they put it in the car for me.

Later that day I took my car to the dealer and found out the alternator was bad and it caused the battery to go dead. I hate to think what could have happened if I had been in traffic when the car lost power.

Thank-you to all those who helped me, even replacing my food.

Clovis is lucky to have you.

(What a contrast they are to the lady in the brown car behind me. She was delayed a minute or two and stuck her tongue out at me as she went around my car!)

Phyllis King

Clovis