An authenic war hero and very special friend
Literally thousands of people have traversed Pop Basinger Road during the past eight years. I’m sure that many are wondering what has happened to the old white haired gentleman that pushed his wheelchair up and down the road between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. weekdays. George Honeycutt was his name, but he preferred G.C. He loved to wave at all the people, and he called them his friends.
He was the real thing. An authenic American hero. When his unit, the 737th Tank Battalion ó “The Spearheaders” ó was leading the advance of Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army into France, near St. Lo his tank was hit by a German shell and G.C. was grievously wounded. He spent months in a London hospital in a full body cast. He used his wheelchair to maintain his balance.
G.C., a devout Christian, went to be with his beloved wife and his Heavenly Father on May 22 and is now walking the streets of glory ó sans his wheelchair. He was a special friend and will be sorely missed.
ó Lee Jacobs
Salisbury
Uniform compliance
The school board recently suggested an addition to the code of conduct policy. The addition is for a “sincere” religious exemption for the “school wide” uniform policy. A student or parent must submit a written statement for the exemption that proves your sincerity and how it has been demonstrated. It will then be up to the superintendent to judge your sincerity. If the superintendent doesn’t think it proves sincere enough for exemption, it goes to the school board to be judged. Even if the exemption is granted, it can be revoked for order, safety or health reasons.
The policy guarantees that few, if any, exemptions will be granted. The few will be for religious items such as head wear. Christians will be left out completely.
This policy is being suggested to provide legal coverage for the next step: a new policy requiring uniforms in all elementary schools and possibly all high schools in the system.
The best time for the board to force a mandatory uniform policy will be in the special sessions during the summer. The special sessions are conducted without giving anyone the opportunity to voice any opposition. The time to voice your opposition is now. After the summer it may be too late.
Along with high gas prices and rising costs of almost everything, the school board will force you to pay for the uniforms. The lies about the benefits of uniforms will be promoted to justify the extra forced cost. The school board will expect you to simply comply and accept the policy.
This coming November, with all the attention on the presidential race, the school board will expect you to forget all about it and vote them back in.
ó Eric Loftin
Salisbury
Clearing the record
In response to Jeff Morris’ Sunday letter:
Our family would like to thank those who have expressed their support for my father, Ralph, in the wake of Jeff Morris’ recent letter attempting to cast my father as sexist. To clear up Morris’ fact-twisting and any lingering ambiguity, Ralph has consistently declined to challenge Laura Lyerly’s candidacy since he heard about Ms. Lyerly’s present issue, and is publicly supporting the Democratic candidates for commission with the goal of beating Republican candidates Jim Sides and Carl Ford this fall, regardless of anyone’s gender.
Further, in the October 2006 letter Mr. Morris references, Ralph endorsed female Democrat Leda Belk, which would negate Morris’ claims of sexism. We believe the venom displayed in the remainder of Mr. Morris’ letter speaks for itself.
ó Clark Walton
Charlotte