10A • MONDAY, MAY 17, 2010
SALISBURY POST
GREGORY M. ANDERSON Publisher
OPINION
704-797-4201 ganderson@salisburypost.com
ELIZABETH G. COOK
CHRIS RATLIFF
Editor
Advertising Director
704-797-4244 editor@salisburypost.com
704-797-4235 cratliff@salisburypost.com
CHRIS VERNER
RON BROOKS
Editorial Page Editor
Circulation Director
704-797-4262 cverner@salisburypost.com
704-797-4221 rbrooks@salisburypost.com
Salisbury Post
The Monday forum
“The truth shall make you free”
LETTERS
THE VILLAGE IDIOT
TO THE EDITOR
Don’t let the doorman hit you on the way out A
Recognize positives at Knox Middle, too Editor’s note: The writer is responding to a May 1 letter from Julie S. Pinkston, “Respecting flag,” and a May 7 letter from Gerry Wood, “Message to students: say pledge ‘or else.’ ” As a student at Knox Middle School, I was upset when I found out that my school was being publicized in a negative way. Knox isn’t perfect, but no school is. During a debate in social studies, my teacher said she had encountered a similar incident at another local school, yet this incident was not published in the paper. The few students that weren’t cooperative don’t represent our entire population. Everyday I stand for the pledge, and so does the majority of my class. It is unfair to say Knox is filled with “little brats.” I don’t always say the pledge but I do always stand respectfully for it. I may be having a bad day, but I still love my country. Whether I proclaim my affection through verses or silently in my head, my feelings are the same. I found it rude to point out just negative aspects at Knox. Recently we had a dodge ball tournament fundraiser which was a huge collaboration of parents, students, teachers and the community. The band just had a successful trip to Virginia, where they won four first-place awards, four awards of excellent, and the Grand Champion award. Our girl’s track, eighthgrade girl’s basketball and wrestling teams have won championships this year. Our major improvements in test scores speak for themselves. Ms. Pinkston, you had one bad experience. If it was a day when I didn’t recite the pledge, would you assume that’s what I always did? How many times have you said the pledge this year? Mr. Wood, if you are concerned with the students at Knox, you can come volunteer and inform our students on how to be patriotic. This session would take up valuable classroom time, but our “unpatriotic” students need to learn the “correct” way to honor America and avoid becoming terrorists, as you say. — Emma Labovitz
people would ask me if I was annoyed or upset that five fellow Republicans filed for the seat I currently occupy. And my answer would always be the same — absolutely not. We need more participation in the political process and not less. I want to publicly thank all five who filed for the 6th District seat for mounting spirited and civil campaigns. It was refreshing to have candidates with such varied and interesting backgrounds competing for the same position. I am pleased that a majority felt that I was worthy of being nominated for another two-year term, but I think the 6th District was well-served by having the others run for the position, too. Now, it is on to November and the general election. One more time, I must say thank you to those who supported us and to those who supported another candidate in the primary.
The Salisbury Post welcomes letters to the editor. Each letter should be limited to 300 words and include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and length. Limit one letter each 14 days. Write Letters to the Editor, Salisbury Post, P.O. Box 4639, Salisbury, NC 281454639. Or fax your letter to 639-0003. E-mail: letters@salisburypost.com.
ured something was up. The first time I saw Kelly and Carol together, I knew this was the person for her. Kelly has been a great coach Salisbury over the years. But more importantly, he’s been a true friend, a faithful and caring husband and an involved and loving father. This is what makes him such a winner off the court. Thank you, Thank you, Mike London, for Kelly, and congratulations. (And your fantastic story on Coach Kel- congratulations to Carol, too!) — Susan Shinn ly Everhart. I first met Kelly in Salisbury the fall of 1987, when I was home from college, visiting my best friend, Carol Blume. I noticed a yellow sticky note on the door of her bedroom, written in intentionally careful handwriting, with After as many years as I have Kelly’s name and number. I fig-
Everhart is a winner on the court and off
Congressman Coble expresses his thanks
Common sense
(Or uncommon wisdom, as the case may be) “What is powerful is when what you say is just the tip of the iceberg of what you know.” — Jim Rohn “There is a condition worse than blindness — and that is, seeing something that isn’t there.” — Author Unknown
Moderately Confused
— Howard Coble
Letters policy
been in public office, it is difficult sometimes to come up with just the right words to thank everyone for the support shown to me. A simple thank you will have to suffice for those who supported our candidacy in the Republican primary. To receive 64 percent of the vote in a six-way congressional primary is overwhelming and appreciated more than you can know. As an elected official, I have always tried to serve the public to the best of my abilities, and to be rewarded with such a strong vote total in an anti-incumbent year is indeed gratifying. Often during the campaign,
Member of Congress
Talent show will benefit Red Cross Three clubs at Salisbury High School are hosting a talent show on Thursday at the Salisbury High School auditorium at 7 p.m. Me Time, TRU (Tobacco Reality Unfiltered), and Key Club members and advisors have been planning the show for several months. We have a variety of talented high school singers, dancers, poets, poppers, gymnasts and much more. The cost of tickets which will be sold at the door are $5 and all proceeds will go to the local American Red Cross for disaster relief. Please join us for an evening of entertainment Thursday and support these youth as well as the American Red Cross. — Steven Staib Salisbury
Pro and con on proposed Va. toll he Post’s May 13 editorial, “Toll rears its ugly head,” said the governor of Virginia wants to pay for Interstate 95 improvements in his state by charging motorists up to $4 per car near the North Carolina border. Here’s what our online readers had to say about that:
T
monkey wrote: I don’t see a problem with putting a toll at the border. In fact, I think NC should put one on the northbound lane of I-77 at the SC border for all of those commuters working in Charlotte living in SC to avoid paying the NC taxes — yet still use our roads daily. silence dogood wrote: The main problem comes from having a gasoline tax to fund road repair and construction only to have those funds diverted to the general fund so the politicians can continue to overspend. It wouldn't be any different with a toll system. Toll systems just add to a bloated government bureaucracy, slow down economic growth, increase pollution from idling cars waiting to pay and increase the chances of a rear end collision by peo-
People just get off an exit earlier and go around the toll and get back on. Same thing in Maryland. People jump off of 95 onto route 1 and go around the $8.00 toll. Ridiculous.
Excerpts from comments at www.salisburypost.com ple not paying attention. Ever see one of those "drive thru systems" in action? You still have to slow down to 15 miles per hour to go through and the traffic back up during peak periods is horrendous. Sometimes in Florida the back up is over 5 miles just to get through the toll plaza. Ever try to cross from Jersey into Manhattan during rush hour? Be prepared to sit for over an hour. Several years ago the state of Connecticut abandoned the toll system altogether. Yes they had to raise the gas tax but the improvement in commuter times and the flow of traffic was worth the trade off. In Delaware there is a toll entering and exiting the state on the south end of 95.
carolinamom wrote: Wow...what if you get to the border and you don’t have cash on you? OMG...can you imagine the headache! bonez11 wrote: We already pay a "Highway Use" tax and the Gas Tax. I would much rather see a toll booth actually targeting the commuters who use these roads than another additional, excessive, superfluous, redundant and unneeded tax across the board to repair a road that I might never use. eric wrote: So how many forwardthinking people with the “Avoid Toll” feature on their GPS will simply hop on I-85 and get around the toll booths on I-95? I-85 joins up with I-95 in Petersburg, VA - and there isn’t a WHOLE lot between Petersburg and the NC State Line (other than Emporia, which has nothing besides speed traps).
few weeks ago, there was a huge crisis in New York City. No, not the 1,000-point dip in the Dow, the attempted car bomb in Times Square or an unexpected foie gras shortage. This was an event that made titans of industry tremble and the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies shake. It was all doctors, lawyers, bankers, brokers, fashion designers, Broadway actors, soap stars, interior JIM designers and trustMULLEN fund babies could talk about at their $100-a-plate restaurants, and was the lead story on every station’s 11 o’clock news for two solid weeks: The doormen at New York apartment buildings were threatening to go on strike. Oh, the humanity! All up and down Park and Fifth Avenues one could hear the sound of wailing and gnashing of teeth. The newspapers were full of front-page stories following the daily negotiations. “How will we live?” “Where will we go?” went the lamentations of the wealthy. Building managers and the owners of two, three and four-milliondollar homes held meetings to set up schedules for tenants to share lobby duty in case the unthinkable were to happen. “This,” said one advertising executive as he climbed into the limo that would drive him to work, “could be worse than the elevator-operator strike.” Is there a person alive who can forget that tragedy? Management predicted that hundreds, maybe thousands, of people might starve because their personal chefs wouldn’t walk up 10 or 20 flights of stairs to cook meals for the helpless rich. It turned out that, despite the low expectations, many wealthy tenants could be taught to push the button for the floor they lived on, and remember the button for lobby, too. It wasn’t easy and there was much resistance to the idea, but they were surprised to find out what they could do in a crisis. And in a rare display of kindness, the ones that did learn helped the ones who could not. Once they pieced together how to use an elevator, some felt like they could do anything. The doorman strike had the potential of being much worse, an even harder burden for the wealthy to bear. Those unfamiliar with people of wealth and privilege may wonder why they need someone to open the door for them, for someone to say, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Pushface,” for someone to sign for their FedEx deliveries, for someone to buzz their apartment and announce visitors — because it’s something the rest of us do for ourselves all the time. The truth is that the wealthy are like spoiled poodles; they can barely do anything for themselves. All their survival skills have been bred out of them. They can no more open their own door than any domesticated beast lacking opposable thumbs can open one. They must be let in and out of their homes with the aid of a human. Like pets, we all wonder sometimes if it’s worth the trouble to have them. They seem to have no practical purpose, and some days all they do is cause problems. Worst of all, most of them are not neutered and continue to breed, unchecked. Why no one has invented a human-sized, thick plastic flap, like doggie doors, that the rich could push in and out of by themselves is a wonderment. The strike was called off at the last minute. “They got more money just for opening doors,” huffed one Park Avenue resident. “If they want more money, they should earn it. The way my great-grandfather did.” Jim Mullen is the author of “It Takes a Village Idiot: Complicating the Simple Life” and “Baby’s First Tattoo.” You can reach him at jim—mullen@myway.com — UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE