Water, sewer plan would grow Rowan

Where is our economic development — specifically the grand plan to bring water and sewer to the I-85 corridor?

As some of you will remember, I ran in the primary for one of the three seats now filled by Judy Klusman, Greg Edds and Jim Greene. I was sorry to learn that Chairman Edds and his fellow board members have no interest in pursuing water and sewer services for the I-85 corridor.

Some of the facts I have learned:

Carl Ford and a delegation have agreed to sponsor a bill in the state House to create an municipal utilities authority for Rowan. Chairman Edds and the rest of the commissioners must formally ask for his help. To date, Edds has not moved forward.

The previous commissioners instituted a study which lays out the costs and steps to put this vital growth plan into motion. It estimates that the northern section of the plan would cost $20 million. It also explains that there is federal funding with payments over 40 years. Remember, these new commissioners promised us jobs and growth for the whole county.

I also learned today that the folks below N.C. 150 are stalled with a 400-home subdivision which would include retail business (sales tax) that is presently leaking over the border to Cabarrus coffers. With 50 percent of Rowan’s population living below 150 ,why do the commissioners refuse to help? Without water and sewer, the lower half of the county can’t grow.

The widening of 85 is imminent but without the investment in our county’s future all the widening will do is make it easier for industry and growth to pass Rowan by.

I ask my fellow county residents to call these three new commissioners and ask them to keep their campaign promises. Without real, long-term planning, our county will be left behind.

— Joe Coladarci

Salisbury

Vets can’t win

It’s been a long time since I expressed an opinion to the editor, but I feel this is more than an opinion; this is in the national interest of veterans.

I am an 85-year-old Korean vet, and after three months trying to get VA health benefits, I found out why it is almost impossible to get help. It seems that in 1973, every military record from 1914 to 1973 was burned in a fire that destroyed not only the records, but leveled the national archive building they were stored in.

Consequently, the only answer you get from the VA is, and I quote, “I’m sorry, but we have no record of your military service, and cannot help you.”

This after I filled out at least seven forms pertaining to my dates and times of service, the outfit I was attached to, military service number, honorable discharge papers, and on and on, etc.

Finally I did what they wanted; I gave up.

— Philip DeBenedictis

Salisbury

Foxx vs. workers

Rep. Virginia Foxx has voted to cut retirement pensions of thousands of people in multi-employer pension plans. Some retirees are working to try and get this decision reversed.

Foxx, asked about this in her office in Washington, said she would not change her decision regarding cuts to pensions on the working class; her decision is to stand with the companies to cut pensions by as much as 66.6 percent. The 66.6 percent will go into a government fund called Pension Benefit Guarantee.

Virginia Foxx is not for the working class people of North Carolina. No one’s pension or 401k is safe from what the government wants to do.

— Barry Nesbitt

Salisbury

Recognize past

Salisbury is fortunate to have a statue honoring state and regional soldiers lost in the Civil War — a war that we all agree now was about slavery, an economic system that was harmful to all who were involved, both slaves and masters. But it is part of our Southern history; if we forget the past or don’t explain it properly, then situations such as occurred in Charleston happen with more frequency.

Removing such monuments to take away memories diminishes us as a people willing to recognize our past, both good and bad. It would be a very sad thing to see something like this happen in the name of this year’s fashion of political correctness.

— Richard Bowers

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.