Strategic planning and white elephants
David Hall (Jan. 27 letter) kindly attributes Steve Blount’s visions from the past to “miscalculations.” I must beg to differ. Blount, who once boasted of having an IQ of 171, was quite calculating in peddling his agenda while in power. Blount had a vision for what he wanted Rowan County to look like. And he found numerous egocentric “movers and shakers” who were willing to accommodate his vision, and their bloated egos ó at taxpayer expense.
The Strategic Planning Commission and other “Blount Committees” were seeded with this motivated few who guided “research” and built “support” for whatever solutions were called for by their master’s voice ó so that the apparent consensus would purchase the mandate he needed to ensnare the votes of at least two more commissioners. Such “strategic planning” bought the white elephant ballpark, Summit Center and various failed contract deals. The lack of inclusivity in Blount’s political process caused an increasing number of “naysayers” and “obstructionists” to realize that the “Teflon genius” was politically outnumbered. His true political genius had been his ability to mastermind a 12-year charade.
So contorted was Blount’s logic in trying to rationalize his miscalculations in the Russell-gate fiasco that his political stock plummeted beyond recovery. It didn’t take an IQ of 171 for constituents to realize what a farce Blount had perpetrated upon them during his tenure. Blount’s only miscalculation was that of not getting caught. Immediately afterward, his once-eager minions saw no more to be gained from answering their former master’s beck and call. It was time to take his leave from public view.
Blount neglected to mention a fourth “elephant analogy” in his commentary ó that of a pimple on an elephant’s posterior. The no-longer-relevant Blount should repay the $23,000 tax dollars he squandered tailing political candidates before resurfacing with hollow criticism of the current leadership.
ó Jeff Morris
Spencer
Uniting, not dividing
Growing up in the South as a white man these 35 years, I have seen too much racism, hatred and division. The fact is that other races work just as hard, are just intellegent and are still suffering from the wounds we inflicted on them.
The logical and the obvious seemed to have no room for discussion in the world I grew up in. I am happy to see I won’t have to waste my entire life dealing with some of the obviously flawed viewpoints of the past.
Congratulations, Mr. Obama, not just for winning South Carolina but for giving my generation and the next their voice. To let us say we will have nothing to do with the divisions of the past. To let us say: We look forward to the future where we will successfully integrate the African-American community and reap the economic and social benefits for it.
I see these changes coming and look forward to division becoming unity in my next 35 years.
ó Carl J. Peters
Salisbury
Fulfilling a need
The J.C. Price High School Alumni Association is proud of the accomplishments of the Honorable Donald L. Graham, federal judge of Miami. We are supportive of his proposed role model program that he presented in his motivating speech at the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. Over 160 people signed up to support the proposed project. Obviously these people believe that we still need more mentoring programs in Rowan County.
Judge Graham recommended a mentoring program that would be focused on third-through sixth-graders. This would cover most of the youth since they will have other mentoring programs in middle and high schools. Our alumni who live out of town visit Salisbury on a regular basis for reunions and many read the Salisbury Post daily online.
This keeps them informed and aware of the obvious needs of our youth. There can never be too many mentors dedicated to the youth of Rowan County. Since it still takes a village to raise a child, the residents are all responsible for the rearing of its children.
ó Eleanor Qadirah
J.C. Price Alumni Association
Poverty at home
Poverty is, yes, a big question in the minds of a lot of people around the world … but! We have a lot of poverty-stricken people in Rowan, North Carolina and the United States. Why can we not concentrate on the poverty of our own nation before we try to rid the world of poverty?
Let my tax money go to help the poor kids down the street instead of in another country. It is time to step up and help our own people out; let other countries find ways of helping themselves.
ó Jimmy Holcombe
China Grove
headillne headilne
Regarding Tiger World and the responses from the “henney-penney” community, some facts have been overlooked. Many have referred to the San Diego Zoo attack during Christmas. They have concentrated on the fact that the tiger escaped, killed one teen and mauled two other young men. Not once have I seen or heard mention of the three having consumed alcohol or smoked marijuana before taunting the tiger (at least not in the Post’s letters section). The 19- and 24-year-old who were attacked had a “legal amount” of alcohol in their system. The 17-year-old who was killed had a blood alcohol level of 0.16, twice the legal driving amount!
Thirty billion people have visited zoos across the nation over the past 30 years with only one death … this one! Now, the San Diego Zoo could face a lawsuit because of this? Only in America can you get drunk or high by your own choice and can be compensated for your injuries if something happens to you. I hope the San Diego Zoo files a countersuit for the loss of an exotic animal due to the stupidity of these three boys.
As for the former Metrolina Zoo, the only animal to escape was Sidney the chimpanzee. No tigers have ever escaped from Metrolina Zoo, with sometimes 20 or more being housed there, nor has there been a problem at the Ashboro Zoo.
I admit there’s a first time for everything, which will be the next approach from nay-sayers. Bears have a greater reputation for attacking humans in the wild. However, when Boo-Boo came strolling through Rowan County (and my back yard), no one got upset until he was shot and killed in Thomasville. When you get right down to it, some humans left to rely on their own common sense and actions are far more deadly than animals in captivity!
ó Michael Basinger
Salisbury