‘Lend Your Leg’ Day for awareness of landmines
As members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC), the West Virginia Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster bombs as well as student organization PSALM, we strongly condemn the confirmed use of cluster munitions by Russian forces in Ukraine and the death and injury of civilians, as reported by the New York Times and Human Rights Watch.
We call for an immediate halt to use of the internationally banned weapon and urge all parties to guarantee protection of civilians as well as respect for international humanitarian law and the international norm banning use of cluster munitions and landmines.
Cluster munitions were previously used in the conflict in Ukraine between July 2014 and February 2015, though the extent of existing contamination is unknown.
PSALM students are committed to educating the public about the indiscriminate nature of landmines and cluster munitions, leading to the destruction of innocent life. PSALM students are outraged that children, the most vulnerable of society, are all too often the victims of these indiscriminate weapons, many left after conflicts long since over, coming upon them in the most innocent of activities like playing or going to school. These weapons instill fear in whole communities, deepening poverty and acting as a lethal barrier to development.
Today, PSALM will host a “Lend Your Leg” Day, which encourages people worldwide by a simple but symbolic gesture: rolling up a pant leg to raise awareness about the damage landmines and cluster munitions still cause and to show solidarity with all survivors and persons with disabilities.
ICBL-CMC works for a world free of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war, and a world in which all lives are protected. A world where contaminated land is cleared and returned to local populations for productive use and where the needs of affected communities and survivors are met and their human rights guaranteed.
Nora Sheets and Larry Schwab
Morgantown
$1 Mylan sale will bite taxpayers in the butt
It’s great to read how public officials would lead you to believe that with all their great work behind the scenes, they made this deal happen.
In reality, Mylan’s $1 sale to a state organization was really a half billion dollar tax break or more for them.
Mylan corporation will get a tax break for whatever the property appraised for. So I’m guessing it is worth a half billion or more. That means the first half billion dollars the corporation makes, it won’t have to pay federal taxes on. Also, it saved $1 million a year in local real estate tax. Plus, don’t forget the utilities it’s saving by not heating and cooling that huge facility.
We can figure that Mylan reached out to all the companies that could be potential buyers and found no interest before it sold the facility for $1.
As you read and listen to your local yocals talk about how, without them, this would never have happened, just remember this deal, like all deals, was done for a financial benefit for someone. It benefited Mylan — not the taxpayer. So bend over and get the Crisco out — that $1 million in lost property tax revenue has got to be made up by you, the taxpayer.
Even in Sunday’s paper, local leaders said the intention is to get whoever moves into this non-profit-owned building to pay taxes on the part they lease. Notice Russ Rogerson director of Morgantown Area Partnership, said, “I know that’s the intent. I know that’s the goal.”
So it’s not mandatory for a business to pay taxes on the part it leases, just on its equipment and inventory. Once again, another reason to rent space from WVU instead of a private guy: Rent is cheaper, since no real estate taxes are being paid on the building that would have to be figured into the tenants’ rent. So your water bill went up, your taxes are going up and Mylan got the tax break.
Dow Jones
Morgantown
