Letters to the editor – Tuesday – Nov. 17, 2009

Published 12:00 am Monday, November 16, 2009

Proud to support North Rowan High
We have been associated with the North Rowan schools for 11 years. I have yet to witness a fight or disruption in any event. The kids are in competition among themselves to do their best or better than their classmates. If that is not a challenge, then what is? We are proud of North Rowan students.
People do change. It is the outsiders who refuse to accept changes.
Example: All the other schools ó you people are arguing not for the good of your students but for what you as parents want. Isn’t it time to call a truce to this disagreement and understand how you are upsetting the kids at North Rowan?
They deserve a good and prosperous school, so give them a break. Go to the schools for a visit and see how orderly the kids behave. Can’t say that about some other schools we have been to.
God bless all of you who feel so poorly about the North Rowan kids. We could not be prouder.
ó Steve and Peggy ShupingSalisbury
Obama slow to act
I learned today that Obama has now tossed out the options he was considering regarding next steps in Afghanistan. It has now been more than 60 days since General McChrystal ó Obama’s hand picked choice to lead the effort ó submitted his plan based on the “new” strategy announced in March of this year. This has reached the point that it appears to our soldiers, the enemy and our allies as unwarranted dithering. The inclusion of political spin doctors like Rahm Emmanuel suggests that purely political calculations are playing too strong a role in the decision making process.
My son-in-law, a 14-year veteran of the Army who recently completed Special Forces training, will be deployed to Afghanistan next year. I believe this unwarranted dithering is putting our forces at increased risk as it emboldens the enemy and negatively impacts the morale of our soldiers. The function of a leader is to lead, to decide.
At this point I am nearly indifferent to whether we put the resources in to win this fight or pull out, but allowing our armed forces to be chewed up while not being adequately resourced for the role they are attempting to play is unforgivable.
ó Carl Repsher
Salisbury
Thanks for health
I want to take a moment to recognize my dear medical friends. They are spat upon, cursed at, assaulted and slandered on a regular basis, to the point I wonder why anyone would choose a field that subjects them to pure wickedness almost daily. Yet at the end of the shift, these heroes smile and take it all in stride.
These people are our friends, family, neighbors, sisters, brothers and cousins. They are true heroes, in every sense, if only people knew the real goings-on at the hospital behind the scenes ó the care, the love, the joys, the hurt and sorrow.
As a past patient advocate, I once witnessed a patient who used the most awful words of name calling, kicking and spitting toward our ER nursing staff. Months later, the same patient arrived, CPR in progress. The nurses knew exactly who they were dealing with. Yet they worked and saved that patient as though it was a dear relative.
I pray for you all; you are a blessing to all of us in this community, and I for one am so proud to know each and everyone of you.
It’s not the name of the hospital or the beautiful building. It’s the people, from EMS to greeters, radiology, laundry, housekeeping, nursing staff, the doctors and all who make it work. They make the real difference in so many peoples’ lives.
ó Cameron L. Rogers
Salisbury