Editorial: High food prices taking a toll

The United States isn't seeing the food riots that have erupted in Haiti, Malaysia, Afghanistan and more than a dozen other counties around the globe. But record high food prices are having an impact here as well, especially among those who were already struggling to make ends meet.

Confronted with the possibility of $4-a-gallon gasoline, people may find ways to drive less and walk more. But how are struggling families supposed to cope with $4-a-gallon milk, along with surging costs for other basic staples, coupled with increases in utility bills and medical care? A lot of people are having a tough time, and many of them are here in Rowan County. At Rowan Helping Ministries, for instance, the food pantry has seen a significant increase in the number of people requesting food assistance. One a recent Monday, 75 families sought help, up from the 40-45 daily requests that were coming in previously.

This Saturday, you can help make sure the pantry shelves stay stocked by participating in the National Association of Letter Carriers' "Stamp Out Hunger!" food drive. This annual nationwide event is the largest single-day food drive in the country, and organizers say it is especially important this year to collect as much food as possible. Locally, the drive is sponsored by NALC Branch 934, and here's how it works:

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Letters: Theo Heilig cared about every Legion player

Theo Heilig cared about every player on the Legion ball team

I was saddened to read in the Post on Wednesday about the passing of longtime American Legion baseball manager Theo Heilig.

I played for Rowan County in 1991 and 1992 and quickly became acquainted with Theo. My first impression was that he reminded me of the "old man" in the neighborhood who yells at you to get off his lawn.

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Dale McFeatters column: The Holy Grail of ethanol

WASHINGTON — This is a lesson for the civics books. Five months ago, ethanol derived from corn was the new miracle green fuel. By using corn to power our cars, we could tell the sheiks to go pound their sand.

It all sounded so simple. It also ignored the basic laws and limitations of economics, geography, chemistry and electoral politics. If we learned anything from the 1970s, we apparently forgot it. Then it was synfuels. Now it's biofuels, equally expensive and impractical.

The thing about oil is that there's a lot of it. True, a lot of it is in unfortunate parts of the globe, but we get most of our oil from our neighbors — in fact, Hillary and Barack should be very careful what they say about NAFTA because Canada is our largest supplier.

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Leonard Pitts column: Freedom is just an empty word

I'd like to think it was the sangria talking. But the plain truth is, when Anna said she doesn't find this country to be especially free, it was Anna talking. Granted, her complaint is hardly new. People often grouse about the lack of freedom in the land of the free.

But Anna is from Estonia, a former republic of the old Soviet Union. As in the Evil Empire, world's leading exporter of communism. So when Anna says she feels less free in the United States than in the once-totalitarian regime where she was born, it gets your attention. And when she says Americans sometimes remind her of the gray, fatalistic men and women who shuffled along under communism, unwilling to think too deeply, say too much or laugh too loudly for fear of offending the State, it is striking, to say the least.

You won't know Anna from Estonia. She is a friend's fiancee and these insights were not part of some think tank paper but, rather, came in the ebb and flow of table talk one recent night at a Mexican restaurant. Still, I think Anna is onto something.

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Other voices: Highway Patrol and dogs don't mix

The News & Observer of Raleigh

Bryan Beatty, secretary of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, may have had little choice but to suspend a canine program of the state Highway Patrol in the wake of some scandalous training techniques, but at least he did it. The program will be reviewed.

Truth is, as useful as dogs can be in investigating drug and property crimes, maintaining the program just might not be worth it at this point. The patrol, in the wake of behavioral scandals involving some troopers, has had to fire Sgt. Charles L. Jones for mistreating a dog.

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