‘Hillaryed’ plaint reveals key flaw
Ralph Walton’s comment that he’d been “Hillaryed” seems to imply that Rowan’s Democratic women are not capable of selecting from a slate of candidates based on their message, ideals, popularity, effectiveness, character and who else is running, among other things.
The Democrats on May 6 voted overwhelmingly for Raymond Coltrain with 7,234 votes. (And he was a male who didn’t get “Hillaryed”.) Democrats’ second choice was Laura Lyerly with 6,383 votes. Ralph Walton ran a distant third, at 3,751 votes.
Ralph Walton is now eagerly awaiting the prospect of Ms. Lyerly possibly exiting the race. While Mr. Walton has a distinguished career in education, his anti-women comments to the Post are proof positive of his flaws as a potential candidate. I am hearing that Rowan’s Republicans are salivating at the ease with which Mr. Walton would self-destruct in a general election. After all, it was Ralph Walton who, after losing in 2006, made his “sour-grapes” endorsement of Republican Jon Barber over Democrat Tina Hall ó in his Oct. 20, 2006, letter to the editor.
When Mr. Walton implies that he lost simply because he has the wrong reproductive anatomy, it is a slap in the face to women, and shows how out of step his antiquated views are with more than one-half of the voters. Since he came in a distant 2,632 votes behind Laura Lyerly, Mr. Walton needs to choose his words more wisely: There is an immense difference between getting “Hillaryed” and getting shellacked.
If Ms. Lyerly chooses to step down, it is the executive committee, not Ralph Walton, who will choose the party’s nominee for November. And if faced with that responsibility, they will choose with caution, and not the type of reckless abandonment exhibited by Mr. Walton’s “sour-grapes” remark about Democrat women.
ó Jeff Morris
Spencer
More uniforms?
Some people are debating whether to put uniforms in high schools. I am a rising ninth grader from Southeast Middle School. I do not think the school board should put uniforms in high schools because many kids will strongly disagree. They say that if the school board puts uniforms in high schools, they will drop out. The dropout rate in Rowan County is high enough, and we don’t want to add to it.
I believe that uniforms restrict self-expression. Kids need to express themselves to others. It’s hard enough to express yourself without being judged, but not being able to do it at all would be even worse.
Yes, students may look the same in their uniforms, but their personalities are completely different. Kids still get picked on and bullied, even when they wear uniforms. What kids wear is far from the only reason students get picked on. Schools say they want diversity, yet they completely destroy the diverseness of students by making them wear uniforms.
When my school has uniform-free days, everything goes fine, just like normal. In my opinion, uniforms don’t exactly help with the issues that the board thinks they do. Yes, uniforms help with school shopping in the beginning of the year, but they don’t help with the issues they were meant to.
ó Jeskka Rivers
Salisbury
Detours baffling
I totally agree with the letter published on May 22 (“Confusing roadwork”). I too have experienced the rudeness of the workers on Highway 70. I have talked with the Department of Transportation on several occasions regarding the bridge closing. I understand the bridge will be out until at least the middle of June.
Parks Road is the detour for people north of the bridge. On occasion they have closed the detour at Highway 70 for paving ó never placing a sign on Woodleaf Road saying 70 was closed for paving. If you traveled down Parks Road, you were either held up or turned around.
There should be better planning on the part of the DOT. This is unnecessary travel with the high cost of gas. One gentleman at the Salisbury office of the DOT has been very understanding and helpful about this matter.
However, the state does hire the contractor for Highway 70 and could require them to keep this detour open at all times until we can travel Woodleaf Road again.
You just never know when the detour is going to be closed at 70.
ó Ruth Carper
Woodleaf