Chitt. Cty. Senate race

[Richard Lachapelle]

This posting may be of interest to anyone planning on voting
Nov. 3..........

Occasionally politicians come along that feel they must go beyond the
extreme in often misguided attempts to right society's wrongs. In their
quests to be adored as caring, compassionate public servants, they are
driven to propose and support absurd legislation that they know would
never become law. Whether acting out of political correctness, to save
lives,
protect children or posture themselves as high standing members of
the anti-joy crowd, these zealots are known as "safety weenies",
and they claim to know what's best for us.
I feel there are two such "weenies" currently seeking re-election to
the
Vt Senate from Chittenden County. On March 25, 1997 as part of the
efforts
at demonstrating which House of the Vermont Assembly could come
up with the toughest DWI bill, Sen. Jan Backus proposed an amendment
that would have lowered the blood alcohol limit for a criminal DWI
offense
to .02%, essentially zero tolerance. Although defeated, this was
actually
voted for by six Senators including Sen. Backus and her Republican
colleague
Sen. Helen Riehle. Although the bipartisanship is admirable, surely
this time
could instead have been spent on sensible legislation. One wonders what
they may do in the next session so please keep that in mind on Nov. 3.
Rich Lachapelle
Huntington

--
"A boundless, untapped energy source:
Our forebears rolling in their graves."