School board, commission have window of opportunity
The interjection of the Salisbury City Council into the school central office debate has not provided clarity but has rather complicated important and difficult decisions for our county’s leaders. In leveraging a real need of the school board (an efficient/effective central office) to solve a real need of the city (the development of South Main Street), City Council has put unnecessary pressure and limitations on the school board. There’s no question that both the central office problem and the South Main problem need to be solved. The Long Street office is long past its expiration date. The development of the Integra building is a good start for South Main, but only a start. While linking these two significant problems may have seemed a good strategy at the time, the council has actually complicated both issues.
In a blinding flash of the obvious, it appears there’s a growing consensus that a central office building could be effective and efficient at a location other than 329 S. Main. The county commissioners and school board need to take advantage of this opportunity for consensus and agree on location and funding within the next 30 days. This should be done without the participation of the Salisbury City Council or any other county municipality. If school board members and commissioners need to take a leave of absence from their “day jobs” to work this problem full time, then they should do it. It’s that important. Let’s give it a 30 day deadline.
What can the rest of us do? Let our elected officials do their jobs. And respect them as intelligent individuals with good intentions who are volunteering for a difficult job few of us would do. To “help them help us,” let’s communicate respectfully with our officials and each other for the next 30 days. Sarcastic Twitter tweets aren’t helpful, so let’s call a 30-day moratorium on being a clever “wise guy” — you know who you are! We’re counting on you, school board and commissioners. Don’t let us down.
— Rip Kersey
Salisbury

Take central office survey
I work downtown. I get excited every time I see a lot of cars parked there because it means that the county seat and its very historic downtown are having an economic impact. Bringing the central office downtown, where Salisbury City Hall, the Rowan Administrative Building and many other county offices are already located, just makes sense. This provides easier access for all boards and representatives who need to work together to be able to access them without having to drive, an environmental impact, and a time-saving impact. It just makes sense. The price is right. Do what is best for the entire county and its historic county seat, Salisbury. I hope as many citizens as possible go to the Rowan-Salisbury School System website (http://www.rss.k12.nc.us) and take the survey. Let us, the citizens, have our voice heard.
— Jeremy Gardner
Salisbury
The media and Obama
In Jack Connery’s Oct. 18 letter, he said he’s “appalled, sickened and angry” at me for comparing President Obama to Adolph Hitler. This would sicken me, too, if I had done that; but I didn’t. Hitler was an insane murdering madman; there is no comparison. Connery said he couldn’t chastise me in just 300 words, so he wouldn’t even try. Really? In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln summed up his thoughts on the entire Civil War … in just 272 words.
I was actually criticizing the media, using examples to compare the media support of Hitler in 1938 with today’s media support of Obama. But I understand Mr. Connery’s outrage. Because Obama acts more like a celebrity than president, criticizing the media is, to some, like criticizing Obama personally.
The media hasn’t changed much. They cover up Obama’s role in the IRS, NSA, Fast and Furious, and Benghazi scandals. They use words like “charity” and “moral” to describe future generations having to pay the debts that Obama’s running up; or to describe taking money from half the people to give freely to the other half.
They say Republicans (specifically, the Republican-led House of Representatives) are harming the economy, and that Congress is broken. It’s not. Obama tells the House it must “do its job” and send him a “clean bill.”
Do its job? Sorry, Mr. President. That’s NOT its job. You should know that. The House is part of our checks and balances system; its job includes an obligation to check (stop) a president from trampling on our rights.
It’s not Congress, but our liberal public education system and our media that’s broken. They’ve revised history, distorted facts, lied about our Founding Fathers and denied our Christian roots for so long now that Obama’s promise of “fundamentally changing the United States of America” is almost fulfilled; and we’re close to losing the very foundation of America itself: the Constitution.
— Steve Pender
Rockwell
Just following the law
The Affordable Care Act specifies that any “grandfathered” health care plan existing prior to the bill’s passing would only be in force if it continued exactly throughout the years. If any part of the policy was changed — including the price — the policy became void.
Insurance, like any good or service, increases in costs over time, and as a result, millions of people are being notified that the plans have to be terminated. The law demands that all new policies have every provision prescribed in the so-called Affordable Care Act. (What a comfort it is for me, 64-year-old man that I am, to have my maternity bill covered when I have a baby.)
The insurance companies followed the law by terminating former policies, due to changes. So now, because they obeyed the law, Obama sycophants like Congressman Pallone of New Jersey are lambasting the insurance companies for following the law. Hey, it’s the insurance companies! Don’t blame Obama! Don’t blame the Democrats! Don’t blame Kay Hagan! They’re not responsible.
No, the Democrats in Washington are not responsible people. At all.
— Steve Owen
Kannapolis