Do Job or Resign
Dear Editor,
My question and comment is in regards to a statement quoted in the Saturday paper, July 16, 2016, by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. Mr. Cooper states, “I’m not going to defend a law that’s unconstitutional and is hurting the state’s economy.”
I believe, Mr. Cooper, that when you were sworn in as attorney general for the State of North Carolina, you put your hand on the Bible and stated the following: “I will endeavor to support, maintain and defend the Constitution of said state, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, to the best of my knowledge and ability; so help me God.”
Regardless if you agree or disagree with HB2, I suggest that if you cannot abide by your sworn oath to the state, you resign and stop taking taxpayer money for a job you cannot or will not perform.
Carla Strickland
Something We Can All Complain About
Dear Editor,
Some people wonder why I complain so much about police brutality and corruption. Here is a good example that was first reported by the Hudson Star-Observer in Wisconsin.
It was revealed that over an eight-month period, a police officer named John Worden had sex on the job about 98 times. He also fabricated his worklog 146 times, spent four to six hours a day making personal phone calls and lied to his supervisor. When officer Worden was finally questioned, he was accompanied by the president of the Hudson Police Union and the business agent of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association. ╩
So was he fired? Of course not. He was allowed to resign, and received $63,000 as well. I am going to keep complaining.
Chuck Mann
Local is Better
Dear Editor,
I just got my Guilford County tax bills for 2016. Payment to be sent to Charlotte, North Carolina, to be processed.
In late December, I mailed my taxes to Charlotte in plenty of time for them to receive the check. In a few weeks, I received a notice of late payment and was assessed a late fee.
I am of the opinion that my payment arrived in time, along with thousands of others, prior to the deadline, and sat on a desk for several days past the deadline and then opened.
Does anyone in Greensboro go to Charlotte and monitor the mail received in Charlotte to prevent this backlog and subsequent late fee. Do the computer files note an increase in late fees charged by the Charlotte check processors? How much do the tax processors in Charlotte charge Guilford County for this service? Do they have an increased financial interest in charging late fees? Why not process county taxes locally, provide jobs locally or at least let us mail, drop off our tax payments locally and have you transport them to Charlotte.
Why not process Guilford County’s taxes locally using local labor and contract with surrounding towns and counties to process their taxes? I would think that local politicians could find a way to wisely spend tax dollars that would benefit the taxpayer and local citizens. But then, just look at the mess with the civil rights museum and the hundreds of thousands of tax dollars thrown down a rabbit hole.
I give too much hope for politicians to make fiscally responsible decisions.
H.D. Cole
Just a Reminder
Dear Editor,
As another election approaches, it is important to know where our elected officials stand on offering assistance for those who struggle and need help.
The Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly have made their position clear by their actions. Here are a few examples:
They cut unemployment benefits from $530 to $350 a week and reduced the number of weeks to receive benefits from 26 to 13.
They failed even to allow a discussion of a program that would help companies avoid job cuts and lay-offs by reducing employee hours for a year when business is slow, thereby keeping employees working and maintaining health insurance.
They refused to expand Medicaid coverage to the very poor and senior citizens with the low incomes, leaving some 500,000 North Carolinians without needed health care. In addition, this has resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in business opportunities, and healthcare costs have increased.
Remember, always remember.
Bob Kollar
Give Trains a Chance
Dear Editor,
In line with your interest in the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) (July 14, 2016) and the appointment to its board of your publisher, Roy Carroll, there is a way by using a portion of the NCRR to avoid the construction of a new billion dollar, 213-mile interstate highway.
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) Jun 9, 2016 reports: New $1 billion, 213-mile interstate planned to connect Norfolk and Raleigh. The stated purpose of this highway is for trucks from Raleigh and the Heart of the Triangle to haul freight to and from the seaport at Norfolk. There are many reasons not to build this costly highway. Aside from its exorbitantly high cost, it would cause great disruption to the communities and land through which it would pass. Operating diesel trucks over the new highway would involve the cost of many truck drivers, create new traffic congestion and disproportionately pollute the environment versus the following alternative.
A better way to access a seaport would be via the NCRR. It already runs directly from Raleigh to the coast – a much shorter distance than the proposed circuitous 213 highway miles. One “driver” with a minimal crew can handle a whole train. The existing NCRR terminates at the port city of Morehead City, as was the intent of its namesake, father of the NCRR, former Gov. John Motley Morehead. (The port at Wilmington can also be reached via the NCRR and connecting railroads.) The NCRR can be electrified, as presumably the adjoining SouthEast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) line will be with electricity furnished by the burgeoning NC solar energy system, making for a much more environmentally-friendly operation than the truck option.
The state ports would have to be improved to handle larger ships perhaps, hopefully, up to the new “Panamax” vessels enabled by the widening and upgrading of the Panama Canal. But this should be accomplished for much less than a billion dollars.
Waterways to the World by former NC Transportation Museum Foundation Historian Walter Turner covers the history of the State Port Authority, its travails and how North Carolina fell behind other southeastern states in port development. This suggested NCRR plan would be a major step toward restoring North Carolina to a preeminent role in port-based shipping.
Furthermore this plan would keep all segments of this operation, with the associated jobs and infrastructure development, in North Carolina, including the enhancement of the operations of the NCRR, an important state-based business.
Harry Clapp
Sceptical
Dear Editor,
Your article in the July 14, 2016 Rhino Times regarding the Rev. Nelson Johnson was spot on. Does anyone really think he experienced a racial/evangelical epiphany?
Thomas E. Morris
Send to letters@rhinotimes.com or P.O. Box 9023, Greensboro 27429
