Dispatchers do admirable job
Regarding Reid Walters’ Dec. 20 letter:
I am a firefighter in Rowan County and happen to know several dispatchers personally. Just to let you know, you have opened a can of worms and poured them all over yourself. You should know by now after the tragic events of March 7, 2008, that we all come together as one.
The dispatchers in this county are some of the best around, and my hat goes off to what they do. We could not do our jobs without them. They put up with abuse on the phone from people like you and also on the radio at times. There are protocols in place to make sure whomever is in distress gets the proper and safest response. If you think that it is so easy, by all means go for it. I don’t think you would last 15 minutes!
Dispatchers, firefighters, EMS and law enforcement personnel do not do what we do for the money because, God knows, it’s not there. We do it because we care, and it’s what we do. So in the future be aware of what you say and to whom.
I am happy the clerks are physically OK. For the punks that did this ó get a job! Be a real man and work for a living. “Man up” and turn yourselves in.
ó Chuck Haas
Rockwell
Vicious attack injures dachshund
On Wednesday night, a dog came into my brother’s yard on Stokes Ferry Road, next to Lentz General Store, and viciously attacked my brother’s dachshund. My brother had taken his dogs out for a walk about 8 p.m. A short time later, a large dog about the size of a Great Dane came into the yard and attacked one of his dogs. This dog picked up Freddie, my brother’s dog, held him in his mouth and shook him so severely that it ripped the skin from Freddie’s body. He was bleeding severely. My brother, who is in a wheelchair, had to load the dog into his van and carry him to Salisbury Animal Hospital.
They sewed his skin back on, and he has a tube running from one side through the other. The bill was just under $500, and that is almost my brother’s monthly check.
I just hope that the dog owner does the right thing and comes forward, at least to help with the bill.
You know who you are. Your neighbors know who you are.
You can contact the Salisbury Animal Hospital about Freddie.
ó Connie Fink
Salisbury
Find true meaning of ChristmasDid you take the opportunity to attend the annual Service of Lessons and Carols in the Catawba College Chapel? What a blessing to hear the sound of the musical instruments and all those voices lifted in praise, ringing through the rafters of that hallowed space.
Each year I look forward to hearing or participating in that service, yet this year something which was added gave somewhat of a jarring note to my ears. It was the reading of a poem by Maya Angelou, about peace. Although the poem was indeed read with great expression by the reader, still (1) it was not from Holy Scripture, as were all the other “lessons,” and (2) it seemed ó at least to this listener’s ears ó to attempt to bring other world religions into a service dedicated solely to the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christmas is the celebration of the humble birth of the one who, having come into the world as a baby, grew in wisdom and stature, preached the good news of the coming kingdom of the creator God of the universe, brought healing and hope of salvation to a world burdened with sin, was crucified by that same world which did not then (and does not now) understand who he is, and then arose from the dead as proof that God forgives and seeks in holy love to redeem those who put their trust in him.
Christ is not diminished by our neglect of him in our thoughts or actions, but it is we who do not attain all that we could be if we sought him and his guidance in our lives. What better time than now to begin that quest? May we find true meaning for our existence as we celebrate the coming of the Christ child.
ó Anne J. Palmer
Salisbury
Gift has big impact at Pfeiffer UniversityBill White died Dec. 16 in Pfafftown. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with his classmate Hugh McColl, who later became the leader of Bank of America. Bill White went on to lead First Federal Savings and Loan in Winston-Salem.
Many Carolina graduates give major contributions to their alma mater, but Bill White was different. He picked little Pfeiffer University with its endowment of approximately $16 million and pledged $1 million to the school. It was his feeling that a contribution of that amount would be lost in the mix of the multimillionaires at Chapel Hill but that it would be a gift of historical significance to Pfeiffer. Bill was a very strong individualist. While wholly and completely committed to the university from which he graduated, he had his own ideas about making a difference in helping a good school that might not ever see a $1 million gift.
As hard as he tried, he could not understand why rich folks would give their hard earned money to any major university … Harvard, Stanford or Duke … that had multimillion and even billion-dollar capital campaigns and endowments. He used to ask, “What is the significance of my gift? It gets lost and all I get is some form letter. I am going to try to help a deserving recipient where my contribution will be of gargantuan impact.”
And, so he did … to Pfeiffer University. There are so many people out there with the wherewithal to help institutions of higher learning that fight and scrap every day to meet their budget and to protect their financial integrity. Hopefully, Bill White’s kindness will be emulated by many of them and the results will be evident through a fiscally more secure number of viable independent colleges and universities.
ó Thad Woodard
Raleigh