National Clothesline

The MidAtlantic Association of Cleaners recently issued an alert to its members warning of a sales tax proposal that would affect Virginia cleaners.

The alert contains a poster, letter of explanation and specific legislation contact information — all in an effort to stem off legislation that would require a sales tax on cleaning services.

“We believe that tax proposals from Virginia Governor Mark Warner will include a recommendation that sales of ‘select’ services be included under sales tax requirements,” said David Norford, executive vice president of MAC. “We think that there is a good possibility that Senator John Chichester, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and perhaps others, will also propose legislation that would do the same. We think that a similar recommendation will emerge from the deliberations of the Tax Revision Commission.”

Norford believes it is crucial that the industry doesn’t wait for the “bombs to drop.”

Instead, he urges cleaners to go on the offensive by displaying the poster MAC has sent out in their plant’s window. He hopes cleaners will also be able to make a difference by voicing their opposition against any sales tax proposal to their delegate or senator, as well as seeking customer support since they will also be directly affected by the legislation.

“We think that ultimately, whether sales tax is expanded to include cleaning services, will largely be the result of how many contacts legislators receive,” Norford explained.

For more information, contact MAC’s office by calling (900) 235-8360 or visit the association’s site as www.macla.net.

Prince George’s County police are looking for two suspects in the murder investigation of drycleaner Michael Kim, 42, who was working at his Super Cleaners store located in a busy strip mall in Fort Washington, MD.

Shorty after two men walked into the drycleaning plant at 11:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning in mid-October, they opened fire, hitting Kim twice in the upper body. Not long afterward, he was pronounced dead at Fort Washington Hospital.

According to authorities, only vague descriptions of the shooters were given because they wore dark-colored masks and fled from the shopping mall quickly. The suspects were described as black men, one heavy-set and the other thin. Police consider the motive of the murder to be robbery.

Mac Reyes, owner of the Silangan Oriental Store, located just a few doors down from Super Cleaners, was the person who called 9-1-1 for help. Three Super Cleaners employees ran into his shop immediately following the shooting and informed him of what had happened.

Reyes told a Washington Post writer that his business had been robbed twice recently. He noted that during one of the robberies an armed man pressed a gun’s muzzle against his neck and ordered him to withdraw money from the store’s ATM machine.

“I just keep on praying that everything gets better," he said. “We used to stay open until 9 p.m., but now we only stay open until 8 p.m. because I don’t want to go through that again. It’s scary.”

Police have requested that anyone with information on the crime call the Crime Solvers hotline at (301) 735-1111.