Help make a difference
with Pass the Plate project
What have you done recently to make a positive difference in our community? That is a question I would like everyone in Rowan County to consider. Now, look back at your own life and think of all the times when you’ve suffered a setback or hard times and think of the people that have reached out to give you a hand when you were in need. What would you have done if those people had not been there to help?
Rowan Helping Ministries is there every day for those in need in our community. I hope you will consider attending Celebrate! PASS the PLATE 2008, a major fund-raising project to help feed the hungry, on Saturday (April 19) in the Crystal Lounge at Catawba College. This is an opportunity for us all to come together to help meet a basic human need right here in our own backyard.
Nobody deserves to go hungry. We all make mistakes in life. Sometimes those mistakes can be magnified to the point that there doesn’t seem to be a way out. Well, Rowan Helping Ministries provides a way. And we all deserve another chance. Please contact Tina Coble at 704-637-6838 or e-mail her at tcoble@rhmmail.org for more information.
ó Glenn Hudson
Salisbury
An archaic and unjust law
I am a retired career soldier. Like many others, I fought for this country for all the normal patriotic reasons, including the right of a United States citizen to establish a home in a place of choice and be secure from anyone taking it away wrongfully. The present annexation law allows five individuals from the City Council to come into my home in the county and tell me they are going to double all my taxes, charge me thousands of dollars hook-up fees and then charge me for water and sewer I don’t need. This unjust law allows others to achieve their political agendas by subjecting a majority of private citizens to unreasonable financial burdens and literally force some folks out of their homes.
In 1959, lobbyists and special interest groups got the state Legislature to abolish a resident’s right to vote on annexation and gave cities what amounts to a license to steal. Now the city of Salisbury in Rowan County anticipates using this archaic and unjust law to forcibly annex 1,700 people. 
There is strong indication that the majority of Salisbury city residents do not favor forced annexation. However, the City Council has chosen to not allow their constituents to vote on the matter for fear of being voted down. Salisbury residents have a huge stake in this matter. County residents have no vote. 
Forty-four other states no longer allow forced annexation. Our government leaders need to let the citizens of North Carolina, especially veterans and men and women currently fighting for our country, know that when an injustice affecting their lives is identified, we have leaders in our government who will in turn fight for us and correct that injustice.
ó S. Wilson Sandridge
Salisbury
No consent, no annexation
The connotation of the word “annex” is by general rule not a good thing, as it refers to the taking over of an area without permission of those annexed. The constitution of North Carolina allows such annexations, within certain bounds and requirements. As below:
Sec. 8. Representation and taxation.
“The people of this State shall not be taxed or made subject to the payment of any impost or duty without the consent of themselves or their representatives in the General Assembly, freely given.”
It is clear that the proposed annexation now in discussion would require consent of the citizens within that area to be annexed. They have not given consent for this annexation; therefore, it is not in accordance with the constitution of our great state.
The taxation question is paramount; the taxes on these citizens would be higher, thereby meaning a higher, dual level of taxes, and hence this is by the state constitution unenforceable.
ó Bill McComb
Salisbury
Clinton critics can’t move onIn response to M.M. Judy’s sarcastic letter to the Post on Bill Clinton’s visit to Salisbury, it seems that the writer did not focus on the content of the coverage of the visit. Hillary Clinton, not her husband, is running for president. The Post did an admirable job of presenting the visit in a responsible, fair and accurate manner.
Why is it that Judy and other critics cannot concentrate on Hillary Clinton the candidate, who is an intelligent, honorable woman who has chosen to be a public servant? What does this tell us about Hillary and her campaign? It is clear that she experienced public humiliation and suffering in her personal life but managed to deal with it. It is clear that she does not live in the past, but has moved on to a public life of service. How many of us could do that? Think of the concerns she has for America. To name a few: concerns for the middle class people who have lost jobs and are paying too much for gas; concerns about affordable health care for all Americans; bringing home troops from Iraq; improving education; and reforming our immigration system.
One assumes that M.M. Judy is Christian, since there is a reference to “Salisbury, in the heart of the Bible belt.” Doesn’t the Bible offer forgiveness and compassion to all of us? It appears that Hillary Clinton is a better Christian than most of us because she was able to forgive and go on with her life. We will be a better country if she is elected president.
ó Bessie B. Johnson
Salisbury
A stellar achievement
Congratulations to Jesse C. Carson High School administrators, faculty and students for attaining the STAR award. While the newest high school on the block may seem an ungainly teenager among schools that have grand, old pedigrees, those who work, play and learn here are proud to be a part of the building process required to generate and sustain a community of learning of this magnitude. To be rewarded by the Southwest Education Alliance for those efforts is affirming and gracious.
From the entrance gates to the back fields of play, this school is dressed in spirit, and many on campus say, “We bleed orange and blue!” That pride in place, that attention to detail in classrooms and in lunchrooms, that quality performance from PE to AP is the sure sign of the “roll up your sleeves” work ethic that personifies this school. Superintendent Judy Grissom’s comment that these STAR schools “are progressing and moving forward in providing amazing learning environments with demonstrated student achievements” is focused on the values of generations of schoolteachers.
Shoulder to shoulder, Cougar faculty members give each student multiple opportunities to grow and learn. They are a caring group whose interests are selfless and highly focused on student needs. Their worries about attendance issues, motivating the unmotivated, and the stress of working under the target of state testing mandates do not hamper the level of care and consideration that each student receives under their instruction.
I give my heartiest congratulations to those who make the Carson building come alive with learning and who cherish the rich experience of contributing to students’ success.
ó Gerrie W. Blackwelder
Curriculum coach, Jesse C. Carson High School
An enlightening article
I just want to express my gratitude to Aimee Arey for the very touching article that appeared in Sunday’s newspaper (“Sugar cane … and the sweetness of freedom,” page 1F). What an insight it gave into the early years of life in Cuba after Castro and communism took over. If I were still teaching, I would read this article to my students and talk about how fortunate we are to live in America. I hope Aimee plans to write a “second chapter.”
ó Wanda Nixon
Kannapolis
Endorsement letters
Letters commenting on candidates in the May 6 primary should be limited to 150 words and must be received in the Salisbury Post newsroom by 5 p.m. April 30.