Tobacco use in parks doesn’t fit the ideal

As a recent recipient of the S.O.Y. (Shame on You) Award (Jan. 15), I would like to thank Whitey Harwood for correcting the spelling of my name. His letter also has inspired me to share my knowledge of the benefits of 100 percent tobacco-free parks.

Parks are about clean air, natural beauty and engaging in healthy activities, supporting community wellness and modeling healthy behavior for our youth. Any tobacco use allowed in parks simply doesn’t fit that ideal.

Secondhand smoke is a human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of exposure; it can have immediate health consequences such as asthma attacks for those exposed — indoors or outdoors. Discarded cigarettes, the most littered item in the world, pollute the land and water and may be ingested by toddlers, pets, birds or fish.

On the monetary side, adopting policies can reduce litter and maintenance costs.

Most Rowan County residents do not smoke or use tobacco, yet it remains the leading cause of preventable death and disability in N.C. and the U.S., and compromises the health of thousands of children exposed to tobacco smoke pollution every day. Rowan County schools and colleges have 100 percent tobacco-free campuses. Tobacco is restricted from many places, because it is a known health hazard, and children are particularly vulnerable.

On my visit to one of the state’s most amazing parks, Dan Nichols Park, I noted tobacco-free playgrounds with smoking benches right next to them in the park. Designated areas that are smoking or smoke-free cause confusion and are hard to enforce. Tobacco-free is good for everyone and shows that Rowan County takes the health of all — our young and old alike — very seriously. The M.O.V.E. Campaign will not only “make our visits enjoyable,” but will make them healthier for all.

— Carleen Crawford

Crawford is regional tobacco control manager for the region consisting of Alexander, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties

Don’t like it? Suffer!

Recent events emphasize just how near-gone America was.

First the sisterhood of their way or no way. One must wonder if these women had nothing better to do with their lives? Also do they have a clue as to what they wanted, other than being Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s mindless robots?

Next we see the bleeding hearts in Brooklyn. Not only do they want suicide for themselves but for the rest of us as well.

Open all the borders and take all them in, terrorists included. They need to converse with Jews and how about the PLO and the newer murdering Muslim zealots. They need to walk to 911 ground zero, or watch the past news of foreign terrorists in England, Paris and Germany. Let them view what’s left of Syria.

Then we have Sen. John McCain saying protecting ourselves and our borders will give ISIS propaganda and incite them to more violence. How many more Americans will they need to behead before he and the rest here wake up and realize they are waging war on us now?

It would seem Obama’s treason inspired others to carry on in his stead.

Trump did more before becoming president than Obama did in eight years. Can anyone name one positive Obama did?  Obama’s legacy can be summed up in the T.V. show title, “Two Broke Girls,” or the movie “Down and Out in Beverly Hills.” He was a disaster. We suffered eight years of his liberal ignorance. There were no mass marches, protests, riots, nor looting by the right.

Arch liberal Joy Behar wants the election held over, until Donald Trump loses or Clinton wins.  How’s that for a new notion of democracy?

We suffered eight years of Obama, without violent protests. So to the crying, screaming, shouting, swearing, liberals, I say one word – suffer!

— W.F. Owens

Spencer

Too much complaining

I have really heard enough of the grousing and complaining about the so-called travel ban now being implemented. Oh, please!

When my grandmother came to this country, back in the late 1800s, she came thru Ellis Island in New York. All immigrants did, and they were required to have the necessary papers, were subjected to physical exams and inoculations and often times put in quarantine for an unspecified amount of time. They also had to have promise of a job and proof that if they did not know English, they were going to learn it and assimilate into American society.

My grandmother arrived from Birmingham, England, but these rules applied to every foreigner arriving at Ellis Island, no matter what country they were from, and were a permanent arrangement, not temporary, as we have today.

Every country in the world had to abide by these rules, not just seven of them. Not only that, but, the families of these immigrants did not go around throwing bricks through windows, setting cars on fire, and creating mischief, because they knew it was for the safety of the American citizens that these rules were applied.

To what end is this mischief and vandalism going to prove? How is it making things better?  Now, to all you crybabies and whiners out there, just what is your problem?

— Jan McCanless

China Grove

Editor’s note: The executive order that prompted protests suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and banned the admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely. It also suspended the entry of all immigrants and visa holders from seven majority-Muslim nations for 90 days.

Pizza to the rescue

Rowan Helping Ministries and Salisbury Church of Nazarene would like to thank Cici’s Pizza for going above and beyond to help get pizzas to the shelter in time for the evening meal on Jan. 30. Not only did Manager Mark Hattrich bring the pizzas himself, but he also provided extra meal tickets to the residents of RHM and the volunteers. He and his employees from Kannapolis to Salisbury are heaven-sent angels. Cici’s Pizza is a good neighbor to RHM and all those who come into its doors. We salute you for reaching out to those in need with a joyous heart.

“There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life more beautiful for others.”

— Linda Cauble

Salisbury

HB2 quagmire

The HB2 controversy could be resolved almost overnight with one simple action. What it would take is for Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and City Council to rescind the transgender ordinance which was responsible for the passing of HB2 by the House and Senate. 

The liberal newspapers and TV news broadcasters are so quick to point out how much money Charlotte and the state are losing because of HB2, when the focus should be on why the necessity of transgender ordinance in the first place. The liberal Democrats will say, well, transgender rights were being violated. Oh, yeah? Tell us who, when and where these alleged rights have been have been violated. Just what happened? Did women see a man dressed as a woman in the public restroom, attack him, poor thing, and throw him out? I don’t think so!

This is just another liberal Democratic effort to solve a problem that exist only in the minds of liberals about how transgender people are being so mistreated, I guess by heterosexuals.  I have not seen and I wonder have you seen any transgender people being mistreated? Liberals will respond, well, it could happen and we just couldn’t stand for that to happen.

Let’s hope the North Carolina legislature will stand firm against all the liberal assaults that have come and more in the future. Do not believe for a minute that most of the people agree with the liberals, even though it will be reported that the country is against the thinking behind HB2, when the real issue is for the safety of women and children in public places.

— Richard Roberts

Kannapolis

Sick and tired

The writer is responding to a Jan. 24 letter, “We all have the right to express our opinions.”

Nowhere in my letter did I state that entertainers and celebrities should be prohibited from expressing their opinions or views or their tiny little minds (nor anyone else for that matter). Opinions are like the lower openings of our digestive tracts — everybody’s got one and they’re entitled to it. So, please, if you would, let me be entitled to mine, regardless of how incorrect you might think it is.

I’m sick and tired of being subjected to the prejudiced viewpoints of entertainers, celebrities, news commentators, news networks, newspapers, et al, who have done anything and everything they possibly could over the past three decades to ridicule, slander, twist, or slant any kind of news to favor one political party over another. The one truth I have learned during the past few years is that Democrats are the most caring, loving, open-minded, tolerant people on the face of God’s green earth — right up to the point where you disagree with them. Then, they turn into these ravenous, vicious people who will do everything in their power to point out how wrong you are or if they find they cannot win you over to their way of thinking, they’ll tear your lungs out in a heartbeat.

And, yes, I think it would be nice to be nominated for a Golden Globe award. I would probably use the time I had at the microphone to talk about how much I love my wife, how great the hobby of scale modeling is or how great golden retrievers are or how nice it would be if people wouldn’t get their buns in a wad whenever you voiced your opinion.

— Sam Morgan

Spencer