Cost-consciousness and GOP politics
Thereís an old saying about ěstraining at a gnat and swallowing an elephant.î That seems to apply to our local Republican leaders. They strain at a $450,000 round-about where 20 people have been killed in the last five years and quickly approve a $2 million-plus voter ID bill for which there is no real evidence of an actual problem.
It seems the only people wanting the round-about are the state DOT, which rejects the simpler idea of four-way stop signs. They argue that failure to build the round-about would jeopardize federal funds to pay for it. They seem to think federal funds come from the tooth fairy, or some similar source, not federal taxpayers. Local politicians quite rightly challenge this approach, arguing for the simpler, lower cost approach.
But the very same politicians blithely support a Voter ID bill which will cost, per N.C. House Speaker Tillisí office, $2 million. (The state ACLU claims it will be closer to $20 million.) The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, around $10 million, but we really donít know. (If you want to take a politicianís word for the cost, I have a beautiful bridge over in Charleston Iíd like to talk to you about!)
Compounding the issue, the same politicians admit they have no idea of how large the problem is, and thus have no evidence that it even exists! The only case they have mentioned, in California, turned out to be so small that it didnít affect the election anyway.
At least the DOT can demonstrate a real need for some action, even if its solution is 10 times more than needed. The Republicans want us (the taxpayers) to swallow a multi-million dollar elephant without even showing a problem actually exists! So much for being fiscal conservatives. Only with their own money, definitely not with ours!
ó Jack Burke
Salisbury
Too easy to sue
This is in reponse to Monte J. Elliott (ěWith many people in need, itís a shame to see food wasted,î Letters, Dec. 20).
I agree with you totally. The things the stores throw are out-of-date and cannot be sold. There was a gentleman in our area going to a local store and picking up day old bread and cakes and giving them to local families that needed it. Then one day, they told him he could not do that anymore because if someone got sick they could sue the company. This man was using his time and gas to help people and he had to stop.
It is awful to think of all the food that is thrown away each day because of the laws that make it so easy to sue someone.
ó Frankie Taylor
Woodleaf
Freeing the angels
Perhaps the Downtown Salisbury Board of Directors should have given the executive director a $11,000 raise instead of a $12,000 raise. That way it could have done some of the publicity work it is supposed to do ó installing the Christmas angels.
ó Gene Krueger
Salisbury