On July 26, the tragic traffic accident took the lives of Rocky Mount veteran firefighters Chief Posey Dillon and fireman Danny Altice when their fire truck crashed at the intersection of Route 40 and School Board Road. The men were answering a call to the Smith Mountain Lake area at the time of the crash.

As a result there is a countywide $425,000 "Lights for Life" fundraising effort now under way. The idea of a fundraiser has received the cooperation and support from Rocky Mount Town Council and employees. The town will serve as agent for tax-deductible donations made by check or cash.

Tax-deductible Pledges are being handled through my company, Arrington Enterprises, Inc at 540-483-7754.

I stand elbow to elbow with my colleagues at work, with my friends and all of America when I see the economic morass we find ourselves in. We are facing record deficits, out-of-control spending, revenues continuing to decline, and a congress that seems great guns on forcing social programs and social engineering on the American people. We see a runaway Congress and a president, who is looking less as an executive in charge and more like someone seeking a miracle.

I continue to hear a lot of people blame President Barack Obama for these record deficits, and he carries some of the responsibility. The Constitution of the United States makes it very clear that it is the House of Representatives that develops budgets, approves taxes and spending programs.

I have a few questions for all the overwrought folks who are so concerned about the progressive policies of President Barack Obama and the congressional Democrats. First, can any fair-minded person with even a passing acquaintance with basic economic facts deny that something is seriously amiss with the balance of wealth and income in the United States? How much more of the wealth of this country do you folks want to hand over to the super-rich? What will satisfy the raw greed of these people?

At present, one percent of the U.S. population owns about 35 percent of all the country's wealth -- stocks, bonds, cash, gold, silver, gems, real estate, businesses, industries, farms, etc. That leaves 65 percent of the wealth to be divided among the remaining 99 percent of us. But not so fast. The next wealthiest four percent of the population owns 25 percent of all the wealth. That leaves just 40 percent of the wealth to be divided among 95 percent of the population.