A Hardister Thanks

Dear Editor,

Thank you to the voters of NC House District 59 for the strong vote in the May 8 Republican primary election. It was an honor to achieve a landslide, 43-point victory in this race.

Our victory in this race is primarily attributed to the people who volunteered their time and energy to support our campaign. I must say a special thanks to my family and friends who stood behind me during this process. Winning an election is a team effort, and I am proud of the teamwork that we did to make this campaign a success.

We had several endorsements in this race, including the endorsement of the Rhino Times. I am honored to have received the support of Guilford County’s conservative publication. To the editor of the Rhino Times, I appreciate your confidence in my reelection.

With the primary election behind us, we will now move forward to the general election in November. My focus in this campaign will be to continue promoting our message of legislative accomplishments, conservative solutions and a positive vision for North Carolina. It has been an honor to serve, and I would be honored to continue working to represent the people of Guilford County.

Rep. Jon Hardister

 

 

Panhandling Tales

Dear Editor,

Thanks so much for writing the column on how potential donators can control panhandling.  In my experience over the years I’ve seen too much that’s negative in the panhandling business.  At times I’ve stopped and interacted with those who were asking for money and so many times there was something that seemed suspicious or didn’t add up in what they said.  I stopped giving to them, especially to those that you see on the same street corners repeatedly.

Here are some examples of things that I’ve seen: A man that looked like a genuine street person was on a corner on Battleground Avenue with his cardboard sign.  I was crossing a parking lot nearby and noticed a really nice looking Mustang convertible with some “racing” extras.  Later I saw the same man beside it and thought that he was admiring the car.  He then got in, put up his stuff and drove away.  The next time I saw him on the corner at this location he had parked the car a little more out of sight.  It took me a minute or so to find it.

Also on Battleground Avenue, one time some young people with backpacks were on a corner.  Their sign read “Travelling – Broke.”  Four or five weeks later they were on the same corner with the same sign.  I thought, “Oh, they must be on their way back.”

Someone once told me that he had friends who panhandled.  He asked why they didn’t get a job and was told, “Why should we when we can make more money doing this.”

I’ve also heard stories from people at work, including the one where a man and his friend offered to take a panhandler to an all-you-can-eat buffet at Golden Corral and he absolutely refused.  Another person had someone tell him that he needed gas money and that his truck was stuck on a railroad track.  A year later that same man approached him with the same story.

I’ve often wished that Greensboro could do something to discourage panhandling.  Too bad you can’t start with a lie detector test.

Mike Small

 

 

Guns Require Permits

Dear Editor,

It has been said that we North Carolinians should never rest easy until the General Assembly adjourns and the lawmakers have returned home.  What follows is a good reason why this is so:

In a previous session of the General Assembly, the state House of Representatives turned aside House Bill 746, which would have permitted guns to be possessed and carried by those without permits.  Now the pressure is being renewed to pass this bill when the General Assembly reconvenes on May 16, which would allow 18 year olds with no training and no background checks to carry a concealed, loaded weapon in public.

Thought you should know so you could take appropriate action which you deem fitting.

Bob Kollar

 

 

Missing Hyper-Sudoku

Dear Editor,

What happened to the Hyper-Sudoku?   It is the best in my opinion and unique to the Rhino Times in the area. (The only other place I have seen it is in the European version of The New York Times.)   I looked forward to it every week. Your current sudoku is much too easy, hardly worth working. Please bring back Hyper-Sudoku.

Doris Bray

 

 

Constitutional Threat

Dear Editor,

Show of hands, who has heard of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact? Anybody?

From Wikipedia: “The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their respective electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

Currently, 10 states are in the compact and it would go into effect only when the magic number of 270 electoral votes can be achieved. The 10 states in the compact total 165 electoral votes. And, to no one’s surprise, these are all traditionally blue states.

Let’s call this what it is – an attempt by the Democrat, progressive, socialist left to do an end run around the Constitution. This is an attempt to conduct a coup. If this were to succeed, the same two or three states would determine the presidential election every 4 years.

And before you say it would never work, go back to basic civics class and review the election process. Just because a candidate wins the vote in a state, there is no requirement that says that candidate has to be awarded the electoral votes from that state. Under this compact, the states would pass legislation requiring the electors to cast their votes for the candidate that received the largest national popular vote. The only way this would not happen is if at least one chamber of each state’s legislature were retained by conservatives/Republicans. And yes, North Carolina almost joined this unholy alliance in 2006/2007.

This action would effectively end our representative republic and make us pure democracy with all the chaos that it includes. Once the Democrats/progressive/socialist/left gains both houses of Congress under this nightmare, all of our rights will be stripped away “to make for a more peaceful, inclusive United States.” And since they know what’s best for everyone, why bother with these silly elections.

It would also be the start of the second American civil war. And once that started, there are plenty of countries that would seize the opportunity to take down our once great country during the chaos.

Things like this run under the radar and, before anyone knows it, they are enacted and it’s too late to stop it. We need to be modern day Paul Reveres. Spread the word.

Go Galt and save the republic.

Alan Marshall

 

 

Trump Campaign Spy

Dear Editor,

CNN recently proclaimed, “Trump put US on brink of a constitutional showdown by demanding an investigation into claims of a spy in his campaign.”  If true, arranging an informant into a political campaign based on unsubstantiated claims by a competitor would be the true constitutional threat to democracy.  You cannot simply make unsubstantiated claims to paralyze a competitor.  You cannot place a confidential informant into a political campaign based on mere political accusation.  What did he/she inform on?  Did they inform on possible legal issues that coincidentally include strategy?  I wouldn’t be surprised if every campaign hasn’t broken at least one election law unintentionally.  Therefore, should we place a confidential informant in every campaign?  No.  We have been in the middle of a constitutional crisis as the result of Hillary Clinton’s sore loss.

Part of a broader concern is that the investigation and hysteria following Donald Trump’s victory is based on stereotypes.  The media assumes conservatives are criminals with evil intent.  Liberals by contrast are genuine honest individuals with honorable intent.  If a conservative does something wrong, they need to be destroyed.  If a liberal does something wrong, they receive a pass from the media since their intent was honorable.

As an example, Hillary Clinton dug up and was given massive amounts of dirt on candidate Trump.  I doubt she vetted the sources.  Yet, Trump is being charged with collusion for attending a meeting where a lawyer claimed to have dirt on Clinton.  It seems to be all right for Clinton and liberals to use dirty tricks.  After all, conservatives are viewed as evil.  When the Trump team attends a meeting, they have committed a capital offense.  I’d like to know Hillary Clinton’s source for all the dirt she used.

Since we are only investigating President Trump, obviously the evidence will show the Russian government favored Trump over Clinton.  I wouldn’t be surprised if an investigation into Hillary Clinton showed Russian influence on her behalf, or another foreign country, as well.  If investigators only look into one side they will only see evidence for that side.

History is full of individuals who have committed horrible crimes based on what was claimed to be honorable intent.  The media needs to stop biasing coverage with personal political ideology.  They need to do their jobs.

Alan Burke

 

 

Paper Carrier Woes

Dear Editor,

In the 11 years I have lived at my current address I have had nothing but problems with delivery of the News & Record.  My wife and I are retired and go out of town once a month on average.

We found that when we place a vacation hold they are only too happy to stop delivery but getting it restarted is another matter.

I have tried unsuccessfully to reach the circulation manager but she won’t answer her phone or return a phone call.  You would think it part of her job to deal with delivery problems.

I have no trouble reaching the publisher or editor but they seem powerless to do anything of a lasting nature.  I have asked for the carrier’s name and phone number so that I could contact him or her directly but the N&R refuses to provide the information as they have done in the past.   If I can hold out until December I will find a Christmas card from my carrier with his/her name and address so that I can send a tip.  Tipping is a way of rewarding good service, which I have not had, so the carrier can save the cost of one Christmas card by not including one in my paper.

I usually ask my next door neighbor to get my paper when we are out of town, but it just so happened that they were out of town so I had no choice but to place a vacation stop, which was to restart on May 16.  That didn’t happen so I called the N&R and asked that they send me a Wednesday paper and the back issues, but that didn’t happen until the next day, and then they didn’t include the Sunday paper that should have been included.  And so it goes.

Glenn Buckland

 

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