Thanks to efforts, we will have water

I want to congratulate the cities of Concord and Kannapolis for the incredible efforts they have waged over the last six years to insure our future water supply.

The elected officials and managers are to be commended for their tireless commitment to the process. Our mayors, councilmen and managers have represented our citizens and businesses in a professional and measured manner.

We owe them a debt of gratitude for the lengths to which they have gone and the personal sacrifices they have made to insure our future.

I also want to thank the hundreds of individuals and businesses who responded to the challenge extended by our elected leaders, by the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Cabarrus Economic Development Corp. to participate in this crucial issue. Those efforts helped to insure our region’s commitment to the appropriate use of regional resources. This outcome is an example of the effectiveness that can be achieved when good government and good business work together.

I invite you to continue to be engaged in the pubic policy arena through membership in the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce as more battles related to the interbasin transfer are sure to surface.

Thank you all for the hard-won victory announced last week. It is true that leading businesses are leading communities. Thank you for your leadership in this matter.

— John S. Cox, CEO

Cabarrus Regional Partnership

Hayes lets party trump responsibility

Last week Robin Hayes voted against restoring pay-as-you-go spending discipline in the House. That Congressman Hayes would go back on his often-touted commitment to fiscal responsibility so quickly is bad enough, but to say he voted against it to avoid higher taxes is absurd.

His Republican colleague Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina voted for pay-as-you-go, saying his worries about our nation’s fiscal health outweighed his obligation to the Republican party.

Fiscal responsibility shouldn’t be a party line vote. There was a time when Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats like myself agreed on these issues. I’m sure other 8th District Constituents, such as myself, that all have to pay-as-we-go for health-care insurance, costly prescription drugs and fuel bills, would like to know why Mr. Hayes hasn’t learned his lesson, even after a near defeat in November.

We are tired of partisanship and we are tired of rich politicians on spending sprees mortgaging our children’s future.

— Larry Kissell

Biscoe

Editor’s note: Kissell ran against Hayes last fall.

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