News-Record.com

The April 24 story about university housing ("Housing spreads off campus") rubbed me the wrong way. I am a high school senior planning to attend UNCG in the fall. Last time I checked, college-aged students were citizens under the U.S. government as much as anyone else. With that comes the rights enjoyed by all those who call themselves citizens, including the right to equal housing.

I have not seen such a "there goes the neighborhood" mentality since minorities started moving into white areas. The residents of the University Village complex will be expected to adhere to the same noise ordinances as everyone else. I'm sure the police will enforce these laws more strictly given their inherent mistrust of young people.

My point is this: Residents should give young people a chance before you decide to abandon your homes and move.

John Boschini
Greensboro

For a nation that has readily available information on mental illness, there is an extreme lack of awareness.

For some individuals with mental illness, it is a never-ending cycle trying to escape or simply minimize the stigma that creates an invisible leash and restricts their social lives and employment opportunities.

Am I saying employ every applicant with mental illness? No. Just like the rest of the population, there is a wide range of personalities and capabilities. However, individuals with mental illness get lumped into one big, negative category.

Employers, give these individuals a chance. The ones who come to you very likely want to better themselves by being productive and increase their chances of living independently. You'll find some very ambitious individuals who want nothing more than what we take for granted and sometimes even despise: our jobs. For those employers who have opened your doors, thank you.

Social life also can be very difficult. Make an effort to greet these individuals; mental illness is not airborne. You can't contract it through a conversation.

May is Mental Health Awareness month and I challenge you to take a few minutes from your schedule to become more aware.

Vue Yang
Greensboro

Just to point out several omissions regarding Oregon Gov. Kulongoski's attempt to live off of food stamps ($3 a day):

He, as do many, may still buy alcohol and cigarettes with cash. He can still have
satellite TV, as many do.

The article neglects to ask if he could get help from his church, as many churches help.

He can go to soup kitchens and private charities and food outreaches in the area.

Is the food stamp program designed to be temporary or a way of life?

When millions take other people's money by force, should they complain about the
amount?

This isn't about people choosing between feeding the dog or eating, as your article tried to imply. If you can't afford food, don't get a dog and choose carefully how you spend.

The government is not a cure-all. That's one reason churches and charities are important (along with choices). People still steal millions and millions of taxpayers' dollars through fraud, not to mention bureaucratic waste.

The only thing Gov. Kulongoski accomplished was looking foolish, and responsible reporting would have mentioned the above options/issues along with food stamp hardships.

Mark Fisher
Biscoe

If one lives in the Starmount/Westridge areas, he or she, in my opinion, has a 90 percent chance of being ripped off by dishonest contractors who believe that residents of such areas are either stupid or grow dollar bills in trees.

From carpet cleaners to electricians to roofers, many of these "professionals," some having lost jobs and tried self-employment, believe they are smart by overcharging prospective customers. But in fact, they are losing them.

People in Greensboro talk and exchange information with neighbors and friends about "smart contractors."

Small-business associations should do a better job in giving sound advice to such "rip-off" professionals who may be unaware that they are working against themselves.

Helio Salvador
Greensboro

I am writing in response to the April 19 article concerning the proposed rezoning from residential to retail at the corner of Lawndale and Lake Jeanette roads.

The Country Park and Pineburr neighborhoods are low density, park-like and enhanced by proximity to both Country Park and the Natural Science Center. They are not an appropriate location for retail development. The corner in question is not an eyesore, as mentioned in the article. It provides a much-needed green buffer from heavy traffic on Lawndale and Lake Jeanette. Lawndale has a full complement of retail projects, many of which have long-standing vacancies and need tenants.

Greensboro is littered with the bones of retail areas, created by those in pursuit of the next hot intersection and ultimately abandoned by tenants who have learned that maybe it is not location, location, location.

Brassfield Shopping Center, adjacent to high-end residential, will soon be one of those very empty areas. The new, extensive retail locations at North Elm and Pisgah Church are far from being completely leased. We have seen and applaud the success of Food Lion relocating to a former Winn-Dixie location. Any proposed retail projects have many options in existing areas on Lawndale.

Michele van Gobes
Greensboro

"Choice" is an emotionally charged word. In light of the recent Supreme Court ruling, pro-choice advocates are furious about losing their option to perform full-term abortions. The new Democratic majority last week wrote a pro-choice act to make abortion rights a matter of national policy, and they will likely increase current taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood beyond its $265 million a year. This organization, the world's largest abortion provider, doesn't use this money to pay for surgery but for materials and facilities and to fund malpractice challenges and other lawsuits.

What about choice? If abortion "doctors" provide no counsel to young women to help them compare the serious emotional and physical risks of this surgery relative to adoption alternatives, where's their choice? Currently, federal policy protects the rights of minor children to have abortions without obtaining permission; where is our parental choice?

In a country that hallows life and liberty, let's mourn the holocaust-like deaths of 40 million-plus babies under legal abortion, and 30,000-plus each year just in North Carolina. If such distortions of law and personal choice bother you, stand and be counted. Let your representatives know the standards against which you make your choices at the polls.

Dan Nelson
Summerfield

Recently, CBS's "60 Minutes" portrayed the Duke lacrosse story as if the three young men were choirboys in church. Never did they ask why they brought the young lady to the house in the first place.

The most profound comment was when one of the players said, "The day I die, it will be said one of the Duke lacrosse players who was accused of rape died today." He talked earlier in the week about how he felt for someone who had been falsely accused but did not have the means to seek the counsel necessary. That was brought home when I thought about one young man in Alamance County who spent 20 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

This was not a time for portraying the real "heroes"; at best, it was a lesson learned. It appears the young man who made the comment above is the one who learned it best.

CBS, help us teach our children that we cannot dress up sin, and being in a place of privilege is not an exception to the rule. There should not be any "atta-boys" around the water cooler today.

Jessie Warren-Vinson
Elon

The following is a Counterpoint:

By B.J. Weatherby

I am outraged by the 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court on April 18 that upholds a ban on the "intact dilation and extraction" type of abortion. (I refuse to call this kind of abortion by its "invented" name -- a vile, gruesome name designed to make everyone shudder.)

In writing the opinion for the five males who made up the majority, Justice Kennedy exhibited appalling paternalistic chauvinism. He wrote that banning this kind of abortion "protected" women from a procedure they "may not understand"!

He wrote: "The government may use its voice and its regulatory authority to show its profound respect for the life within the woman." But those men fail to show any respect for the life and health of the woman.

They effectively overturned Justice Harry A. Blackmun's 1973 statement that "the state does have an important and legitimate interest in preserving and protecting the health of the pregnant woman." Additionally, they show absolutely no sympathy for the pregnant woman as she makes a difficult decision, often based on the ill health of the fetus or the mother.

This ruling is outrageous because the justices ignored or reversed multiple state and federal precedents and discounted or ignored medical evidence. More unbelievably, Justice Kennedy wrote that "moral norms" also can be considered. But whose "moral norms"?

In her dissenting opinion, Judge Ginsburg said this decision was "alarming." I agree. It opens the door to further state and federal restrictions on abortions. Moreover, it suggests that, in the future, the justices can and will consider "moral norms" as they rule on other privacy and individual rights issues. Again, whose norms?

Justice Ginsburg also wrote, "Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code."

Remember outcries against "judicial activism"? Those outcries came from the same people who approve of this ruling, even though this is blatant "judicial activism." If some Supreme Court justices believe they can apply their "moral norms," who now will protect our individual rights and the individual rights of our neighbor -- who may be of another race, another religion, another sexual orientation, a pregnant woman? Who will show fairness and compassion? Who will define "liberty for all"?

The writer is a wife and mother who lives in Greensboro.

At top is a photo taken on Easter Sunday. Next is a photo taken 10 days later in the same area. It shows the aftermath of a chain saw massacre conducted by Burford's Tree Inc. for Duke Energy on Woodlawn Avenue -- all in the name of "trimming" foliage from power lines. This type of activity needs exposure.
Ben Andrews, Greensboro

The recent Supreme Court decision on abortion takes the most private and personal medical decisions away from doctors and places them in the hands of politicians. That's why the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other leading medical organizations opposed this ban -- because it doesn't serve the best interests of women's health.

Seven years ago, we had a Supreme Court that struck down a similar ban because of its lack of a health exception. Since then, George W. Bush has appointed two justices to the court who voted to uphold this ban with no exception to protect women's health. We simply cannot afford another anti-choice president who will nominate these types of justices.

Elections matter -- and women's health is counting on a pro-choice president in 2008.

Deborah Butler
Greensboro

We have become a world that has forgotten how to be quiet. Unless we have noise in our lives, perpetually every moment in our waking hours, we find something that will add this commodity.

Cell phones while driving, automobile radios/DVD players (both music and video), endless "reality shows." I am aware we have all decided these programs are a necessity. Entertainment, yes.

In my humble opinion, our lack of knowledge is because we are no longer hungry to know more. To most, it's more important to know about "American Idol" or watch the exploitation of young women on "Deal or No Deal."

How many readers know Abraham Lincoln was assassinated only five days after Lee surrendered to Grant?

Until we re-educate ourselves to be quiet and seek knowledge, we will know no more than who is winning
"The Amazing Race." What a pity.

Keith Ebbs
Greensboro

By no means do I condone the remarks Don Imus made about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The remarks were demeaning, disrespectful, sexist and racist. They should not have been made by anyone, white or black. Those women represent the cream of the crop in Black America. To have them denigrated in such a manner was inexcusable.

Those remarks should serve as a wake-up call to Black America. It is long overdue for us as black men to begin to show more respect to ourselves and especially to our black women. We do not show them the respect they deserve. We degrade them, humiliate, abuse and treat them in a manner that would be illegal in other countries.

You can stop at any traffic light and be exposed to language that even Imus would not use on his radio show. The rap "music" is laden with profanity, sexual innuendo and such outrageous comments about our black women until I am ashamed to be standing next to the vehicle where that "music" is being played.

We should not let the Don Imus comments go in vain. We should use those comments as a wake-up call.

Pollard Stanford
Greensboro

In response to the commentary "Death to all rapists" by Solomon Burnette in the Campus Echo at N.C. Central:

The Good Book says, "You reap what you sow." If you have stripper parties or you are the stripper, it can't be good and neither can the outcome.

So, before you plant anymore of this crop of hate and discontent, throttle back and think because the roots in this field run deep and spread like kudzu.

Solomon, it takes a lot of good seed to fix what you are planting because they don't have a 24-hour roundup for attitudes or beliefs.

Check your seeds?

John Neese
Summerfield

As a student in the master's of public health program at UNCG, I am excited that House Bill 259 will be voted on in the N.C. House soon.

HB 259 aims to reduce the air pollution and harmful health effects caused by secondhand tobacco smoke. Thousands of studies reviewed by the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency have conclusively shown that secondhand tobacco smoke has a negative impact on human health, causing, among other ailments, lung cancer and heart disease in adults, asthma and respiratory infections in children and SIDS in infants.

Please let your representative know you support this important legislation.

Sammie Autry
Greensboro

You wanted Democrats? You got Democrats. You wanted surrender to the terrorists in Iraq, you got it. You wanted endless hearings, investigations and political posturing while the people's business goes untouched and ignored, you have that, too.

Congratulations, and God help this great country.

Jim Sartwell
Liberty

As a student at one of our fine local colleges, I have recently partaken of an opportunity to view, at no charge, a tragic movie. It was about a washed-up politician trying to maintain his legacy, stay in the spotlight and find the meaning in life. The name of the movie? "An inconvenient Truth."

Guy Sinclair
Graham

When a stone is dropped in a puddle, ripples make their way across to bounce back and into each other in an endless multiplicity of collisions, ceasing long after the energy of the falling pebble has been expended.

Chai Vang, son of a Hmong general, came to us as a refugee from Laos and the war in Vietnam that had spilled over its borders, killing and displacing millions. In 2004, in a Wisconsin forest, six hunters were shot and killed by Vang.

Consequences from the disaster in Vietnam continue to ripple across the world. In the states, many of our veterans have been treated for symptoms of mental illness stemming from even brief exposures to our 25-year experience in that war. Effects on the children of Vietnam vets began to manifest immediately.

Grandchildren of Vietnam vets now share stories of substance abuse and family violence resulting from the American military experience there.

If there is still a United States in 25 years, its citizens (including our grandchildren) will be paying for our government's current adventures in the Middle East. For those who cannot imagine this, try dropping a pebble into water and watching until the ripples die.

James Quinn
Greensboro

Regarding your editorial on April 14 about the city's dance program: I had seen a documentary about students in all the districts of New York, in the lower-income school areas. I was teaching these youngsters to dance: how to behave in a mannerly way with respect to all, and how to dress properly. While doing all these things, students also received the kind of exercise they really don't have much of these days.

This program was given to the lower-income schools, but I feel all students need such instruction no matter where they grow up. This is a very meaningful program.

I am a senior in this community and have seen many children growing up in all areas. Learning these kinds of skills is important to their growing up and getting ahead in the world.

Harriet Kabat
Greensboro

Recently, two friends and my wife and I attended the Norah Jones concert at the War Memorial Auditorium. She was amazing and we all enjoyed the concert.

My concern is that we had to order tickets through tickets.com and on the day they first became available when ordering opened at, I believe, at 9 a.m.

The first two times I tried to place my order I was advised I was too early. On the third attempt I got through and requested "front row, center section." I was advised that the only center seats available were way in the back, everything else was already taken, including side-row seats. Our best option was "balcony center," which still cost $60 a ticket.

When we got to the auditorium there was a man with a fist full of center section seats going all the way back to row five trying to unload them for $20 each since it was five minutes before the concert.

My problem is I ordered as early as humanly possible and was limited to four tickets. How did this man get so many premium tickets? Complex officials should be concerned with this type of behavior.

I will never attend another complex event. And the people who bought tickets from this person should be ashamed of themselves, since it only promotes this kind of activity.

Michael Walker
Greensboro

In response to Philip Johnson's letter ("Truth Commission: It's over and done; let it go," April 24):

He said former Truth Commissioner Bob Peters' letter of April 11 was self-serving. On the contrary, Mr. Peters' time spent serving the city's citizens on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission gave him the basis from which to speak, not to glorify himself.

The tragedy of Nov. 3, 1979, could have been prevented. The Communist Workers Party had a lawful parade permit.

The plans of the Klan to arrive to antagonize them were known by the Greensboro police because of an informant. The duty of the police is to protect all citizens in the community.

Why weren't they there to carry out their sworn duty?

Our "influential leaders" preferred not to endorse the commission. Why?

Isn't the whole truth better than an incomplete and inaccurate truth?

Barbara P. Walker
Greensboro

The writer was a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Apologies for slavery? Well, a little research into most of the ethnic groups that make up our country will show that most if not all of them suffered from mistreatment, degradation and prejudice. Many of them came to this country as indentured servants; they were, for all intents and purposes, the property of those who paid their passage.

The main difference that I see in all of this is that instead of sitting back and blaming others, they got up off their backsides and went to work and made something of themselves. Some did well. Others did not.

Perhaps those people today who have convinced themselves that they are victims should try that approach and get on with life instead of spending countless hours trying to figure out how to get their fellow Americans to pay for their nonproductive attitudes and lifestyles.

All that aside, this issue is not about slavery; it is about how much money this group can extract from the public trough.

Ian A. Millar
Kernersville

I recall my dismay upon learning that Julianne Malveaux had been selected president of Bennett College, and remarked to my family that it would not take long for her to reveal herself as the far left hater she undeniably is.

The New & Record's April 21 reprimand of her for her racist comments regarding the Duke case, will, unfortunately, be the first of many.

I will never forget her comments regarding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to the effect that she "hoped that his wife would feed him lots of eggs and butter so he would die early, as so many black men do, as he was an absolutely reprehensible person."

That Bennett College has selected such an individual to not only lead the college but serve as a role model for impressionable young women was ill advised and will do little to elevate the conversation or the status of Bennett College.

Rayne Brown
Lexington

We need a housecleaning in Washington, D.C. I'm tired of people talking about Alberto Gonzales.

We deserve a decent attorney general who will tell the truth.

There is so much going on I dread seeing the news these days. Take, for instance, that awful tragedy at Virginia Tech. Thirty-two lives gone.

Our nation needs healing. Wake up, America, before it's too late!

N.R. Smith
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Lynda Torgersen

I wanted to thank the whole community in and around Greensboro for the show of support after the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Friends, neighbors and people whom I had never met went out of their way to offer condolences and prayers to me and my family. My husband and I were both raised in the Blacksburg area with strong ties to Virginia Tech. Our daughter is a sophomore there and our son will be attending in the fall as a freshman. My father-in-law has been teaching at the school for more than 40 years. The Israeli professor who lost his life as he held off the gunman so his students could escape was a next-door neighbor to my in-laws.

In fact, my husband, his father and our daughter were all on campus and were caught in the lockdown during the tragic event.

My place of employment all wore orange and maroon as a show of support April 20. We have received numerous phone calls and cards from people we haven't heard from in years just to let us know they were thinking about us and our daughter. Local news has shown where local universities have also reached out to Virginia Tech. I know there are a lot of Hokies in the Greensboro area, and I am sure they all feel the same way.

The horrific event of April 16 will never be forgotten. But it makes it much easier when you know the whole community is supporting the Virginia Tech family. Thirty-two wonderful people lost their lives and I cannot imagine what those families are going through. I do know they are receiving enormous support from their communities and Virginia Tech. All of our prayers are with them.

The Hokie Nation will become stronger. I do not have any doubt about that. We will prevail.

The writer is a Virginia Tech alumna, Class of '85, who lives in Greensboro.

Scenario No. 1

You're not feeling well. Perhaps lunch was a bit too greasy and indigestion is starting. You pull up behind a garbage truck stopped for a red light. The pickup driver behind you is distracted for a moment and doesn't see you stopped. Within seconds your car folds like an accordion.

By the time paramedics have you on a stretcher, you are bleeding internally and the indigestion is a heart attack.

Want to wait another 20 minutes to get to a hospital?

Scenario No. 2

Up on the roof you've found the loose shingles that caused a leak during last night's storm. Suddenly little Joey from next door who has climbed your ladder is at your side. "What are you doing up here?" you shout. Joey turns, stumbles, falls from the roof to the cement below. The gash on Joey's head is the least of the paramedics' worries.

Will 20 minutes be too long for Joey to get help?

Scenario No. 3

The new hospital in Kernersville is close enough to help you and Joey!

I am a senior who enjoys good health. Lucky me! However, no age group is secure from sickness, accidents or emergencies. We need a hospital here in Kernersville.

Marilyn E. Demaree
Kernersville

Cheney and Bush are both guilty, I believe. They have twisted the intelligence, lied to the press and the American people and manipulated press briefings: far more meaningful violations of the Constitution than Bill Clinton or Andrew Johnson. I ask, again, that you support impeachment proceedings against both the president and vice president.

James Deere
Greensboro

My response to Mary Coyne Wessling's letter (April 16):

Your demand that Rush Limbaugh be taken off air would meet less derision had you included real venom spewers: Air America's Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, and Rosie O'Donnell, whose tirades more suit satellite radio's verbal pornographer Howard Stern than network TV.

Fortunately, no "right" exists in our expansively interpreted Constitution from being "offended/injured" by someone else's "reprehensible speech." The First Amendment says just the opposite.

Feminists pioneered the use of politically correct speech as a club (exemplified by your letter) to successfully silence critics. The subsequent exploitation of PC by other "oppressed minority groups" represents far more danger to this country than any crudity uttered by 10 Imuses, Limbaughs, Frankens or Rosies every day.

In prewar Germany, Nazis banned two things as they consolidated power: private ownership of guns and free speech. Your demand represents precisely the type of thinking and behavior that led Limbaugh to coin the term Femi(nist) Nazi.

In the end, Ms. Wessling, your alternative remedy offers the solution most consistent with our country's values. No one compels you to listen. Simply turn off your radio (and tune in "The View").

Readers beware Democrats' attempt to re-implement the "Fairness Doctrine." It's nothing but political censorship.

J. Michael Crouch
Greensboro

Referring to Joyce Krawiec (letter, April 21), she is absolutely correct about the need to reform our convoluted and incomprehensible income tax code. The flat tax is not the answer. The main problem with the flat tax is that you still have to file a tax return.

Why not a tax code that doesn't require you to file a return or keep any records? Get your full paycheck, then pay your taxes as you spend it.

A bill before Congress, HR25/S1025, the Fair Tax Bill, would eliminate the IRS and income tax. It would replace more than 67,000 pages with only 61 pages and generate the same amount of revenue, but in a more simple and fair way. It has more co-sponsors (58) than any tax reform bill ever proposed. Rep. Sue Myrick is the only cosponsor from North Carolina, but I'm sure more will be signing on.

There are many more reasons why this bill should be passed now or become a campaign issue in the next election.

For more information about HR25, go to the Web site at www.fairtax.org. I am a Fair Tax volunteer and can be reached at bbtidwell@yahoo.com or (336) 656-3992.

Bill Tidwell
Browns Summit

Twice the Second Amendment has come before the Supreme Court. In both cases, the decision was the same. The Second Amendment is not about hunting or protecting yourself. It is about having a militia.

In 1939, Justice James C. McReynolds wrote in a unanimous decision that "the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to keep and bear arms that does not have some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia."

In 1972, Justice William O. Douglas wrote, "A powerful lobby dins in the ears of our citizenry that these gun purchases are constitutional rights protected by the Second Amendment, but ... the Second Amendment was simply designed to keep alive the militia."

Who is right: The National Rifle Association or the Supreme Court? You decide.

E.F. Anderson
Greensboro

Bennett College has a fine leader in retiring President Johnnetta Cole. She is a refined and smart lady with elegance who will be badly missed. Her replacement, Julianne Malveaux, is anything but that. She is a nasty, foul-mouthed ultra-liberal and leftist who never has anything good to say, just continues to cut individuals and groups down. She is like a mean-spirited black Molly Ivins.

Although Malveaux doesn't start work at Bennett until June 1, her pronouncement preceded her appearance. She said that the Duke University students accused in the rape case were hooligans and did not deserve any apologies at all.

The News & Record said it well when reporting her comments and noted, "She ought to choose how she expresses those views a lot more thoughtfully and carefully." Leopards don't change their spots, nor will she change her foul mouth. I have read her columns for years and know what to expect.

Bennett College, you deserved another great leader. You could have done much better. Could you have done worse? I doubt it.

Al Myrick
Greensboro

I had to read the whole article written by Mona Charen ("Food stamp gimmick misses point," News & Record, April 28) hoping that I would find a complaint about the more than $500 billion we have spent on the Iraq war.

Well, it seems that she does not mind spending the taxpayers' money killing and maiming our young men and women (and thousands of Iraqis in the process). The money is well spent because it's lining the pockets of the oil industry and not the stomachs of our poor.

Lucia De Ratmiroff
Greensboro

Recently on PBS, Bill Moyers did a terrific show detailing some of the outright lies by the president to the American people to justify starting a war in Iraq. Moyers also showed how poorly the press performed. It simply failed to do its job, which is to find the real facts and give us the truth.

Moyers showed that on the rare occasion when the press did print a story that contradicted what the president was saying, it was printed inside the paper. And so, when I read my News & Record this morning, I was not surprised to find a story on page seven about how the tally of the civilian deaths in Baghdad did not include the many deaths from car bombs and other explosive devices. In other words, the surge is working because violence is lower in Baghdad -- but only if you don't count violence inflicted by IEDs.

The story was a good one. But why not on page one with a headline such as: "Violence really increases since surge began"? Come on, press people, it's time to give the truth prominence in our paper.

Ellen W. Gerber
High Point

If anyone doubts the hypocrisy of the Democrats, the last few weeks have shown them for what they are.

First, Congress spends weeks passing a budget bill with troop withdrawal (surrender) dates and billions in pork projects, knowing that it will be vetoed. If they really want to stop the war, instead of using it as political fodder, they can withhold the funds. They do not have the conviction to do this, as then they would be responsible for the aftermath.

Then there is (the man of the people) John Edwards with his $5.3 million house and $400 haircuts. He also participated in the debate in South Carolina on April 26 where all eight candidates arrived on private jets. These are people lecturing the public about global warming and carbon footprints.

John Corzine travels at 90 mph not wearing a seat belt and crashes, endangering many people. The speed limits and seat-belt laws don't apply to him.

Democrats think they know what is best for us as long as it doesn't apply to them personally.

Richard Langdon
Greensboro

By Steve Gorden

Michael Northuis' Counterpoint (April 27), "Good reasons for Democrats' sweep," tries to take Thomas Sowell to task for telling the truth about the last election cycle, which produced a pitifully small victory margin for our country's leftists. I am sure Northuis, like all good liberals, was so proud of himself for dutifully spouting the party line with Democrats and socialists.

The truth of the matter is that Americans were not so much against the war in Iraq as they were stupid enough to believe what was told to them by a liberal media that controls the majority of what people see, read and hear in this country.

Shame on us for being too lazy to check the facts instead of relying on what we are told by an agenda-driven media and their owners on the left. Like most leftists, Northuis can't help himself from blaming the Republican Party for everything from the earth being round to the sun rising in the east.

He so casually uses inflated speech such as "lies, the incompetence, the financial irresponsibility, the flagrant disregard for the constitution …" etc., while throwing in the liberal laundry list of free health care, the oil companies, the environment, the war, and so on. This from the party that brags about its sole grip on tolerance.

On top of it all, Northuis has the audacity to put a claim on morality by the Democrats by wailing about innocent people being killed in Iraq. This from a party that has no problem at all when it comes to killing our own children through abortion.

Moral guidance from the party whose last president disgraced the office of president so casually. But as usual, the Democrats always find criticism a worthwhile endeavor, so long as it is not guided in their direction.

I will agree about two things the Democrats are good at: surrender and lying.

The writer lives in Kernersville.

It has been more than six weeks since my first letter (March 15) regarding the escalation of gas prices. On March 5, a barrel of light crude was approximately $60. The day I am writing this, light crude closed at $63.59 a barrel, a 5.98 percent increase. A gallon of regular unleaded averages $2.83, a 38 percent increase in less than 10 weeks.

Major oil companies use the excuse of supply and demand for partial justification. They also use the conversion from winter to summer formulas and plant shutdowns for maintenance as additional justifications. If supplies are short, why have I not seen any closed pumps? This is how major oil companies manipulate the market.

I am a firm advocate of the free-market system until it is misused. Mergers in the oil industry and lack of government monitoring have allowed major gas producers to increase prices anytime a perceived market adjustment is identified. What's going to happen when there is a real shortage or a refining plant is out of service? What will the cost be if there is another Katrina?

Where is the outrage? Where is our government oversight? Now that Democrats control, why do they continue to turn a blind eye to this important issue?

Tommy Hunter
Greensboro

The year 1861 was tumultuous for North Carolina. The 1860 presidential election had produced a radical Republican in a minority vote (the Democrats had split three ways). For decades, there had been increasing conflict between the industrial North and agrarian South. Southern influence in Congress deteriorated, as the powerful North promised increased federal powers, including punitive tariffs on Southern imports.

Facing this intolerable situation, seven Southern states withdrew from the Union and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America. Most North Carolinians opposed secession, but when President Lincoln assumed dictatorial powers and ordered a military invasion of the seceding states to force them back into the Union, North Carolina, Virginia and other border states joined their sister states in defense against the federal invaders.

For the next four bloody years, North Carolina courageously fought this relentless onslaught, providing more soldiers and supplies to the Southern armies than any other state. This brutal, illegal war resulted in 620,000 military deaths and the near total destruction of the Southern states. The brave men and women of North Carolina sacrificed everything in defense of their new nation and native soil. We honor their memory on Confederate Memorial Day, May 10.

William K. Oden Jr.
Greensboro

On April 26, my e-mail brought news I had been eagerly awaiting: Articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney have finally been introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, in the House of Representatives. With his abysmal approval ratings, hypocrisies and steering the country in the wrong direction for six years, Cheney's doom seems sealed.

As this basic constitutional principle plays out, it could turn out to be the political fight of the decade. I expect the News & Record to cover the impeachment debate in detail on the front page. What could be more relevant to the American people than a struggle between the executive and legislative branches of government?

I hope Cheney can read the writing all over the walls and save us the torture of a long, drawn-out proceeding by resigning. President Bush should follow suit so this country can begin healing from the terrible wounds they have inflicted.

Valerie Putney
Greensboro

I'd like to thank all the business and community leaders who have helped revitalize our downtown. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Center City Park, First Horizon Park, YMCA, the downtown library, Triad Stage, the Children's Museum, Elon Law School ... the list goes on and is truly impressive.

I'm glad to see portions of the city growing in such smart, community-oriented ways. Action Greensboro's proposed downtown greenway and the good work of the Guilford County Open Space Committee are things to be proud of as well.

With these projects in mind, perhaps updated laws could provide incentives to suburban developers, encouraging them to protect and take care of as many acres as they pave. And perhaps there are reasonable ways to reward developers who, for example, might be willing to renovate an existing building instead of creating yet another generic strip mall.

In the end, I suppose I am both excited and concerned about how Greensboro is evolving. But I am also hopeful and ask that our business and community leaders continue to make sound civic decisions with the health of the entire community in mind.

Brian Crean
Greensboro

There have been recent newspaper articles about moving the Wyndham Golf Tournament in future years to Sedgefield Country Club. Why?

The national PGA golf tournament has been held at Forest Oaks Country Club since 1977 and is proudly supported by a large majority of its members. The Greensboro Jaycees and the tournament's many sponsors are to be commended for their leadership for this national event. The golf course, at PGA request, has been redesigned twice at great expense.

Forest Oaks has many advantages over Sedgefield, including location, parking, traffic flow and cost. Forest Oaks has a long-term contract that should be honored.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Tom Gilmore
Greensboro

My heart goes out to the families of the shooting victims at Virginia Tech. Reading the News & Record list of persons who have committed the worst gun-related mass killings in world history, it is notable that all are males.

Does it occur to anyone that as a world community, and the United States in particular, we are not taking responsibility for teaching males how to effectively manage anger and stress? These men are dealing with their rage or grief through murderous outbursts.

There are several ways we could help males deal with emotions effectively. We can start by demanding that our leaders at the highest levels cease "shock and awe" violence as a way of dealing with their blocked ambitions. Leaders create followers. Businesses can offer stress management to teach adults options for responding to stressful situations, as well as ways of dealing with anger, frustration, anxiety and depression.

And proactively, we can support school counselors by increasing their numbers and releasing them from superfluous duties. They could then offer counseling and teach the interpersonal skills to cope with emotions and stress. We could do something before more innocents are lost.

Suzanne Hidore
McLeansville

The massacre at Virginia Tech reopens many devastating and unhealed wounds: the endless media discourse about how these horrors should have been prevented, the desperate need to place blame on someone, perhaps everyone but the man pulling the trigger, and the exacerbation of the fear and stigma associated with mental illness.

In the wake of such disasters as Columbine, Sept. 11, Oklahoma City and now Virginia Tech, we must concentrate our efforts on coping with the aftermath and healing as a whole. No progress can come from denying the unfortunate reality that sometimes the face of evil rears its ugly head, and no amount of finger-pointing, guilt and blame can ever ease our pain. If a madman is so consumed with hatred and hell-bent on killing, he inevitably will find the ways and means to do so.

Our only hope for healing the wounds that threaten us all must come from within our own humanity: how we treat one another, with respect and tolerance and understanding.

What percentage of college students has been treated for mental-health issues and prescribed medication? As a society, we are quick to put a Band-Aid on the problem and cash in on the cure. Perhaps we should all look a little deeper within ourselves and get to know the people around us.

Debra Getty
Greensboro

I took the opportunity to walk around downtown the morning of the anti-war rally to see what was going on. After walking the block of the governmental plaza, I got curious and walked it again.

The perimeter of the rally area was protected by 40 to 50 uniformed police, mobile command center, SWAT team, fire department hazmat unit, a couple of fire station units with tents prepared, ATV stretcher units, EMS units, and assorted corners and entry points into downtown protected with police units. This was the perimeter.

I assume there were plainclothes police, other uniformed police, building-top surveillance and security that I couldn't and did not see. This to make sure that the 300 to 500 protesters and anti-protesters were able to freely and safely assemble. I remember thinking, "Wow" but couldn't get a real grip on the meaning.

Last week I got it from a bumper sticker on a car I got behind at a stoplight:

"Freedom ... it is not free."

Andy Nelson
Greensboro

"Sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me."

We've all heard that sentence before. Of course, we also know that is not always the case. Broken bones can heal over a period of time. Unkind words can last a lifetime.

I remember as a child being cursed and how much those words hurt me. I vowed at an early age that when I married and had children, I would never use those horrible words toward my children. Luckily, I married a man who felt the same way. Although our three sons are adults, we never have broken that vow.

The words spoken by Don Imus and so many others must stop. That includes African Americans. The hip-hop culture defines what it does as art. I call it filth. We, as African Americans, must take some responsibility for our own actions.

I realize the n-word hurts more when other races use it. We need to respect ourselves even if others don't. Sometimes the way people look at you depends on how you look at yourself.

We came from greatness. If you allow others to define you, they can also confine.

Shirley J. Wright
Greensboro

I grieve for the dead at Virginia Tech. I grieve for the long road of pain and trauma yet to be walked by the living. I can even grieve for the twisted, tormented life and death of the shooter. But I cannot close my eyes to the ugly truth about our culture that lies beneath these terrible events.

Virginia Tech was not an aberration. In this country, eight children and teenagers die every day from gun violence. Do the math. That's a Virginia Tech every four days, week after week, year after year.

According to the Children's Defense Fund, since 1968, the year that Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were shot, more than a million people have been killed by firearms in this country. That's more than all the combat deaths in all the wars in American history -- in just 39 years.

And that number does not count all those who, by luck or by the grace of God, survive being shot but live out their lives with costly, permanent, disabling harm to body, mind and spirit.

When will Americans wake up to the sad reality of what our beloved nation has become and say "enough"?

Jennifer Angyal
Gibsonville

Though not in harmony with the area, Ricky Proehl's sports facility, to be built at the intersection of Jessup Grove Road/Horse Pen Creek Road, was granted the necessary "special permit" by county commissioners.

The site includes parking for 370 vehicles. Traffic must funnel onto a narrow road, increasing hazardous traffic conditions in an area that has exploded because of overwhelming development.

Commissioners were swayed by the shrewd presentation of the developer portraying this as a gift to children, when, in fact, it is a business venture charging $100 monthly per child.

Proehl could be a real hero to all involved by accepting the win-win offer made at the hearing. It was proposed that he trade his tract for a nearby tract of comparable acreage across from Caldwell Academy. The school would use Proehl's tract for needed facilities, eliminating the necessity for students to cross a dangerous road.

Jessup Grove Road would not be turned into a traffic nightmare; surrounding homes would not be subjected to noise and lights generated by Proehl's facility.

In turn, Proehl would have graded property ready for construction.

Why did Proehl and the commissioners reject the simple solution to a safety problem that the win-win proposal would have accomplished?

Alice Watkins Corey
Greensboro

I have several questions regarding Sheriff BJ Barnes' plan to detain unauthorized aliens who are witnesses to crimes.

Am I still living in the United States? Does this mean that if Luis Hernandez sees John Smith assault Betty Jones, Luis will be imprisoned if he reports that he has witnessed the crime? Is it likely then that Luis would report any such crime?

What effect does it have if the criminal element has knowledge that a certain segment of our population will not report crimes against them (or others) for fear of being detained, or possibly unprotected? Doesn't that increase the likelihood that more crimes will be committed in the community?

Shouldn't the work of the Sheriff's Office be about reducing crime for the entire community?

Janet Johnson
Greensboro

I would like to say that I was surprised when I read the article on the Duke University graduate students who were caught cheating; however, I was not.

During my 12 years as an educator in the public school system, I have had to remind students to do their own work and to not share answers on countless occasions. Recently, I had a student who told me that sharing answers on a homework assignment is not the same as cheating. I asked him what the difference was between sharing answers on a take-home assignment and sharing answers on a test. He responded with, "I see your point."

The heart of the matter is that cheating is apparently not something that is viewed as morally reprehensible. It is being viewed as something that is OK, as long as you are not caught.

So, how do we clear up this misconception? Do we punish by wielding the red pen and awarding zeroes? Or do we instill in our students the virtues of integrity, truth and honesty? I don't know for certain, but I do think a little of both may be the answer.

Terri Fletcher-Herring
Greensboro

Has Mark Fisher of Biscoe (letter, May 1) ever been without food? His narrow-minded tirade against poor people confuses poverty and sin. There are many poor people in genuine need due to job loss, illness, incapacity, etc., and there are many people with material advantages who steal cable, cheat the government, treat others badly, etc.

Why do some smug, self-satisfied morons equate poverty with lack of character? Does Fisher really think he's righteous simply because he is healthy and was born into a certain life situation? I hope he never loses his job, has a serious accident or has a child born disabled. Poor man.

Iris Kirkman
Greensboro

Oppression, you say? In other countries, you say? Glad that's not happening here.

Well, let's see if we can find a common use of the word "oppression" in Wikipedia: "Oppression is the negative outcome experienced by people targeted by the cruel exercise of power in a society or social group. It is particularly closely associated with nationalism and derived social systems, wherein identity is built by antagonism to the other." Wait a second. That sounds very familiar.

BJ Barnes, by having the power to detain witnesses to a crime, who could be the very people we depend on to eliminate the next crime, isn't that getting oppressive? Wait, let's refer back to the definition: "people targeted by the cruel exercise of power …" Let's get this very clear. We are not talking about criminals, people who have abused their freedoms. We are talking about witnesses, and I suppose victims fall into that category as well. So, lock up all the rape victims, and victims of child molestation as well. We need no age limit.

Living within U.S. borders, illegally, is not a criminal offense.

Tony Rouse
Jamestown

Recently, I traveled from Wilmington to attend the anti-war rally sponsored by The World Can't Wait. After the peaceful gathering of peace "mongers," I was able to read your front-page article (April 20) regarding this event.

I was humored to read that Charles Gant expected 500 to 1,000 counter-protesters. I am sure he must have been disappointed that only about 75 showed up. After having attended three of these events -- in Fayetteville in March, Wilmington in March and Greensboro this April -- it is very clear that the counter-protesters are low in numbers (reflecting America's view), very angry and rude.

At all three events, when the military families spoke and when the names of America's fallen soldiers were read (in Wilmington), this is when they were the rudest. Now I ask Mr. Gant, do you really support the troops? It does not come across as if you, in fact, do.

Terri Parham
Wilmington

I read with regret Julianne Malveaux's comments in Summary Judgment (April 21). The article quoted comments made by the new Bennett College president on an NPR radio show in which she stated that the Duke students did not deserve an apology from anyone.

My first thought was, if these students had been African American and accused by a Caucasian young woman, and all the other circumstances were the same (from inviting a stripper in to the fact that no DNA of the students was found on the accuser), would Malveaux's comments have been the same? I watched the press conference given by the attorney general. Clearly, these allegations were false, and it is a shame when we cannot admit when a wrong has been done no matter what the race or socioeconomic standing of the accused.

What message do we send, especially to young people, when we don't stand against injustices perpetrated upon all people? No past injustice done to anyone makes a present injustice justifiable.

I am an African American, and I am sorry that these young men and their families had to endure this. I am also very sad for this young woman who is obviously troubled, and grateful no charges were pressed against her.

Mary E. Johnson
Greensboro

I'm writing in response to Charles Davenport's column, "When grieving becomes theater" (Ideas, April 29).

Here, he seems to define what is acceptable grieving and what is not, in light of the recent heartbreak at Virginia Tech. I use the word "heartbreak" because everyone who knows about the events that took place at Virginia Tech on April 16 felt a sense of despair and sorrow. It's human to have one's heart broken with empathy for the loss of others.

Why is it important to Davenport for people to express their feeling of loss in private settings? Why is he concerned that some people are comforted by gathering publicly to mourn? My suggestion is that Davenport protect himself by turning off the TV, radio and computer if he is having a hard time with how people grieve over a public massacre. I find it comforting that so many of us collectively feel sad that our children were wrongly taken in such a brutal way. Community makes us stay connected and know that we are here to help each other. Why does that preclude dignity and resolve?

Lisa Eller
Greensboro

In the April 15 Ideas section, a commentary about "The Secret" by Tim Watkin perfectly revealed the "real truth" about "The Secret."

 Write a stupid book.
 Sell it to idiots.
 Voila -- instant millionaire.

Lee Widenhouse
Greensboro

I am a husband, father and grandfather who is outraged that B.J. Weatherby (Counterpoint, May 1) is outraged at the recent Supreme Court decision to ban partial-birth abortion.

The justices spoke strongly in the recent 5-to-4 decision that partial-birth abortion is neither medically necessary nor morally right. Perhaps Weatherby should study the Supreme Court opinions that invented abortion as a right.

That court violated all logical thinking and argument in reaching its disastrous 1973 decision to allow abortion anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances. Even Planned Parenthood is recognizing the falsity of abortion on demand, and that organization is the largest provider of abortions in the world.

Weatherby's position on abortion is old and tired; it no longer sells. Young people see through the lies and reject abortion as a birth control program. Most abortions are for convenience, not medical, and many use abortion because they want the pleasure but not the responsibility.

Liberty for all is a phrase, not a slogan for the abortionists.

Don Mulligan
High Point

A line in the article "Assembly pet projects grow politically risky" (April 30) caught my eye: "Legislative leaders tried to remove some politics last year."

Has anyone looked at House Bill 1806, which is on the floor this session? It proposes to take the administration of the N.C. State Retirement Fund away from the state treasurer's office and put it under the control of a committee.

The governor, the Senate and the House each would get to pick one third of the members that would make up the committee. Talk about taking the politics out.

I am a state retiree. I know that our retirement fund is rated in the top five in the nation under the state treasurer's office. Why change? In a committee, everyone is responsible but no one is responsible.

Politics. If it is not broken, do not try to fix it.

Jim George
Greensboro

Companies such as McDonald's are benefiting enormously from the United States' reputation as the fast food capital; and their success is having a negative effect on the population.

America used to welcome these restaurants because of their cheap and easily produced foods. However, our health and weight are beginning to be hurt because of the increase in restaurants being built and Americans' lack of exercise.

A recent study by Trust for America's Health found the percentage of those overweight rose from 19 percent to 66 percent from 1976 to 2004. Three years later the statistics continue to grow.

I believe that this problem cannot be solved through interaction with each overweight individual. Instead, public schools should take action to ban high-calorie foods in vending machines and change the cafeteria food to be healthier.

In addition, public schools could make more time for their classes to play outside or increase the intensity in gym class. By doing this, students would get a daily workout; those who usually do not actively participate during gym class would be required to participate.

These are the kinds of changes that will be beneficial and later result in the decrease of obesity in America.

Tiffany Giannandrea
Elon

The "Monday Clipper" on depression in the May 7 News & Record contained a serious omission that is potentially harmful to the public. The article's list of resources did not include information on the Guilford Center, the county's mental health department. Rather, it listed the departments of public health and social services.

The Guilford Center operates two walk-in Crisis/Emergency Services units, fully staffed with psychiatrists, physician extenders, psychiatric nurses, psychologists and support professionals. The purpose of the units, in Greensboro at 201 North Eugene St. and in High Point at 211 South Centennial St., is to help individuals who are in need of immediate mental health services.

The Greensboro facility is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. The High Point unit is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.; after-hours services are provided at the High Point Regional Health System Behavioral Assessment Center, 601 North Elm St.

The Guilford Center's ACCESS telephone service is available to consumers 24 hours a day for information and referrals. The toll-free number is (800) 853-5163 (TTY number for deaf and hard of hearing is (866) 518-6778).

It is critical that Guilford County citizens know how to access mental health care locally, through the Guilford Center.

Anne Kimball
Penny Casto
Greensboro

Ann Kimball is manager, community relations, and Penny Casto is Public Information Specialist, the Guilford Center.

If the citizens of Greensboro and Guilford County were given odds of 1 in 8, what would they think? Great odds. I'll take them; or not so great, I can do better.

The odds are not so great considering that the chances are 1 in 8 for having Alzheimers/dementia if you are over age 65, and drops to 1 in 2 if you over age 85. Given that the population of Guilford County over age 65 in the year 2010 is projected to be more than 65,000, more than 8,000 people age 65 and older will have some form of dementia and Alzheimers.

Will you or someone you love be one of them?

Add to this the increasingly larger numbers of early-onset dementia/Alzheimers. If it were any other illness, it would be considered epidemic.

Do you still like the odds? If you do, do nothing. If you don't like the odds, support the Memory Walk on June 2 at First Horizon Park. For more information, call (336) 808-1351.

Do I like the odds? No. I've lived with it and dealt with it.

Roget de Percin Berendes
Greensboro

Regarding John Dixon's pro-gun letter (April 28):

Certainly the state of Virginia did not adequately enforce either de facto or real laws or ''conditions'' that could have precluded Seung-Hui Cho from obtaining a firearm there. How could these ''conditions'' be applied or enforced when a person does have the will to visit mayhem on the public? The law may exist, but the enforcement is impossible. Unfortunately, this is most likely true in any jurisdiction where any prohibitions on open gun commerce exist. Virginia is openly pro-gun.

Dixon's assertion that the Virginia Tech incident is a result of gun control is asinine. Just imagine armed students mingling daily, being ready to prevent whatever bad intent may arise. What we don't need is a bunch of self-righteous, gun-toting, Second Amendment-quoting vigilantes determining instant justice. Give me a break. A more intelligent discussion of America's love affair with firearms is long overdue.

As for the smug historical reference to Jefferson's 1764 warning: This is truly a different world than that of 1764. The weapons are different. Jefferson could not have imagined the lethal simplicity of a Glock. Today any fool with a weapon can fire hundreds of shots within minutes. This is what happened at Virginia Tech.

Dick Gordon
Greensboro

The original 1949 North Carolina Adoption Statute clearly stated it was created "to protect children from interference, long after they have become properly adjusted in their adoptive homes, by natural parents who may have some legal claim because of a defect in the adoption procedure," and "to prevent later disturbances of the relationship between the adoptive parent and the adoptee by natural parents whose legal rights were not fully protected in the adoption proceedings."

The original language and legislative intent behind state adoption laws don't indicate any altruistic motive to protect a birth parent's confidentiality. The myth of birth mother confidentiality was nurtured and perpetrated by societal mores of the 1940s and '50s, not our legislature.

Today this myth has embedded itself into the psyche of legislators such as Rep. Melanie Goodwin, D-Richmond, who seems to believe HB445, Access to Information for Adult Adoptees, would have "a chilling effect on adoptions."

I'm not sure how Madam Goodwin comes by her information. However, the statistics I've seen clearly demonstrate that, in states where adult adoptees have open access to their birth certificates, adoptions are up and abortions are down. I fail to see how this could be defined as a "chilling effect."

Teresa Frohock
Reidsville

According to a letter I received, there is a United States/Mexico Social Security Totalization treaty. The Retired Enlisted Association Senior Citizens League has a copy of the treaty in hand.

Completion of this treaty will mean millions of Mexican citizens and their families will become eligible for Social Security Trust Fund benefits, even if they worked in the United States as illegal immigrants. This gives Mexicans additional incentive to illegally emigrate to the United States.

This affects all of our country's senior citizens and their children. We have worked for our Social Security benefits. Should we allow these benefits to be stolen from us?

It is time to stand up and say, "No," and let our leaders know that they have a fight on their hands. Why has it been such a secret?

A General Accounting Office expert testified that the true cost of this treaty has probably been grossly underestimated by the Social Security Administration, which has given it preliminary approval.

Did you realize that this treaty could be signed with little public discussion because most Americans are unaware of its existence?

Contact www.seniorsleague.org for more information; also TREA Senior Citizens League, P.O. Box 97173, Washington, DC 20090-7173.

Rubymae Garrison
High Point

It was with a heavy heart that I read about Ray Gibbs leaving his post as president of Downtown Greensboro Inc. Ray, starting out as a one-man office, has overseen the redefinition of the downtown district and helped bring more than $250 million in redevelopment projects since 1999.

During his tenure, the downtown area has transformed itself into a day/night/weekend destination for all ages by attracting new corporate businesses, restaurants, entertainment venues, housing, Center City Park, etc.

Ray, thank you for all your hard work. You will be missed.

Greg Peele
Greensboro

In his recent News & Record column, Nicholas Kristof details the story of an 11- or 12-year-old girl in India (Meena Khatun) who was kidnapped and brutally forced into prostitution. She was held in captivity for prostitution for years, even after she gave birth to two children who were also held to be treated as slaves.

When Meena escaped, the Indian police were uninterested in freeing her children. However, by outside intervention, finally they all escaped. This brothel, like the many others in India, is still operating.

Now we learn that Richard Gere foolishly publicly kissed an adult Bollywood star, and the Indian populace are irate and publicly demonstrating over his atrocious conduct. A warrant is out for his arrest.

Am I the only person who misses the logic in these two situations? It appears to me that India is a nation with one foot in the clouds and the other in the Stone Age.

Frank Reinking
Burlington

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Joel Landau, Kim Yarbray and Diane Grey Davis

The April 30 News & Record has an article about the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement currently being considered by the City Council. We're part of the coalition of citizens that brought this to the attention of the staff and council and asked the council to sign on to the agreement.

Its provisions, though nonbinding, pledge to make it city policy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Beyond the specific goal, the intent is to take emissions-reducing measures wherever it is in the city's interest to do so.

Areas of possible action include all facets of city operations, such as transportation planning, alternative energy use, energy efficiency, conservation, land-use policy, building codes and practices, fuel-efficient vehicles, recycling and more. Here are three reasons why this makes sense for the city:

1. Steps taken to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will also improve overall air quality and hence our quality of life. Respiratory ailments are increasing at alarming rates. Most of us know someone who suffers from a breathing problem and know the terrible toll it takes on those who are afflicted. We want to leave a cleaner, safer world for our children and other generations to come.

2. To safeguard our local economy. The fossil-fuel market is volatile, with unpredictable surges in price and supply that are likely to become more severe in coming years. By reducing fossil-fuel usage, we help protect our local economic health.

3. To save taxpayers money by reducing energy and health care costs. More and more cities and businesses are adopting "green" practices because it helps them environmentally and saves them money, as Greensboro has already experienced. It's a win-win situation.

Also, attracting green industry could be an economic boon for Greensboro if we pursue it.

Greensboro's government already does many of the measures called for in this agreement. If we need examples of other possibilities, there are multiple Web sites detailing what other cities are doing. There are also new federal and state programs to help finance these initiatives.

As a nation and as a city, we cannot sustain our current energy practices. We need leadership now to set an example and protect Greensboro's future. We're pleased to see the council and staff addressing this pressing issue for the benefit of all our citizens.

The writers live in Greensboro.

The contaminated Chinese protein powder that has sickened some 17,000 American dogs and cats has now turned up in the human food supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture admits that 6,000 pigs and more than 2.5 million broiler chickens were sold for human consumption after being fed contaminated pet food, thus far.

This was a disaster waiting to happen. After all, animal feed mills are generally regarded as dumping grounds for all kinds of garbage: cat and dog carcasses from animal shelters, cancerous tissue and other slaughterhouse discards, food-processing waste. Why the fuss about some slightly toxic Chinese protein powder?

Our government and agribusiness will not protect our food supply, but we can. By purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables grown close to home -- at farmers' markets and local food co-ops. By avoiding garbage-fed meat and dairy products.

Allen Freburg
Greensboro

A letter from Nan Faram (April 25), comments that in Michigan she always received a response when writing to elected representatives, but not here. I'm from New Jersey and have experienced the same.

I wrote to Alma Adams on an environmental issue, showing evidence, by photos, of a disregard for a local lake, its residents and the community affected by a developer. No response, either negative or positive. I spoke with several county officials with no response.

Politicians make themselves visible and available during elections, but afterward, poof, they're gone. The only explanation is "you do not matter."

Imagine you're in charge and your employees failed to do the required work, or ignored your memos. What would you do? Our representatives seem to ignore us as they ignore the big problems: poor education, dwindling jobs, substandard wages, unfair taxation of food and clothing, an extremely high gasoline tax, and neglect of the homeless that necessitates them to pander on street corners.

Your vote hired these people to work for you. If they continue to ignore us when we come to them with concerns, we should ignore them on Election Day.

Earl R. Dorman
Greensboro

Remember the three Atlanta police officers who killed a 92-year-old woman who was just defending her home? A grand jury indicted them on something other than murder, but at least they will receive some sort of punishment.

We citizens need to stand up against police brutality, corruption and abuse, unless we want to live in a police state. Every city, county and state should have a police review board. I wonder if we will ever have one.

Chuck Mann
Greensboro

Why are people so mean? I will explain the mind of Seung-Hui Cho through my own experiences.

They say Cho was picked on in high school, so was I. I have been beat on, pushed around, spit on, and had the meanest things said to me. This happened in Head Start through 12th grade. I figure I must have had at least 300 things said to me every day, for five days a week, for every year I was in school.

Those kids thought it was funny to do that stuff. I had a guy sit behind me and tell me to commit suicide. After years of mental torment, anybody's mind would snap. I got out of that situation.

Cho's mind snapped because no one was willing to be a friend when he needed it. The next time someone thinks it will be funny to make fun of a certain person, consider first what that person is going through instead of your own feelings. I have been there and know what it feels like.

Vernon Moore
Thomasville

Drifting tobacco smoke kills more people, including children, than motor vehicle accidents, AIDS, all crimes, illegal drugs, etc. Yet, many North Carolina legislators including Reps. John Blust, Earl Jones and Laura Wiley from Guilford County argued for property rights while ignoring a chance to prevent these needless deaths by voting against HB 259, a bill to ban smoking in restaurants.

Since when did the right of restaurant owners to pollute air become more important than the health of patrons and their children?

Legislators banned smoking at legislative buildings to protect their health, while passing a pre-emption law that prevents local governments from doing the same. Many like Blust, Jones and Wiley evidently are too busy being courted by tobacco lobbyists to worry about protecting us.

Until we can get protection on a state or local level, Reps. Alma Adams, Pricey Harrison and Maggie Jeffus, who voted for the bill, as well as business owners who care enough to create clean air workplaces, deserve our loyal support.

Barry Carlton
Winston-Salem

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Ed Maddox

As one of the owners of University Village, I am writing in response to the recent article and editorial regarding student housing in Greensboro.

The property has been in our family for 50 years and we have always been good neighbors to the UNCG community, so it was UNCG we first contacted when we decided to redevelop our property.

The people we spoke with on campus were excited that we were considering an upscale student housing community, to help them ease the burdens of ongoing housing and parking issues on campus.

When we asked about a partnership with the university, they said they could get back to us in about a year. Considering the age of our property, we decided to act privately, with the goal of being an asset to the university and the city.

Most of our residents will be students who currently attend UNCG and now drive to campus. By providing parking for our residents, we feel we are easing the traffic, parking and pollution problems around the campus, as they will be within easy walking distance.

Our neighborhood, which we were part of long before "neighborhood associations," is predominately rental houses. A drive up Mayflower Street makes that evident, as many houses have untidy yards and usually a house or two has debris from a previous party. University Village will always be well maintained, tidy and clean.

University Village will contribute mightily to city tax coffers. A sidewalk ordinance required us to contribute more than 1,200 feet of expensive new sidewalk that our residents will never use, as it is on the side of the property (Warren Street) away from campus -- but it is an asset to others in the neighborhood.

We have leased to students from all of Greensboro's universities and colleges who, without exception, show a desire to live in a nice environment and be good stewards of our community. Bear in mind, change is constant and not always for the worse.

The writer lives in Randleman.

I believe the News & Record should institute this new policy toward op-ed pieces and letters to the editor: No letter or article will be published that includes the words "liberal," "conservative," "Democrat," "Republican" or any other political labels.

If a person cannot write something for publication without being mean-spirited toward "liberals" or "conservatives," then it's something that doesn't need to be written or published in the first place. It wouldn't be adding anything new or even intelligent to the discourse, because we've heard it all before. Some of us are quite tired of it.

This new policy would force people to think and talk about ideas, instead of blindly attacking ideologies -- or defending them, for that matter. Imagine that: a person having no alternative but to think it through and then carefully articulate about things, like, for example, whether the Iraq war is right or wrong. Without having to rely on petty name-calling.

A newspaper is supposed to encourage sincere debate and dialogue among its community. The News & Record has broken some new ground already. Here's a plum opportunity for it to raise the standard even further.

Christopher Knight
Reidsville

The ears must be burning of the legislators who recently voted against state Rep. Hugh Holliman's bill to ban smoking in public places. The majority of the people in North Carolina favor such a ban.

If we truly have representative government, those Republicans, and others, who voted against the ban should be ashamed and should resign for failing to properly do their jobs.

For the opponents of the bill to base their votes on protection of property rights is sheer hypocrisy. Those same people who would vote against abortion to save unborn children now refuse to vote to save living children and adults from injury and death because of exposure to smoking.

The names of these who voted against the ban should be published so we can make sure to defeat them in the next election.

Gerald C. Parker
Greensboro

Regarding John Boschini's May 1 letter on student renters: Our "there goes the neighborhood" attitude when more student housing invades our neighborhood is a learned response, developed over decades of living with student renters. We have witnessed all the following, and more:

• Little parking space on the street for us due to all the students' cars.

• Parties that go on until 2 a.m., or later -- weekends and weekdays. Picture music and foul language at top volume, beer containers left in our yards, guests vomiting in the street and on our cars, drunken hit-and-run drivers.

• Cars parked on the lawn, beer containers on the porch, lawn and even the roof. Uncut grass. Overflowing trash cans and high grass that can attract rats.

It is our experience that it does little good to speak to the students, their landlords or the police, who simply tell the students to lower the volume, then leave.

Yes, students are citizens with rights, as well as responsibilities, which are often forgotten when one is on his or her own for the first time, including respecting others' rights.

So please forgive us if we are unhappy about additional student housing foisted onto our neighborhood.

Mary Carpenter
Greensboro

It's always interesting how words are used, and not used, to express thoughts and opinions. The May 1 Counterpoint is no exception.

Take the words "maternal" and "paternal." Their dictionary definitions are quite similar, but in the past 50 years, their meanings have changed radically.

"Maternal" still conveys sweet images of motherhood and unconditional love but, if I read the Counterpoint correctly, "paternal" implies oppression, lack of sympathy for women's health and a total disregard for an increasing list of potentially offended individuals.

But, it is what was not defined that caught my attention. According to the article, partial-birth abortion must not be labeled as something gruesome and repulsive. No, its methods and results are to be viewed as no more intrusive than your average tooth extraction.

It may be easy to label this form of abortion as "something else," but other words get in the way. Words such as "birth canal," "forceps" and "scissors" have a strange way of defining themselves. I will leave it to each reader to decide if there is any discrepancy between the words "maternal" and "partial-birth abortion."

Obbe Haverkamp
Greensboro

Thomas Friedman makes sense with his column, "What Bush should tell Arab leaders and the world" (May 3). His suggested speech for the president focuses on the extreme dangers posed by "nihilistic Islamist suicide bombers ... proliferating across the Muslim world."

Friedman further suggests Bush tell Arab leaders to recognize their own interests: "Don't let your anger with me blind you. ... I want to get out of Iraq as soon as possible, but I need you Arab leaders to get off the fence. ... need your help in forging a settlement in Iraq and in denouncing this suicidal madness from every mosque and minaret every hour of every day."

Would that our own Congress see the picture that clearly. Instead, most members are absorbed and distracted by political posturing, stoking the fires of partisanship with self-serving nonsense.

My solution? Elect Sens. McCain and Lieberman to a co-presidency with a mandate from the American people to lead us out of this wilderness.

Bill Beerman
Greensboro

One cause of the high cost of health care is "third-party pay." Neither the patient nor the provider realizes the true cost when an unseen party, located in a distant city, is paying the bill.

Group health insurance began after World War II. Wages were frozen. Companies competed for personnel on the basis on "non-cash" compensation. This age has long passed. Our present method is unfair and unreasonable. Persons age 64, age 65, insured or uninsured, may pay four different amounts for the identical service. The greatest burden falls on those who have no way to avoid making payment.

There should be one charge per service, fairly established by the marketplace, without regard to insurance or government plans.

Medicare has classified the human body into "diagnostic related groups." Each service within a group has been assigned a numerical code. An amount deemed "usual, customary and reasonable" is allowed or approved for each service. Medicare pays 80 percent of the approved amount to the provider. My Medicare Summary Notice for March 31 indicated that Medicare allowed only 47 percent of the amounts billed by the providers.

The medical profession should assume more responsibility for providing the services people need at a cost they can afford.

Harry N. Young
Greensboro

In the recent Republican presidential debate, some of the candidates actually admitted to believing in biological evolution. I believe that is a great sign of progress for the GOP. The party is slowly moving into the late 19th century, and should catch up to the present by 2160.

Bill Burnett
Greensboro

As a Bennett alumna and a member of the search committee that chose Dr. Julianne Malveaux to lead Bennett College for Women, I could not be more delighted by our choice. Dr. Malveaux is a distinguished economist, journalist, businesswoman and educator.

Malveaux made some comments about the Duke lacrosse players in the context of a radio discussion. While some readers may not agree with her comments, they were not intended to be "hateful." Response to these comments should not result in the continuity of letters that have been printed.

We who support Bennett College (financially and morally) made the right choice. The community will soon learn of her commitment to education and to issues that affect our community. Let's put aside past controversies and concentrate on what Bennett College needs to move the education of young women leaders to greater heights.

Why not let Dr. Malveaux get settled into her role as Bennett's president and judge her by her actions? We, the alumnae, students, faculty and members of the Board of Trustees, look forward to great things for Bennett College for Women.

Gladys Ashe Robinson
Greensboro

Recently you printed letters from citizens concerning jailing witnesses of crimes when the witness is an illegal immigrant. I would like to clarify law enforcement's position.

I would never suggest that any witness be held, unless they have broken the law, and, if they are not legally in this country, they have broken the law.

The writer of the most recent letter used the word "oppression" to describe arresting illegal immigrants. He believes that law enforcement is being oppressive by enforcing the law. He states in his letter, "let's get this very clear, we are not talking about criminals." Let me make this very clear: We are. If you are in this country without following the immigration laws of this nation, then you are in violation of those laws.

The Sheriff's Office application for 287(g) Delegation of Authority Program is a tool to help stop criminal activity. We will not attempt to find illegal immigrants as they go about their daily activity; we don't have the manpower to do that. Driving drunk, without license or insurance, prostitution, breaking and entering, assault or murder will get our attention.
My suggestion: Obey the law. Then they will have no problem with us.

BJ Barnes
Greensboro

The writer is sheriff of Guilford County.

Your letters to the editor are a great indicator of the lack of sense and sensitivity pervasive in society today. For example, Virginia Tech just experienced an unimaginable horror. Rather than focus on lives lost and devastated families, Cindy Williams (letter, April 30) exhibits more concern for the environmental impact of the balloons released at a memorial ceremony than she does for the dead.

Her analysis of the consequences of using balloons is remarkable.

Forget the dead, the survivors and feelings of the families: Just ensure that a pre-memorial environmental impact statement approved by people like Ms. Williams is completed so as not to offend Mother Earth. I wonder why she did not question whether emergency personnel retrieved brass from expended cartridges (recycling) or bandages for the wounded (biohazard).
Why did you even bother to print her insensitive, unnecessary letter?

Charles A. Jones
Norfolk, Va.

The writer is a native of Greensboro.

As I write this, gas costs $2.95 a gallon. Two years ago, it cost less than $2 a gallon. I think that is too much to pay.

It costs a little more than $50 to fill up an empty tank once a week. If a family owns two cars, a month's worth of gas would cost $400 to $500, enough to feed a family for a month or pay bills.
I believe someone needs to invent an electric car that can be charged overnight, like an electric scooter or a remote-control car. There are already cars like this, but they're too expensive. If you charge them for a long time, they only drive for a short time. The car needs to be charged the same amount of hours you want to drive it. You need to be able to remove the battery, take it inside and plug it into the wall and charge the battery.

If this car is made and is affordable, it will save people lots of money and enable people to pay for everyday needs like paying bills and buying food.

Ben Weekley
Greensboro

The writer is 10 years old.

The following is a Counterpoint.

By Philip McLoud

George Will's column ("Dust storms were a true calamity for environment," April 29) is interesting but doesn't tell the whole story. The man who was testifying to the bored senators on that day in 1935 was a native North Carolinian.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he had worked for many years for the federal government studying soils and warning anyone who would listen that the misuse of our soil resources was a threat to the country. His name was Hugh Hammond Bennett. He was from Anson County.

The testimony he gave that day led to the establishment of a government agency and a nationwide movement of land stewardship that endures today. The agency was first called the Soil Conservation Service and is now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The stewardship of the land is led on a local basis by soil and water conservation districts that exist over the entire country. They provide local leaders to protect our soil and water resources.

For those of us in the business of protecting the soil and water, a legend has evolved about that day. According to the legend, Bennett knew about the dust storm that was headed east from the Southern plains. He calculated when it would arrive in Washington on the day of his testimony. He purposefully dragged out his speech to ensure that he would have the floor.

When the appointed hour came, he threw back the curtains in the hearing room to let the legislators see for themselves the dark skies caused by the disaster in the Southern plains. The legislation was passed and signed by President Roosevelt on April 27, 1935.

I don't know if it's strictly true, but it makes a nice story.

However, the most important story is that the legislation passed that day still endures. Bennett, who is known as the "father of soil conservation," went on to lead the Soil Conservation Service for many years. Most farmers today take for granted that they must protect the soil and water resources on their farms not only for their own livelihood but for the greater good of society. This is a success story most of the country misses unless they can recognize changes to our landscape that began in 1935.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker-Odom was appointed to dismember mental-health supports. She hired Rich Visingardi to dismantle the state's responsibilities and leave them to ill-prepared county administrators. Visingardi skulked back to Michigan when he finished. Hooker-Odom simply didn't escape before the catastrophe was obvious.

In county mental-health offices, arrogance and bureaucratic tolerance for incompetence still reign. The expertise that the state built over a century is gone. Last month, Guilford County announced the creation of a court specifically to handle mental-health clients ("Judge: Court focuses on treatment," (April 15). The costs of mental health just moved to law enforcement.

Bureaucrats can't be held accountable by the public. Hooker-Odom's elected superior has been unlucky in making appointments to head human services re-engineering, to repave highways and to restaff vacant district attorney positions. Even the lottery benefits need to be recalculated.

The citizens of North Carolina need to replace the elected officials at the state and county levels if we hope for an effective and humane human-services policy.

On Tuesday, there will be a rally at the state Capitol to shout out in pain. My autistic son and I will attend.

Don Ward
Stokesdale

A pastor wrote (letter to the editor) that we should "forgive the past, live in the present." Some individuals involved in counseling focus for a long time on past hurts. They should bring closure to the past and forgive those who hurt them. Those who harbor unforgiveness in their hearts enable the offender to live in their head rent-free.

Jesus told the multitudes if they forgave men their trespasses, their heavenly Father would forgive them; but if they did not, neither would their Father forgive their trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15).

One of my hurts occurred where I worked. After arbitrators heard the concerns of others involved, they decided the person who hurt me should leave. He lost a big salary and was probably embarrassed about what had happened. Later, I called and told him I was sure we both had been hurt, and I would like for us to be friends.

We are not responsible for anything anyone does or says that hurts us; we are responsible only for our choice to respond. Choice is a freedom we all have. I believe we should respond with forgiveness.

"Living in the past paralyzes the present and bankrupts the future" (anonymous).

Nadine Kernodle
Greensboro

When teenagers turn 18, they are legally considered adults, therefore gaining the ability to vote, marry, have an abortion, join the Army, etc., but they still cannot legally consume alcohol.

Why do we consider young adults mature enough to hold a gun and kill in war but not mature enough to drink?

Kids will find a way to drink if they really want to. The problem in the United States today is not underage drinking but excessive drinking. Excessive, binge drinking exists because alcohol is perceived as a "forbidden fruit" to underage young adults. The United States needs to acknowledge this problem and change the drinking age, which in itself will teach controlled drinking. This would also be a time for parents to properly educate their kids about controlled drinking.

Our young adults will become responsible by receiving the right education about drinking, being given the responsibility, and being held accountable for their actions. If less experimentation has to happen among kids, then our society will see alcohol-related accidents and deaths dramatically decrease, which would be a very positive change in our heavy-drinking country.

Emily Conroy
Elon

Since 1979, as a resident of Starmount Forest, I have observed Starmount Co.'s development of the north side of Friendly Avenue. During that period, Starmount's commercial development of the Green Valley Road/Friendly Center area earned it a "good neighbor" rating.

Unfortunately, its "good neighbor" rating ended with the announcement that Starmount would donate to the Junior League the Dick Albright house situated on 5.8 acres of land across from Belk's.

The Junior League would have to move the house to a lot on the west end of this property. The property's zoning would have to change from RS12 (single family residential) to GOM (general office moderate density).

With this proposed zoning change, the remainder of this land then could be developed to include four-story office buildings. It is painful to envision another BB&T building, which is under construction (at the former site of Harris Teeter) being built on this land. Also, this would be the first commercial zoning on the south side of Friendly Avenue between Ham's and Muirs Chapel Road and, ultimately, could affect the communities of Hamilton Lakes and Sunset Hills as well.

Therefore, let's stop the rezoning of this land and keep it residential single-family homes with lawns, trees and flowers instead of four-story steel structures with many square yards of asphalt/concrete parking lots.

Bob Kolodziey
Greensboro

I have a question. Why are Greensboro drivers such poor drivers? Nobody uses signals when changing lanes, they cut people off all day long and are just plain rude on the roads.

I also have an idea. Make it mandatory that every driver take a driver's education class every year and pass it to keep their driver's licenses.

Barry Epstein
Greensboro

The biggest problem we have today is simple explanations for complex issues. Yet there is one from a Thomas Friedman column (May 3) to which I ascribe: "Unless there is order in the world, the forces of disorder will have their way."

Hillary seems to have put all of her marbles on the "look before you leap" cliche, and George W. on the "he who hesitates is lost" one. Even this simple explanation would seem incorrect.

We are all where we are today because of where we have been. Separate opinions always relate back to their source -- like a mirror image. A circle ends where it begins. We create, sustain and then destroy, only to return to our next most palatable but opposite impression.

Kathleen Parker says of Hillary: Her mistake is trying to pretend her vote authorizing war "was something else, and hoping no one will notice." One certainty remains: We reap the fruits from the seeds that "begin" our circle.

Ray Hylton
Greensboro

After reading Guy Sinclair's letter (May 2), I had to wonder if he remained awake for the entire viewing of "An Inconvenient Truth." A tragic movie, indeed. A washed-up politician? I disagree. When Al Gore, former U.S. senator and two-term vice president, ran for president, he won the popular vote. I won't even delve into the Florida scandal. Today, Democrats across the nation and the current crop of presidential candidates are holding their breath, waiting to see if Gore tosses his hat into the ring.

As for Gore trying to "stay in the spotlight," Sinclair either forgot or did not know that Al Gore has been documenting and raising awareness of environmental issues for decades. Al Gore's book, "Earth In The Balance" (1992), would be a good starting point for Sinclair if he wishes to further his education.

I would encourage Sinclair, as "a current student at one of our fine local colleges," to take advantage of the many courses and materials available that may help him fully comprehend the looming tragedy presented by Al Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth."

Lyn Turner
High Point

The Junior League is a generous and outstanding community partner. We consider responsiveness to Greensboro's needs a significant part of your legacy of "tackling a community's biggest challenges." As talented leaders, please help to halt the incessant and unnecessary encroachment of business upon Greensboro's residential neighborhoods. Developers overlook the power of nature's green in favor of their dollar's green.

The Junior League can say no. You have other options. Please do not accept Starmount Corp.'s house on the south side of Friendly Avenue. Accepting necessitates obliterating a forested area and razing several acres to move the house over one lot. More destructively, your business will command general office, moderate intensity rezoning. One lot rezoned from residential to GO-M sets a precedent for the residential side of Friendly from Sunset Hills to Guilford College. The rumored rezoning of the southwest corner of Holden and Friendly for a chain drugstore could begin the domino effect. We no longer trust this won't happen.

Greensboro neighborhoods encompass green, under-utilized areas. They should keep their residential zoning, committing any future development to residences. Business development should be allowed in already GO-M zoned areas, separating traffic and security issues from residences.

We respect and appreciate the league's community efforts. Please exercise your responsiveness; retract your acceptance of Starmount Corp.'s self-serving plan.

Sidney and Jed Holland
Greensboro

On May 3, 10 Republican candidates for president held a debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. Much of the discussion was framed in terms of President Reagan's virtues. This led me to think more about his legacy.

One major thing President Reagan did was authorize the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. That act provided a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers who were in the United States at that time. They had lived here for years, worked hard, paid taxes, and generally had been law abiding. The act allowed families to reunite and provided an economic foundation for U.S. business by assuring an adequate supply of legal resident laborers for agriculture, construction and other facets of the economy.

President Reagan demonstrated traditional Republican values with his immigration reform act, including minimized government intervention, family preservation, rewards for hard work, compassionate conservatism, and a foundation for further economic growth. It was enacted without rancor, hate-mongering or scapegoating. Historically the United States has regularly updated immigration laws in accordance with our nation's most cherished values and needs.

The government defines legal status. It is time again to fix our broken immigration system with a new comprehensive immigration reform act.

Raleigh Bailey
Greensboro

The writer is director, UNCG Center for New North Carolinians.

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Jim and Nancy Sands

The cover article in the May 3 paper had a slant that did not play well to those of us who have enjoyed and relished the contributions of the Greensboro Jaycees. For many years, they have worked long hours hosting a great golf tournament. We have all benefited.

Our children have played on soccer fields built by the Jaycees with golf tournament money. Our community has seen young adults grow in leadership roles that have provided civic responsibility.

The article took some facts and presented them to covey the impression that our Wyndham Championship tournament falls far short of the Wachovia Championship now played in Charlotte. Well, yes, the Charlotte tournament is doing exceedingly well. And that is a benefit to our state. We say, "Yea!" Just cut out the competition already.

Our problem is the way the article compared the Wyndham tournament with the Charlotte tournament. "What players love: Mercedes courtesy cars at the Wachovia and fried chicken at the Wyndham." It also compared $3.50 iced teas at the Wachovia with John Daly.

Hey, take the same information and put a positive spin on our tournament. We have $4 beers and the Wachovia charges $3.50 for iced tea! The Wachovia is crowded and at the Wyndham you can see your favorite golf stars up close. The Wachovia has mansions along the course but the Wyndham has volunteers along the course, making the golf tournament available to all.

We have been volunteers at the Wyndham (and GGO and GGCC) golf tournaments for many years. We don't want any $3.50 iced tea.

The writers live in Stoney Creek.

I am writing to express a burden. Anyone who does not own real estate property should not be an elected official on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. Nor should anyone who does not own real estate property be privileged to vote on the bonds. That has caused the taxpayers a burden, and a lot of us are on fixed incomes that will go just so far.

Carolyn Hatfield
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint

By Robert Hudson

David Brooks' recent column, ''Look around you: Darwin is everywhere today,'' posits that evolution of species pretty much explains it all. It is all the rage among those who are truly up to date with their thinking. I respectfully disagree.

I will be the first to admit that Charles Darwin was a very smart man. His ability to observe and make sense of nature helps us to better understand this wonderful world and the various species of life that inhabit it.

But Darwinism simply cannot explain several things, especially when it comes to man. For those interested in the subject, Robert Godwin addresses it quite capably in his book, ''One Cosmos Under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind, and Spirit.''

How, for instance, can evolution account for art and music? How on earth, by ''monkeying around'' with paint and noise, did early humans stumble upon a way to liberate spirit from air and matter, to achieve a radiance and harmony well beyond the physical properties of light and sound?

Or, consider language. According to the great philosopher of science, Stanley Jaki, the theory of natural selection must ironically ''be proposed in the medium called language, which remains even today as unexplained on a Darwinian basis as it was when Darwin tried to cope with it.'' In other words, language accounts for, and, therefore, transcends, the theory of evolution. Thus, it cannot be accounted for by Darwin's theory, and to think otherwise is to attempt to give birth to your mother.

Natural selection does nor care that we are happy or fulfilled, only that we survive to pass our genes along to the next generation. So why should a brain that was selected by evolution so that it might be able to mate, hunt and forage a little more successfully than apes, also be capable of art, music, literature, science, moral ideals, religious truths? Most everything human have done with their mind in the past 40,000 years -- at least all of the really interesting things that define us as human -- has been completely and utterly superfluous from the standpoint of natural selection.

After thousands of generations with nothing to show for it except an unending series of similar hand axes, there was an almost instantaneous -- by evolutionary standards -- creative explosion about 40,000 years ago. Man, all over the world, began to create utilitarian objects that were, from a standpoint of survival, far more beautiful than they had to be. It had nothing to do with survival of the species; therefore, Darwin's theory cannot account for it. And yet, it is fact. I believe that Darwin's theories are generally sound, but there is something more at work here.

The writer lives in Pelham.

Regarding the letter ''Gun violence continues to destroy American lives'' (May 7):

All of America grieves for the wasted lives of these young people of Virginia Tech. Their hopeful, shining faces shown on TV were enough to bring tears.

Jennifer Angyal presents facts regarding the number of gun-related deaths in the United States but does not present a method to prevent these deaths. I see no mention of ''gun control'' in her letter, but I believe that is what she has in mind. I hope that she and others will not allow this tragedy to cause them to believe that if guns are banned, everyone will be safer. If only one person in the Virginia Tech dormitory had owned a gun, many lives could have been saved. People intent on breaking the law will find a way to obtain a weapon. If law breakers could be assured that they were the only ones with guns, no one would be safe.

I believe responsible gun ownership should be encouraged. Weapons training can be obtained in Greensboro for a nominal fee. Every household should have a member trained in the use of firearms and have a weapon in that home.

Judy Barham
Kernersville

Up for consideration in this year's Greensboro city budget is a proposal to eliminate funding of $56,440 for dance classes as part of a larger budget cut totaling $2.2 million. Many people are voicing opposition to this measure, citing the fact that children benefit and grow from these classes. I ask them to consider a few points.

Do you realize that this funding is the result of the forceful confiscation of other people’s hard-earned money? Would you personally hold those people at gunpoint and take their money to fund dance classes if the government didn't do it for you? I would like to think not. Why, then, do you suppose it's acceptable for the government to do such a thing?

The proper role of government is to protect people's rights, not to indulge the largesse of the masses. While I encourage all people to take advantage of the arts, which serve to gentle the human condition, they may only rightfully do so at their own expense or through funding obtained by the consent of donors.

The Libertarian Party of Guilford County calls for elimination of funding for dance classes and all other budget items not essential to protecting people's rights.

Paul Elledge
Greensboro

The writer is chairman of the Guilford County Libertarian Party and a member of the N.C. Libertarian executive committee.

I have been disappointed, saddened, and even shocked by the recent letters to the editor about Dr. Julianne Malveaux.

One writer felt that Malveaux's statements about the Duke lacrosse team were divisive. I dare say that nothing is more divisive or mean-spirited than comments that describe her as ''far-left hater; nasty, foul-mouthed ultra-liberal and leftist.''

Not only do I disagree with their assessment but wonder if the writers considered the numerous, positive attributes she possesses.

She brings to the role of college president demonstrated leadership skills, intelligence, a tremendous amount of courage, an entrepreneurial spirit and experience, competence and a commitment to the education and development of young women. I am confident she will make the entire Bennett College family and our community proud.

I welcome and support Dr. Julianne Malveaux and invite others in the community to join me.

Ernestine T. Taylor
Greensboro

The area between Hobbs/Holden and Hobbs/Friendly, where the Bog Garden and Bicentennial Park are located, is very heavily trafficked by vehicles -- which is a potential hazard to the large number of pedestrians, young children, adults, etc., that frequent these wonderful public facilities.

I live on Hobbs Road, observe speeding cars going by my home and am concerned about the safety of our citizens using the parks.

With the severe road inclines from Holden Road and Friendly Avenue, it is very easy to speed. Unfortunately, the bottom of the inclines is where pedestrians cross between parks and is a major entrance. It's a dangerous situation.

My suggestion is to make the speed limit for the area 20 mph.

Dick Michaud
Greensboro

Some attending the UNCG reunions opened our hotel room doors to the front-page headline (April 14) of "Strip clubs take city to court."

A few years ago, "Greensboro for Decency" picketed these places. These are some of their experiences.

One potential patron encountered someone picketing an "adult bookstore" on High Point Road, and she talked with him about the dangers. He chose to leave and she gave him a rose.

That evening, he called the organization's director and told her he was in these books for years, had gotten out, but now had been having a difficult time and was back to his old habit. This lady had pointed him to the truth, God's word, to get help.

He would never forget this day and would be forever grateful to the lady for taking time to guide him. He hung the rose on the wall and it would always remind him -- never turn back to that destructive lifestyle.

Two people were at another High Point Road place and talked to three young fellas. One guy said, "I'm leaving, the news might come and my grandma might see me on TV." They drove away.

Eleanor Atkins
Greensboro

In April, four others and I attended the Kenny Chesney concert in the Greensboro Coliseum. One of us was in line the morning tickets went on sale. There were only about 20 people in front of us.

Nowadays you don't get to pick your seats. You tell them the number of tickets you want to purchase and the price you want to pay. They are supposed to get you the best available.

The tickets we purchased at $66.50 each were almost behind the stage. We could not see anything that happened on stage. We could not understand when they were talking or singing, the sound was so muffled. If these were the best available, I would hate to see where others sat who were behind me in line.

If I attend another coliseum event, I will find out where my seats are before purchasing them. I don't understand why these seats were even sold. We were all excited about the concert until we got there and found out where our seats were.

You pay this amount of money to see a great entertainer, not to see the side of a stage with a black curtain. I am still upset about this. A total of $332.50 wasted.

Leslie Atkins
Liberty

While at Ragsdale High School recently, I was in the girls' bathroom. The filth written on the stall walls is beyond belief.

I asked my granddaughter if they ever paint the walls or remove what is there, and she said no.

I feel that making no effort to remove the writing condones it and that the more the kids are exposed to it the more acceptable it becomes. I've asked around and in other schools there is an ongoing effort to eradicate graffiti.

I wonder if any school board members ever visit the schools. I doubt they would want to use these facilities daily as my granddaughter is forced to do.

Helen Meyer
Newland

If the ACLU can take the word "Jesus" from our dialogue to protect those offended, couldn't they maybe take out "Allah," "Muhammad" or "Buddha" so I'm not offended?

Vickie Currin
High Point

The following is a Counterpoint:

By M.M. Vanderwerff
and Beth Spivey

We would like to comment on the superbly written article, "Greatness Incognitio" (April 13, Live!, News & Record). We were so intrigued by the idea that many Washingtonians could walk by world-famous violinist Joshua Bell during their morning subway commute.

Granted, he was disguised as a street musician, but with a $3.5 million instrument and virtuosic playing ability, how could that go relatively unnoticed? Moreover, what was even more important and interesting to us as arts educators was the fact that all the children in the article had to literally be dragged away (by their parents) from the performer and his music.

The article reported that the behavior of one demographic remained "absolutely consistent: every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away." What does that say about our children's innate need for art in their lives? What does it say about adults in society? What does it mean for those who teach the arts to children?

Arts educators fight for the chance to continue to bring "beauty" into our children's lives, and we are repeatedly told that they need testing and more testing. Do they? Shouldn't they be given the chance to be children and the opportunity to experience life and learning through the mediums of drama, dance, visual art and music?

Our American educational system -- through testing -- is constantly trying to "scoot the arts away" from our children. It is becoming more and more difficult to educate the whole child.

In the next 100 years, how will our generation's culture be judged? Scientists study "ARTifacts" (emphasis on art) when trying to understand how advanced a culture is or was -- not test scores. The arts are a big part of that which makes us uniquely human. So, why do we push the arts from our lives? Why are the arts not valued -- especially in education?

Yes, we believe that reading and math are important, but they need to be taught in connection with the arts. If we removed all the art in the lives of our children, there is no way that adding more reading, requiring more mathematics and science, or buying more computers could replace what would be lost. Think about it. The arts matter. Aren't our children worth it?

Vanderwerff is the music teacher and Spivey is the art teacher at Pilot Elementary School in Greensboro.

To Nan Faram's letter (April 25) and Earl R. Dorman's letter (May 11), now add this one.

Rockingham County has the same policy. I have written 13 letters to county commissioners without one response. I helped the last two get elected hoping they would be responsive, but they fell into the same old cocoon. You are right. We pay them, elect them and then they become unresponsive.

We are in the process of building a new courthouse and jail. This is supposed to be handled by committee (37 total, 25 county employees and 12 outsiders), but the county manager and commissioners made the decision on the design without the committee's knowledge.

I am a retired general contractor and have tried to help the committee, but my word goes unheard. It's tax money. Their policy is, let's spend it.

Forrest Bray
Reidsville

Recently, an article in your paper featured a man who trained his dogs to run off Canada geese. Clearly, everyone with a dog should not do this. Geese, their nests and young are federally protected, which was barely mentioned. This man's dogs are trained to stop before hurting the geese, most dogs are not.

These beautiful creatures were pegged strictly as pests to be "run off"; however, nowhere was it mentioned the mosquitoes they eat, controlling deadly West Nile disease.

Real "pests" are people who deliberately litter roads and waterways, run you off the road while talking on their phone or driving drunk; habitual cell phone users who "pollute" the air with their loud voices because they lack the courtesy to ever cut off their phones; liars, cheaters and thieves, parents who let their destructive kids run wild and undisciplined -- the list of "real pests" is endless.

Run off every creature considered an inconvenience or messy, and keep destroying habitats until you get rid of all the "pests," but don't bother to panic when life cannot be sustained because the balance of nature has been destroyed.

Dianne Lamb
Greensboro

This responds to Christopher Knight's letter, "Drop all the labels" (May 12).

Applying his guidelines, biblical heroes like John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostle Paul would have a hard time getting a letter printed in the News & Record. They did a lot of name-calling.

Examples: "brood of vipers"; "hypocrites"; "serpents"; "fools and blind"; "haters of God"; "son of the devil"; "foolish Galatians" and many, many more.

And now we can't even call a Republican a Republican, a Democrat a Democrat? This is political correctness run amok.

Al Shumard
Greensboro

I would like to respond to Chuck Mann's letter (May 11) regarding our need for a police review board. I would like to reassure Mann that Greensboro has had for years a committee that reviews citizen complaints against the police.

The Complaint Review Committee receives citizen complaints regarding the police department. Five members of the Human Relations Commission from different city districts serve on the CRC, and receive appeals from citizens each month who have a complaint.

Citizens can complain directly to the Human Relations Department about a police officer. Or they can file their complaint with Internal Affairs first and appeal to the CRC if unhappy with the result. Either way, rest assured that citizens review complaints brought to them, see that investigations are conducted and proper action taken.

It is important to understand this option is available. Should an incident occur where officers do not act properly, we already have a means to respond. And we urge citizens to use this option.

Wayne Abraham
Greensboro

The writer is chairman, Human Relations Commission.

Since our politicians seem to be having trouble financing, much less ending, the War on Terror (WOT) in Iraq, I offer a suggestion that should accomplish both ends.

As we did in WWI and II, issue war bonds to finance the WOT, but with a slight twist. The bonds would be issued in lieu of cash to the wealthiest (upper 2 percent) as their tax cut refunds. The bonds will be payable a week after the last American soldier in Iraq sets foot on American soil. It will take about two weeks from the time the bonds are issued until the war is declared won and our troops loaded on homebound transports.

Michael J. Scotto
Greensboro

The three-part series ("Capital to 'Cold Mountain'," March 4, 11; April 1) by Tim Pegram was a pleasure to read. Pegram's bravery and determination put the "average" fellow to shame.

It would be great if we were all so fit and inspired to undertake such an adventure. Moving on toward another challenging task, Pegram has promised to record this adventure in book form.

I may be jumping too quickly into his endeavor, however, when the times comes, I plan to invite Pegram into the East Tennessee region (Oak Ridge) to share his story with some hearty mountaineers.

Eva Mull Wike
Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Adrian Paul Zurav

In response to "Carr is indicted," I have worked as a prison guard in Powatan, Va. My short time there was the main reason I took a position as a wilderness counselor for the Eckerd Foundation.

But what I have gleaned from those two experiences is that punishment does not have any, I repeat, any positive effect in a "Tolly" kind of situation.

Like many others reading this, I was moved by the event. What struck me when I saw the latest (and I think only video) images of Tolly was this is a man in remorse.

He was not worried about a great career that was lost. He, at least I thought, was genuinely sorry and deeply troubled because he was responsible for ending someone else's life. He owned it.

I do not know what the right answer is, but wouldn't justice be better served if Tolly studied Casey Bokhoven's life and offered his family a plan for filling the tremendous void that was caused by a night of poor judgment?

I have not studied Casey's life. I don't know if he had kids or what his passions were.

But, wouldn't it be better for Casey's family if Tolly spent the rest of his life helping them fill a little bit of the void he created?

Again, I didn't know Casey, but if he had kids, Tolly could set up a trust fund to help pay for their education and ongoing things like houses, school for their kids, all those things a parent would do for his child. If he had a favorite charity -- give his time and money to it.

Punishment does not work. Accountability does. Would that not be a more Christian approach?

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Regarding Michael Walker's May 3 letter about tickets sales for the Norah Jones concert:

Tickets for Jones' performance at War Memorial Auditorium went on sale on Feb. 14 at 10 a.m.; this was after fan clubs members paid for the right to buy through an exclusive pre-sale.

On the morning of Feb. 14, nearly 2,000 tickets (2,400 capacity) were sold in the first few minutes after 10 a.m. as thousands of patrons purchased tickets simultaneously through our four distribution methods. This high demand for tickets in an intimate setting likely explains Mr. Walker's seat location.

Regarding someone re-selling tickets at the show, the coliseum works diligently to try and prevent scalping through specialized computer technology from our ticketing partner and by imposing ticket purchase limits (four at Norah Jones).

However, the coliseum cannot prevent agencies from purchasing fan club memberships or prevent them from hiring individuals to purchase online when tickets to go on sale. Seventy percent of concert tickets are sold online in today's economy, and policing such is difficult when Internet sales are so robust. The secondary ticket market is a hot topic in our industry, and we constantly review ticket-selling procedures to make sure all fans have an equal opportunity to purchase the best seats to concerts.

Andrew Brown
Greensboro

The writer is public relations manager, Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

I see that the city wants to install a tunnel on Cone Boulevard for the Battleground Rail-Trail.

Before spending the thousands of dollars for a tunnel, someone from the responsible city department should take a ride to Durham to see how its American Tobacco Trail handles crossing several streets, including two busy ones, Fayetteville Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Durham makes prudent use of traffic signals, including directing hikers/bikers to a pedestrian crossing on Martin Luther King Drive.

Walter Baker
Greensboro

Elizabeth Jones (letters, March 6; April 17) is so right regarding the war in Iraq. We need to "stay the course" and win this effort to get and keep terrorism under control. However, we do need a timetable.

I am thankful that we haven't been attacked by any more Islamic terrorists here (although it seems we have others here who are murderous, too, as at Virginia Tech). It's no accident, I'm sure. We'd have had numerous attacks were it not for our strong president, who stands up to terrorists.

Islamists are overrunning Europe, a lot of them potential terrorists. Europe has lost its will to fight and will suffer the consequences. Let's not let it happen here.

I find it interesting that the anti-war protest here was sponsored by a group with ties to the Revolutionary Communist Party. What is wrong with America that we want to be led by these people?

God bless America and God bless George Bush.

Carol M. Pulliam
Oak Ridge

The writer's husband and son have served in the military.

I am responding in shock and disbelief concerning Jeff Case's article (May 5) declaring women cannot be pastors. Since he described women in the pulpit as "pastors," I feel it necessary to describe him as the "pastor" of Sumner Baptist Church as I question his ability to operate in this capacity.

It is an honor and a privilege for me to enjoy the education and wisdom of a woman pastor in the church I attend as well as a woman pastor in my son's church, whom I try to hear as often as possible. If Case would practice inclusion, instead of the opposite, I believe he would be a more informed pastor and a better person.

I keep thinking that it is 2007 and we are past the point of denying women equal opportunity, but then someone like Jeff Case comes along. I would like to see the deacons of Sumner Baptist Church build a woodshed out back of the church and have Jeff's mother out there waiting for him, and then maybe she could show Jeff what a woman can and cannot do.

I feel better now.

Rick Parrish
Greensboro

The U.S. Department of Transportation is poised to kick the border wide open to trucks from Mexico. DOT says safety and security programs are in place. This is a joke.

U.S. truckers must hold a valid commercial driver's license with 10 years of driving history. For the Mexican equivalent, we won't know if these drivers are trained as truckers or terrorists. American truckers are required to be drug- and alcohol-tested and to follow hours of service regulations for driving time. No such regulations exist in Mexico.

DOT says every truck will be inspected at the border. Not likely. They inspect less than four percent right now. And what will these trucks haul into the United States? Could be people or drugs or dirty bombs. We won't know.

Why the rush to open the border? The answer is money. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes we need more trucks and cheaper labor. So, safety is compromised and American drivers lose their jobs. Doesn't sound like anyone in this country wins.

Right now there are definitely more questions than answers. And until the DOT can assure the public that Mexican trucks are just as safe as U.S. trucks, the border must stay closed.

Jimmy S. Wells
Asheboro

Double taxes are so unfair between Greensboro and Guilford County. When it comes to property owners, isn't it enough to pay one tax when you're on a fixed income or a lower wage? Are our elected servants so blind that we have to bleed to death on so many taxes?

They are not helping to find ways to cut taxes but keep going up on them. There's a limit on how much a person can handle. And I'm at the end of my rope now.

You want more taxes? Then raise the wages to about $20 an hour -- not $7.25 to $10. This doesn't cut it. Or bring the taxes down to match the income.

Some of you may be trying to cut taxes, but it's not good enough. Cut the fat. Cut the waste. Tighten your belts and save money. Look into your budgets.

D. Lee Jacobs
Greensboro

Regarding the Democrats' attempts to fund the war for months at a time: I enlisted in the Army on Dec. 9, 1944, and served until June 30, 1970. I was in Vietnam when the Democrats proposed cutting off funding for the war. Soldiers on the front were afraid to fire their weapons as they feared running out of ammunition because the Democrats said no more funds. It took weeks for field commanders to assure the troops that the ammo would be available.

Now the Democrats are trying to pull the plug again. How can these politicians sleep at night? How many gallant troops would be lost?

It's bad enough to fight an enemy with suicidal tendencies. But to have our elected leaders attempting to pull the rug out from under the troops is beyond comprehension. I urge the public to write their congressmen to support our troops.

Donald H. Brown
Greensboro

The writer is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.

The following is a Counterpoint column.

By BUD BLOWER

I need to comment on your editorial, "A magnet with wings" (May 8). I took an aviation course in high school in another state. It was my first step in what is now a 30-year vocation and adventure. As a professional aviator, I am aware of the stringent curriculum, staffing and funding issues that must be addressed to make this vision a reality for beginning pilots or aircraft maintenance technicians.

Your initial point says it all: "Some people wonder if a proposed aviation academy in a local high school is reaching too high. Not with the right focus and adequate funding."

Our local officials have touted the benefit of having HondaJet locate in the Triad and provide much-needed opportunities for high-paying jobs. Dr. Grier looks to use this new program as a pipeline to fill some of those opportunities. He points out a very successful program in Wichita, Kan., as a blueprint. The Wichita and Guilford County programs share a strong general aviation industry as the key to their viability.

That industry is under attack at this moment by the FAA's proposed funding plan which, if passed, essentially increases aviation fuel taxes by more than 300 percent and establishes many additional user fees, placing a tremendously unfair burden on general aviation. This proposal would also take control of our air-traffic system away from Congress in addition to taking in less revenues than the current fuel-tax system.

This is why Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Jerry Moran, both of Kansas, along with dozens of other representatives, oppose this ill-conceived proposal. They understand that this bill would cripple general aviation, which includes business and personal aviation and all flight training. The people of Kansas understand that general aviation companies, like Wichita-based Cessna, Raytheon, Bombardier, etc., are strong economic engines for their communities. The proposed reauthorization bill has the potential to put many of their workers on the unemployment line.
A strong United States and local economy depends on a strong general aviation industry and community. Guilford County has set its course in support of general aviation with its successful courting of HondaJet.

If we don't want to see this vibrant industry and the jobs it provides go the way of textile and furniture jobs, we need to contact our representatives and voice our opposition to these proposed user fees.

The writer lives in Jamestown.

What a hoot! Charles Davenport's sneering and cliche-ridden rant against the Greensboro Minimum Wage Committee ("Minimum wage ordinance would destroy jobs," May 13) appearing in the very same section of the very same issue of the News & Record in which UNCG urban geography professor Keith Debbage declares a "gloomy outlook" and "a call to arms" regarding Greensboro's economic development.

The gloom, according to Debbage (no socialist, he, at least not at last count) is in no small part due to deteriorating earnings and incomes and average wage rates that are lagging "well behind" other major North Carolina cities in every major industry. Maybe Davenport ought to read the newspaper.

Charles Hawes
Greensboro

As a parent of a soldier serving in Iraq, I ask your assistance and your readers' assistance in notifying our political leaders of conditions influencing the combat readiness of our troops.

It is becoming apparent that our troops are not receiving the support they need to do their jobs. Anything from lack of "up armored" Humvees to lack of sheets for bedding is now a common occurrence in many units. I do not think this information is news to our enemies but I am beginning to think our legislators are ignoring it while they play politics with the war funding.
Our soldiers' lives and comfort are being compromised by the political games being played by legislators of both parties. I ask that all concerned citizens write their legislators and urge them to come to a speedy resolution as to proper war funding.

While I believe that the best solution to the war was proposed by the Iraq Study Group, I would support any compromise that speeds funding necessary for force protection. The troops need our support. Contact your legislators and tell them to quit playing politics with our troops' lives.

David Benson
Greensboro

As predicted, liberals are already using tragedy to push a failed anti-gun agenda. This gun owner says have at it.

Even Bill Clinton stated that gun control is a losing issue for Democrats and that the National Rifle Association kept Al Gore from becoming president. When logical thought is applied, gun-control advocates always lose.

I guess it is lucky that not one of the Virginia Tech victims was armed. Somebody might have gotten hurt.

Ben Miles Jr.
McLeansville

Lorraine Ahearn's article (May 9) must be commended by anyone who has known the history of the coming of our Montagnard veterans during the Vietnam conflict.

I have been working with the Montagnard since their coming here in 1992. I came to Greensboro the same time they did. I am very concerned about the needs of the population and the treatment of those still persecuted in Vietnam.

The very accurate and compassionate account in this article is of very great importance to anyone who has known the history of this unfortunate people and their very supportive and loving assistance to our veterans of the Vietnam conflict. Let us not forget them, let us refuse to let their refugee status be lessened to an asylee status, which makes them unable to be employed or to receive assistance until the asylum procedure is completed, which can take years.

Thank you, Ms. Ahearn, for your sensitive and accurate relaying of the problem.

Gretchen Reintjes
Greensboro

I am writing in response to a staff article about the Canada Dry old factory. It would be a wonderful place to start to rebuild High Point Road.

As we all know, there are numerous conventions, etc., at the Koury Convention Center and all the events at the coliseum. I don't know how many rooms are in all the hotels around the intersection of High Point Road, Vanstory Street, Veasley Street, etc., but we can't put up with robberies at the Waffle House in that area and expect visitors to respect our city. Greensboro needs to step up and clean up the whole Lee Street/High Point Road area (all the way to the High Point city limits).

Ladora Kirkman
Greensboro

The News & Record published two articles in the Ideas section May 13 about the state of life in Guilford County. The writers, like so many in the News & Record, frame our problems using flawed assumptions.

These assumptions suggest that Guilford County must grow in population and "tax base" to be a "successful" and "vibrant" community. We must "attract new business" to be healthy economically.

One need look no further than Raleigh and Charlotte to see the results of growth for growth's sake: traffic jams, pollution, great social unrest from wealth disparities, and higher taxes.

Suppose a healthy community were defined in terms of quality education, health and safety of citizens, and justice and freedoms for all? Our professional and work lives should support these goals, not the other way around.

Many organizations improve their financial bottom line by shrinking and focusing on what they do best. Our community needs to achieve community excellence, not necessarily growth. Money and morale follow quality of life.

Kurt Lauenstein
Greensboro

Regarding E.F. Anderson's letter (May 5), the 1939 court decision referred to, United States v. Miller, had to do with a violation of the National Firearms Act. Miller's defense was that the act violated the Second Amendment.

The case was not decided on the basis of the individual right to bear arms, but that the court did not find evidence that the firearm involved, a short-barreled shotgun, "has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument." It seems to indicate that the "right to keep and bear arms" was dependent on the weapon being suitable for the militia.

The court remanded the case to district court, giving defendants a chance to show that such a weapon could contribute to "the militia."

This case is often cited by anti-gun factions to show that the Second Amendment refers to a "collective right." However, a study of history shows that the founders' common view was that the defense of the country could be secured through the militia. The militia was "every able bodied man." Any reasonable person would know that this case affirmed the militia, which affirms the Second Amendment to be an individual right.

Jack York
McLeansville

The Hippocratic Oath states:

"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death."

The leaders of High Point Regional Health System have forgotten the lessons of true health care. Instead of allowing Kernersville a hospital for its own residents, an entity from another county and city is trying to overturn the will of the people. No one in Kernersville ever elected anyone from High Point Regional Health System to make decisions about the health of Kernersville's residents. With this knowledge, I can say that my family and my health-care business will not step foot into an HPRHS facility.

I call on Mr. Reid and Mr. Miller of the HPRHS to withdraw their opposition to a hospital in my town, Kernersville, so that all residents, including myself, can have the life-saving, life-changing health care we need as close and easily accessible as possible.

Zeke Cochran
Kernersville

Beware, smokers. If you plan on traveling to Blowing Rock or Boone to vacation, you cannot smoke in any hotel or motel in either town. You can smoke in any restaurant and expose everyone there to secondhand smoke, but God forbid you smoke in a rented hotel room where you don't expose anyone to secondhand smoke.

I feel as if I have been discriminated against simply because I smoke. I would ask that anyone who smokes or has a family member who smokes not spend a dime in either town. Let them know that this isn't right. The only way they understand is in their pocketbooks.

How would the rest of the country feel if they suddenly said we can't rent you a room because you drink alcohol? When are we Americans going to stand up for our rights and quit letting politicians, who listen to the person who donates the most money to their campaigns, make the rules for the rest of us?

Jeffrey Bicknell
Summerfield

I admit that global warming is a fact. While industrial nations do pollute, I think it is important to realize that since 1950 the world's population has risen from 2.5 billion to more than 6.5 billion. Most of this growth is in Third World countries.

People in these areas rely heavily on fossil fuels and wood. They also clear large areas for needed farmland. This not only adds to pollution but results in severe deforestation. The great forests like the Amazonian rain forests are the very areas that cleanse our air and absorb our carbon dioxide emissions.

Locally we are doing the same thing. Greensboro is becoming part of the problem. We are stripping old-growth trees and replacing them with concrete. Many people see global warming as part of a 15,000-year cycle of weather patterns. We cannot stop the warming, but we must take measures to prepare for its results. Part of those measures should be a national campaign to preserve and plant trees.

Edward Philpott
Greensboro

The biggest risk we Americans face probably doesn't come from al-Qaida or the war in Iraq.

Rather, the biggest risk may come from this president's fiscal recklessness and the way this is putting us in debt to China.

For instance, this administration passed the recent prescription drug bill for seniors without once discussing how it would be paid.

It also passed a massive tax cut, yet we are currently fighting two wars. FDR must be turning over in his grave. He raised taxes to help us fight and win World War II and I don't remember hearing a single person complain.

More than two centuries of American government produced a cumulative national debt of $5.7 trillion when Bush was elected in 2000. Now that's expected to almost double by 2010 to $10.8 trillion.

But what frightens me more than all this is that not one single candidate running for president has mentioned this terrible financial dilemma we are now in.

Bush has referred to the estate tax as the "death tax." But his reckless spending will leave every American child facing a "birth tax" of about $150,000.

That's right. Every American child arrives owing that much, partly to babies in China and Japan.

No wonder babies cry. Maybe we should too.

James Pate
Greensboro

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stated the other day that, when she is elected president, she will send Bill Clinton on a trip around the world. He would be sent to "patch up the messes that Bush has caused."

That sounds great, as Bush has spent the first 6 1/2 - plus years of his presidency cleaning up the messes that President Bill Clinton left behind. For that matter he had to clean up the mess that Jimmy Carter, another Democratic Party poster boy turned president, left behind.

However, Hillary might just want to back off on that idea. She won't be president until Jan. 20, 2009, and it is illegal for any private citizen to go to foreign countries and act as an emissary for the government unless specifically authorized by the president or the State Department. Until that date, that is exactly what Sen. Clinton will be, a private citizen.

But, when has a little thing like the law or the Constitution ever stopped the Clintons?

Walter Milosky
Greensboro

I understand that, as the dregs of society, the unemployed receive little respect from others. But I never expected the treatment I received while attempting to inoculate myself against the further ravages of that social ailment of unemployment. It is my understanding that those employed by the Employment Security Commission are prepared to work with folks such as myself who are currently without occupation.

I felt sure that the person I was to meet with would offer some advice or in some way assist me in my heretofore fruitless search for employment. What I received was not even cordial. Her robotic approach to her work makes the entire system seem unnecessary. Given the advent of the Internet and the commission's effective integration of technology, unless the folks at the brick and mortar locations can provide at least a smiling face and the façade that someone cares and is attempting to help, we should drastically scale back the work force in favor of further automation and put those funds toward effective measures for countering joblessness.

I wondered if this employee's attitude was merely indicative of social migration away from courteous service, except that the gentleman who greeted folks was of a pleasant disposition and eager to help.

John B. Campbell
Greensboro

Well, the good news is that the city Zoning Commission has recommended denial of the commercial rezoning request at Lawndale and Lake Jeanette. The bad news, however, is that they consider such development at that locale "inevitable."

It is important to remember that there is a distinction between "commercial development" and "successful commercial development."

A couple of years ago, the City Council approved commercial rezoning on the east side of Lawndale, less than half a mile north of Lake Jeanette. To date only one of the five retail spaces at that location is occupied, hardly a compelling argument for the "inevitability" of such a decision.

Along Cone Boulevard, at its intersections with Church, Yanceyville, and Summit, are three barely occupied shopping centers in their death throes. Where is the imperative that made their development unavoidable?

When appointed and elected leaders consider the degradation of residential ambience, quality of life, and the largest investment most homeowners ever make to be "inevitable," they abdicate their responsibilities to those very citizens who expect them to provide protection against such unwarranted intrusions on their neighborhoods. And the hollow carcasses of previous "inevitabilities" pay testament to the irresponsibility of such blinkered thinking.

W.H. Nash
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Tom Skaar

I am writing regarding the article, "Panel backs measure to raise dropout age," (May 10, B5).

As a high school teacher, I agree with the goal of the legislators: to reduce the number of students that are dropping out of school. However, I believe their basic premise is wrong and the result is ill-conceived measures such as raising the dropout age.

The basic problem is the proposition that everyone should and can attend a four-year college such as UNC. But, for many students, the desire and/or the academic ability to attend college is not a reality.

I believe I have a better solution, and one that would benefit both students and schools. I propose that at age 16 students choose one of two paths. The first choice would be the college prep track, and they would go on to meet the requirements for a high school diploma and then attend college. The second choice would be to pursue a technical training course at GTCC or similar institutions. In either case their educational expenses would be paid for, just as they are now.

Students choosing the second course would graduate with a skilled trade, ready to be contributing members of society instead of facing low-wage jobs.

For students choosing the first course, their educational environment would be less disruptive and could be much more rigorous than at present.

For the schools, class sizes could be reduced and fewer schools would need to be built -- an economic bonus as well as progress in the direction of graduating students actually prepared for success in college.

The writer lives in Jamestown.

Dear members of the Greensboro City Council:

The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro recently held a series of public forums inviting community feedback about its Social Capital report. The report found that of 21 communities around the country, Greensboro excelled in volunteering and contributing to charities. But on two parameters, trust of police and trust of city government, we were among the lowest nationwide. We were lower than we had been in a previous survey and also low in trust of each other.

Clearly people who live here have made a commitment to bettering the lives of others in this city on an individual basis. However, the issue of trust needs to be addressed, particularly as it relates to the city as a whole and city government.

In order to improve the level of trust among individuals and between the citizens and the government, we believe an annual report on racial disparities would be beneficial. As recommended by the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (www.greensborotrc.org), we ask that the City Council instruct the Human Relations Commission to prepare and publicize an annual report showing "progress on erasing racial disparities within city government as well as within the city as a whole."

Evelyn Smith and Kay Doost
Greensboro

This letter was signed by 12 more members of the Undoing Racism Reading Group.

A residential neighborhood is a terrible place for an asphalt plant. It can significantly impact the lives of the residents living in the area by polluting the air that they breathe, lowering property values and creating noxious odors that keep them from leaving their homes. This can cost residents considerable stress and money, not to mention making it impossible for them to enjoy everyday outdoor activities, such as gardening, cooking out and spending time with friends and family.

Asphalt is necessary in this modern world, of course. But when given the option of the corporation that runs the asphalt plant having to pay more to transport the asphalt to sites, or saving the company money at the expense of the citizens' rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, the answer is simple. All citizens in this area are keeping a close eye on how our elected officials represent us in this matter. This is not an issue that can be covered up or will go away come election time.

Curt Meinhold
Greensboro

Having attended Keith Debbage's presentation of his State of the City Report and reading it on the cover of Sunday's Ideas section (May 13), I was deeply disheartened by another negative headline from our Greensboro newspaper. The headline, "A gloomy outlook," did a disservice to this community: another negative blow to the self-esteem of this great city.

At the presentation, Debbage informed us that his studies were based primarily on the latest available information from 2005. This gloomy part was 1 1/2 years ago, not today. So much good has come to reality in the last 1 1/2 years, including Center City Park, HondaJet, the revitalization of downtown — with a crane over the old Wachovia building paradoxically featured in the photograph behind your headline. A big thank-you goes to Action Greensboro as we all enjoy the success of their efforts.

The article mentions that we need to continue building a better Greensboro — you can help with an accurate and uplifting headline the next time.

Randal Romie
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint.

By Judy Stierand

Has anyone noticed all the artificial decorations at Christmas time? Well, recently I ran into a few "Christians" who appeared just as artificial as the decorations when they booed me at the homeowners' association meeting for suggesting that "Christmas" decorations at the development entrances be eliminated.

Later someone told me that they might have, at first, thought that I was referring to each individual's right to decorate his property, but these homeowners are supposed to be intelligent people. They should know their rights. There is the right to free speech and freedom for religion, but there is also freedom from religion.

Anyone could have asked a question instead of booing me. The gentleman in charge of maintenance stood to tell the people that they had rights. I said that I meant, "Is there a day for Muslims; is there a day for Jews?" I would have continued to add Hindu and Buddhist, but one man to my right shouted, "What are you?"

During childhood, I was indoctrinated as a Christian. As an adult, I have become educated. There is no proof that a physical "God" exists. "God" exists only in the minds of some people, both good and bad. Men have been looking for a heaven or a hell and have found none except here on Earth.

"We decorated for a holiday" explained the president. (Not necessarily Christmas? Whose holiday then?) Those decorations look like Christmas to me.

As the crowd dispersed, I said to the president, "You could have said that it is a bit un-Christian to ‘boo.' " Those loud, discriminating groans had felt demeaning.

"The thought never occurred to me," she replied.

How many religions are there in the world? More than 365, and there are more than 365 houses in our development. If each house were represented by a different religion and wanted to decorate the entrance, then there would not be enough days.

Consequently, I propose that there never be any added decorations to the normal landscaping of any common areas in our development. Christians do not have a monopoly on religion.
Frequently, I pray to the goodness within me to do what is good. I worship no god or "God." How many "Christians" who booed me have now reconsidered their actions and shown charity toward me?

We have only one another and should respect each other's opinions yet do what is legally right.

The writer lives in Whitsett.

Edward Cone's opinion piece, "Triadism is fine, but our economic future lies with Guilfordism" (May 13), disappointed me. I strongly agree with Cone that we should do all that we can to retain TransTech Pharma. But he presented an unfortunately narrow, self-restrictive "legacy" viewpoint when urging "Guilfordism."

We optimize our potential for economic vibrancy in the Triad by utilizing all of the Triad's strengths. Thoughtful area leaders are looking beyond our cities and traditional boundaries.

They're discussing ways to control sprawl, eliminate duplicated government services and install an infrastructure (including great schools, roads and parks) that serves our region best.

I'm intrigued by talk of governing with a metro council that would oversee regional planning, zoning and major development. A Triad metro council could help us project the most compelling image of our area based on the greatest number of strengths -- enhancing our power to attract businesses. Cities and counties can and do remain independent under a metro council structure.

Communities such as Minneapolis-St. Paul have prospered with such a cross-city, cross-county government. Shouldn't we explore ways to use all of the strengths of the Triad rather than restricting ourselves to "Guilfordism?"

Patrick Kammer
Greensboro

Regarding the proposed tax increase for Greensboro residents, I am for decreasing taxes and forcing the city and county governments to become more efficient. It seems that with a larger population, the percentage taxed would go down due to economy of numbers. At least it should remain the same.

The federal government, by its own admission, wastes 60 percent of every tax dollar (Grace Commission Report) and has done nothing to address that. I can only wonder what statistics would reveal if similar studies were conducted by state and local governments.

Just think, we could be paying less than half the taxes we now pay if government was as efficient as private business. Think about how that would stimulate the economy.

Chris Corry
Greensboro

The News & Record editorial, "Greensboro's canopy gives it the right shade" (May 15), was on the mark.

It would be wonderful if this area could maintain its green canopy, but I don't see it happening. Homeowners in this area seem to prefer expanses of grass to trees. As long as big lawns are popular, trees will come down. That's just the way it is.

Donna Padgett
Summerfield

If Guilford County would like to function in a less racist way, it will think twice about following the lead of those commissioners who are pushing for a $100 million jail. This jail, like all jails, will disproportionately house people of color.

There are many far less expensive ways to effectively improve the facility we already have and to reduce the current jail population, especially those who can't afford bond, who might be otherwise monitored; those who are mentally ill, who simply need more social service personnel, and drug-addicted people who need substance-abuse programs.

We might far better put our money and effort into addressing the conditions within our community that lead to crime, such as inadequate housing, education and economic opportunity. Do we really want to build the economy of our county on selling prison beds?

At the very least, this matter must be given to the people to decide.

Mary K. Wakeman
Greensboro

I write knowing how polarizing the issue of immigration is.

Through blog discussions, I have realized that there is passion on both sides of this issue. The only thing I see everyone agreeing with is that immigration laws are currently broken.

The sheriff is frustrated with the reality around him and reacting to that reality. All have tried to argue the point of law and their perceptions surrounding it. I would like to make the point that the immigration issue goes beyond the letter of the law.

In a demonstration for immigrants' rights last year, I saw a sign that read, "Slavery was also a law." That sign was right, and there were law-enforcement agents who tried to follow the letter of that law. Some agreed with the law and some didn't. Some law-enforcement officers followed the letter of that law, and others chose not to.

In choosing to avail himself of the 287(g) Delegation of Authority Program, Sheriff Barnes is institutionalizing the cycle of oppression that has been known in this country since its inception, as exemplified by the laws of slavery and Jim Crow.

Deborah Kelly
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Donna Moore

I am writing in response to your editorial, "Get more information on jail inmate's death" (May 11).

I have worked for many years in corrections and with the medical staff at the Guilford County jail, so I can personally assure you that the medical staff provides patients at the jail with compassionate and appropriate care.

The newspaper has focused on one individual case that cannot be discussed due to the patient confidentiality laws. But there have been many cases over the years where, had it not been for the dedicated staff at the Guilford County jail, the patients would not have been diagnosed and treated for diabetes, hypertension, cancer, heart disease, tuberculosis and other conditions.

Unfortunately, because we cannot talk about individual cases, people outside the jail (who don't know all the details of a case) sometimes come to conclusions that aren't true.

Your editorial suggested there is a financial disincentive to send patients off-site for treatment. That is not true. We are committed to caring for our patients and do not let cost interfere with treatment.

In fact, over the last few years, Prison Health Services in three of its contracts spent roughly $15 million in patient care above and beyond payments received under the contracts. The health professionals at the Guilford County jail as well as other correctional facilities are concerned about the welfare of their patients and will not hesitate to send someone off-site for additional medical services. We are committed to caring for our patients, and cost does not interfere with that care.

As professional health-care providers, we will make every effort to do what's right and best for our patients. I am proud of the service that our medical team at the Guilford County jail provides every day.

The writer is a registered nurse and regional vice president of Prison Health Services.

Gee, thanks Dick, for your brilliant observation that "Iraq is a dangerous place" (Associated Press article, May 9). Too bad it took you six years to figure that out before you sent 3,500 American soldiers to their graves just to further enlarge your ego and wallet.

I am sure the families of the soldiers still in Iraq were thrilled to hear your current synopsis. You must be very proud of yourself. It's obvious that you have been hanging around Junior too long.

His lack of intellect must be catching.

Joan Hunt
Greensboro

Regarding Ed Maddox's Counterpoint, "Apartment project will benefit UNCG" (May 11):

I take offense at the notion that bulldozing an existing tree-covered residential property and building an apartment complex on Walker Avenue is an improvement to the surrounding neighborhood because it will be "well-maintained, tidy and clean."

While I commend Maddox for considering that the complex will ease traffic patterns, I wish he and the developer had done some more research. UNCG's Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling promotes "sustainability," which includes in its definition "meeting human needs within the constraints of nature" (UNCG Sustainability Report, 2003).

How many tons of demolition debris were taken to the landfill during the razing portion of the development? How many of our neighborhood's mature trees were taken down to create this urban blight? Take a walk down Walker Avenue during evening hours and check out the huge fluorescent lights casting light pollution on the neighboring homes.

Don't get me started on the complete disregard for neighborhood aesthetics when building this complex. I am so disheartened when I read "tidy and clean."

Call me a tree hugger, but doesn't "progressive," "ecologically designed" and "sustainable" sound so much better?

JoAnn Strack
Greensboro

I read with interest the News & Record's May 17 version of Kathleen Parker's column on Elizabeth Kandrac's lawsuit against the Charleston County School District. However, I am glad that I have the Internet available so I was able to read the column in its entirety.

The version printed in the News & Record left out several paragraphs. It also left out the specific statements that were directed toward Kandrac by the students. I was disappointed by this because to fully understand the nature of Kandrac's complaint, the principal's response, the school district's position, the court's decision and Parker's opinion of all this, we need to know what the students said to Kandrac.

Does the News & Record routinely edit the national columnists? If so, please inform your readers that the column has been edited so that we may read the entire column on the Internet or in another newspaper if we so chose.

I enjoy your editorial page, but I would like to read the columnists' work and ideas, not your condensed version.

Lee Gavin
Asheboro

Editor's note: Newspaper pages are smaller, but, alas, syndicated columnists continue to write at the same length they always have, leaving us little choice but to cut as carefully as we can.

Thomas Sowell's "Anger a way of life for liberals," (News & Record, May 17), castigates those to his left for their hostile political pronouncements. He compares their excess with the "non-confrontational," even "genial" George W. Bush. Then he calls our attention to the quiet of our vice president, Mr. Cheney.

Indeed, does this not stretch reason beyond the breaking point?

As a proud veteran of World War II, I recall that in our united defense, no one would have suggested that a political support of Franklin D. Roosevelt was a patriotic prerequisite. Yet, soon after the present war began, billboards proclaimed that we should "Support our Troops and President Bush." The implication was that an opposing political affiliation was unpatriotic.

I suggest that this Iraq war was not merely for control of an essential oil resource, but also was manufactured to consolidate political power through exercise of the war powers which this president invokes. Silence now imperils our right to speak tomorrow.

Leigh Rodenbough
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Charlie Abourjilie

Your May 20 front page contained the worst piece of yellow journalism and sensationalism I have seen in a local paper. The second sentence of paragraph two (in the story about the Eastern High School fire) --"Maybe a bitter teacher is to blame" -- is terribly insulting and offensive to the teachers and staff at Eastern, as well as teachers everywhere.

The story of the firemen and their battle is honorable. The actions of Tim Riggs and Debbie Dowd are heroic, as were the actions of our principal, Dr. Lisa Cooke, on that day. But that sentence ruins a deserving story that should be told.

To insinuate that it could have been a teacher who intentionally destroyed our school and endangered the lives of 1,100 children and teachers, because he or she was bitter, is irresponsible and degrading.

To write this about our teachers at this time is particularly insensitive. Our teachers and staff have been working overtime since Nov. 1. Some have moved on because of the stress. Our principal was forced to take medical leave because of all the pressure and all that she gave of herself.

Our teachers and staff have been breaking their backs every day to help our kids and make sure they get the best education possible. Our first-semester grades on the EOCs exceeded all expectations. That doesn't happen because of bitter, disgruntled teachers. That happens because of teachers who love their jobs, their children and their school, and who do whatever it takes to serve to the best of their ability, regardless of the pain, time crunch or issues beyond their control.

Bitter teachers may retire, complain to their principal and county administration, seek transfers, go to another district or even leave education altogether. They do not set fires to schools with or without children in them.

There have been many heroes at our school this year, including the firemen who tried to save our school, the new administrators that have come in, the students who have persevered and continued to excel in spite of the obstacles and losses, and the teachers and staff who have been at Eastern for one year or 20. I would like to see a story about those people -- not one that insinuates arson.

The writer is curriculum facilitator for Eastern Guilford High School.

Although Alberto Gonzales has repeatedly claimed ignorance and has done everything possible to hinder the congressional investigations into the U.S. attorney firings, he clearly played a major role in the partisan firings and in transforming the Justice Department into an enforcement arm of the Republican Party. His incompetence and disregard for the seriousness of his duties as attorney general are inexcusable.

It is clear that he will not resign, nor will President Bush remove him from his position, so I believe that Congress must use its power to remove Gonzales by impeaching him. The Senate no-confidence vote is a good start, but passing it holds no real consequences for Gonzales. He needs to be removed as soon as possible, because every day he remains in his position is another day that the Justice Department is further damaged.

Ben Thomas
Greensboro

Everyone of all ages should watch the video on CNN of the Muslims beating to death a 17-year-old Muslim girl with her blood running on the street as she dies. I wonder if this is a way to get to heaven also? We have to remember we are allowing and tolerating religious freedom of this nature in our own country.

We had 3,000 shed their blood because of this religion on Sept. 11, 2001. I don't think the framers of the Constitution were as smart as some give them credit. We are targeted, and like sheep we are only thinking about the grazing.

When I think of the millions who have died in the name of religion, I will take my chances believing in the good things that make life possible for me. I will not be led like a sheep.

When one man has power to order killing of innocent people from a pulpit and controls the minds of millions, something is wrong. Any religion that ignores the laws of this country to harbor illegals and child molesters is wrong also.

Ken Sawyer
High Point

A large corporation is attempting to place an asphalt plant off Liberty Road in southeast Guilford County. The location is close to numerous residential areas. For more information, visit www.lynwoodlakes.org/Asphalt/apupdate.htm. Or, e-mail noasphaltplant@yahoo.com.

While residents are vehemently opposed to the project, and heavy industrial rezoning in general, they may be outgunned by the free-spending corporate backer. Something is wrong with our zoning process when residents are ignored and the only criteria are economic.

We need a zoning process that allows nearby residents to veto such projects. If the developer can sell the residents, that's great. If not, the developer should not be allowed to steamroll over the residents with paid "expert" testimony and high-priced, politically well-connected legal representation.

Bill Brannon
Greensboro

I am an avid reader of all things in news and politics. I read about the immigration problem, war in Iraq, black vs. white, Muslim vs. Jews. It gets old after a while.

Now, every day in just about any paper, you read about something being changed because someone got offended. We are slowly becoming the United States of the Offended. We are no longer united. The dust of the World Trade Center has settled and now, because of the war in Iraq and other things, the battle lines have been drawn and Americans are either in states that are Red or Blue, pro-Bush and anti-Bush. There is no such thing as just an American. Everything has a title now.

I remember following Sept. 11, 2001, we were not black, white, Mexican. We were not Christian, Muslim, Jew. We were Americans! This nation is like a family's house, and a house divided cannot stand.

I am just proud to be an American! We live in the greatest nation in the world. To me that's something to be proud of.

Michael Overton
McLeansville

Sadness marks the passing of the Turn Signal. Patented Feb. 16, 1909, the Turn Signal gained national attention as standard equipment on the 1939 Buick. There was a meteoric rise for the Turn Signal as federal/state laws mandated it as standard equipment, routine inspection and consistent use. The intent was to "provide an early alert to other drivers of an intended action, allowing appropriate responses, to avoid accidents."

But, alas, time moves on. Changes in technology and attitude marked the Turn Signal's atrophy. GPS, laptops, drive-in restaurants and, most importantly, the cell phone made its use nearly impossible, especially while turning or changing lanes. The Turn Signal's use is now counterproductive for speeding up to cut in or turn in front of oncoming traffic.

Some of the 43,000 U.S. highway deaths and millions of accidents may be a result of the demise, but a small price to pay for completing that multitask, or being two cars ahead at the next red light. Speaking of red lights, rest in peace Turn Signal. May you be in a better place, where laws are obeyed and enforced, where logic is practiced and common courtesy is the norm.

L.C. Lapple
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Chuck Hodierne

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Many changes have occurred in the public mental health field in the last few years as the public mental health centers have divested services and a whole new array of services has been created.

Our counseling program at Youth Focus provides comprehensive outpatient mental health services to more than 1,100 young people each year. Services are provided by licensed mental health professionals, including a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Best of all, due to support from the United Way, the local juvenile crime prevention council and other sources, we can provide these services at no cost to families, when necessary.

Outpatient counseling may only be a starting point for accessing other services, including a thorough diagnostic assessment, medication management, community support/case management services, intensive in-home services as well as residential services if needed.

On the near horizon, we are hoping to soon start a comprehensive mental health screening program with all first-graders in the Guilford County public schools to catch problems early and provide treatment before they become more serious problems.

Thanks to a cooperative effort with the schools and funding from the Cemala Foundation and other local foundations, we hope to start this new program this fall.

If parents feel their child might have a mental health problem, I urge them to seek help at Youth Focus or at any one of the many other excellent mental health providers in the community.

The writer is executive director, Youth Focus, and lives in Greensboro.

With gasoline more than $3 a gallon, everybody is looking for some relief. The president even got involved by calling on car manufacturers to make more efficient cars. That's a great idea, but it falls short.

The biggest waster of gasoline is the constant stop and go of city driving. Why are we not calling on local government to make the traffic light system more efficient? Many of the intersections controlled by lights operate independently of the others near them, causing cars to stop and go repeatedly. There are also lights that cannot activate a turn lane without causing all traffic to stop first. The technology exists to bounce signals around the world, but we can't make a traffic light that tracks patterns? We should expect local governments to make the systems as efficient as possible.

That, coupled with more efficient cars, should go a long way toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

James Poer
Greensboro

To the gentleman who was baffled about the no-smoking policy in motels, where his secondhand smoke won't harm anyone (letter, May 21), let me remind him that many patrons abhor the odor left behind by cigarettes; it gets in the bedding, the curtains, the rug. The perfumes the housekeepers spray to freshen the rooms after you've left don't mask the thick stench of nicotine.

Plus, it's an insurance liability. There have been nearly as many hotel fires started by smoking in bed in the last 50 years as there have been house fires. As for the area restaurants he cited, I'm surprised they haven't all gone smoke-free as well. Hopefully, it's just a matter of time.

Lori King
Greensboro

The article, "Israeli warplanes hit Hamas targets," appeared May 19. The main focus was about the current bloodshed and infighting between the two Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah. I can't even imagine what the Palestinian people go through on a daily basis and the continuous suffering.

The article also explained Hamas rocket attacks in southern Israel prompted the Israeli retaliation. So I ask why the News & Record would use a headline stirring negativity about Israel when the article was about so much more going on in Gaza.

With the hope for peace always in our hearts, we need to promote truthful and unbiased reporting and not sensational headlines, even on page 10.

Terri Flam
Greensboro

I heard Newt Gingrich interviewed the other day about global warming. He said that Al Gore's film was grossly exaggerated. After all, just look at Greenland, which was once green, now white. So it doesn't have anything at all to do with human over-consumption and exhaust of its fumes; it is just nature taking its natural course.

Like the city that used to be called Greensboro; now it's called Greysburg, with cement everywhere: cement lawns, driveways, roads, foundations, buildings taller than the remaining trees. And if one flies in, looking down on the city, one sees only a cloud of grey air, still the 24th-worst in the country.

I'm remembering the work of Cameron Cooke and his committee — a county plan trying to keep unnatural development and pollution in check — tossed out, ignored, almost immediately. Didn't we really need a shopping center at Lawndale and Lake Jeannette? Just another opportunity to take oxygen, shade and beauty from our city, keeping our reputation as Greysburg, the result of the natural grey greed and cyclic commercialism existing here. Who needed to breathe in Greysburg anyway? Who needed to live here?

Gay Cheney
Browns Summit

I am writing to ask you to consider publishing information similar to the article I recently read in USA Today concerning natural gas-powered vehicles.

I have heard much discussion regarding ethanol; however, it increases ground-level ozone, which is undesirable. The use of ethanol is also increasing the price of corn for food.
Natural gas, according to this article, is produced domestically (98 percent produced in North America vs. 56 percent of crude oil for U.S. refineries). It is cheap ($2.55 per gallon equivalent of a gallon of gasoline).

I understand that Guilford County and/or the city of Greensboro are considering switching to biodiesel-run equipment, trucks, etc. Have natural gas fleet vehicles been considered?

Phyllis Ott
Oak Ridge

Unless our legislators make stroke treatment and prevention a priority, North Carolina will continue to have one of the highest stroke death rates in the country. With a rate 20 percent higher than the national average, it is past time the General Assembly act to improve stroke care in our state. But the House of Representatives missed a golden opportunity when it passed a budget that failed to provide funding necessary to implement the recommendations of the Stroke Advisory Council.

This council was formed by the legislature to address our state's stroke crisis, but its proposals will only make a difference if they are fully funded.

As a stroke survivor, I have a personal stake in seeing North Carolina make the improvements citizens deserve and stroke victims desperately need. Programs recommended by the Stroke Advisory Council would create a system of stroke care networks, assess and improve stroke prevention and treatment services in the state, and promote awareness of stroke symptoms and warning signs.

Here's hoping the Senate will succeed where the House has failed and fully fund the programs critical to improving stroke care in North Carolina.

David P. Layton
Summerfield

Someone out there doesn't like Duke and its cancer research or Joann and me. In reality, the latter is more likely than the former, and I can deal with that. But, what's not to like about a world-class medical center making a difference in the lives of cancer patients worldwide?

To gain the maximum number of riders, runners and walkers (and contributors) for the "Joann Gaddy Grimes Big Event to Fight Cancer," generous entrepreneur Susan Allen of Signs By Tomorrow provided us the 100 new yard signs, which we strategically placed in yards around the city, all with the permission of the owners of the homes. They tell the basic story that on June 3, at Greensboro Country Park, the big event will take place, all to raise money for cancer research at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Signs have disappeared from yards in Irving Park and in the Brassfield area, a total of about 12 signs so far.

If you happen to read this letter, please contact me if you have a problem with either Joann or me or the Duke research efforts. Maybe we can work something out. Or, kindly leave the signs up until June 4, at which time they will be collected to be recycled next year.

David Grimes
Greensboro

Same old out-of-control, excessive spending tactics by government agencies facing a budget squeeze. Why? Politicians have failed miserably in their arithmetic. When taxpayers' money is so lavishly being handed out with no accountability, it tells me that no one's minding the store.

Do you wonder why people start "nonprofit" corporations? Project Homestead, Civil Rights Museum, day cares and schools (just naming a few) should make you curious. There is no "win-win" situation when taxpayers' money is handed to nonprofit groups stating, "We want this to work for our community." Thieves are well-dressed these days, and their pockets are deep.

When you hear politicians talk about grants, did it occur to you this is taxpayers' money? When you hear politicians talk about bond debt service, did it occur to you that hard-working, taxpaying Americans 30 years old will never live long enough to see this debt paid off? The song, "Ain't no stopping us now," comes to mind when taxpayers think of politicians.

Taxpayers can't afford another increase. Taxpayers should demand that property taxes, public schools, incentives, pet projects and nonprofit groups be eliminated. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that leadership no longer exists and common sense has long gone bye-bye.

Shirley deLong
Jamestown

I guess the residents of southeast Guilford County better start packing up and moving. That is, if anyone is willing to buy homes next door to an industrial park. By allowing the rezoning on Liberty Road for an asphalt plant, the groundwork has been laid for more heavy industrial in our community.

How long before someone else on Old Liberty Place wants to sell their property? I'm sure there are dozens of prospective buyers out there just waiting for the chance to live across the street from an asphalt plant. Not likely.

So, when that property is also rezoned heavy industrial, what other wonderful industry will be forced on us? Could we get a hazardous waste warehouse, a rendering plant, maybe a garbage dump? These are all possibilities if this rezoning is not overturned.

To the Guilford County commissioners, remember this when the appeal comes before you. The residents of this county elected you to represent all of us, not just big business. The owners of this asphalt plant are from Palm Beach, Fla., not Guilford County. Your constituents live, work and play here. And we vote here as well.

Bill Staley
Greensboro

Those who sat on their hands for decades, refusing to build a border fence or penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants now tell us that we must grant amnesty to millions who have come here illegally because the existing law, cynically titled "Immigration Reform and Control Act," does not work. This argument is akin to one killing his parents, then pleading for mercy because he is an orphan.

According to the primary sponsors of the 1986 legislation, a vital part of the law was improving security against illegal crossings at the border with Mexico and imposing penalties on employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers. It is safe to say that government officials did not take seriously the enforcement provision of the law.

Then there's the cost of the so-called "cheap labor." According to the Heritage Foundation, illegal immigrants consume about $30,000 in government benefits for every $10,000 in taxes they pay. Long-term, giving amnesty to 12 million to 20 million illegals is expected to cost taxpayers between $2.5 trillion and $3.5 trillion.

At best, the legislation now pending in the U.S. Senate is amnesty for those who have broken laws. At worst, it is the end of America as we know it.

Paul Daniels
Greensboro

I'm glad that Jeri Rowe's article about Brittany Smith and Stacey Haines' long-term friendship through Big Brothers Big Sisters (May 19) appeared in the paper. Stories like this one help spread the word about how mentoring makes a beneficial impact on the life of a disadvantaged child.

A child who gains a positive role model through this organization is less likely to wind up in jail, get pregnant at an early age, or drop out of high school. Right now, there are many children, mostly boys, in the Triad who are waiting to be matched with that special adult who will change their world for the better.

You can contact BBBS at (336) 378-9100.

Lydia Gibson
Jamestown

The writer is a member of the advisory board, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Greensboro, and mentors an 8-year-old girl through the program.

Regarding the May 22 article about record-high gas prices and the concerns of a Roy's Texaco customer who did not know what she could do about it: A few ideas come to mind.

First, we need to realize that we are able to live the way we do (multiple cars per family, 15- to 30-minute commutes to work) because of cheap fuel. After all, this week in Germany, drivers paid $7.08 per gallon and in Brazil $4.60. So before we get too excited, let's think about how we can adapt:

Get healthy: Dust off that bike and take it for a spin; walk across the street to run that extra errand rather than drive.

Get organized: Plan your day to avoid "forgotten" errands that require more driving.

Be environmentally-conscious: Do the environment a favor and recycle that gas guzzler in favor of something more efficient.

Be social: Invite the neighbors over for a barbecue rather than driving 10 minutes to a restaurant.

Be active: Demand that city leaders plan development that reduces sprawl.

So instead of wondering what you can do about rising gas prices, be creative and turn that threat to your wallet into an opportunity.

Sallie Lacy
Greensboro

Regarding Forrest Bray's letter, "Unresponsive politicians ignore committee input" (May 18):

I serve on the Rockingham County Courthouse Advisory Committee along with Bray. From the first review of the proposed plans for the new courthouse and jail, Mr. Bray took exception to the plans based on the shape of the building. He felt that the building should be rectangular, have a simple roof line and have no ornamentation or character. In other words, that it should look like a commercial office building, not a seat of government.

These opinions were based on his experience as a building contractor: "The fewer corners, the less expensive the construction." He expressed this opinion at all of the committee meetings and in any forum he could find, including the county board's regular meetings.

From the first, most advisory committee members and county officials listened but did not agree with Bray's contention. We were satisfied with the architect's concept. He has talked to all of the council members many times and they have expressed their opinion to him.

After all of this verbal communication and continuing negative comments, it is little wonder that council members will not answer his many letters and phone calls.

John Pitzen
Stoneville

The following is a Counterpoint:

By John R. Dykers

Dear Richard Pretorius:

I'm sorry that your mother's death was obviously made more horrible by occurring in the midst of her transfer from the hospital to a nursing facility ("How not to die," Ideas, May 13). Dying with lung cancer is horrible, as it basically occurs by drowning in one's own blood. It was my experience seeing such agony as a third-year medical student that finally got me to quit smoking, in February 1957, at what was then N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill.

I'm also sorry you didn't pick up on your mother's increasing trouble with her breathing sooner, but it probably would've made no difference with rapidly progressive cancer in someone who was already on oxygen for breathing troubles. You didn't mention her smoking history, but all of us have at least been exposed to too much secondhand smoke.

As for the costs, the many people working in medical care had to be paid, and our system for doing so certainly needs changing. In the "old days," we would have surely kept your mother in the hospital more easily, but perhaps in your mother's case, the real problem was not transferring her more quickly.

Even today, the option for her to stay in the hospital at your own expense is available.

It does, however, sound as though her survival of breast cancer, two artificial knees and a corneal transplant had provided her with some of the benefits of modern medicine.

The writer is a physician who lives in Siler City.

To follow is a series of quotes, each taken from two U.S. presidents. One was impeached. Can you guess which one? Hint: This is America.

The following is a Counterpoint

By Jerry Moore

I cannot allow the column "Declining unions want to avoid secret ballot" (May 16, by H.T. Thetford), regarding the Employee Free Choice Act, to pass as fact.

For workers to form a union, they must have a sufficient showing of interest, usually in the form of a signed authorization card or petition, from a simple majority of eligible workers -- 50 percent plus one. A successful show of interest indicates a majority desire to form a union.

Why, after already indicating my choice, must I have another election? The Employee Free Choice Act provides the obvious answer: You don’t need another election; the first one will suffice.

The Employee Free Choice Act is not one of those anodyne-labeled acts like The Paycheck Protection Act or, worse, Right to Work (for Less) laws.

This law is exactly what it says it is: the unfettered right to form a union. Keeping in mind that a majority indicated their desire to form a union to the National Labor Relations Board, the election is a "do over" for the company. A period of perceived well-being is marked by pizza parties, ice cream breaks, increased overtime -- mysteriously disappearing regardless of the election outcome. Meanwhile pro union voters are fired because as "at will" employees, they do not have the benefit of contract protections … yet. Given a level playing field unions do prevail in free democratic elections.

So much is wrong in Thetford's anti-union piece, which places the economic ills of this country on just the 12 percent of organized workers. Eighty-five percent of all workers say they would join a union if they had the opportunity. The Employee Free Choice Act makes that opportunity as simple as signing a card.

During my 12 years of organizing for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, no one called me a "thug." Union members and management called me a gentleman. Throughout organizing, securing a contract, and enduring two bankruptcies at US Airways, it was union sacrifices and professionalism that kept that airline alive -- not what drove it to bankruptcy. There is no use for thugs or coercion of any kind in union organizing. It is sufficient to say to abused and dissatisfied workers, ''Don’t whine, organize!" And when they ask how, tell them it's as simple as signing a card.

At least that's how it ought to be.

The writer is assistant general chairman (retired), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. He lives in Greensboro.

Regarding the article "The car seat lady" (May 19):

I would like to let Guilford County residents know that SAFE Guilford maintains a child passenger safety technician referral list.

CPS technicians in Guilford County provide free seat check appointments to educate parents and caregivers on proper seat installation and use. This is not an installation service; rather, it is an educational service. Parents and caregivers are required to install their seat before having it checked by a CPS technician. The CPS technician will check whether the car seat is installed correctly. Parents and caregivers are required to demonstrate seat installation before leaving the appointment to ensure they can properly install it.

Nationally, about 80 percent of car seats are incorrectly installed; however, locally, approximately 90 percent have at least one misuse. Making an appointment for a seat check could potentially save your child’s life or reduce their injuries in a crash.

To find a CPS technician near you, call 832-3939 (832-3938 for Spanish) or visit www.safeguilford.org. Our CPS Technicians and their agencies voluntarily give their personal and/or agency time to ensure children are safe. SAFE Guilford could not offer this program without them.

Leigha Shepler
Greensboro

The writer is SAFE Guilford coordinator

The article (May 21) regarding Mainline Contracting losing the contract for Honda Aircraft site work made me wonder why the bidding process ceases with the opening of sealed bids.

Obviously, Mainline did not initially offer its lowest possible bid. It reduced its bid from $7.3 million to $6.6 million, in response to the forms issue. Wouldn't reverse auctions result in lower bids?

Here is a scenario. After advertising for bids, all companies interested could evidence their qualifications. Then a conference room along with rooms for the bidding companies could be reserved. Bidding could then proceed, but in a manner the reverse of the usual auction -- with bids decreasing instead of increasing. At any time a company could ask for a brief recess, retreat to its room and discuss whether to bid lower. This might take all day, but in this situation, the Airport Authority would have saved $700,000 even if the forms issue had not arisen. Is this not worth an all-day process?

Phillip Reeder
Greensboro

Regarding Judy Stierand's Counterpoint (May 23), the distress felt as a Christian persecuted by non-Christians uncomfortable with being "different" is unbearable.

The writer's neighborhood of 300-plus homes is predominantly Christian, yet she expects them not to decorate their neighborhood entrances during Christian holidays because it violates her "freedom from religion." She wants residents to observe her "right." She calls her neighbors' anger and boos "un-Christian-like" and "rude."

She made a decision to be different and should be prepared to handle what comes with it instead of whining like a spoiled ACLU baby. If she doesn't want to participate, she doesn't have to.

Perhaps the reason non-Christians are so uncomfortable with being different is because it's not where God intends them to be. Their actions have succeeded in removing prayer from schools and public venues. They've led to our children being taught about every religion in the world except Christianity. They have made the name of Jesus a "dirty word" while Menorahs and Kwanza decorations hang openly and unchallenged. Pre-schoolers wear traditional Muslim outfits. Nativities are banned.

I love all people, Christian or not. But I refuse to let my faith be beaten down anymore. I pray that neighborhood stands strong, just as our Lord did for us on Calvary, and hangs their decorations with great pride. It's time Christians get the rights we deserve.

Jo-Ann Peck
Greensboro

As a former Colfax Elementary parent, I was disheartened to read about the debate over use of their PTA funds. I was PTA President in 2000 when we voted to allocate those funds for a new gym floor.

Due to issues with the gym, we couldn't use the money as planned. That money was always intended to benefit each and every student at Colfax. It was meant to be shared by all students and what is happening now goes against everything we believed was right for those funds.

More than half of the Colfax students will be redistricted to Pearce at no fault of their own. For seven years, no one has found a way to spend that money at Colfax. This would be a great opportunity to generously help contribute to the startup of the Pearce PTA. The mere fact that this money is an important issue after all these years shows that this is an argument based on greed and not necessity. The focus needs to be back on every student, the way it was originally intended. They are what is truly important in all of this.

Kathie Torres
Greensboro

After reading two letters about female pastors, I just had to write.

First, congratulations go to Jeff Case (article, May 5) for sharing the truth with Scriptures. Religion says it's OK for women to be pastors, even for gays, unbelievers, even people who deny the virgin birth of Christ. That is why I shy away from man-made religion and am drawn to Christianity.

Rick Parrish (letter, May 19) told us what he believed, but no Scripture was referenced to back it up. Rick, it may make you feel better knowing there will be no Baptists in heaven. It is being prepared for believers only. God is a God of order and what He says, we will accept. God's word reads, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection," 1 Timothy 2:11.

I'm closing with 1 Corinthians 11:3, "But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." Rick, I'm not a Baptist; I'm a believer.

J.B. Brown
Asheboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Christopher C. Tew

Robert Hudson's contention ("Darwinism doesn't explain the arts," May 16) that the arts involve "something more" than can be accounted for by natural processes is worthy of consideration, if only he had stuck to that proposition rather than constructing a backhanded anti-evolution "gap" for a god to fill.

Bach, Haydn, and Dvorak would agree with Hudson's thesis, while Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky would demur on details. The atheists Brahms, Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich would disagree, which didn't prevent their composing religious music or exploring human spirituality.

Hudson repeatedly tells us what, in his opinion, evolution cannot explain. Evolutionists agree that there is a vast distinction between biological evolution -- which has given humans opposable thumbs, erect posture, versatile vocal structures, a unique balance of senses, and an excess of brain capacity to control our facilities and to induce wonder and imagination -- and cultural evolution, which is an artifact of the mind.

Hudson forgets that tools and art progressed during man's evolution, that his "unending series of similar hand axes" was made more useful, and as time passed, that the development of beauty as an adjunct to form and utility was a slow process, and that success in the arts -- as in any field of endeavor -- accomplished through the evolved flexibility of human mind and body, brings increased reproductive opportunities.

Hudson might consider that those opportunities, gained by rock stars and stock car racers, actors and sculptors, CEOs and CPAs, and the neighborhood barber and green-thumb gardener alike, don't guarantee that any particular skills will be passed through the generations, specifically because those are all learned -- culturally evolved -- skills. The capacity for genius is biologically evolved, but the attainment of genius depends much on cultural transfer. A Leopold Mozart, an Earl Woods, a village elder or a dedicated teacher who can inculcate knowledge and skill encourage opportunity -- without which talent, ability, and genius usually go for naught.

Evolution aside, Hudson denigrates human beings. He implies that the family of man cannot accomplish acts of greatness or produce works of beauty without superhuman assistance. Vaughan Williams, Darwin's great-nephew, disagreed.

The writer lives in Greensboro.