News-Record.com

The documentary film “Uncounted” has certainly heightened my concern regarding the way votes are counted in the United States of America. Any lingering hope that the electoral process has improved since the election fraud of 2004 and 2006 has been dispelled with the realization that electronic voting machines can be manipulated and the manipulation never be detected.

It is deplorable in a country that prides itself on being a democracy that registered voters have had their names removed from voter registration files; machines break down, causing people to wait in long lines with many of them having had to return to jobs without ever voting; that a paper trail is nonexistent in many cases, which means that there is no recount of votes if needed.

If the election of 2008 is to be fair and truly democratic, apathy must go. Awareness and involvement must take its place.

Make a difference. Make your vote count.

For more information go to: www.UncountedTheMovie.com or contact Glenna Johnson: (615) 327-0600; glenna@UncountedTheMovie.com

Lyn M. Strickland
Greensboro

I couldn’t let Bob Herbert’s opinions (column, April 16) about some whites not being ready to vote for an African American candidate pass without comment.

Let me say that this white (or do I need to say Irish American) woman would gladly vote for Alan Keyes, J.C. Watts, Condi Rice or any other African American who loves America and believes in conservative principles.

There is a problem when one will not vote for someone because they are black. However, if one votes for someone only because they are black, as some in the media seem to want, this is just as much a problem, or doesn’t this go both ways?

Elizabeth Chandler
Summerfield

If I were an Iraq/Afghanistan veteran, I’d be picketing Fox News trucks, calling them traitors. But I’m a Vietnam veteran and don’t get around much anymore.

William McCarver
Greensboro

The writer joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967.

Charles W. Ward’s letter, “Criticism of liberal unsupported, unfair” (April 12), exemplified why conservatives can’t dialogue with liberals who have the elitist attitude that liberals “never have to say they are sorry,” for they are never wrong.

For Mr. Ward, “constructive dialogue” obviously is an affirmation of the left’s progressive secularist world view. Anything less is mere “ill-informed ..., poorly articulated drivel ... under the guise of discourse.” Unlike capitalistic America, he sees Sweden as a Marxist mecca with well-fed, -educated and -insured children who enjoy the highest standard of living in the world, with one of the lowest imprisonment rates. Why did he leave out other Eastern European socialist countries, and Russia, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, Nicaragua, etc.?

Like the liberal media, he could have left out their terrible human rights records, genocide and mass murder, and devastated economies. They are all victims of Marxism’s principle that “the ends justify the means.” Compare these to the great capitalistic economies around the world. I still believe in America.

Allen Bullard
Randleman

In 1957 I won an all-expense-paid trip to West Germany courtesy of the U.S. government. I was a platoon leader with the 1st Armored Cavalry, stationed in a small town near the Fulda Gap.

During my tour of duty, one of my fellow officers married a Swedish girl. The bride’s family had a smorgasbord party for all the junior officers in the battalion. Naturally, the topic of discussion (for those who remained fairly sober) was the groom’s attractive bride, and that socialism would certainly bankrupt Sweden. That was 50 years ago, and Sweden is hardly in decline.

If you listen to the windbags on talk radio, you know that national health care (socialized medicine), Democrats and liberals are all synonymous. All of the modern industrialized economies of the world have some form of universal health care.

If we use Limbaugh’s logic, all of the modern nations on this planet are going to go bankrupt! However, we have nothing to fear because the largest communist country in the world is our No. 1 trading partner.

Uh-oh! Doesn’t China also have universal health care?

Bruce McCreedy
Greensboro

How ironic that you should have printed Eli Oklesh’s request to “filter” Leonard Pitts’ columns on the same day that you printed one of Pitts’ typically insightful essays (“Can ‘we, the people’ still pull together?” April 24).

Oklesh praises Pitts for finally getting past “trivial issues” such as racism, and instead attacking a really important target, the corporate branding of professional sports stadiums.
While I agree with Oklesh and Pitts that such naming of stadiums is to be decried, on a grand scale of triviality that issue has to be near the bottom. I don’t care nearly as much about for whom a stadium is named as I do about the values and behavior of those who sit in it, play in it or pay for its construction and maintenance. They can name it for the family dog, if they wish (which might produce more interesting names).

Pitts is one of the bright lights of editorial journalism. Any careful perusal of a representative run of his columns will show that he is a fierce but fair critic of our society, government and values, regardless of whom this criticism offends. I will gladly continue to read anything he writes.

Eddie Bass
Julian

The following is a Counterpoint:

By David J. Undis

Regarding the editorial about LifeSharers (April 24): You suggest that need should govern who gets transplants. It’s a nice theory, but that’s not how it works in the real world. Organs are allocated based on value judgments that often override need. When the next organ becomes available in the United States, it won’t be given to the person who needs it most.

Instead, it will be given to the person on the waiting list who scores highest on a complex formula that includes things like age, location, race and time spent waiting, as well as need. People who can’t afford to pay for a transplant never even get on the waiting list. So it’s not fair to criticize LifeSharers members for not giving their organs to the people who need them the most.

If you give organs first to registered organ donors, you get more registered organ donors. That saves more lives.

Shouldn’t saving the maximum number of lives be the goal of our transplant system? Anyone who wants to help achieve this goal by donating his or her organs to fellow organ donors is welcome to join LifeSharers at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88.

You suggest that LifeSharers members not receive organs from non-members. You should apply this logic to the group I call LifeHoarders. Members of this group, which includes half of the U.S. adult population, haven’t agreed to donate their organs when they die. Why not say that LifeHoarders can get organs only from other LifeHoarders?

In other words, why not say that people who haven’t agreed to donate can only get organs from other people who haven’t agreed to donate? It’s actually a great idea. If it was the law of the land, everyone would agree to donate, thousands of lives would be saved every year, and there would be no need for LifeSharers.

By the way, your analogy between blood donation and organ donation is a bad one. There’s no national blood waiting list or blood allocation system, and there aren’t thousands of people dying every year because of blood shortages.

In any event, LifeSharers has never suggested blood be handled the same way as organs.

The writer is executive director, LifeSharers, Nashville, Tenn.

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Gullanar Campbell

The Counterpoint, “Whatever happened to Painter Boulevard?” (April 10), intrigued me. I attended meetings throughout the ’90s concerning the Greensboro outer loop.

I clearly remember how Jefferson Pilot and Guilford College hired the engineering firm Kimberly Horn to get the route selection changed.

I listened to the public comments and heard representatives from the N.C. Department of Transportation, the audience and the News & Record refer to this proposed road as Painter Boulevard.

Unfortunately, we grew complacent over the next several years. At the date of public knowledge, the highway design was not finalized.

The majority of us were led to believe that the beltway was for local traffic and would consist primarily of automobiles. The public hearings on proposed noise-abatement measures were not well publicized.

The NCDOT traffic-noise-abatement policy states, “The opinions of first-row property owners will be requested so that a final determination on abatement measures may be made.”

NCDOT never contacted front-row property owners in our neighborhood or sought out their opinions, and our property abuts the highway right of way.

Over the years, the nature of the project changed. The name Painter Boulevard was evidently dropped.

The local beltway evolved from a road designed for local traffic into an eight-lane behemoth that now serves as a connector for Interstates 40, 73, 74 and 85.

No noise-abatement measures were ever implemented, and now we live in an unrelenting noise hell.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Regarding Edward Cone’s column, “Is North Carolina ready for its close-up?” (April 27): If you want to increase readership of the News & Record, run a contest over the next few weeks and have readers guess the total number of responses to Cone’s column from people who did not realize or acknowledge that Cone’s column was (1) written in jest, (2) written tongue-in-cheek, or (3) was simply Cone writing as a provocateur. Surely, at least one of those three choices applies.

I have already written down my guess of the number responding, slipped the piece of paper in an old molasses jar, and placed it on the back porch for safekeeping.

Hope the contest prize is a good one!

Joan Dawson Lux
Greensboro

I read with interest your article in Triad Careers, April 13, on a “severe shortage of truck drivers.”

As a person who has spent the last 30 years in the trucking business, your report is not completely accurate.

There are companies that have a shortage of help, but show me a company that has trouble recruiting drivers and I will show you a company with (a) a pay scale below industry average, (b) that treats help like dirt, (c) and/or operates poorly maintained equipment.

The better-paying companies that treat drivers like people and operate a well-maintained fleet don’t have a labor shortage. The attitude of some companies is truck drivers are a dime a dozen.

If a company with a high driver turnover really believes there is a shortage, it would try to keep the drivers it had.

But instead of improving their “severe shortage” problem, their attitude is if you don’t like it, quit because, when it comes to truck drivers, the woods are full of them.

Robert Embler
Thomasville

Charles Davenport Jr.’s column, “Two-legged wolves await death” (News & Record, April 27), is troubling. He says, “No innocent person has been executed since capital punishment was reinstated 32 years ago.” Really? Are we re-examining evidence in ALL cases to verify the person we just executed is really guilty?

In 2002, I was in Houston, Texas (No. 1 in executions every year!), when news broke that the Houston DNA lab had been mishandling evidence. According to a March 2003 New York Times article, the Houston police “turned over 525 case files involving DNA ... including those of seven people on death row.”

In March, the Houston Chronicle stated the DNA lab was shut down again “due to improper handling of evidence.” Seven were on death row with potentially faulty evidence. Is Houston the only place where that happens?

Davenport seems surprisingly confident in our ability to convict and execute the right people. Me? I wish I could be so sure.

Houston changed my mind about administering the death penalty. Not because the wolves don’t deserve it, but because I, for one, am not comfortable condemning even one innocent to die.

Daniel Shirley
Greensboro

TIMCO has nothing to complain about, even if Honda were “pirating” employees. As they are not competitors, what law is broken?

Instead of giving lawyers money, TIMCO should address the two major reasons that valued employees would leave: money and work environment.

If TIMCO needs them so badly, they’ll stay with better pay and a great place to work. That’s human resources 101, Mr. Cawthron.

Philip M. Buscemi
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Mary Beth Errington

I am an avid runner who has been running and racing for more than 15 years. I will run in the United HealthCare North Carolina Marathon today, and I am thrilled that Greensboro is able to host this event. This will be my 25th marathon.

I strongly disagree with Marty Johnson's comments (in the Sports section May 1) about racing with his iPod. He is choosing to use his iPod during today's half-marathon, saying: "I realize others don't need it or want it, but I like it."

Listening to music does give competitive advantage over runners who are not using music. Part of the challenge of running long distances is grappling with the mental and psychological fatigue, as well as the physical.

Music boosts the spirit and gives cadence to the stride. Ask the runners next to and behind Johnson today who are not running with music if they think he has an advantage.

Wearing headphones while running creates safety problems for the runner, the other participants and drivers who are trying to navigate the course.

A runner who is distracted by music is less likely to hear and react quickly to a car, a dog giving chase, a fellow runner calling out, or the instructions of volunteers and race organizers.

Lastly, a runner wearing headphones is in violation of the terms and rules governing the event itself. When did it become acceptable for an athlete to blatantly disregard a rule during an athletic competition? Which other rules are optional?

I neither train nor race with music. I prefer to challenge myself mentally as well as physically. If an athlete chooses to train with music, then I support his or her decision. But to register and participate in an event while planning to break the rules is unfair and disrespectful to the race organizers, sponsors and other participants.

The writer lives in Pleasant Garden.

Regarding the letter "Loop a disappointment" (April 26):

The writer has to understand that loops/beltways are usually constructed to allow through traffic to avoid the traffic congestion generated by development within the municipal limits.

Unfortunately, North Carolina builds loops as a tool for economic growth in urban areas, better known as urban sprawl, and the movement of traffic is never generally a consideration.

The new I-85 loop has reduced traffic congestion in "Death Valley," but it’s only a matter of time before the loop becomes congested with traffic trying to get to the new businesses, shopping centers and residential development.

Give it another 20 years and it will be quicker to go through the center of Greensboro on the old I-85/I-40.

Remember, the object of widening Wendover Avenue was to take traffic off I-40; now a good percentage of the traffic on I-40 is going to Wendover Avenue to shop and eat.

Heart of the Triad is a dream for the business community but a nightmare for current residents.

When North Carolina is buried under asphalt, commercial eyesores, floodlit roads and traffic congestion, may our once proud and beautiful rural areas "rest in peace."

C. Robin Dean
Clemmons

It is a testament to the preternaturally short memories of Americans or to the laughable condition of our educational institutions that presidential candidate B. Hussein Obama is able to use the term “windfall profits penalty” as a positive.

Can no one recall the economic disaster that was the Jimmy Carter presidency? Does “misery index” ring a bell? How about, “Please, say something good about America?” The Killer Rabbit? Anything?

Ben Miles Jr.
McLeansville

George Will has now introduced a religious test for certain presidential candidates. It is clear to most knowledgeable people that the founding fathers wanted no religious test for anyone standing for an elected office.

In his April 29 column (“Rev. Wright is fair game for GOP ads”), Will discusses the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a person of color, and his pastoral relationship with presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, a person of color.

If Will knows that no religious test is required for anyone standing for an elected office and in this column he only takes issue with Rev. Wright, one can only assume Will’s remarks are racist.

James B. Lamar Jr.
Kernersville

Greed does not go unnoticed.

On April 18, a much larger fee than normally charged was a disgusting disappointment in those making that decision. We went to hear and see Joel Osteen at the coliseum and had to pay $10 to park. Needless to say, this was a hardship for seniors and others.

I hope all had a good time with the profits. Greed is at every turn.

Vonda Nichtern
Greensboro

Have you ever wondered why only the theory of Darwinian evolution is taught in schools? This is despite the fact that there is a large and growing group of accredited people, with Ph.D.s, who conclude that new scientific evidence points to the theory of Intelligent Design.

Why, after more than 150 years of searching, have no missing links between any species been discovered and yet evolution is not allowed to be questioned?

Richard Dawkins is a leading atheistic proponent of evolution. Knowing that science dictates that life cannot come from non-life, he has faith in the theory that, get this, aliens from outer space have “seeded” the earth with life.

The documentary, “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed,” by Ben Stein exposes the stranglehold the scientific elite have on honest inquiry. Stein, an economist, trial lawyer, presidential speechwriter and actor, provides an abundance of evidence of how the foundations of evolution are crumbling.

Also, he documents how the scientific academics conclude they must forbid debate as the only way to keep Intelligent Design from winning.

Anyone who wants to know the truth of the state of the Darwinian faith needs to see “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed.” Anyone?

Gary Marschall
Greensboro

With regard to the article, “Critical condition: Critics nearly extinct,” by Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times (News & Record, April 24): His final paragraph, wherein he tells us to “pay more attention to the audience,” has it exactly wrong. Critics who pay attention to the audience are pandering.

Critics are not supposed to pander. They can’t be critical if they do so.

Mark D. Gottsegen
Climax

In response to the “Counterpoint” that Charles Ward offered April 12: While there is so much faulty thinking in his rebuttal, I’d like to concentrate on point No. 2 in which he states, “One percent of Americans ‘control’ more than 30 percent of the nation’s wealth.” It is this type of thinking that drives class warfare, which is a staple of liberal political campaigns.

Nobody “controls” wealth. It is not a zero-sum game. Wealth is created.

The money available to be earned is infinite; my success does not restrict yours. Liberals believe that rich people “control” the money, making less of it available to be earned by others.

Bunk.

The college kids who started Yahoo and Google (and Microsoft, Dell, etc.) became multimillionaires. The money they earned was not taken away from anyone else; it was created. That is the promise of America: We all can be successful if we’re willing to work for it.

As for as the Declaration: It does not offer to guarantee happiness; it offers to guarantee the pursuit of happiness.

Tom Dovel
Oak Ridge

It’s been the leading story in major newspapers and TV news programs for weeks. More than 100 million people are being driven deeper into poverty by a “silent tsunami” of rising food prices, according to World Food Program Executive Director Josette Sheeran. A dozen countries have experienced food riots and strikes.

The resulting hunger afflicts nearly 1 billion people, mostly women and children. It kills an astonishing 24,000 per day. It’s not just a problem for strangers in faraway lands. It affects millions of Americans, and some U.S. stores are already rationing food.

The good news is that even a small shift toward a plant-based diet in the U.S. and other developed countries would free up enough land, water and fuel to feed everyone. More than 80 percent of U.S. agricultural land grows animal feed. A plant-based diet requires only 16 percent to 20 percent of the resources of the standard American diet.

Each of us can start abating the scourge of world hunger today by reducing our consumption of meat and other animal products and by supporting food distribution agencies.

Nathan Ross
Greensboro

I admire CEO John R. Cawthron of TIMCO (op-ed, "HondaJet pirating TIMCO employees," April 25) for exposing one of the most blatant concepts within our capitalistic system in this country: competition. What is even more commendable is his admission of evident deficiencies in his company's corporate culture.

He is apparently a very adept businessman to be CEO of such an impressive company. However, a company is only as good as the employees you are able to keep. People stay in organizations that meet their needs.

Cawthron's contributions to GTCC and the Guilford County community are no doubt an asset. If our politicians fold to threats from corporate contributors, the only losers will be the employees. Companies need to learn to strengthen their organizations by empowering employees.

I spent 25 year in the Air Force in aircraft maintenance and I have studied management in corporate America. We are being beaten with the very management process that we developed but failed to update. I would say to Mr. Cawthron, "Examine the leadership culture of your company and don't be afraid of CHANGE."

John P. Fennell
High Point

I don't understand what TIMCO's John Cawthron was hoping to achieve by airing his employee problems to the News & Record and ultimately to the people of Greensboro. If his employees are leaving for another company, then he should be asking himself, Why are they leaving?

People are always looking for the "better deal," and if his employees are leaving for Honda, then they probably found one. Last year I went through the testing and screening for the free A&P training being offered by GTCC and Honda. Unfortunately, I wasn't chosen, but during these several screenings the candidates were informed of what Honda offers and its hiring plans. One of the benefits I liked was that they are one of the few companies that still have pensions in addition to a 401(k). I would leave my current employer for that benefit alone.

According to TIMCO's Web site, it doesn't offer any different benefits from what my employer does. Mr. Cawthron, you and your management team need to take a good look at what TIMCO does and doesn't offer its employees so you can be comparable in your industry and just maybe the "better deal."

Andy Parker
Greensboro

The article, "One doctor breaks free from grip of insurance companies," by Albert Fuchs, M.D. (April 20), raises an issue I've tried to get the presidential candidates to address, without success.

Every candidate's solution to the health care crisis includes insurance companies. No one has even considered a program that eliminates insurance companies as payers. Yet Dr. Fuchs writes, "Insurance doesn't make routine care affordable; it makes it more expensive by adding a middleman." It has been estimated that, in North Carolina alone, insurance companies add more than $100 million to health care costs.

I wrote to every presidential candidate (eight at the time) to generate a discussion on health care without insurance companies. I haven't received a satisfactory answer from any of them. I fear the insurance lobby is very powerful.

For the first time in years, the North Carolina primary will be meaningful. What I couldn't accomplish, the News & Record could easily achieve. A strong editorial on the need to discuss a non-insurance company medical solution would do it. I don't have the solution to the health care crisis, but I'd like to see a non-insurance company solution at least considered.

Earle Bower
Greensboro

I was surprised to learn that only 3 percent of news coverage this year has been about the war in Iraq. This may be because the press repeats the administration's claims that the surge is working, and because the economy is doing so badly at present. But there is an important connection between the war and the economy.

Those worried about the serious recession we are falling into should note the role of the $2 trillion-plus that has been wasted on our devastating and failed efforts in Iraq. The National Priorities Project says we spend $341 million per day. Guilford County alone has paid nearly $800 million already.

Citizens should know that a new funding request is now being considered on Capitol Hill. If they care about their economic futures, they will call or fax their member of Congress and the Democratic leadership (Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Appropriations Chairman John Murtha) to demand that funds only be approved for a fully funded redeployment. We should bring our troops home where we need them and redirect our nation's resources to our real domestic and security needs. Only then can we start the process of stabilizing and rebuilding our economy.

Lee Baker
Greensboro

In his April 27 column, Charles Davenport encourages North Carolina to quickly dispatch two-legged wolves (death row inmates) while acknowledging that since 1976, 40 innocent persons in the United States were put on death row. That's 40 juries who got it completely and horribly wrong. Why the need for speed?

How often has a death row inmate tricked the guards and escaped? Why do we need to join the speedy ranks of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia? The oft-slow machination of justice, called due process, is a small price to pay for our society to take a life. The only two-legged wolves in this controversy are those using any tactic to ambush the American justice system.

Richard W. Wells
Greensboro

In his April 27 column about capital punishment, Charles Davenport Jr. offers as a solution to violent crime more violent crime via execution.

The Kennedy family after the assassinations of John and Robert, Martin Luther King’s wife after her husband’s killing, and Amish parents after the violent deaths of their children all sought an end to the terror by condemning capital punishment.

Davenport condones violence by state action. When North Carolina, like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, uses violence as a solution, what is the message? When the government takes a life, it makes the act acceptable. This may be the only government act Davenport approves. He argues for a limited role by government, yet he grants it ultimate authority over life.

Davenport would have one accept him as a tough, law-and-order man. He could learn from the Kennedys, Kings and the Amish what it means to be tough. His position on capital punishment is not small-government conservative, or Christian.

Jim Brooks
Archdale

As a former N.C. A&T student, I have a burning question as to why A&T (as well as the Greensboro media) are not acknowledging the death of Derek Hodge II. I am frustrated and disappointed at the lack of attention given Derek.

It totally baffles me how the various universities cope with the deaths of their students. When Eve Carson, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, died, the students, faculty and neighbors gathered and mourned together. Why is Derek not worthy of this same treatment?

I understand that some members of student government at A&T are holding a vigil in the Student Union in his memory; however, I am baffled by the lack of attention shown not only by the university but by the community as a whole.

Knachelle Butler
Wendell

Editor’s note: A program paying tribute to Derek Hodge II was held on the N.C. A&T campus on April 30.

Well, here he goes again. The resident writer and chief theologian of the Miami Herald has issued an edict of infallibility concerning who is in step with Christianity and who is not (Leonard Pitts column, “Christianity out of step with teachings of Jesus,” April 28). Only those “in step” with his brand of “modern Christianity” can be counted among the faithful.

Pitts’ source of truth is not the Bible but “modern Christianity.” I certainly don’t agree with the Rev. Hayes Wicker that same-sex unions are worse than slavery. But the Bible clearly puts sex outside of marriage, meaning a woman and a man, in the category of sin. Scripture clearly condemns homosexuality.

The issues of morality are not left up to “modern” men who will exchange the truth for a lie. Read Judges and see what happens when people do “what is right in their own eyes.”
Out of step? I’d rather be out of step with the world and “modern Christianity” in order to be in step with God. The Bible says, “Beware of those who call good evil and evil good.”

Tommy J. Brightwell
Mayodan

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Guy Spiher

I read with interest a recent article concerning a fight for engineers between my employer, TIMCO, and HondaJet. As I have also had the privilege of interviewing with HondaJet, I can agree with all sides involved.

None of us at TIMCO below the executive level is locked into a contract. We are allowed to seek other employment or advancement both within and outside the company.

Certainly, with the price of everything going up and the opportunities that a large multinational employer such as Honda offers, the desire to explore other employment options is going to be present.

As a longtime employee of TIMCO, I am well aware of the unfair advantages that overseas MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facilities enjoy in labor rates, government oversight and operating costs. As such, this limits the ability of a company such as TIMCO to remain competitive in areas we all take for granted, such as starting wages for new hires, pay increases for all of us, engineers included, and, of course, job security.

Certainly, then, the enticements that a large, well-known employer flush with our hard-earned tax dollars in the form of incentives can offer will be hard to pass up. I was there also.

To be fair, I believe that, although TIMCO is a good place to work, it does a poor job of attempting to retain highly paid senior employees. Perhaps, as I mentioned, this stems from the market pressures it is forced to bear or perhaps it is corporate policy.

Nevertheless, HondaJet will be a good fit for the area, and in the spirit of American capitalistic ideals, we, as a community, will all benefit from the proximity of these two great companies.

The writer lives in Winston-Salem.

If you are satisfied with energy prices that are so high many Americans are forced to choose between filling their gas tanks or buying groceries; if you don’t mind courting disaster by being uninsured in a broken medical system; if you want to continue a war in Iraq that is draining us of American lives and billions of dollars, then by all means cast your vote this November to stay the course of the past eight years.

If, on the other hand, you are tired of seeing your wages fall further behind increased expenses; if you have had enough of a war on terror that is doing more to limit your rights and infringe on your privacy than to protect you from terrorists; if you want to re-establish a sane and effective foreign policy that will differentiate between our real friends and imagined enemies; then cast your vote to end the policies of an administration whose philosophy is taking us down the road to nowhere.

Bill Wallace
High Point

I just read the op-ed, “HondaJet pirating TIMCO employees” (April 25), and found it very amusing. Evidently, TIMCO CEO John R. Cawthron does not know business very well. Oh, he may be in charge of a mega-corporation and all that, but has he ever heard of a no-compete agreement?

Several people I know have these, which say that if you leave Company A, you cannot do the same type of work for a determined amount of time for Company B. This would curtail the “raiding” Cawthron perceives. The fact that he does not require a no-compete agreement just means he is not as clever as he thinks.

It also strikes me that people who try to get new jobs are either unhappy or they are not being paid enough, or both!

Joe Talluto
Greensboro

The original GI Bill, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, helped create the present-day middle class. Its education benefits made it possible for veterans to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists and other professions.

The current GI Bill fails to keep up with the expense of education. The average benefit doesn’t cover even half the cost of public college for in-state students.

Sen. John McCain has introduced legislation that would undercut the bipartisan effort to update the GI Bill. McCain’s bill (co-sponsored by Lindsey Graham and Richard Burr) could reduce the college benefit for veterans. It also creates “second-class veterans,” those who serve multiple tours in Iraq or Afghanistan but wouldn’t be eligible for certain benefits available to veterans who serve longer. This says to a veteran who serves two tours and loses his legs during his service that he’s not as valued as a veteran who served for 12 years.

Congress must reject the watered-down McCain bill. Please contact our senators and representatives and ask them instead to support S. 22 — the bipartisan legislation that would restore the promise of a full college education to those who fought for America.

Dave Howerton
Greensboro

Food production can’t meet demand and food prices are rising. Perhaps people will eat less and the U.S. epidemic of obesity and related health issues will subside.

Fossil fuels are scarcer. Gas prices rise. Maybe everyone will limit his or her driving, car pool or take public transportation. The results could be having more time to spend together and contributing fewer pollutants that affect public health and climate change.

As energy costs rise, will people turn off their air conditioning and spend more time outdoors where they can get to know neighbors and become re-engaged with nature?

Is it possible that too much consumption by so many humans is unhealthy? Yet people continue to procreate without concern for the immense strain human population growth puts on our natural resources and the planet’s survival.

Human overpopulation is the central issue that affects every other problem humanity faces. If we are to survive, don’t we need to curb the rabid growth of the one species that consumes so much? What future does a species have that increases without constraint and consumes its own home?

James Chris Webster
Greensboro

Our neighborhood, Sedgefield Trails, was promised a quaint little boulevard would be coming through. We went to public meetings in 1995 and 1996 to hear that this boulevard would not even be noticed and that there would be trees planted along each side and it would blend in with the environment.

On Feb. 21. the I-40 Bypass, I-73 opened up with four lanes each way and the roaring hasn’t stopped yet, day and night.

I called NCDOT to ask what happened to the quaint little Painter Boulevard and they said that they didn’t know where the name “Painter” came from.

Why was this “boulevard” so misrepresented and lied about?

It’s sad when our grandchildren come to our house to play and they put their hands over their ears and the baby cries because it’s so loud.

Ron Frazier
Greensboro

I was delighted that the article by Jennifer Fernandez, “Students take a new look at society” (April 27), covered the innovative course “Reclaiming Democracy.”

However, it neglected to mention the central role of the students and faculty member (Ed Whitfield) from the larger Greensboro community. This community group brought years of experience and activism in Greensboro and wisdom to our discussions. It would have been a different course without them.

The article also omitted mention of the inspiration for our project: a course created by Tim Tyson at Duke University that brought together students from the Durham community and area colleges to study race in the South. Inspired by Tyson’s efforts, a small group of us decided we could do something like that in Greensboro and we did, growing to eight faculty!

Ours has been a momentous collaboration that promises to have an ongoing impact in Greensboro. Students are organizing efforts to address some issues we studied, including a teachers’ support group.

Hollyce (Sherry) Giles
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint column.

In his column “Assessing the public education foolishness” (April 13), Charles Davenport gave us a clue into his unique version of conservatism. Davenport cites as a great influence Albert Jay Nock.

Curious, I went to the Internet to find out more about Nock. Here is what I learned.

First, Nock described himself as an anarchist. Technically, Nock is an architect of an ideology known as anarcho-capitalism. Briefly, this is a philosophy which believes all major decisions that affect on our lives should be made in the boardrooms and back rooms of business firms and corporations, not in public forums like city councils, Congress, state legislatures or town meetings. Nock’s ideology is anti-democratic, since democracy subordinates the interests of corporations to those of society.

Interestingly, Nock was a pacifist. He protested both World Wars and was one of the few pacifists to continue his opposition to fighting fascism throughout World War II. His reasons arose not from Christian ethics but suspicion of America’s motives for intervention. I wonder if Davenport feels the same about intervention in the Middle East.

Finally, Nock was absolutely opposed to public education. His reasons, which Davenport references, grew out of his belief that social elites, the captains of industry, should have free rein to manage society. Educating the working class only provides them with means of challenging these natural elites and impeding them by pesky means, such as collective bargaining or worker safety and environmental laws. To challenge the ruling elite is to impede progress itself.

The trouble with any form of anarchism is that it appeals to romantics, but is a poor basis for a civil society. Anarchism is unworkable in the real world, for it places too much trust in the “natural goodness of the heart.” Real societies depend upon a system of counterbalancing forces and institutions.

The genius of our American Constitution is that it places checks and balances within the political system. The three branches counterbalance one another. Are there mistakes? Of course. But over the long haul the checks and balances prevail more than they fail.

Society also needs checks and balances. Under Nock and Davenport’s system there are no countervailing forces to keep the business sector in its proper role. Corporations would grow so powerful that community interests, the right of people to better themselves, even the health of the planet, would be trampled.

The writer lives in High Point.

For the many people who still oppose capital punishment on moral grounds and favor the alternative of life imprisonment, columnist Charles Davenport Jr. (April 27) has a simple Orwellian solution: Just change the meaning of a word. The people on death row are not really “human” — they are animals. “Two-legged wolves,” he calls them. So killing them is no problem. We kill animals by the millions, mostly for food, and some just for sport.

Sorry, Mr. Davenport. It doesn’t work. They are just as human as you and I. The only important difference between them and us is that they came to believe that certain people should be killed and then acted on that belief. But if we believe that these convicts should be killed, and then, through the agency of our government, go ahead and kill them, the difference between them and us goes away.

Not all punishments are just. If we rob the robber, we become him. If we rape the rapist, we become him. So what happens when we kill the killer? What do we become? A two-legged wolf?

Don Crawford
Greensboro

Allen Johnson’s Sunday column (April 27) inspired me to write this by hand, with pen on yellow legal pad, to honor his nostalgic look back at a time when correspondence was done that way (although not necessarily perfumed like those he got in college on “fragrant pink and blue stationery”) rather than e-mail, as is now the case — with the exception of those few current letter writers who were mentioned in his column and which occasioned this brief effort to revive the lost art of penmanship.

Since I’ve already met the allowed word quota for News & Record letters, please ask your language expert, Mike Clark, to review the above one-sentence paragraph and tell me how to fix it.

No e-mails, please.

Bill Beerman
Greensboro

Regarding a front-page article in the News & Record on April 27: A simple solution for Mark Ozment and the hundreds of other residents trapped in our neighborhood by the increasingly heavy traffic on Horsepen Creek Road is to finally pave and open the short section of Plantation Drive that connects Waynoka Drive to Will Doskey Drive. This relatively inexpensive quick fix would allow us direct access at a traffic light onto New Garden Road.

Lorraine Viguers
Greensboro

Hypocrisy and denial:

President Bush: We must commence drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive Alaska.
Oil companies: Don’t worry — their supertankers are now double-hulled.

Farmers: We must divert our grain crops from the 800 million malnourished to the 800 million cars on our planet.

Sen. John McCain: We must have a fuel tax holiday (that’ll buy several million votes in November).

North Carolina General Assembly: We must replace our gasoline tax with toll roads — the tax is an unfair burden on SUV owners.

Donald Rumsfeld: We must sacrifice soldiers to protect our oil interests in the Middle East.
Congress: We must send out stimulus payments to all taxpayers since oil has driven up prices on everything else.

Consumer: “We must tap the Strategic Oil Reserves now — these high pump prices are an emergency. Besides, I’m doing my part — my hybrid Tahoe gets two additional miles per gallon!”

Eulogy of our oil economy in a 2050 history text: “It was the greatest folly in the American experience. All they had to do was take a cue from Europe: Drive smaller cars, carpool, ride a bike, walk, live closer to work, use mass transit. ...”

John Altizer
Archdale

Everyone enjoys some benefits of current technological advances, but many of us old-timers also fondly recall the good old days.

Our school days featured opportunities, not violence and disrespect — the sweet innocence of young love as opposed to the licentiousness now socially accepted from youth.

Graduation from Duke in 1942 debt-free cost less than $1,000 annually. Today, it’s $40,000, often paid with large student loans.

World War II was dreaded but unavoidable. Yet 16 million of us, with excellent support, won a terrible conflict in 3 3/4 years, and with rationing and sacrifice. Taxes did not greatly aggravate the national debt. Contrast that with the futility, and relative casualties and costs of Vietnam and Iraq.

Then the Greatest Generation came home and returned to work. Entertainment, movies and music were far superior to most of today’s fare, with its scurrilous language, gratuitous violence and little real romance. What passes for music today is unworthy of the name.

Read Gibbons’ “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” and note the parallels. Will “Rise and Fall of the America Dream” soon appear?

Dan W. Maddox
Greensboro

I was delighted that North Carolina finally had a say in the nominating process for president of the United States but disheartened to read that many voters chose not to cast votes in the down contests and bond issues on the ballot. Those contests and bond issues were vitally important for our state, county, and city.

Whether pro or con, voters should have voted their preference. If we choose not to say anything, we then cannot voice an opinion or lodge a complaint. We have a civic duty to educate ourselves and vote. Anyone with access to the Internet can learn about candidates and their positions, as well as what the bond issues would or would not do.

I hope in November those enthusiastic presidential voters will follow through, educate themselves and vote on all items on the ballot.

Margaret E. Mrstik
Greensboro

It is time to demand zero-tolerance for juvenile violence and crime and hold elected officials accountable for providing resources to accomplish this. We are tying the hands of our law-enforcement agencies, prosecutors, the court system and probation departments and insuring failure by not providing resources for people and agencies to do their jobs.

Judges, prosecutors and probation officers who are not protecting the community should be replaced. There should be no suspended sentences or probation for violent acts involving use of a weapon or injuring someone. Carjacking, home invasion, armed robbery, domestic violence, child or elder abuse, shootings, gang violence and murder should never result in suspended sentences.

Juvenile records should be unsealed when offenders reach 18. Adult offenders shouldn’t be considered first-time offenders if they have a violent history as a juvenile.

There should be mandatory criminal background checks for people applying for jobs in schools, as teachers, in hospitals and nursing homes, day cares and probation departments.

We need to think about what candidates for local and state offices say about crime, particularly juvenile crime, and then hold them accountable for action once they are elected.

V. Rosan Hutter
Durham

The 1860 presidential election of the minority Whig Republican candidate, Lincoln, with his platform of increased federal powers and tariffs on Southern imports, triggered the lawful secession of nine Southern states and the subsequent formation of the new nation, the Confederate States of America.

Upon taking office in 1861, President Lincoln seized dictatorial powers and demanded restoration of the Union. Refusing any efforts to negotiate, he ordered a military invasion of the South. He quickly suppressed opposition in the North by imprisoning his enemies and closing critical newspapers.

Four tragic, bloody years ensued with 620,000 military deaths and destruction of the South’s economy and cities. Also perishing were constitutional restraints on powers of the federal government, the results of which are manifest today.

Thus, we pause on this Confederate Memorial Day, May 10, to honor the memory of the brave people, from the noble president, Jefferson Davis, to the most humble private, and to grieving widows and mothers of thousands of soldiers who suffered and perished on so many bloody battlefields.

William K. Oden Jr.
Greensboro

On Saturday, local letter carriers in the Triad and across the country will participate in the National Postal Food Drive, collecting much-needed, nonperishable foods for local food pantries.

With food, fuel and health care costs rising, many vulnerable citizens, including children and the elderly, are at risk of going hungry. Many food banks where they turn for help are reporting critical shortages this time of year.

This is the nation’s largest one-day food drive, and our community has a strong tradition of supporting it. Letter carriers and rural carriers volunteer their services to pick up the food and deliver it to agencies serving needy families.

Items needed include canned meats, soups and stews, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, canned fruit and canned vegetables. We hope you will help. Please leave nonperishable food items for your letter carrier on Saturday.

Bobby Smith
High Point

The writer is president, United Way of Greater High Point.

The following is a Counterpoint:

By William K. Sparks

I have read with fascination the statements of TIMCO’s CEO John Cawthron and his view of the American free-enterprise system and the employer-employee relationship. Are we to believe TIMCO has never hired employees from other companies? Has Cawthron done an internal examination as to why these employees wanted to leave TIMCO? American employees are not indentured servants.

In my opinion, Cawthron is trying to restrain the right of every American to work for whomever they want, wherever they want.

Companies across our country lose key employees every day to competitive forces. Any company that went into competition with TIMCO should try to hire every TIMCO employee it can get its hands on.

HondaJet put out a “help wanted” sign. Cawthron should have responded by giving his engineers a huge raise. The way you keep great people is to pay them what the market will bear.

TIMCO could try to chain free people to their desks. Evidently the people who left TIMCO did so because they saw the grass as greener at HondaJet. The reaction from TIMCO’s CEO tells me they were smart to leave because they were working for a man who has the bizarre idea that because he invested training dollars in them, they belong to TIMCO like the wrenches their mechanics turn bolts with.

I laugh at TIMCO’s threats to cease expansion in the Triad. I suggest it move with all speed to the nearest communist country and forge a deal with the leaders there that prohibits the free movement of employees to other firms.

Where do you think John Cawthron would be working if HondaJet offered him $100 million a year to run its North American jet business? I cannot stop laughing.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

In Tuesday's election, some black leaders opposed school bonds because of: 1) high suspension rates (vs. whites), 2) high dropout rates (vs. whites), etc. It was implied that somehow all these disproportional rates were linked to racism.

It is somewhat ironic that Bill Cosby is in Greensboro this weekend with the opposite message: Black leaders should stop claiming victimhood and racism as the reasons for serious black community issues such as poverty, crime and education.

Glenn Chavis (column, News & Record, Jan. 13) has written eloquently about life in the black community 50 to 60 years ago. He has written about the pride of the black community, even in subsidized housing areas, where parents and children would gather in yards after work to play and socialize. This was a time of overt institutional and individual white racism. For the most part, those days are gone.

There is nowhere else in the world where blacks have more opportunity than in the United States of America. Take advantage of it. I dare say that the vast majority of the white community of this country, and specifically Greensboro, will support you. Reject victimhood and those who espouse it.

Dick Widenhouse
Greensboro

Everybody has a cross to bear. The cartoon on the April 30 editorial page showed Barack Obama carrying the Rev. Jeremiah Wright shaped as a cross. It could have just as easily portrayed Wright as an anchor stuck in the seaweed of public opinion, or Wright attached to a shackle on Obama's leg. The problem with the message is that it is not accurate.

Obama is not heading to Golgotha to die for a crime he did not commit; he has not been convicted of a crime, and his "disciples" haven't left him. The reverend's comments should have no bearing on this election.

If Barack Obama were the one making these statements, then he would have a cross to bear. The Democratic Party offers one candidate who is a frontrunner with the people, while the other is a frontrunner with the superdelegates and the press. If the superdelegates decide this race, then the people may become disenfranchised with the Democratic Party and may jump ship.

The next political cartoon should show Rev. Wright floating off into space as a hot air balloon. Here comes Billary!

Jon Barsanti Jr.
Greensboro

A Methodist minister and a state political campaigner each recently called for the "Golden Rule." I know their intended reference. In Matthew 7, Jesus said, "Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you to them. This is the law and the prophets." He said the same in Luke 6. Did they know they were quoting Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher?

Christian missionaries in the 16th century translated Confucius. "I give you a golden rule. What you would hate done to you, do not unto others."

Another negative statement was written by the Old Testament prophet Tobias, centuries before Christ. "See thou never do to another what thou would not want done to thee" -- Tobias 4:16 (not in the King James Bible).

The Book of Mormon quotes Jesus in the same words as in Matthew (3 Nephi 14-12). Great thinkers reach common conclusions, but only Confucius labeled it a Golden Rule. I can find no reference in Christian Scripture to the Golden Rule.

I think Roger Williams, a pioneer Baptist in 1635, first called Jesus' words the Golden Rule. Possibly he had read Confucius but identified the title with Jesus' words in Matthew.

I am not criticizing; we all use the title now.

Dick Douglas
Greensboro

In his letter (May 4), Gary Marschall incorrectly implied that evolution is a faith.

Evolution is a scientific theory like the theory of gravity. Common use of the term implies an opinion based on little support. To a scientist, theory is supported by repeated observations during rigorously constructed experiments, the results of which have been published in peer-reviewed media. Faith has no place in this process, called the scientific method.

There is virtually no scientific debate on whether evolution is true or not. Life arrived at its present state through evolution. Consensus supports the idea that evolution involves the process of random mutations with natural selection. It is in the process of evolution in which the scientific debate lies.

Biology cannot be understood without evolution. To include intelligent design in the study of biology would be analogous to including the stork theory in the study of birth.

For a reasoned evaluation of the movie "Expelled," I recommend the Web site www.expelledexposed.com.

Tom Rafferty
Summerfield

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Len Montgomery

In an attempt to keep up with current events, I was immediately drawn to a posting online that proclaimed Barack Obama as the winner of the North Carolina primary. Because it was fairly early in the evening Tuesday, I was shocked that the Associated Press was ready to make such a claim, so I read on. And the further I read, the more disgusted I became!

I am not a Democrat or a Republican, nor does my ire have anything to do with politics. The source of my fury is the media's insistence on drawing attention to race. The following comments were all used in a single article:

1."Obama's win mirrored earlier triumphs in Southern states with large black populations …"

2."Indiana exit polls charted a racial divide that has become familiar in a long, historic campaign pitting a black man against a white woman."

3."Obama was gaining more than 90 percent of the black vote in Indiana …"

4."Clinton was winning an estimated 61 percent of the white vote there, running ahead of her rival among white men as well as women."

5."In North Carolina, Clinton won 60 percent of the white vote …"

6."Obama claimed support from roughly 90 percent of the blacks who cast ballots."

In the measure of a few short paragraphs, racism was brought to the forefront. And this is the norm, not the exception. It would have been enough to report the facts of a man versus a woman in a race for the Democratic nomination. Instead, it was a demeaning article to the incumbents who have risen above petty racism, demeaning to the readers who want to let the wounds of racism heal in our country, and demeaning to the writer.

At the end of the day, it is"a" man and "a" woman, both vying for "a" vote. And should it come down to a single vote to break a tie, would it matter if that vote were to come from a male or a female? Would Clinton or Obama refuse a vote that came from one who is black, white, red, yellow or blue?

It is time for us all to put away our petty differences and references to race, and then unify our efforts to create a synergistic environment that will compel us to achieve the greatness that our country has the potential to attain.

The writer lives in High Point.

North High Point communities such as Heritage Ridge Townhouse community and the soccer fields off Hedgecock Road are bombarded with aircraft noise from 3:55 a.m. to 11:55 p.m. with low over-flights and pollution from loud noise and jet fuel making it an unbearable place to live or play. Although city managers may claim to sympathize with residents and complain to airport officials, big business ultimately rules with lies and denial of the issues, and community and resident health deteriorates for future generations of innocent children.

PTI’s departure and arrival schedule tells it all. Aircraft enthusiasts would thrive here, but we can’t stand it anymore!

Robert Hudson
High Point

Sen. Obama has come under a barrage of criticism due to comments made by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He has essentially been a victim of guilt by association.

What has puzzled me the most, however, is how Sen. Clinton has managed to escape similar condemnation as a result of something far more important: her own words. Sen. Clinton, and her daughter, for that matter, were caught telling an outright lie about being under sniper fire. Sen. Clinton simply apologized during the last debate and all was forgotten.

In the past, to admit to such a thing would have been considered the end of a candidate’s campaign. Does this not speak to a serious character issue and answer her rhetorical question about who we want answering the phone at the White House at 3 a.m.?

Bill Garrot
Greensboro

I was a little disappointed in my governor, Mike Easley, for endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton, whose husband, then-President Bill Clinton, signed the trade bill that took not only my job, but thousands of other jobs from North Carolina to China and Mexico.

Hillary told voters that she will bring the jobs back. I don’t believe Sen. Clinton will bring all those manufacturing jobs back to North Carolina. Those jobs are gone for good.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermon tape didn’t take away my job or my finances. But that trade bill did. And I feel that the media need to show voters this if they are going to continue to show what the Rev. Wright said.

Liz Allen
Burlington

I would like to know why all of these State Highway Patrol officers who have abused their dogs, or at least the one who was fired, have not been charged with cruelty to an animal but, most of all, assault on a police officer, as the rest of the citizens would be.

Is this another example of different laws for law enforcement? The supervising officer should also be fired. Let’s make an example of them.

Paul Johnston
Mebane

In response to Gary Marschall’s opinion on the falsehood of evolution: Marschall’s Intelligent Design is “Creation Science” in new clothing. We do not teach religion in public schools anymore. Sorry, Gary.

And addressing his remarks about no missing links ever being found: Massive fossil evidence clearly shows many animals, including humans, evolving over millions of years by natural selection.

He also claimed Richard Dawkins believes that “aliens” seeded our planet. That notion is ridiculous and is certainly not what Professor Dawkins or any other evolutionary scientist believes about the origin of life.

So Marschall chooses to believe Ben Stein, who he claims is an economist, more than 99.9 percent of natural scientists who know that evolution is not a theory but is, in fact, a fact.
I will stick to the modern scientific facts, Gary, and not some Bronze Age myth. You hang in there with Ben Stein.

David Reid
Browns Summit

My car became disabled on Wendover Avenue recently during the morning rush hours. Greensboro police Officer A.D. Reed came to my aid. He stopped traffic and physically pushed my vehicle off the roadway. I want to thank Officer Reed and also Chief Bellamy for having such a fine person on duty.

William Cunane
Greensboro

Constantly hearing news reports of people blaming the police for mishandling thieves and criminals is troubling, but too often people violate the law and then retaliate against law-enforcement authorities with violence and abuse. Drunken drivers and thieves, even suspects, must be apprehended or violence will continue running rampant in our nation.

If all these people who engage in and encourage violent reactions to the law and our law keepers were more supportive of the law and law enforcement, we would have less abuse and crime and less need for police actions.

This is not to excuse police brutality and ineptness by law enforcement. I have had kin mistreated, but public servants risk their lives to keep order and help others. Law enforcement is not easy, as many of their families can verify. Too many officers die while helping others.

We need more people supporting the law and praying for our law enforcement, even for all political servants, and less cursing and damning those who seek to serve our communities, even when we disagree with their ineptness. That's what the law is for: to disagree respectfully. Love and respect beget love and respect; hate and abuse beget hate and abuse.

James Helvey
Winston-Salem

I was part of a group of four couples eagerly awaiting the Springsteen concert at the Greensboro Coliseum. At a cost of roughly $150 per couple, these were not inexpensive tickets.

When we arrived, coliseum personnel said they had reconfigured the stage set-up and that we would be "upgraded" to better seats. We excitedly found our "new" seats, and guess what? They were directly behind the stage! Apparently our previous seats also were behind the stage, only higher. We weren't the only ones: There were at least 400 of us positioned behind the band.

Why in the world would coliseum staff or concert organizers let anyone be seated behind the stage? There wasn't one speaker directed toward us! We would have been better off in the nose-bleed section, at least facing the band and having speakers facing us. There were definitely extra seats available. Is this standard operating procedure for coliseum concerts?

Key recommendation: Eliminate this seating option, or offer them as very cheap seats and be very clear to the purchaser as to where they will be, and put at least one speaker facing that direction!

Mike Kastanek
Greensboro

Regarding the passage of the Guilford County school bond:

Expect to be hearing from lots of parents who are upset about the "autism wing" projects that are in the works. Specifically, parents whose children attend McIver Education Center want their children to have their own school, not to be shut up in the "wing" of a community school.

GCS has already addressed this need for children with physical handicaps with Gateway and the new Special Education Center West. Why do children with physical handicaps get to keep their school, even get a new one, while children with severe mental disabilities have to give up their school to house expanding magnet programs?

GCS officials will be patting themselves on the back for "including" children in the community, while the children in these autism wings actually will be more glaringly excluded from school culture than ever. McIver students can now participate in athletics, cheerleading, homecoming and prom, to mention a few social opportunities. This will be impossible for most of these children at their new community schools.

Laura Webb
High Point

Regarding Kathleen Parker's column, "Wright enjoys being center stage" (May 1): I was pleased that someone in the press articulated what to me is woefully obvious, i.e., Jeremiah Wright is a ham. He's rapturous over his proverbial "15 minutes." However, when Parker says that Wright is "mad principally at white folks," I would argue that point. Systemic racism is a tough foe, and I believe that is the real enemy that Wright hates.

Sometimes it is nearly impossible to do justice to analyzing someone whose fundamental frame of reference is foreign to the listener. For example, much of white America has come to perceive Wright as being "inflammatory." Think about it. For the three decades that he pastored in Chicago, what happened? Did his congregation burn down buildings in downtown Chicago? No. Did they go to wealthy, white neighborhoods demanding to get their "40 acres and a mule"? No. Did his congregation even get on fire for Jesus and convert the Chicago populace, heal the sick and raise the dead repetitiously and by the thousands? I doubt it.

I suspect Wright weekly massaged bruised egos and made the downtrodden feel like going on. Period. In context, therefore, Mr. Wright is not inflammatory.

Shirley B. Dean
Greensboro

The State Highway Patrol's K-9 unit training consists of hanging their dogs until they are nearly unconscious, killing them and shocking them with a stun gun. If this is not animal cruelty, what is? If a citizen, even a professional trainer, had treated a dog in this manner, he would have been arrested for animal abuse. Why haven't the K-9 troopers lost their jobs and been arrested for animal cruelty?

The state and possibly the country are following this case. What kind of an example are we setting? Where was the governor when all this animal abuse was going on?

Are troopers in the K-9 unit above the law?

Anthony S. Belli
Greensboro

I watched with dismay as the City Council approved another apartment complex, this one near Horse Pen Creek and Jessup Grove roads. It’s difficult to fault developers and builders for doing what they do: making money buying tracts of land and building houses and apartments. Their presentation was slick, and, of course, shortsightedly minimized the impact on traffic while extolling the supposed benefits of having retail/office space as part of this proposed gated complex.

My disappointment is with the council members who continue to disregard the concerns of property owners. Increased traffic notwithstanding, we are unhappy with unabated construction projects on every available piece of undeveloped property. We must resist this trend, and it is in part the job of the council to balance open spaces with development. My concern when Councilman Zack Matheny was elected was that he was in the pocket of developers, and this is proving correct. Councilwoman Trudy Wade’s suggestion that the most expedient way to get the needed traffic signal at Jessup Grove Road is to approve the project is blatantly irresponsible.

This area of Greensboro is expanding, and that’s inevitable. But another apartment complex? It’s very disappointing.

Peter Allen
Greensboro

The hottest new vacation destination: the Green Zone in Baghdad with a Marriott and a Disney Land-like amusement park adjacent and close to the Baghdad Zoo. Only Monty Python and/or the U.S. military and government could come up with such a preposterous vision.

Oh, and not to worry about the billion dollars to bring this vision to life. It will be an entrepreneurial effort. It takes my breath away. The latest twist to George Bush’s war.

We are constructing our own “zone of influence” in Iraq, as if we hadn’t already done that.

A.O. Brown
Greensboro

On May 2, Larry Emory (letter) asked Obama supporters to answer two questions: What has Obama accomplished, and what kind of “change” is he proposing?

It is obvious that Emory has done no independent research whatsoever on Sen. Obama. In addition to being a community activist for more than 20 years, Sen. Obama sponsored more than 800 pieces of legislation as an Illinois state senator.

As a U.S. senator, his first legislation was the HOPE Act, which increased Pell Grants to $5,100. He has co-sponsored legislation with Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Richard Lugar on issues from government ethics to nuclear nonproliferation. He also has drafted and passed amendments to provide meal and telephone benefits for troops who are recuperating from injuries; to provide a $40 million increase for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program; and to improve job services for hard-to-place veterans.

Sen. Obama is also a member of seven Senate committees, including Foreign Relations, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. He has demonstrated his commitment to a politics of substance.

Informed citizens make better choices. Take the time to become informed.

Bridgid MacSeoin
Greensboro

Regarding Gary Marschall’s question (letter, May 4) as to “why only the theory of Darwinian evolution is taught in schools”:

The answer has been provided again and again, as in the December 2005 ruling by a Republican, church-going judge that “overwhelming evidence” showed Intelligent Design to be “a religious view.” No large group of scientists supports it.

A Web site, Christian Answers.net, gives a “partial list of Creationist scientists” that includes Charles Babbage, Francis Bacon and Georges Cuvier, all of whom have impressive scientific credentials but were born in 1792, 1561 and 1769, respectively. They wouldn’t have believed in open-heart surgery either, but if you had three living doctors from excellent medical schools recommending it, what do you think you would do?

Many transitional fossils have been found. Read “You Inner Fish” if you want to learn about a fossil fish found that has joints and arm bones corresponding to ours and read “Evolution: What Fossils Say and Why It Matters” if you want to learn more about the fossil record.

Read Ben Stein if you want financial advice.

Elizabeth Gratzek
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Patrick Harman

Now that the Greensboro Zoning Commission and Planning Department have killed what was once called Horse Pen Creek Road with yet another obscenely large and unneeded development that violates the city’s land-use plan, it is time to fix the rezoning process, as it systematically favors developers and is designed to prevent opposition from nearby homeowners.

Issue: I didn’t receive notice about this rezoning application because only property owners within 600 feet are notified. Did the Planning Department really think I wouldn’t be impacted because I live 700 feet away?

Solution: The Planning Department should notify all property owners within a half-mile of the site with a letter explaining the application in excruciating detail.

Issue: The little yellow-and-green hearing notification signs are insufficient. You can’t read those signs as you drive. In my case, I would have to find a place to park and walk in a ditch along a very busy road to read it. Then, because the typical property owner knows nothing about zoning, one would have to look up a CD-PDM to see what it means.

Solution: Use a large sign explaining what is happening with the hearing. The sign should also have a schematic of the proposed development.

Issue: The Zoning Commission meets at 2 p.m. on Mondays. This is a time when most property owners work, thereby presenting yet another barrier to those who would object to proposed developments.

Solution: The meeting should be held in the evenings or on weekends when it is more conducive to getting true public input.

Issue: There appears to be no one in the Planning Department looking out for the interests of the typical homeowner. The Planning Department knows for months about proposed projects but does not have the courtesy to let neighboring residents know what might be next to them in the near future.

Solution: That department should have an ombudsman whose job it is to inform homeowners about proposed projects in their neighborhood as soon as they are in the initial planning stages. This person should explain what it might mean for their neighborhood and the process involved in a rezoning application.

If the city is unwilling to make these changes, let’s dispense with the rezoning process entirely and let developers do whatever they want.

As it stands, it’s just a bunch of hooey and everyone knows it.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

The following is a Counterpoint column.

By Daniel U. Cregar Jr.
I read with interest the article by John R. Cawthron, (CEO, TIMCO) who wrote a scathing piece (April 25) accusing HondaJet of employment piracy.

In the early years of my dental practice, I hired a young lady to work part time as an assistant while she completed her senior year in high school. When she graduated, I did not have a full-time position for her, but I highly recommended her to a specialist colleague who hired her.
Nine months later, an opening occurred in my practice and I advertised for an assistant. This young lady applied and took the job at a lower salary than the specialist was paying her. When I asked why, she stated that the working conditions at her other job were too stressful and she dreaded going to work in the morning. The specialist, I might add, sent me a scathing letter accusing me of “stealing” his employee. A similar situation to Cawthron’s.

I would recommend that Mr. Cawthron seriously look at TIMCO and ask himself if his employees dread coming to work in the morning. He has two choices. He can act like the little boy who owned the only baseball in the park and told the other kids, “Play by my rules, or I will take my ball home with me.” Or he can go to his human resources department and analyze whether or not:

1) his wages are competitive with the industry;

2) he gives his employees a generous insurance and retirement package comparable to industry standards;

3) the working conditions at TIMCO are as stress-free as possible and his employees look forward to coming to work each morning.

If any of these conditions does not exist, he needs to address it.

I strongly suggest he look at his company closely. If he doesn’t, when HondaJet opens that production line he is going to lose more than four engineers, and he can take that advice to the bank.

The writer lives in High Point.

I’m sorry Mike Kastanek (letter, May 12) didn’t like his behind-the-stage seats and, therefore, didn’t have a good time at the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Greensboro Coliseum. Any Springsteen fan, hard-core or newbie, would agree that’s a shame.

Bruce and his band put on a great show, and the Greensboro show, in particular, was one of the best on the current tour. Clearly, Mike witnessed Springsteen play to the back of the crowd several times, ascending the ramp behind the stage for that very purpose. But that’s not an argument with Mike — if it didn’t do the trick for him, it didn’t do the trick.

What’s not clear is this: Why was Mike surprised at where his seats were located? When you buy tickets, presumably from Ticketmaster, you have easy access to a seating diagram before paying. No like seat? No buy seat. And the coliseum staff is eager to please: A phone call would have clarified where your seats would be.

Alternatively, both Craigslist and eBay were loaded with sellers offering better seats, most at a discount.

Mike, I hope you’re not too soured on Springsteen or the coliseum. The next time the E Street Band rolls into town, call me: We’ll score some better seats and you’ll have a blast.

Don Freedman
Greensboro

I just finished reading another article about the weak real estate market and couldn’t resist trying to set the record straight.

In Greensboro, our real estate market is performing quite well. With more homes on the market than last year, home buyers have a better selection.

And home prices are actually quiet stable and quite affordable, unlike many other areas of the country.

I worry that national news stories have scared away potential home buyers in Greensboro who have the opportunity to make a terrific investment.

Contact a Realtor in the Greensboro marketplace to show you the great housing values and opportunities available. You may find exactly what you’re looking for, at the right price, too.

Michael Barr
Greensboro

The writer is CEO, Greensboro Regional Realtors Association.

Youth baseball has just gotten underway, and already we have some parents and coaches acting as if Little League were the major leagues.

Parents and coaches, I admonish you. Please behave yourselves and allow youth to enjoy the game. Youth engage in sports for the fun of the game, especially at the younger ages.
Where do coaches and parents get the nerve to yell, belittle, intimidate, threaten, embarrass and curse at the youth, referees, umpires or anyone whom they feel are somehow causing a team to lose?

I am not saying that our youth should not be encouraged to do the very best they can.
However, please keep in mind that adults do not appreciate being yelled at, belittled, intimidated, threatened, embarrassed, or cursed at, especially in front of an audience.
If you have a grievance with a player, coach, referee or umpire, handle it like an adult and go through the proper channels. After all, our youth are watching the parents and coaches. If you all are cutting up and showing lack of respect toward each other, the children/youth will almost surely follow suit.

Letitia Vann
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Kim McDonald

Let’s see: We have “The too-long goodbye” headlining the front page of Ideas section (May 11). Inside we have “Clinton’s sniper story deserved more scrutiny” (letter), side by side with “Trade deals hurt more than Rev. Wright’s words.”

North Carolina Democrats, your voices have been heard. We get it. Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee, is more than you could ever have wished for. Obama’s community service background, and his resounding success with African Americans and well-educated Caucasians, are destined to serve him well going head-to-head against John McCain, especially in all those swing states.

After all, how could a moderate former POW — who believes in global warming and refuses to tow the Republican line — appeal to millions of registered Independents and conservative Democrats?

Especially when Obama believes in change. I’m almost positive no candidate for the highest office in the land has ever campaigned on the slogan of Change. Wow.

And get this, folks: Obama did not vote for the Iraq war! True, he wasn’t in the Senate at the time. And unlike the rest of the senators in Washington, Obama was not presented with vast amounts of faulty intelligence purportedly showing the location of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, Obama is a man of impeccable judgment.

As for those who say the Rev. Wright fiasco indicates otherwise, I’m not so sure. I bet millions of us would never have suspected someone we knew for 20 years hated America, loathed white people, and thought the U.S. government created AIDS. Because those kinds of people are always so circumspect in their views after all.

Meanwhile, nearly 17 million people have voted for Hillary Clinton nationwide, and she just won by a landslide in West Virginia.

So congratulations, Democrats. You’ve done it again. In a year where you were virtually guaranteed easy access to the White House, you’ve selected a candidate with no experience, no vetting and, at the very least, curious associations. To be sure, Teddy Kennedy is proud of this nod to the Democratic left; the rest of us shudder to think of the mincemeat about to be served by the Republicans.

Now excuse me while I go pour myself a cup of Kool-Aid and watch Obama read off the TelePrompter.

I’m hoping that I, too, will soon be donning my rose-colored glasses and agreeing with the superdelegates who believe this is a nomination not to be overturned.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

I have been employed by TIMCO as an aircraft welder for nearly two years. Having not worked in the aircraft maintenance industry before coming to TIMCO, I cannot speak of how TIMCO compares with other aircraft maintenance companies as far as salaries and benefits are concerned. I do know, however, that TIMCO is regarded as one of the best (if not the best) in the world.

I also know that TIMCO pays some of the best wages in North Carolina. My benefits package is a very good one and I have never been more pleased with a job.

The fact that Honda has loads of money to throw at its HondaJet project isn’t a guarantee that there will be a demand for its jet five or 10 years from now.

I’ll stake my future on the success of a proven company rather than gamble on whether or not HondaJet still will be in business. If I were a betting man I’d bet that the ship jumpers eventually will regret their decision to leave TIMCO, and that TIMCO still will be challenging to be the best in the industry because its employees are the best, from the board room to the hangar floor.

Paul R. Fearnow
Gibsonville

I truly respect William K. Oden’s devotion (letter, “Holiday honors memory of Confederate veterans,” May 9) to an age long gone.

I, too, had a great, great, great uncle who fought and died under Jeb Stuart’s command. I also had another great, great, great uncle who fought with the 2nd Delaware and was wounded at Cold Harbor.

However, I chose to remember them for their devotion to duty and that their sacrifices helped create the much stronger nation we have today.

If the Confederacy had survived, fully 4 million humans would have remained enslaved. I would not be proud of that fact.

Oden may make any other argument, but the Confederacy had enslavement written into its constitution. Where does he think we would be today divided? Does he think the Confederacy was some type of utopia? Could we have survived World War II divided?

Lincoln did what he felt was best for the times and situation. In the long run, we are better off for it.

The Confederacy is dead and has been for 143 years. Of course, honor the soldiers, but those who live for the past will die in the past.

Donald Conrad
Greensboro

I was sitting on Bryan Boulevard eastbound in the afternoon in an attempt to get onto the ramp to New Garden Road. This was due to the gridlock caused by drivers attempting to make a left onto Horse Pen Creek Road.

I remembered the article in the News & Record about the widening of Horse Pen Creek Road. City planners know it is needed, but there are no funds to do it.

The Zoning Commission recently gave the green light to two more projects on Horse Pen Creek Road, one a strip mall, office space and condos, while the other will bring at least 360 more housing units.

One of the developers has graciously offered a stoplight at Jessup Grove and Horse Pen Creek Road. This allows the traffic onto Horse Pen Creek, but since it is a two-lane road on both ends, the traffic isn’t going anywhere soon.

Where is the planning in all this development? Should we not have the road improvement to handle the traffic before we approve the development? Or just develop it, sell it and let the person who buys it worry about how he is going to get to it?

The governing body should do a better job.

Jim George
Greensboro

The taxpayers gave the Guilford County Board of Education a great vote of confidence in the passing of the school bond issue on May 6. The board is off and running to get the construction started.

In all the excitement, I hope they don’t forget the two largest challenges they have: improving academic achievement of poor and minority students and improving the school climate so that each child can look forward to the school day.

Although there have been discussions in these areas, the board needs to accelerate its pace on these issues. It is time for action, not study.

Joe Stafford
Greensboro

I was in a bad accident on westbound I-40 on Saturday, April 26, about noon. An older woman drove into my lane and I swerved into the median. Unfortunately, I lost control and hit the wire guard rail, flipping my car.

In seconds, eastbound motorists stopped to assist. They risked their lives because gas was leaking from my vehicle. I am sure one of them alerted the Highway Patrol and ambulance. I was given loving care by people who stopped to free me from the vehicle, patrolmen and the folks at Moses Cone Hospital. No one left a name.

All I can say to the rainbow of beautiful citizens of every age, race and gender is you have my deepest thanks. I wish every cynic who does not believe in the goodness of humanity had witnessed your heroism.

Danita McDonald
Greensboro

On behalf of the Bonds for Schools Committee, thank you to the citizens of Guilford County for approving both school bonds May 6. Your “yes” vote was an affirmation that our citizens value education and want to ensure we do everything possible to provide the best for our children.

Thanks to those who worked for months, articulating needs and advocating for our children. The enthusiastic and tireless efforts of hundreds of volunteers was significant in the success.

Many thanks to individuals whose commitment was unwavering: Mel Swann and Craven Williams, who co-chaired the Steering Committee, Frank Kendall, Ron Miller, Mac Sims and Jarvis Harris, who gave each and every day.

Finally, thanks to organizations, including the PTAs that worked hard to inform parents, businesses who voiced support through endorsements, and the Greensboro and High Point Chambers, Action Greensboro, Greensboro Realtors Associations, and Guilford Education Alliance. All were critical to the success. The financial support of our corporate citizens was also critical and appreciated.

This campaign illustrated that by working together our county can accomplish great things. In this case, generations of schoolchildren will reap the benefits. May 6 was a proud day for Greensboro and Guilford County.

Anita Bachmann
Greensboro

You reported that Senate Democrats are calling for a “profits tax” on oil companies. People should be reminded that the economy is more influenced by the laws passed by Congress than by the pronouncements of the president.

The Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007. At that time, the economy was doing pretty well. One of the first things that the Democratic Congress did was to “punish” big oil by reducing subsidies.

The result has been oil and gasoline prices at all-time highs. Regular gas went from about $2.50 per gallon to currently over $3.50 per gallon and is projected by some to approach $4 per gallon during the summer months.

The profits that oil companies make are not unreasonable when calculated as a percentage of their income. The Democrats’ plan to punish oil companies will only serve to increase prices at the pump further.

The Democrats are doing what they are good at, increasing taxes while spinning their actions in populist rhetoric.

Robert A. Hahn
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By M.H. “Skip” Dalton

It appears the News & Record has finally realized what we bail bondsmen have been saying for so long. Too many people are being released with little or no bond. This means little incentive to go to court or stay out of more trouble.

According to the newspaper, Judge Turner says that jail overcrowding is a prime factor in determining bond amounts. But magistrates say that the jail population has nothing to do with the setting of bonds. Go figure. Bail agents believe that a larger jail will help solve only part of the problem.

With population growth comes increased arrests. More judges, prosecutors, clerks and courtrooms are added to accommodate the rise in cases. But a lot of defendants fail to appear because they have little reason to do so.

In years past, the bond reflected the crime. The more serious the crime, the larger the bond. We all know bond is not to be used as a punishment but as a guarantee for court appearance. But things have changed.

We bail agents see many times where a defendant is arrested on an order for arrest and released with a lower bond than the one he or she failed to appear on. Somebody didn’t bother to check the criminal history or didn’t use common sense.

We also know that some people need to remain in jail. Most reputable bail agents will not get out a person who habitually fails to appear so as to not inconvenience the court or the victims. But by the same token, we won’t bond out defendants if it is not economically feasible. The bond fee is what we use to track the ones who fail to appear as well as to live on. The bad economy is also a reason some in jail can’t come up with the bond fee or collateral to post bond.

When we bond someone out of jail, we can’t guarantee 100 percent that he or she won’t commit another crime or appear on the next court date. But if the bond is reasonable, we can reasonably guarantee he or she won’t commit other crimes because of fear of re-incarceration and financial loss.

And we, more often than not, will see the defendant is brought to justice if he or she fails to appear.

The writer lives in Greensboro and is part of Mid State Bail Agents Association.

Regarding the article on the May 13 front page by Gerald Witt, "Commissioners spoke, was anybody listening?":

Come on. I know that had to be a pun of sorts. I thought the premise of our government was the people speak and (in this case) the commissioners listen. That headline could very well reflect how the entire system of things here (and in D.C.) has become so screwed up.

The commissioners, senators and, yes, the president and his cronies thought no one cares anymore, so they could do whatever they want. Or maybe the people have finally become so tired of the elected not listening that they have decided to take things into their own hands.

Finally, the people have registered a vote to show the politicians here, if nowhere else, that their elected post is a privileged opportunity to represent the people who elected them.

Kenneth Land
Greensboro

In the April 30 News & Record, a letter by Erin Bentrim-Tapio extolled the qualifications of Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States. I am well aware that Clinton has informed everyone within earshot that she has passed the test to be president. Was this test self-drafted, administered, evaluated and scored?

I suppose that it would not be politic to remind Hillary that she told the Bosnia lie on three separate occasions but set the record straight by having staffers, including Bill, claim that this "mis-speak" happened late in the evening. Videotapes reveal that two of these "mis-speaks" occurred at morning campaign events. It would appear that Clinton truth is the product of a sequence of lies.

As a registered Republican, I think that anyone who has paid just a little attention to events of the past seven-plus years will readily agree that there is little need of more inept liars in Washington, especially in the White House.

As for Sen. Clinton having what it takes to be president, I feel that she will take what she doesn't have to be president even if it involves lying to get it.

W.E. Williams
Elon

Regarding Gary Marschall's letter (May 4):

Evolution is accepted by the overwhelming majority of scientists. There are debates about some of the details, but the theory as a whole is almost universally accepted. The tiny minority of scientists who don't are usually scientists with Ph.D's outside the biology-related fields of study or have creationist agendas.

There are literally hundreds of nondebatable transitional fossils between species and hundreds of others that are debatable. That research is readily available.

Richard Dawkins (www.richarddawkins.net) absolutely does not believe aliens seeded life. His quotes were taken out of context.

Intelligent Design is not science. It has produced no research, evidence or testable hypothesis. How can one scientifically test that God (designer) created the bacterial flagellum?

Most importantly, the film "Expelled" is a piece of anti-evolution propaganda. The pro-evolution scientists were intentionally misled about the film's intent and then quoted out of context.

Ben Stein, as a former political speechwriter, is adept at manipulating the truth. See www.expelledexposed.com to learn the truth about the film and evolution. Evolution is not anti-religion and it doesn't study "how life began" (abiogenesis does that). See www.talkorigins.org (FAQs) for more information.

Chris Garland
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Mike Crouch

Rabbi Fred Guttman wrote (April 23) lamenting that, during a presidential debate, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos had asked Barack Obama questions related to his character rather than his policies, questions about his pastor, his view of the U.S.A., indeed several relevant questions many Americans would like to have answered. (We plodding, uneducated hicks somehow think character and values are critically important.)

Rabbi, those of us paying attention already know his policy positions. He will raise taxes (for fairness),he will worsen the oil crisis with windfall profits taxes (thereby ruining the economy), he will recall U.S. troops from Iraq regardless of conditions on the ground (the phrase is retreat and surrender). Obama will not unite us and work across the aisle (or he would have already done so). His voting record is by all measures the most liberal in the U.S. Senate, and his policies are a carbon copy of Hillary's, which is why Charlie and George didn't need to go there.

I am surprised at the rabbi. He should know the best determinant of a man's character are his actions and associations, not his words.

Edward Cone's column (April 27) did not surprise me. Cone, apparently taking his cue (and condescending tone) from Obama's speech in San Francisco, implied North Carolinians better shape up (i.e., hide the guns, Bibles and rebel flags) or the rest of America, intently watching the North Carolina primary, would think we are a bunch of hicks and yahoos. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ed. All you left out was "bitter."

We know Hillary's character. She is autocratic, power-hungry and a compulsive liar.

And we know John McCain's character. He is a war hero, a liberal Republican (read Republican in Name Only). McCain is not too old but is delusional (he somehow thinks his potential opponents value honor as much as he does). He is a blend of strength and unpredictability. I'd much rather have him, whom the mullahs fear, than someone they know they can buffalo. As for the economy, he will give market forces a fighting chance by not raising taxes.

We need a thorough vetting process to replace the hyperventilation, mass hysteria and mad rush to crown the first trans-racial messiah as president.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Just received my check from Uncle Sugar and don’t know whether to thank him or apologize to my grandchildren.

Uncle Sugar has made it very clear that, to be a good American and prevent a recession, I must spend my grandchildren’s money on self-gratifying stuff. Unfortunately, the money must go toward my Guilford County taxes. I guess that means the recession will be all my fault.

Norman Rider
Greensboro

During their campaigns, candidates assure us virtually nonstop that their main concern is improving the quality of life for working-class folks and their children.

That’s what makes it so interesting (and hilarious!) to observe these politicians once they are in office. From that point on, it’s clear that they go into ecstasy over tuxedo/evening gown/yacht party galas and their “corporate partners.”

Remember how the pigs changed as soon as they took power in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”? Orwell saw reality quite clearly.

Larry Surber
Stoneville

In his May 10 letter, Tom Rafferty is mistaken in his assertion that the theory of evolution is true. He said consensus supports the idea of evolution. It would be much better if the evidence supported evolution, but it doesn’t. Saying that evolution is a theory is not the same as having proof it is true.

There is no empirical or forensic evidence that natural selection can account for new forms of life. Carefully constructed experiments cannot make life, nor has spontaneous generation of life ever been observed. The simplest living cell could not have arisen by chance. Just like the eye, the proto-cell must have evolved from simpler ancestral cells, presumably by a process of natural selection. But this is where the first big problem with the origin of life arises. What were those simpler entities?

To dismiss or ignore this question means you have a story with no foundation. Why is evolution without a foundation? Because there is no natural process that can cause life to originate.

Since that is the case, then you have to accept it by faith. Time, matter and chance cannot cause life to originate. It takes a miracle.

William Sellers
Greensboro

Hillary Clinton has won 16 out of the 51 delegate contests to date, is behind in the popular vote, elected delegates and total delegates. To win the most elected delegates, she now needs to win more than 90 percent of the remaining delegates.

But, after all, none of that is really important. You see, Hillary thinks she would be the strongest candidate against John McCain, and she also thinks she would be the best president of all three of the candidates.

In fact, when you remember that she is the smartest woman in the world, why does all of this voting stuff matter anyway?

Bill Stevens
Jamestown

I wanted to commend the News & Record on a fine story (albeit by the Associated Press) on the front page May 12.

Unlike most political stories, which simply repeat what candidates are saying, the story on candidates' health care plans actually provided useful information to voters by evaluating candidates' claims.

Unbiased and well-written, the article helped voters understand the vast difference between socialized/nationalized medicine and the Democrats' plans. While there will be those who continue to believe Rush Limbaugh and other ideologues as they spout falsehoods about the Democrats' plans, calling them "socialist" and "communist" and the like, this article will help inform people about the actual objective reality of health care possibilities.

It's time we realized that political decisions do not just involve opinions -- most also involve facts.

Eric Welder
Greensboro

"Mommy, can you make that noise stop?"

This is a question my children ask me frequently now that Painter Boulevard has opened. Mostly, I hear it when they are playing outside, but sometimes they ask even when we are inside watching TV.

This new highway has destroyed the tranquility of our neighborhood. We were assured in meetings prior to the beginning of construction that Painter Boulevard would be a scenic road that would blend in with its surroundings. What we got instead was an interstate in our backyard that has made living in this area of Greensboro something less than desirable. This neighborhood was originally deemed too insignificant to warrant a noise barrier, even though many, many people have been affected by the noise. However, I am sure that the drop in my property value is significant.

I wonder if the city is planning any kind of reassessment for property tax purposes. We are having a meeting with the Department of Transportation on Thursday to resolve some of these issues. One can only hope that the DOT and the city of Greensboro do the right thing in trying to help citizens restore their quality of life.

Kim Bishop
Greensboro

A neighbor down the road has a bumper sticker on his van: "Do not trust the media." I know from the other stickers on his vehicle that he is not of the same political persuasion as I am. Basically, the point of my letter is for all voters to think about why they vote for a certain candidate.

I teach critical reading skills to my college students. We look at a text and ask ourselves: Who is the writer? What is the writer's purpose? What is the text saying? How does word choice impact the reader? Does the writer succeed? Students realize that all texts have an agenda, no matter how subtle.

When you read the headlines of this newspaper and other newspapers reporting on this election, please ask yourself about the "spin." Whom is the press swooping down on and hammering on? How are the headlines worded?

Don't vote according to the issue the media are having a heyday with. Look at the candidates, check out their agendas, go to their Web sites, and make very informed choices!

I think my neighbor and I would agree on this point. Do not trust the media!

Jillian Haeseler
Greensboro

The writer is professor of English and Communication Studies, Greensboro College.

Seventy-four years ago, I was born in racially segregated L. Richardson Hospital. My mother took me home to Bragg Street in the Warnersville section of Greensboro.

The community in which I lived, the church my family attended, the schools I attended, the stores where we could shop, restaurants where we could eat, the place in theaters where we were forced to sit, these and much more were shaped by racial segregation.

There is a growing recognition that a Barack Obama presidency would help to "blend" the rich diversity that is ours as a nation.

My grandmother used to say: "There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it doesn't behoove any of us to talk about the rest of us."

Sen. Obama proclaims a vision of our nation that is not segmented or segregated by politics, race, gender, religion, class, education, job, economics or anything else. Many of us believe his election could breathe fresh air into us and enrich all of us, despite our differences.

I am proud North Carolina, through its voting, has made all of us winners, whether we support Barack Obama or not.

Gilbert H. Caldwell
Asbury Park, N.J.

I would like to thank the community, the media, first responders, Duke Energy, the staffs of Guilford County and the city of Greensboro and all others who worked so well and tirelessly in the aftermath of the tornado on May 8.

The loss of even one life is a tragedy; however, further injury and property damage were certainly averted by the effective response and communication of the community during this disaster.

Impacts of the city's pre-planning efforts, such as the Police Mobile Command Center, the Contact Center, damage assessment teams, etc., were evident. It is obvious that other agencies were equally well prepared.

Thanks to all residents for their cooperation and patience.

Mitchell Johnson
Greensboro

The writer is Greensboro's city manager.

I would like to know if anyone from the News & Record was aware of the devastation, millions of dollars in damages, and loss of life caused by the tornado that touched down in the Triad Park area. Your headline for May 10 stated, “Guilford County ‘dodged a bullet.’ ” I understand that things could have been worse; however, under the circumstances, you should have come up with a more appropriate headline.

In my opinion, your headline was a slap in the face to the countless people who were directly affected by this disaster. The media weren’t even allowed in the immediate area for quite a while because the destruction was so bad; the entire area was quarantined, declared unsafe and impassable.

People have been left homeless, others struggling to dig out, salvage and repair what they could. Businesses were shut down, also dealing with unbelievable damage and monetary loss to both employers and employees. The loss of life was trivialized, seemingly because only one person died.

Guilford County did not “dodge a bullet.” We, in fact, as a community, suffered a great loss.

Barbara Silverman
Greensboro

Regarding Mike Kastanek’s letter (“Behind-the-stage seating mars Springsteen show,” May 12) concerning the April 28 Bruce Springsteen concert at the Greensboro Coliseum:

Please be aware that the seating configuration for concerts is solely determined by the event promoter and/or artist. The coliseum does not dictate which sections are sold or not sold, nor do we determine ticket prices. Being one of the top-selling touring artists of all time, Springsteen typically sells all seating sections in a venue to help accommodate the extremely high demand for tickets and he often can be seen “playing to the crowd” behind the stage during his performances.

In this instance, Kastanek was actually moved to a seat closer to the stage and was upgraded from a section priced at $65 to one priced at $95. Also, contrary to what he had written, speakers were positioned to supply sound to seating areas behind the stage.

As for Kastanek’s recommendation that we need “to be very clear to the purchaser as to where they will be,” seating charts are available at all points of purchase for Coliseum Complex events, including online at www.greensborocoliseum.com and at our box office.

Andrew Brown
Greensboro

The writer is public relations manager, Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

I found the political cartoon regarding cocaine use printed in the May 14 paper rather ironic. The irony is not the one the cartoonist presumably intended — namely that cocaine harms many people and so is not a victimless crime.

Rather, the irony is that the harms identified — the deaths of Colombian farmers, Mexican police and kids caught in the crossfire of warring drug gangs — are the result of making the use and sale of cocaine illegal, and not the use of cocaine itself.

Perhaps it is time to consider seriously the possibility that the net costs of the war on drugs outweigh those of legalizing and regulating the use of many recreational drugs.

David Lefkowitz
Greensboro

The writer teaches political and legal philosophy at UNCG.

The full-page ad the back of the Sports section (May 5) promoting the passage of the quarter-cent sales tax in Guilford County was interesting.

My problem, as an outsider, pertains to the statement: “The one-fourth cent brings in about $16 million a year, about 40 percent paid by non-residents. That’s $6 million from people who use our infrastructure but don’t pay property taxes in Guilford County.”

If I am to interpret this statement to mean that I am using Guilford County highways to shop at Four Seasons Mall or Wendover, then I apologize. I can easily head west to Hanes Mall or Hanes Mall Boulevard. I would hope, however, that I be allowed to use your roads to visit friends in the Greensboro/ High Point areas. I would also hope toll roads are not being considered for those of us who pass through Guilford County on the way to the beach or other points north or east.

If I have misinterpreted the meaning of “the infrastructure” statement, I’m sorry; if not, the writers of this ad owe an apology to Forsyth, Alamance and Stokes counties and other locals who purchase goods and services in Guilford County. Perhaps they should choose their words with more thought the next time.

Bob Hayes
Kernersville

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Ed Joran

The Counterpoint, “A landfill proposal for Mike Barber (April 26), by Jo Lynn is sprinkled with sarcasm and arguments that distort City Councilman Mike Barber’s attempt to identify the real economic costs of closing the White Street Landfill and shipping our waste to another county.

The “Not in my backyard!” words and accompanying logic about siting a new landfill in Barber’s District 4 ignores our city’s landfill history and the practical and economic absurdity of locating a new garbage landfill in Greensboro.

As has been noted in prior articles in the Greensboro newspaper, the White Street landfill has been open for 50 years and existed long before many of the homes were built in surrounding neighborhoods. Over the years, homeowners chose to live near the landfill. They were not forced to live there.

Siting a new landfill to handle the city’s garbage anywhere in Greensboro is impractical. Landfill permitting requirements to meet new state legislation, The Solid Waste Management Act of 2007, make it nearly impossible to permit a new landfill in North Carolina.

For Barber, the decision to look into garbage-disposal cost is valid for the potential benefit of all city residents. It is puzzling and disappointing that elected at-large council members Robbie Perkins and Sandra Anderson Groat didn’t support Barber’s request to study the matter. They are supposed to represent all Greensboro residents.

Barber’s request was to look into the cost to continue shipping our garbage to Montgomery County at a current annual rate of $12 million or consider reopening the White Street landfill.

Council members Barber, Mary Rakestraw and Trudy Wade felt it was their responsibility — to all the citizens of Greensboro — to pinpoint the real disposal cost that has been slow coming from the city manager.

The decision to ship our garbage out of “our backyard” to someone else’s backyard carries a huge price for all Greensboro residents, not just those in Goldie Wells’ District 2, Mike Barber’s District 4 or any other council district.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

The editorial, “The governor’s budget” (May 15), was critical of the proposed increase of the cigarette tax by 20 cents a pack because the money would be earmarked for bringing teachers’ salaries to the national average. The editorial favored using the revenue for health programs.

The North Carolina Alliance for Health led the campaign for the cigarette tax increase in 2005, which resulted in the tax going from 5 cents a pack to 35 cents a pack a few years ago. To avoid losing support among legislators, NCAH never advocated for specific uses for the new revenue. Health benefits ensue in the form of decreased consumption of cigarettes, 4 percent for adults and 7 percent for youth, whenever the price of cigarettes is increased by a minimum of 10 percent.

Here’s the rub: A 20-cent increase is too small to gain any decrease in cigarette consumption. Bringing teachers’ salaries up to the national average is important. Bringing the cigarette tax up to the national average of $1.14 would gain sufficient new revenue to accomplish the teacher salary increase, mental health reform and promotion of effective health programs, including a professional telephone counseling service (1-800-QUIT NOW) for smokers who want to quit.

Richard J. Rosen, MD
Greensboro

Someone displayed extremely poor taste, insensitivity and rudeness in choosing to publish the editorial cartoon, “Bush reveals he stopped playing golf in 2003 because of the war.”

It was an insult not only to our president but also to the servicemen depicted.

Don Francis
Whitsett

In reference to the article “Pro-McCain pastor apologizes to Catholics” (May 14): It is one of my pet peeves what passes for an apology these days.

The pastor being referred to is John Hagee. Now, I could not care less about Hagee and his politics. I am also not a Roman Catholic. However, Hagee’s apology is not an apology at all. He states, “I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.”

What is missing here is any admission at having made a mistake. Apparently, the mistake was that Catholics have taken it wrong and Hagee is sorry for that. It puts the mistake on the Catholics, not him.

Has anyone noticed that kind of “apology” is prevalent among well-known people and, indeed, by some of us?

Take the blame, people, and admit you were wrong when you are wrong.

Carol Borugian
High Point

For the American citizen, the petroleum industry in the United States has decided to undermine and destabilize the economy. Their gross profiteering or pirateering, as it should be known, is contributing to the downfall of the U.S. economy with which everyone is suffering.
One billion is one thousand million dollars. Is that enough profit? Or how about $4 billion? No wait: $20 billion. Even better, $40 billion. How about $60 billion? They just don’t have enough money. This is only Exxon.

The petroleum industry should be regulated, like the utilities are, for national security. We need protection from some obsessive/compulsive, modern-day Dr. Evil whose goal is to destroy you, the American citizen.

Jerry Snow
McLeansville

The following is a Counterpoint.

By Nicholas Cornell

I find it wildly fascinating that the two words that are synonymous with Barack Obama and his campaign for the presidency are “hope” and “change.” As a former resident of Illinois and Obama constituent, I can attest that electing him to the White House would be a change, but one for the worse. Rosemary Roberts’ column, “Rev. Wright determined to upstage Obama,” (May 2) hits the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, as Obama should already know, the whole affair with Dr. Jeremiah Wright is just the same old back-stabbing Chicago politics. To find the truth about a person, one just has to examine where their roots are strongest.

If the old saying “you are judged by the company you keep” has any truth to it, Sen. Obama should be looking for some new friends. One can look at his various relationships and find an anti-American racist in Rev. Wright, a convicted felon in Tony Rezko and a known terrorist in William Ayers. With that crew, he sure does not appear to be the “change” this country needs.
In his time as an Illinois state senator, Obama voted “present” instead of “yes” or “no” more than 130 times on bills dealing with key issues including late-term abortions and whether juveniles should be tried as adults in criminal cases. If one were to ask me, a candidate for president should be a leader, not a weak politician who sidesteps sensitive issues.

In his campaign, his whole idea of “hope” is based around the fact that he claims that he can unite the American people. His record in the U.S. Senate shows the exact opposite. In the last two years, Obama has proved to have the most liberal voting record of anyone, according to The National Journal. Wouldn’t one think that a candidate who preached “hope” and “change” in their stump speech would have a stronger record of bipartisan legislation?

If you were to ask me, a politician with links to corruption and a mouth full of false rhetoric sounds like a part of the stereotypical, elitist Washington establishment that Obama claims to know nothing about.

In part he is right, because it is not the Washington establishment that he knows so well, but the Chicago one.

The writer lives in High Point.

Regarding the story, “N.C. lawmakers target ID law” (May 19):

It is disappointing that North Carolina lawmakers are again setting lower standards for driver’s license identification requirements. North Carolina’s driver’s licenses already are the joke of the nation in the eyes of law enforcement.

Lawmakers should make an all-out effort not only to meet but to surpass the standards noted by the 911 Commission. It is for the safety of all. Instead, state lawmakers again are considering lowering the bar and for pointless reasons. Do our lawmakers not remember 9/11?

It would be a disgrace for those living in North Carolina as legal, law-abiding citizens to have to consider a passport or other means of picture ID when entering a government building or boarding an airplane in 2010. I would gladly pay extra to have a gold star on my license to indicate that I have not only met, but surpassed, the federal identification requirements, willingly.
It would seem such an attitude by those in Raleigh is again shortsighted if not just plain stupid.

Congratulations to Howard Coble for his excellent judgment and outstanding comments in favor of higher identification standards for the N.C. driver’s license.

William Mauldin
Greensboro

On May 12, Chaplain Robert Lee Scruggs passed from this life to his next. Scruggs graduated from Wake Forest Theological Seminary in 1980. He was a retired U.S. Army major and chaplain. He then started Good News Jail and Prison Ministry at the McLeansville State Prison and was involved there until his death.

Scruggs was a man who knew Jesus’ word in everything he did. He was a simple man with a big heart, especially for family life. Being a prison chaplain, he learned the rules for inside and outside “the wire” and brought them together. It was a difficult task, but through it all he never spoke a harsh word, and he kept a smile on his face and a song in his heart. When Chaplain Scruggs invited the St. Pius Hand Bell Choir to play at the prison, they jumped at the chance.

Chaplain Scruggs always brought Good News to anyone would listen to The Word. He will be missed by everyone he touched, especially those inside the wire.

Joe and Sheila Stanislawscyk
Greensboro

In his letter, Tommy Brightwell takes issue with Leonard Pitts, “Pitts is wrong, again, about teachings of the Bible” (May 6). In Pitts’ column, “Christianity out of step with teachings of Jesus” (April 28), a black civil rights leader, the Rev. James Lawson, draws parallels between the black struggle and the gay one and condemns hatred and intolerance cloaked in religion.

Brightwell affirms anti-gay religious teachings and practices that result in the oppression, suffering and death of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. This is spiritual violence. There is something perverted about condemning someone because of whom they love. I don’t think God cares who we love as much as whether we love.

I just returned from the United Methodist General Conference in Fort Worth where the Rev. Gil Caldwell and Bishop Melvin Talbert, both black Methodists, echoed Lawson’s condemnation of religion-based homophobia. The recent death of Mildred Loving reminds us of the 1967 Supreme Court decision that struck down religion-based laws barring interracial marriage. How sad we are and so slow to learn from history.

Cris F. Elkins
Greensboro

I took my wife to see the BB King show the other night. I had seen him perform two other times and he was great, although it had probably been 10 years ago. This performance was bad from the very beginning.

First, some warm-up act I didn’t care for went on for about an hour.

When King finally came on, all he did was talk and play a few chords on his guitar. I think he has maxed out because of age and health problems.

The biggest problem, however, were the loudmouth drunks in the audience who kept talking. This would not have been an issue if War Memorial Auditorium didn’t sell alcohol. Another problem was the poor sound quality. We could not hear what King was saying.

In fairness to King, I know he can play a guitar. He is one of my favorite performers. But I will never, ever waste my money on any performance at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

Woody Grady
High Point

The recent article, “A green return to dust” involves a much more time-consuming and costly method than that used by the manager of a Bradenton, Fla., antiques show, from whom I rented space. He was a widowed Congregational minister in Massachusetts, and he related to me this: “My wife had made my life so miserable that when she died and was cremated, I flushed her ashes down the commode.”

John Kincaid
Reidsville

The following is a Counterpoint:

By John Tote

May is Mental Health Month. That’s significant since mental health issues don’t usually get the support and attention they deserve, especially issues that easily can be stigmatized. One such issue concerns the case of Tony Zichi.

Zichi was a young man suffering from mental illness who was placed — most likely, inappropriately — in a family care home near Elon with people who were older and did not have mental illnesses. Unfortunately, he did not receive the care he should have. And, tragically, he took someone else’s life.

Clearly, the woman and her family are victims. However, Zichi and his family are victims as well.
First, they were victims because they did not receive the services so desperately needed by an individual suffering from schizophrenia, among other conditions.

Now they are victims of politics as Zichi sits silently in a state hospital until he can get “well enough” to be put on trial.

There is no doubt that Zichi should be confined; however, his confinement should be within the state psychiatric hospital system, not the prison system.

From all indications, Zichi was not legally responsible for his tragic actions. This does not take away the pain from the family that lost a loved one. But Zichi definitely needs psychiatric care and should receive it in a proper manner even after an event such as this.

While politics and public perception are difficult to overcome, we must overcome them in order to do the right thing.

Could this treatment be considered late in many ways? Absolutely. Too late? Not at all.

Finally, we must not consider this case in isolation. We need appropriate and timely care and treatment for all individuals with mental illness.

John Tote of Raleigh is executive director of the Mental Health Association in North Carolina.

We are trying to raise money for cancer research at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. Last year, within about a week, virtually all of our yard signs were stolen. A friend called, after the article in the News & Record, to say he saw a man in a white Lexus removing signs on Granville Road. He didn’t get the license number.

Subsequently, we received an anonymous letter saying “he” thought our signs ruined the appearance of the neighborhoods and that in many cases we put them out without the property owner’s permission. That is just not true. We get permission in every case.

In the last few days, most of our signs have been stolen again. I’d love to catch the person and confront him, asking “why?” We have raised more than $4 million since 1995. Whoever you are, please leave our signs in the private yards. They have been donated by “Signs By Tomorrow” and represent a considerable cost to the owner.

Come join us at Greensboro Country Park for a morning of fun on June 7.

Joann and David Grimes
Greensboro

Very little digging is required to reveal evolution as an unproven scientific theory. The fossil record is fractured with missing links and embellished with faulty claims of antiquity. Evolution is neither observable nor repeatable. Evolution is a vision that denies God. That is why Hitler, Mussolini and Marx liked it.

Professor Albert Fleischmann, a zoologist said, “It (evolution) is not the result of scientific research, but purely the product of imagination.” “Evolution or creation must be accepted by faith.” “Evolutionary faith is the faith of rebels against God in the name of science.”

Sir Arthur Keith, a Scottish anatomist and anthropologist, admitted that “evolution is unproven — we believe it only because the only alternative is creation and that is unthinkable.” Any theory that eliminates God will do.

Wayne Lowman
Eden

We are all watching real tragedies unfold in Myanmar and China. While listening to news reports from China, it is interesting that most eyewitness reports are from Americans in China teaching English. That’s not too surprising when one realizes that China has had mandatory English requirements in intermediate and high schools since 1990.

Myanmar is a more dicey situation. We have political and natural disasters unfolding simultaneously. Doug Goodyear, CEO and founding partner of DCI Group, who was picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention, suddenly resigned last Saturday after a Newsweek online report that his lobbying firm used to represent Myanmar’s junta.

Keeping both our political stance and our own disaster-recovery responses in mind, it’s not that surprising to note that Myanmar is somewhat reluctant to accept United States help.

In contrast, with its 50,000 troops on the ground in the earthquake region, China appears not to need outside help from anyone.

Paul King
Jamestown

Referring to your article from May 18, “Canada won’t develop medical isotope reactors,” I would like to opine that this is a great opportunity for North Carolina.

Per your article, the 50-year-old reactor in Canada will not be upgraded. This site produces half of the planet’s medical radioisotopes. This represents a dangerous reliance on a single source, but also an excellent high-tech opportunity for North Carolina science and industry.

The Canada site will have many problems like the ones experienced in January with supplying the demand for medical radioisotopes used for diagnostic imaging and therapy here and elsewhere.

North Carolina should build a reactor to meet that present and future need.

Joe Saldarini
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By James E. Nagel

Regarding the article, “City’s stuck in a jam” (News & Record, April 27), reporting clogged roads with no future funds to provide widening to accommodate large-scale developments that are approved by the planning board, zoning board and City Council:

It seems apparent that none of these boards has considered the present road system feeding these developments and there is no plan, budget or commitment on the part of the city or state to widen streets to accommodate approved developments.

Horse Pen Creek Road is a prime example of city boards allowing large-scale developments with no commitment to road widening or improvement.

Horse Pen Creek Road is an old, twisting, two-lane country road that has schools and the Carolyn Allen Recreation Park feeding into it from a side road, several recently built apartment complexes and two more in the process. One, Plantation, is a huge multi-building complex at the corner of Battleground and Horse Pen Creek Road.

In addition, there is traffic from the YMCA and a children’s day school, and Carlson Dairy Road brings Summerfield residents into the city. If this isn’t enough, Kotis Properties has appealed to the Zoning Commission to develop a complex with apartments, stores and office building opposite the 10-acre Proehl sports complex under construction. It is insane.

As your article reports, long-time residents have difficulty getting out of driveways or feeder streets into Horse Pen Creek Road, not to mention safety concerns of an overloaded country road.

Certainly with the huge increase in tax revenue generated from these new developments, there should be funding to the Transportation Department for road widening to facilitate growth in these areas.

Zoning and planning boards and City Council shouldn’t approve large-scale developments unless they make commitments for road widening and improvements.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

Dear Sens. Burr and Dole and Rep. Coble:

I'm writing to urge you to do all you can to make sure Congress reverses the proposed 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors scheduled for July 2008. Action is needed by mid-June or Medicare will begin processing payment cuts.

The cuts in payments to doctors will devastate seniors' and all military beneficiaries' access to health care by encouraging even more doctors to stop seeing Medicare and military TRICARE patients. Military beneficiaries are affected even more severely because our TRICARE rates are based on Medicare's and in many cases even discounted below Medicare's. This issue is a particular problem for retirees, survivors and Guard and Reserve families who don't live near military installations. In those areas, many doctors already refuse to see any new TRICARE patients.

Without some assurance that these cuts will not take effect, even more doctors may be forced to take this step.

Please do all you can to ensure Congress replaces the Medicare/TRICARE rate cuts. Without some stability in the program, the health care of our military families and retirees is in grave jeopardy.

Portia McCracken
Greensboro
The writer is a retired lieutenant colonel, USAF.

Kudos to the organizers of the ArtBeat Greensboro festival. In just seven days, Greensboro arts organizations and artists collaborated to provide a week-long festival that truly offered something for everyone. From the Living Rhythms Drum Circle and poetry readings to the symphony's bicentennial commission world premier and Picasso gallery exhibitions, the festival showcased more than 30 events -- a wonderful testament to our vibrant arts scene. It's this kind of showcase and celebration of our cultural assets that brings our community together and positions Greensboro as a cultural destination.

With organizations like Action Greensboro and the Piedmont Triad Partnership working to build Greensboro and the region as a community rich in creativity, ArtBeat demonstrates that local participation and support is what it takes to make it happen.

As chairman of the board for the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro, I extend my gratitude and appreciation to ArtBeat organizers, partners and sponsors for promoting, cultivating and investing in our creative community. Thank you for a job well done!

Chuck Wallington
Greensboro

Greensboro City Council is considering budget reductions to ensure a zero-increase budget while maintaining adequate service levels. One proposed cut -- reducing city-contracted landscaping -- will not maintain adequate service.

Years ago, city landscape staff was cut in favor of more cost-efficient contract landscaping services. If cut, all landscape maintenance for the entire city will fall on four staff positions plus seasonal temps. This negatively impacts existing community landscaped beds, entryways, medians and streetscapes in all city districts.

Greensboro Beautiful, a nonprofit partner with the city, has designed, funded and implemented public landscaped areas for 40 years. Significant amounts of private funding and energy have been expended for installations, which the city has committed to maintain. In past years the council has supported this maintenance agreement with adequate funding. It is imperative that this support continue!

The green in Greensboro -- the adequately maintained green -- is part of an important first impression of those investing in our city. Businesses and residents, new and established, desire pleasant, attractive surroundings.

Please keep all existing contracted landscape funds in the upcoming budget.

Peg Moore
Greensboro

The writer is chairwoman of Greensboro Beautiful Inc.

I would like to read more from people who are paying double taxes on their property -- what they think about it, how it hurts them.

You see nothing about the double tax on the TV news with all these new bonds passed and all these other new taxes trying to be passed on to us.

When does it stop? Enough, people! You are hurting us with taxes, taxes. We have run out of money to pay for them.

Seniors are broke -- fixed income is what it is. Don't you officials understand what the words “fixed income” mean? Look it up.

You are hurting us and the very low income also. Stop it! We had a Boston Tea Party once. We could use another.

D. Lee Jacobs
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Sheri Bergen

While I always look forward to having lunch with my third-grader at our gem of a neighborhood elementary school, I am saddened and dismayed as to what passes as decent nutrition for our youngsters.

Today's lunch was pizza, hash browns, applesauce and chocolate milk. Both the applesauce and milk contained high fructose corn syrup. Friday is the day that kids are allowed to indulge themselves with an ice cream or similar frozen treat. All of them are artificially flavored and contain very few ingredients that you can pronounce. The big breakthrough is that all bread is now “whole wheat.” Unfortunately, it is enriched whole wheat, which is hardly much better for the body.

The focus seems to be on low fat, which is an admirable goal; however, keeping sugar and nutritional content in balance should be the overriding target. The detrimental effects of high-fructose corn syrup are vast. It robs the body of vital minerals and nutrients, depletes the immune system and wreaks havoc with our insulin far worse than other natural sweeteners. Yet it is inexpensive to produce, and that seems to be the key to feeding our school-agers. It should not be allowed in a school lunch.

Memories of the lunchroom staff actually cooking food while I attended school in the '70s and (less so) early '80s has given way to over-processed, ready-to-heat meals that completely lack the nutrition needed to learn. And for many, this is the only meal of the day.

Experiments have been done here and abroad using home-cooked, nutritionally dense food in school settings, and the improvement in test scores and decrease in health problems as well as ADHD behaviors were striking.

We owe it to the generation that will be our doctors, teachers and bridge builders to feed their brains with real food. Do we know what that is anymore? As we see juvenile obesity, diabetes and ADHD numbers escalate, how can we deny that we are what we eat?

The solution might just be in getting back to real food, and it should start in our schools. We cannot afford to ignore the importance of nutrition in our children's lives.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

As we approach Memorial Day, I feel compelled to speak to some concerns that are felt by many veterans who fought for and defended our country, and to speak for those who paid the ultimate price.

Most of us were drafted into the service and gladly served to preserve the rights and freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the greatest democracy in the world.

There have been many people wanting to enjoy our freedom who have come to our country from other countries and cultures. Many of these people, along with some of our citizens who have no religious affiliations, want to change what was established by the men who created our Constitution, government and laws. The words “In God We Trust” and other symbols created by our forefathers are in jeopardy. People from other countries and cultures are welcome here, but don’t try to change what we have in this country. Be proud of the flag of the United States, stand up for what this country was founded on and be ready to protect our rights and freedom.

Stanley E. Yeager
Jamestown

The writer is a World War II veteran.

Why this incessant, fixated bashing of the cigarette companies? Don’t tell me our government is the least bit concerned with my health and well-being or there would be constant investigations of all foods such as salt, caffeine, sugar, pork and, most important, alcohol.

Every day, we are confronted with circumstances that require making a choice. Occasionally our choices become mistakes. How we deal with these determines our values, our ethics, our integrity and our ability to survive.

It is important that we hold our heads high and think positive.

Elizabeth Breazeale
Greensboro

We will not soon forget the memorable 143rd bicentennial reunion celebration of the Warnersville community. The response of more than 1,500 past and present residents and friends attending our reunion events reflects the love and passion many have for the oldest organized African American community in the city. Thank you for being a part of celebrating our legacy.

Many, many thanks to those who worked on committees planning our community celebration. A special thank-you to Dawn Steele and Jessica Fox for their diligent work in planning the picnic and banquet that brought the community together for great food and fellowship. A phenomenal, spiritually uplifting musical concert was the highlight of the weekend. Thank you, Don and Yvonne Smith, for your leadership and creative musical talents and to all of the talented musicians who performed.

Our challenge is to continue to celebrate our heritage and fight to protect the legacy left by our forefathers, the freemen of slavery who were the first to build their homes on these sacred grounds of the Warnersville community.

Otis Hairston
Greensboro

The writer is a member of the Warnersville Community Coalition.

Two comments in the May 11 Ideas section caught my attention:

1. Nicholas Kristof wrote that Hillary Clinton not dropping out of the race could be a factor if Barack Obama loses in the general election. From what I’ve seen, he’s fully capable of losing the race without help from anyone. And then to even suggest Jimmy Carter losing to Ronald Reagan had anything to do with Ted Kennedy was astounding. At least Kristof did add, “Carter probably would have lost anyway to Ronald Reagan.”

You think? I’m guessing that the misery index of inflation and unemployment back then (which made today’s troubles look like a picnic) may have had something to do with it.
2. David Noer writes, “Our economy is floundering, our dollar is at an all-time low, our international prestige has diminished and we are embroiled in an unpopular war.” Wow, things are really bad here, aren’t they? That must be why there is such an emigration problem of everyone wanting to leave the country.

Oh wait, you mean the immigration controversy is because of all the people who want to get into the United States? I wonder why.

Fred Pearlman
Greensboro

Gov. Easley's proposed budget would increase taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. Revenue would improve the state's mental health system -- which is in severe disrepair -- as well as bring teachers' salaries to the national average.

As a high school senior, I have experienced the shortcomings of our educational system. I believe that more significant reforms are needed. This bill is a wonderful start to motivate teachers and anyone interested in pursuing a career in education.

I realize the desperate situation our nation faces with the health care crisis. I believe that if we are going to fix the health care problem, we have to start at home. Our mental health care has garnered national criticism. Mentally disabled people should get the care they deserve, because we all share the human experience together and should look after our brethren, and also because I think all of us hope that the state would do the same for us were we unable to look after ourselves.

Please consider those who can't speak for themselves because of their mental conditions and of the children whose futures can be improved as a result of the increases in teachers' salaries. Write your representative to support this bill.

Vincent Russell
Greensboro

The writer is student body president, Ragsdale High School.

The recent Guilford County elections were truly remarkable. All but one bond, which will increase property taxes, were approved. The sales-tax increase, a much more equitable (democratic) method of distributing fiscal responsibility for the county's needs, was defeated.

It would be an enlightening topic for the county's major news organizations, print and electronic, to research and report on the number of voters who passed those bonds onto the backs of the 43 percent of county residents who own property who are among the 57 percent who do not own property but account for the majority of the county's income through consumption, along with tourists and visitors.

The bond referenda, and the rejection of the sales tax, will come back to haunt Guilford County and the cities of Greensboro and High Point. It is an election that literally stunned seasoned analysts. It shouldn't have. In a time when homeowners and small business entrepreneurs are struggling with an economic crisis that has only been equaled by the Great Depression of the 1930s, it's only a short time before the more responsible members of our community revolt -- democratically -- with elections that change statistics so unfairly burdening the most responsible of our citizenry.

Lonnie Groendes
Greensboro

The (lack of) international aid being sent to the people of Myanmar is utterly disgraceful. I was ashamed to learn that the United States was only planning on sending between $250,000 and $3 million; the recent education bond here in Guilford County alone gives $412.3 million to our schools.

The hundreds of thousands of people starving in the streets with homes and possessions destroyed rank as a tiny fraction of concern compared to the cost of a new county jail ($114.6 million). If this is how little respect our nation shows for other people's losses, then it's no wonder that they hold so little respect for us in exchange.

We should send as much aid as we possibly can to show that we retain compassion in the world today. If the Myanmar junta won't accept that, then we should ignore them or depose them, and give assistance directly to people who truly need our help.

Jack Woolard
Greensboro

The writer is a student at Grimsley High School.

Eric Welder's glowing review (letter, May 19) of an Associated Press reporter's article about the supposed facts of Obama and Hillary's health care plans had very little to do with facts.

The article had a disclaimer that it was an "Analysis" piece, which was supposed to be about breaking down the question of universal health care into smaller, more easily understood facts. It was instead nothing but a puff piece for the two Democratic candidates.

Welder says, "Unlike most political stories, which simply repeat what candidates are saying, the story on candidates' health care plans actually provided useful information to voters by evaluating candidates' claims." The AP writer should have looked at what all of the candidates are saying and simply broken down the larger picture into smaller, more understandable bits of information.

Welder seems to think the writer's "evaluation of the candidates' claims" is an honest attempt at analysis. The AP writer's "evaluation" was obviously his own biased personal opinion and should not have been the headline piece for that day's News & Record. Instead, it belonged inside the opinion page with the rest of the editorials.

Steve Church
Greensboro

What in the world is wrong with the zoning commissioners letting developers run rampant, not only on Horsepen Creek Road, but all over this area, causing gridlock at rush hour on almost every road leading into the city? It can be a big problem for people trying to get to work on time. Just ask someone who regularly drives the Horsepen Creek Road or Guilford College Road, not to mention Battleground during the morning rush hour.

When is the zoning commission going to recommend putting the brakes on urban sprawl, or are we going to be annexed by Raleigh? Is that the plan?

Charles H. Ott
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Marilyn Trivett

We’ve called it a “bio-cell” ever since we built it in the fall of 2000. On April 5, Karen Neill’s gardening article in the News & Record gave us a softer and probably more descriptive name: rain garden.

Thanks to the city of Greensboro’s encouragement to try this new concept for our location, we have been spared the many negative drawbacks of the unsightly “detention pond” that looks more like a fenced-off watering hole. Yes, we’ve all seen them scattered here and there, but what if you suddenly learned you might have to put one in your front yard?

The city offered this “bio-cell” alternative, if we were willing to try it. Driving by the Kingdom Hall at 1611 Pisgah Church Road, to the untrained eye, the area is barely distinguishable from an ordinary sloping stretch of land. Yet, underneath all that natural beauty is a filtering system, pipes and spillway included, that effectively protects the environment from our parking lot’s storm-water pollutants.

While it is costlier and probably requires more maintenance than a detention pond, we’d rather have swarms of volunteers pulling weeds in a rain garden than swarms of mosquitoes breeding in standing water. And, while visitors are always welcome, Canada geese have a reputation for not being the best guests to have around.

In light of all these advantages, our hard work is considered an investment that has enhanced the property, blended well with our other landscaping schemes and been a plus for the environment.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

I find it egregious that on the front page of the News & Record (May 23) are two articles side by side, “Tax increase of 5.46 cents proposed in county plan” and “City 'less than robust’ again.”

How can our political leaders and bureaucrats even consider any tax increase at all with the current economic situation — nationally and especially locally? They should be cutting budgets across the board and eliminate questionable or unneeded services to stay within the current tax revenues.

They even should get the budget below the expected revenues, just as individuals must do when faced with increased expenses and constant or reduced income.

Not everyone is employed by government with its ability to create more income by taxation. Get real, leaders!

The electorate is not a bottomless well of money for you to spend “on our behalf.”

Melvin E. Hooper
Greensboro

This is in response to David Reid’s letter (May 11) regarding “the fact” of evolution. He says that we do not teach religion in public schools anymore. The Bible is taught as literature in many public schools. (Heaven forbid that the truth should rub off on any of the students.)

Regarding missing links having been found and the “massive fossil evidence” in support thereof, I challenge Reid to name one generally agreed-upon transitional form.

As for Richard Dawkins, if he doesn’t believe that life on the earth was seeded by aliens, what does he believe about the origin of the first living cell? (I saw the movie, “Expelled,” too!)

Many scientists cite the party line regarding the supposed veracity of evolution for practical reasons, such as to keep their jobs, to become tenured, or not to be ostracized from the academic club. But many reasoned thinkers have difficulty with the pipe dream of spontaneous generation.

Bob Kelly
Kernersville

There were striking contrasts in your May 19 letters. Eric Welder congratulates for an “unbiased and well-written” front-page May 12 Associated Press “story” about presidential candidates’ health care plans. But Jillian Haeseler cautions not to trust the media, to do some digging, and to make informed choices. Right on, Jillian!

Labeling that story as “analysis” is a clear warning that opinions and agendas heavily influence its content. Example: Commonwealth Fund’s Karen Davis is quoted and identified as being part of a health-research organization.

In fact, that fund is an advocacy organization passionately dedicated to establishing federal policies for universal health care and the equivalent of a single-payer system. This is clearly identifiable in its report, “Health Policy Reform: Beyond the 2008 Elections.”

The report is a “resource for journalists,” which may have helped the AP writer. The article claims there are pluses and minuses to the single-payer systems in Great Britain and Canada, citing lower cost as a plus, but omitting any of the minuses.

Analyses belong on the editorial page. The health care system is incredibly complex; reforming it is even more so.

Don’t be misled by politicians trumpeting simple, disconnected solutions, or by the media who rubber-stamp them.

Thank you, Jillian.

Jim Mooney
Jamestown

Regarding the article, “Council approves $90,000 to pay for bicentennial party” (May 22):

As a county resident who pays taxes on property in Greensboro, I am ready to hold a Boston Tea Party and throw tea bags at City Council members. Taxation without representation makes one steam at the thought of $90,000 for ice cream and cupcakes.

In these difficult economic times, has the council ever had a frugal thought?

Hopefully, the cupcakes were topped off with caviar.

Betty Stout
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By Jim Clark

There has been quite a bit of coverage on the traffic moving on New Garden Road and Horse Pen Creek Road. I’m one of those citizens who moved into the quiet, affordable subdivisions along Horse Pen Creek long before there were private schools or private sports clubs planned or built. The neighborhood has changed, and it isn’t because of the people who live there. Twice a day, traffic along Horse Pen Creek Road is a nightmare imitation of some demented racetrack or car-chase movie; it’s only a matter of time before someone is fatally involved in an early morning wreck along this once-picturesque road.

From 7:15 a.m. to almost 8, residents risk their lives trying to merge on to Horse Pen Creek, facing blind corners or other obstructed views, with bumper-to-bumper traffic coming from opposite directions and often 15-20 mph over the speed limit.

Recently there was an article about how the city is thinking of widening the road to four lanes with a median. This is at best a joke. At worst it is a perfect example of someone who hasn’t a clue what the issue is. We residents can’t safely get on to the only road leading out of our subdivisions because of the influx of people dropping their children off in the mornings at private schools that we can’t even afford to send our children to. Wanton development of our neighborhoods has run amok and will result in a fatal accident some morning.

Here is an easy two-step plan that all of us along Horse Pen Creek can follow to retake our neighborhood:

1. Slow down to 25 mph along Horse Pen Creek in the mornings. The resulting gaps in traffic will allow us to safely pull out and get to work without having to wait 10 minutes for a traffic break. It also might force the nonresidents to alter their routes so they won’t be slowed down by us middle-class homeowners who live there.

2. Vote every incumbent off the City Council and county commissioners. They sure aren’t serving our needs. They are more interested in allowing more empty strip malls and vacant apartment buildings to go up than to improve a road by just adding a few stoplights. Vote them all out.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

As a Guilford County school parent and Guilford County voter, I fully support the Guilford County Board of Education-proposed budget for 2008-2009.

The $16,049,575 request is responsible and reasonable, and I urge the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to approve the request in its entirety as a demonstration of its commitment to making public education for all citizens a top priority.

The passage of the education facilities bonds on May 6 clearly shows our citizens are committed to investing in quality education in Guilford County.

Continued investment in programs and students that includes maintaining current efforts as well as creating specific efforts to improve the school environment and improve achievement of all students will continue to make Guilford County a wonderful place to live and work and attractive to outside families and companies who might consider relocating to our community.

This funding supports both our students and our economic development and must be approved.

Stephanie Chandler
Greensboro

I read with interest Donald Patterson’s May 17 article, “City’s 1958 birthday party a washout.” Concerns about rain and mud are certainly not what I remember about that celebration.

As a first-grader at Lindley Elementary School, I remember my mother staying up late at night sewing my long dress and bonnet, my excitement at being in the sesquicentennial pageant and a little disappointment that my father didn’t grow a beard like the fathers of many of my friends.

The sesquicentennial is still a very positive memory for me 50 years later.

The Bicentennial Commission should be commended for planning a celebration that focused not only on Greensboro’s history but our future as well. I especially appreciate that they planned events and encouraged participation that honors the multiracial, multicultural city we are today.

By the way, in Patterson’s article of May 18 on the Parade of Decades, surely there was something more interesting he could have written about an event with so many participants and spectators other than horse droppings.

Ida Glasgow
Greensboro

I agree with Thomas Friedman’s column (May 22) that the “Global balance of power is shifting away from the U.S.” We needed an energy policy — in effect — even before 9/11.

We lacked foresight by not seeing how vulnerable we would be to an oil shortage. Did we have to wait until now to understand that “the petro-authoritarians of OPEC would then — like now — be able to buy General Motors with just three days of oil profits from their oil production”?

Foresight seems only to come from hindsight. That is, if we meet up with a tiger in the jungle and look into his eyes, we are more apt to see the love the tiger has for us — its prey — than any hint of hate or fear because the tiger is in control. Have our eyes become too dim — or we too naive — to see that new tigers don’t rescue old ones?

Ray Hylton
Greensboro

Warning to taxpayers: A taxpayer who votes for a Democrat at the national level is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.

Hank Powell
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:

By David Moff

All blacks look alike, all Muslims are terrorists, all Jews are stingy, all Catholic priests are pedophiles, all deaf people are dumb, all gays are sexual deviants, all fat people are lazy, all people who live in the country are rednecks and on and on and on.

Of course, each of these statements is utterly ridiculous and has no basis in fact. They are only the unfortunate stereotypes that people label others with for reasons that are beyond me.
Why in the world do our county commissioners continue to indulge themselves in behavior and statements that serve only to demonstrate how narrow-minded, juvenile and intolerant they are? For that matter, why do we as a society continue to find reasons not to accept people who are not like us? Fact is, we are a nation and world of a diverse mix.

Did you know that in Guilford County we have 106 ethnic groups that speak 70 languages and dialects? So who is to say who is right and who is wrong?

We are all committed to our own view of the world but must learn to respect and appreciate the differences we each have and how these differences can in the long run be the road to a better life for all of us.

I just hope that our Guilford County elected officials will learn to set aside their egos and pettiness, capitalize on their differences and understand that their role is to set policy and guidelines for the county and then let the employees do their jobs. Their role is not to use their positions to espouse personal prejudices and push agendas that have nothing to do with county business.

Billy Yow’s comment about all blacks looking alike is not a joke, is never funny and is always hurtful. Just like every other stereotype.

Until elected officials and the greater society learn to embrace and respect one another’s differences, our community and nation will continue to suffer due to their inappropriate behavior and intolerance.

The writer lives in Greensboro.

“Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” — “Youth” by Samuel Ullman.

We received an e-mail that a good buddy is in the fight of his life against cancer. When I called to talk with him, he mentioned that we should go fishing. Sometimes life is just about being there for friends when they need an ear to listen or a pat on the back or just some time for talking with a buddy.

To the graduating seniors of the Class of 2008: Take the time to thank those who have helped you on your journey. Remember to surround yourself with good people who will stand by you when times are both good and bad. Keep, as Ullman wrote, “sweet amazement at the stars ..., the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what comes next, and the joy in the game of life.”

Joe Plante
Summerfield

I read with dismay the letter of Sandy Bundgaard (May 21) and the complaint, obviously correct in her experience, about the poor constituent service afforded to her by Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s office.

However, my experience was completely different. I requested assistance, using the same background information material on a State Department matter, from Sens. Dole and Richard Burr and Rep. Howard Coble, all my immediate congressional representatives.

I had no response from Burr, one short discouraging telephone call from Coble’s staff with no subsequent follow-up although it was requested, and an immediate response, establishing an interest in helping me if possible, by Dole’s staff. They made no promises, yet my problem was solved simply by a show of interest in the matter by Senator Dole’s office.

Only one of these three will get my vote in the next election. I leave it to the reader to judge which one that will be.

Harris Johnson
Greensboro

Burnett Opinion Poll (BOP) announced today three significant predictions: 1) Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the next Democrat elected U.S. president, in 2012; (2) City Council members Mike Barber, Mary Rakestraw and Trudy Wade will be impeached in 2008; Big Brown will finish first at the Belmont and win the Triple Crown.

So listen up! Make your selections and place your bets, folks! BOP predictions are deadly accurate 66 2/3’s percent of the time! Be a winner!

Bill Burnett
Greensboro

Has the word “Republican” been deleted from the English language? It certainly seems so.

Not one candidate running for governor or lieutenant governor had the word “Republican” beside his or her name in their advertising on TV or in print during the recent primary election here in North Carolina.

You don’t reckon the reason for this is that our current president, George Bush, and his vice president, Dick Cheney, have the worst approval ratings since Herbert Hoover left office during the Great Depression? Nah, probably not.

Buck Pate
Greensboro

I don’t like high gas prices any more than Jerry Snow (letter, May 21), but I have to respond to his rant about the petroleum industry trying to destroy our economy.

First, ExxonMobil reported a lower net profit margin in the first quarter of 2008 than in the first quarter of 2007, probably due to higher cost of the oil it purchased.

Second, ExxonMobil’s net profit margin is considerably lower than many companies’. For example, in the first quarter of 2008, ExxonMobil earned 9.3 percent on revenues while Google earned 25.2 percent. Altria Group, the parent of Phillip Morris tobacco, also earns more on each dollar of revenue than any oil company. I don’t hear smokers saying Altria is destroying their economic well-being.

Third, the United States has no political leadership on energy policy. Instead, Bush begs the Saudis to pump more oil.

And self-restraint is a rare discipline. Cars still go 80 mph in 65-mph zones. Until this year, SUVs and pickup trucks were the big sellers. Lights stay on in rooms with no occupants. Escalators run when no one is on them. And so on.

To quote Pogo, we have met the enemy and he is us.

Keith Hoile
Greensboro

I have a few observations about Donald W. Patterson’s article about the bicentennial wrap-up parade. If I were writing about a one-of-a-kind event, I would focus on all the wonderful and magical moments of the day. I would not include one word about manure cleanup.

I am sure Patterson’s journalistic credentials are impeccable, so I hold him to a high standard. Perhaps he just underestimated the value of the Express Clydesdales.

The story of the magnificent Clydesdales and their relationship to Greensboro’s bicentennial is a story of the commitment the business community has made to Greensboro’s growth and development.

Larry Diana, president/owner of Express Employment Professionals, who brought the Clydesdales to Greensboro, was doing what strong business leaders have always done for Greensboro: He made a financial, time and energy commitment to a vibrant, thriving community. His contribution said Greensboro is worthy of the best.

My article about the Greensboro Wrap Party would include a hearty thanks to Larry Diana, the Bicentennial Committee and all the contributors who made the events and parade so successful.

Kathie Woelk
Browns Summit

Big Daddy Oil said, “It troubles me a lot,” referring to the problems we all face with the price of gas. Eat or drive is the current choice.

This while Exxon made over $2 billion profit so far this year, the largest quarterly profit ever earned by an American corporation. Does that disgust you? It should.

And while it “troubles” Big Daddy, just know that his profit is about equal to that of Exxon, and he won’t do a thing to change it.

While Congress has been trying to deal with the situation, Bush has vetoed everything. But now there’s a bill before Congress to stop government subsidies to big oil and divert the funds to renewable energy sources. Is this intelligent? Is this right? Will this help us? Yes, yes, yes.

Please contact your congressman, Brad Miller (forget Coble and Dole who are Bushies) and ask him to pass this bill, to remember the Earth on which our lives depend, and forget the fortunes of those already over rich.

Gay Cheney
Browns Summit

We never know what goes on in the privacy of one’s life when the blinds are drawn and no one can hear. There may be a private hell. I suspect there is with most of us.

But the Kennedys can certainly show grace under fire in public. And I believe this grace and strength comes from their enormous amount of family support that buffers them in any crisis. They truly love and support whether the family member is a saint or sinner. That’s the true meaning of family — we are our brothers’ keepers without condition.

I have a strong admiration for Ted Kennedy because he has a genuine concern for those in need and many members of his family are involved in some kind of charity work. If God punishes the wealthy, then his family is the poster family for judgment.

But, they never seem bitter. I’ve heard the tremble in his voice when he is speaking passionately about bills in the Senate or when he is giving the eulogy for yet another Kennedy, and I think he is genuine. I hope he has a lot of good years left. We need him in Congress as a beacon.

Chris Myott
Eden

Thanks to Jeff Mills for his wonderful May 25 article on neighborhoods.

This is to clarify a couple of points about my work. I am proud to serve as adviser for the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress (GNC). However, my employer is the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (CFGG). In that capacity, I am privileged to work with neighborhoods throughout Greensboro, including those that are not members of the Congress. My work is funded on a half-time basis by the Building Stronger Neighborhoods (BSN) Charitable Purpose Fund for which CFGG is the administrator and fiduciary agent. The BSN fund is made possible through generous contributions from: Cemala Foundation, CFGG, Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation, and Weaver Foundation. The Greensboro Public Library also contributes in-kind services. In addition to my work, BSN also funds small grants for neighborhoods. Those grants have totaled more than $150,000 since 2001.

It is also important to recognize that neighborhood residents lead the way in improving their communities. I simply support them along with a vast partnership of people who care about neighborhoods, including BSN, the GNC, numerous dedicated city staff, neighborhood-minded City Council members and a wide array of other government, nonprofit and business partners.

Donna Newton
Greensboro

An answer to Jerry Snow (letter, May 21):

Jerry, let’s not blame the oil companies. Why don’t you blame OPEC? They control the amount of oil, thus the price of oil, and, yes, they may want to ruin our economy. However, much of the blame needs to be directed at Congress, which will not let oil companies find oil in our country and will not let us build refineries.

We have been in this position since the ’70s and nothing will change unless you, and everyone in America, write to your representatives and let exploration begin. Your congressman and senators are in the front of your phone book.

Also, I would like to complain about the price of milk — 1/2 gallon cost me $3.48.

Rick Hadley
Siler City

The Greensboro City Council is close to approving a budget that eliminates funding for landscaping at more than 90 sites — parks, entrances to major roads and public building gardens. Your neighborhood park may be on this list.

We live in a city known for its natural beauty with abundant dogwoods and azaleas. Now is not the time to make shortsighted cuts in funding what we are so proud of.

First impressions are lasting. As visitors enter our city, they should be impressed with how we take care of it. What do you think about a neighbor who doesn’t take care of his yard? Do we want a city like this? With a $423 million proposed budget, can we not fund $600,000 in landscaping?

Call, e-mail or go to the next City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 3 and speak out in favor of landscaping our parks, entry points on major roads and public buildings.

A city that just celebrated 200 years can do better than this.

David Craft
Greensboro

Gregory Rodriguez (op-ed column, May 21) talks about “the invisibility of whiteness” and refers to being white in America as “the default category.” There’s a reason for that.

There are drawbacks to designating race by color, such as the inappropriate imagery of opposition. Black and white, which sound opposite, represent African and Caucasian, which obviously aren’t, and I’d guess that the imagery has had an adverse effect on race relations.

The drawback that’s relevant here is the implication of a nonexistent symmetry: Black and white are not equivalent categories. In America, black is mainly an ethnic designation. White isn’t; the designation is ethnically too diverse to be useful.

Saying that I’m white tells you far less about who I am than about who I’m not: I don’t lack the privileges of the majority and, as such, don’t qualify for legal protections to compensate for that lack. To describe myself, I’d use a more specific category. White identity is useless for the same reason gentile identity would be.

If black and white aren’t equivalent categories, a lot of black/white comparisons make no sense. Such inappropriate comparisons are mainly useful for denying people compensation for the common privileges they should get to share but don’t.

Steven Taub
Greensboro

Dr. Anne Calhoun is a neurologist friend of mine at the University of North Carolina who specializes in women’s mood disorders. We were talking at our fortnightly continuing education meeting (TMIS) at Chatham Hospital a couple of years ago when she remarked that the Women’s Health Initiative publicity had set women’s health care back 20 years. I’m older, and I added, “No, it set it back 30 years.”

I am now beginning to see the ill effects showing up in my practice that are directly attributable to women stopping their estrogen. Unfortunately, they are older now, and resuming their estrogen at this stage does carry some real cardiovascular/clotting potential complications.

Fortunately, I also have many women without a uterus who have been on their replacement estrogen for decades and who continue to do well.

No one has yet successfully contradicted the landmark study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in the 1970s that showed that “all cause” mortality of women without a uterus on estrogen was one-third the rate of those without estrogen.

Thank you very much for the enlightening article, “Go ahead and eat that grapefruit” (op-ed column, May 18), by Carol Tavris and Dr. Avrum Bluming.

John R. Dykers Jr., M.D.
Siler City

I believe I have come up with an idea that may save us thousands and collectively millions of dollars. I have been a properly licensed driver for 28 years and have noticed a need for some type of device installed on our vehicles that would indicate to other drivers our intention to change directions. If such a device were available, I believe it would help avoid rear-end collisions, confusion at intersections and simply maintain a fluid motion of continuity.

I have mulled it over and, from the best I can ascertain, it needs to be installed where the driver can easily and mindlessly get used to using it. Maybe on the left side of the steering column. When activated, it would start a chain reaction of lights flashing — left-side lights for left turns and right-side lights for right turns.

I am sure I am on to something. If someone would please let me know how to get such a device patented, I would really appreciate it.

David Parrish
Greensboro

The following is a Counterpoint:
By Dan Gerlach

Your recent editorial, “The governor’s budget” (May 15), was disappointing and misguided.

There is broad agreement that the state should invest in mental-health services and in attracting and keeping our best and brightest educators in our schools. Your editorial argues that teachers are already paid well enough, and that any mental-health services can be paid for with “other ways.” Then the editorial argues that the general fund budget can be cut substantially to fund highways.

These arguments reflect a lack of understanding and knowledge of how our state works.

The editorial neglects the fact that North Carolina teachers with the same education and same experience as their national counterparts are paid about 7 percent less. This is unacceptable if we are to provide our children with the quality education they need. This is why Gov. Mike Easley’s budget closes that gap.

The editorial ignores the fact that the governor proposes $400 million in budget cuts, more than twice the amount of the modest cigarette and alcohol taxes he proposes. Your editorial neglects to inform your readers that the proposed increase in spending is less than the growth of inflation and state population. So, you want mental-health services but have no clue how to pay for them. That is irresponsible.

You then go on to repeat the politically motivated urban myth that the state has “raided” the Highway Trust Fund for other purposes. This is dead wrong. The Highway Trust Fund benefits from the growth in the sales tax on automobiles that originally went to the general fund for schools and health care, not the other way around. Your editorial says the state can find $147 million to do so.

So which employees should we lay off? Which services should we cut to find the $147 million? Your editorial is silent, apparently because you have no realistic alternative.

Yes, the governor’s budget does have modest increases in alcohol and cigarette taxes. But we need real money to make necessary investments in education and mental health, not just hollow words.

The writer is senior policy adviser for fiscal affairs to Gov. Mike Easley.