Archive for August 1st, 2012

August 1st, 2012

“Meanderings” by Jim Peters

by DickH

Frequent contributor Jim Peters sent along the following:

My dog is teaching me how to die. Not in the immediate future, of course, but when it naturally happens. She has been an incredibly great dog, named Frances Cabot Lowell (not Francis, like the father of modern Lowell, she is after all, a girl). and she has lived a healthy fifteen years, which is old for her breed – a Golden Retriever. We call her “Cabot.” She was the answer for our daughter’s wish at age seven for a dog for her birthday. In “dog years” she is 105. She is not giving up the ghost easily, in fact, it is just the opposite. She is wagging her tail, holding her head up, and tries to stand up but needs help at that point. She has insisted on going to the bathroom in the backyard, walking to the neighbor’s yard in order to catch some sun, and lifting her head up when you call her name.

We have been cajoled, impressed upon, and pressured to put her away at the vet’s. But that would be the ultimate cruelty. It is not up to us to determine the date she is supposed to go. Right now she seems happy being in her own home. It is bad enough that she is dying, it would be the ultimate in cruelty for us to determine that she is no longer understanding being petted, or given ice on her tongue, or given small bites to eat. It is our decision that she should be able to live until the last minute and we believe that she understands that.

So, what is she teaching me. That you live life until the end. That the right to die is not a doctor’s perogative.. That anything that lives will die the way God wants it to, and that indeed God is the final arbiter of our time on this planet. She is fighting everyday for another day here, and every morning that she, or any of us, wakes up, is a blessing. I have repeatedly stated my belief that doctors should not participate in abortions (except in the case of rape or incest), and that they definitely should not be taking the lives of our weakest members of society. Euthenasia is not kind, and is the opposite of every innate sense that we have. read more »

CategoryCurrent Events | Comment1 Comment »

August 1st, 2012

“A New Local Option” by John Edward

by DickH

John Edward, a resident of Chelmsford who earned his master’s degree at UMass Lowell and who teaches economics at Bentley University and UMass Lowell, contributes the following column:

In this column, I will explain how the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can:

1. Reduce property taxes,
2. Increase funding for local educational initiatives,
3. Enhance flexibility for cities and towns, and
4. Improve tax fairness.

The idea builds on an already successful program introduced three years ago.

In 2009, the state legislature passed the Municipal Partnership Act. Included in the bill were provisions for local option taxes. The local options allowed under the law include:

- A 0.75 percent tax on meals purchased at restaurants, and
- Up to a 2.0 percent tax on hotel rooms.

In the same year, the legislature also removed the exemption from the sales tax for alcoholic beverages. Voters restored the exemption with a 2010 ballot initiative.

Applying a sales tax on liquor should be a local option. Legislators should give cities and towns the flexibility to impose up to the full 6.25 percent tax in 0.25 percent increments.

The primary focus of the revenue should be to reduce property taxes. Most cities and towns tax at close to the maximum levy allowed in order to balance their budget. Taxing alcohol would allow municipalities to provide property tax relief without foregoing valuable public services.

The City of Lowell adopted the room tax in 2009 and the meals tax in 2010. The local option taxes have resulted in roughly $2 million in revenue for the city so far.

I asked City Manager Bernie Lynch how Lowell uses local option revenue. His response:

The local option taxes have been an important tool for Lowell to help fill the gap in revenue caused by the State’s local aid cuts…. In our case we have targeted the revenue raised to support the cultural programs of the City and our marketing efforts. So effectively, the revenue raised from the sale of restaurant meals and hotel room nights goes back to City efforts to get more people into the City using these same businesses.

Meanwhile, the repeal of the sales tax exemption for alcohol is costing the state about $110 million in annual revenue. Repeal passed by a close margin. Many cities, towns, and even entire counties voted overwhelmingly to retain the sales tax on alcohol. read more »

CategoryGreater Lowell, Politics | Comment2 Comments »

August 1st, 2012

Get richardhowe.com on your smart phone

by DickH

Thanks to Shawn Ashe for introducing me to a new plug-in for this blog that allows smart phone users to view our content more easily. While you could always pull up this site on your smart phone, it was not formatted for a small screen and required quite a bit of zooming & panning to read – not very efficient. This new app which is installed here, not on your phone, automatically detects when a visitor is using a smart phone and reformats our content to fit into your small screen. By tapping on titles shown on your phone display, the full text and all photos become visible to you. If you’re a smart phone user, please check it out.

CategoryCurrent Events | Comment5 Comments »