Letters to the editor - Friday (7-3-09)

Cities have reasons, rights when it comes to curfews

Kevin Womble stated in a letter to the editor his opposition to the recent city curfew law, and stated that his next letter would be to the ACLU. Mr. Womble needs to be aware that although teenagers have rights, they do not have the same rights as adults (people 18 and over).

Several cases have been taken to the courts over the curfew laws, and it appears that cities do have some rights to enact them. If a city is attempting to protect children from becoming victims or perpetrators of crime, assisting parents with their responsibilities over minors or is preventing all persons from the dangers posed by unsupervised minors, the city is well within its rights. In other words, the city must have a compelling interest for enacting the law. The key is, however, were there some less restrictive means the city could have used prior to enacting the law? Usually, cities have had to show by way of data that the curfew law did preserve public safety. It will be interesting to see the data for Salisbury over the next several years. History shows that sustained enforcement of the law and community involvement go a long way in making curfew laws effective.

Curfew laws have been around since the 1890s as a means of curbing crime. Yes, there is a fine line when it comes to one's rights and one's responsibilities. Unfortunately, some parents do not effectively accept or enforce their responsibilities as parents, and this forces other measures to have to be taken. I salute the City Council and Mayor Kluttz for their efforts on this issue.

— Gordon Correll

Salisbury

Blind to the real issue

This letter is in response to Fred Moore's July 1 letter. He stated how the "socialist media" jumped on a bandwagon to basically crush Gov. Mark Sanford's career because he admitted to an affair.

The fact that Sanford committed this affair is one thing, Mr. Moore, but the fact that he possibly used taxpayers' money is the real reason behind all the hoopla. If you would stop looking through your narrow conservative point of view you could see the real reasons behind the severity of this scandal. Also, you said our "sexually charged society" made it difficult to remain faithful. Are you attempting to say it's OK for Sanford to have an affair because of how our society has shoved sex into the limelight of everything? Mr. Moore, please continue to watch Legion games and not voice your opinion when you are oblivious to the facts.

— Greg Hicks

Salisbury

Cut waste, not meal days

I am very much in favor of waste being cut from the budget of Rowan county. Did the county commissioners think that when those employees involved in providing a low-cost meal for seniors are off on furlough that many elderly and physically challenged people do not get a meal on those days?

For a lot of people, this is the only cooked meal that they are able to get. They did not get lunch last Friday and will not be fed this Friday.

Our county is shifting two employees to other jobs and cutting one inspector to three days a week in case we ever need him again, instead of keeping employees that are needed to feed the elderly. I think that should never have happened. Costs could have been cut a little from every department if necessary in order to keep the employees that are necessary to enable these people to have food. It is shameful.

I suppose they sat around at a budget meeting and decided those old people could do without eating one day a week.

— Ken Dennis

China Grove