Recently we in Rowan County seem to disagree among ourselves about a variety of issues. While each of us wants what is best for this community, many of us see this differently from many others. We must continue to speak out and act on our individual beliefs, but we must also listen carefully to the views that disagree with ours if we are to do what is to be the best for all our citizens.
While we listen with open minds and try to work together to decide what is best, let us all not forget how fortunate we already are in so many ways. As this wonderfully magical season that begins with Thanksgiving and culminates in Christmas approaches, let us remember how fortunate we all already are and help those who are less so than we are.
During all my time with the Salisbury Symphony, we have never been able to perform the weekend before Thanksgiving because our musicians were playing concerts in other communities. This year we can. I invite you to share and celebrate a thankful spirit with the St. John’s Men’s Chorus, the All-County Fifth Grade Honors Chorus and the Salisbury Symphony musicians at Livingstone College on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 4 p.m. in a concert of approximately an hour in length.
May this be the beginning of the brightest of Christmas seasons for our community filled with thankfulness for what we have and respect and charity to all!
Happy Thanksgiving!
— David Hagy
Salisbury

Hagy is the music director for the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra.

Now the commissioners want to put the educators between the unwanted animals and the unwanted trash. We get the message!
— Jo Shaw
Salisbury
The outrage concerning President Obama’s broken promise about citizens keeping their health insurance plans is false, misplaced and unnecessary. The insurance companies had years to make their policies compliant with the Affordable Care Act. Time was wasted raising rates, extorting insurers and canceling junk policies at the last minute.
Instead of relying on noisy partisan spin machines, a trip to the marketplace is in order. There is an excellent chance that those who hold substandard policies will find better insurance coverage, with more benefits, at the same or lower rates. Subsidies that will lower premiums for those who qualify are available.
Outrage should be directed at those that canceled the policies and the self-centered ideologues who show little if any concern for the public health of our nation. The president of the United States should only be chastised for the offense of overreaching assumptions.
— Reginald W. Brown
Salisbury
Commissioner Pierce, I am compelled to believe you may have suffered a very unhappy childhood. I cannot derive any other plausible explanation for your inability to control your negative outburst during public discourse. As a student of politics, which I would assume you may believe yourself to be, have you ever actually studied great speeches from great leaders throughout history?
There is a branch of academia: Speech Rhetoric, the art of discourse. An art aimed at improving the capability of writers or speakers to inform, persuade or motivate audiences. Perhaps you may consider pursuing a greater understanding of this art and what being a great orator involves, then attempt to put into practice these things you might learn.
When I am continually assaulted by the engagement of public discourse you undertake, I feel as if I have born witness to a WWF wrestling match instead of the conduction of government business. I, as the reader and viewer of this train wreck, feel battered, weary and embarrassed. Embarrassed that this is the preferred method of conduct that an elected county official engages.
Negative politics is the popular way to conduct business, but it only takes a simple person with a simple mind to follow this well-trodden pathway. It is easy to spew simple, derogatory and slanderous words. It takes a more complex and developed mind to construct a thoughtful argument. In essence, Mr. Pierce, you appear to be childishly stunted in your thinking and public speaking skills.
Whether or not the decisions generated by this governing board are sound and responsible almost take a backseat to the methods of conduct chosen routinely by you and your colleagues. You are an embarrassment to me, your constituent. It is insulting to citizens seeking true leadership. And certainly it is not a role model to any young person reading and listening to your outbursts.
May I encourage you to spend some time learning the art of rhetoric so I do not again have to hear the thoughtfully crafted words: “get your head screwed on tight.”
— Amy Welch
Salisbury

Thank you to Rowan-Salisbury schools for honoring Veterans Day! There were so many local school districts that did not, and it was very upsetting to know that our veterans have been pushed aside so easily. Thank you again for supporting our veterans.
— David and Sylvia Rowland
Salisbury