Much of the community was involved in the long-range effort that saved an important slice of Salisbury history — the Fulton-Mock-Blackmer House.
Following the disastrous fire in 1984, Historic Salisbury Foundation and West Square neighbors led by Edward Norvell stepped forward to raise funds and stabilize and protect the damaged house. Every foundation board, president and executive director — from Margaret Kluttz and Mark McDonald to today — worked in some way toward the preservation of the house. Recently, HSF President Doug Black, board member Don Conner and Executive Director Brian Davis led a team of volunteers who put the property in shape so it could be shown and resold with preservation covenants that would protect it well into the future.
Many have participated over the three decades. The city of Salisbury deserves kudos as its mayors, city councils and staff held firm to all suggestions to “clear the lot.”
And we remember Susanne Blackmer’s dogged determination to save her house and her son Jonathan’s willingness to sell the property, and the highly competent purchase negotiations by then-HSF President Susan Sides. The house will not be a museum, but it will be a constant reminder of the life of Salisbury’s famous actor, Sidney Blackmer.
Now, the old house enters an exciting new chapter. The Glenn Dixons, certainly one of our town’s outstanding young families, have purchased the house and will rehabilitate it as their residence. This major commitment on South Fulton Street should add impetus to the current re-emergence of our historic neighborhoods.
Certainly, the saga of the Fulton-Mock-Blackmer house shows us that at times it takes the patience, understanding and foresight of a special village to save a landmark.
— Edward Clement
Salisbury

Clement is a longtime advocate for historic preservation and serves on the Historic Salisbury Foundation board.

The dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was that one day, people would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” And for most of us, this is just common sense that needs no explaining; but without Dr. King’s courage and determination, we wouldn’t be this blessed today.
Yet to the Democratic Party and the NAACP, it’s still 1963; except now they’re protesting North Carolina’s early voting and photo ID laws. In the recent article “Local NAACP leading trip to Raleigh for Saturday march,” a woman said she was proud to attend the march as a “middle-class Caucasian woman.” Does this make her special, I wonder? Besides, if reducing early voting days hurts minorities, how can minorities stand and march all day protesting having to stand in long voting lines? And why were marchers instructed to bring their photo IDs?
David Webb, a black tea-party conservative, was at the event interviewing the protestors. The video is on the Internet and is very revealing about the mindset of these marchers. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a tea-party conservative, was called a ventriloquist dummy by N.C. NAACP leader William Barber. Deneen Borelli, another black tea-party conservative and author of “Blacklash” (my pick for best book of 2012), points out that the NAACP always attacks black conservatives, including her, for leaving “the government plantation.”
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a tea-party supporter, recently explained that today’s Northern elitists treat him much worse than the segregated South ever did. Dr. Ben Carson (my personal choice for president) started life in a Chicago ghetto but became one of the world’s leading neurosurgeons and a tea-party conservative.
Try listening to Niger Innis, Bo Snerdley, Herman Cain and other black tea-party conservatives. It’s important because, as Star Parker (a black tea-party conservative) explains, reducing poverty and improving education can’t happen until people escape from “Uncle Sam’s Plantation” (another great book, incidentally). Becoming informed is the key.
— Steve Pender
Rockwell

Everyone has something to say about how the roads are cleared when we have bad weather.
I know the DOT workers put in long hours, but my question is, what good does it do to scrape Woodleaf Road if you’re going to leave the entrances to the side roads blocked off with the snow you pushed from Woodleaf? At Wetmore Road, the snow was so high I got stuck. (Thanks to the family who helped me.)
On the previous scraping a few weeks ago on Potneck Road, let me thank you for all the gravel you removed from our driveway and threw at least 5 feet into my yard as you went up Potneck.
Are you going to help get this up so it will not damage my mower? No, I didn’t think so!
— Leah Fry
Woodleaf