Letters to the editor - Wednesday (1-11-2012)

Santorum wrong on Social Security

I had been impressed by Republican nominee contender Rick Santorum until I read about his proposal on Social Security.

He suggests immediate cuts in Social Security to help offset the “soaring federal debt.” A major contributor to this fiscal mess is the billions of dollars wasted in Iran during the so-called “war” of nearly nine years, not to forget the more than 4,000 lives lost. I can’t recall whether or not he supported this “war,” but why punish people who worked all their lives paying into Social Security? Some of these people no doubt depend on it for basic needs, like food and shelter.

I would like to see him go into a senior citizens center in New Hampshire and bring up this subject. Then let them seize him, tar and feather him and ride him out of town on a rail, and put a bus ticket to South Carolina in his pocket.

— W.L. Poole

Salisbury

Photo ID crunch?

With a little checking about the use of photo IDs for voting, several things have come to mind. The first is that, in the 511 square miles of Rowan County, there is only one place to get an official ID — at the driver’s license bureau on Main Street.

It is a busy place, famous for its waiting lines. If churches and community organizations decide to bring in loads of people to register (get photo IDs), it could be a slow process. Anyone who wishes to have a photo ID would need to provide the same materials that they already must provide for voter registration. Unfortunately, by having the two processes of registration and ID separate, it leaves more opportunity for fakes to be made.

As for the honesty of the elections, it seems that the problems of identification are minuscule compared to some other methods of tampering with the vote. Florida’s hanging chads and the Supreme Court mess, or the tampered machines in Ohio and Indiana, are examples where election damage can be far-reaching and very difficult to detect and correct. I think we should be more concerned with things of that nature and the buying of elections than with the smoke screen of a sudden ID “crisis.”

— Donald Tracy

Salisbury

Thanks for support

Thanks to the following for making Barbecue for Christmas (to support Faithful Friends Animal Sanctuary) a success this year. Thanks to the following: Daniel Lipe, Danny Lipe, Greg Eaves, Jim Ross, David Henderson, Joe Harper, Benny Fulcher, Bruce Blakenship, Steve “Frog” Smith and Rick Perrell. Special thanks go to Mary Padavick, Linda Shapleigh, Shannon Moore, FF volunteers, VFW 3006, College Barbecue and Rick Wilson.

— Jack & Deb Cornatzer

Salisbury

For the record

A photo caption accompanying Steve Blount’s Monday “My Turn” column listed the wrong hometown. He lives in Spencer.