To the Editor,

I am writing you in hope that you will publish my letter, and that those who practice such cruelty to animals will see themselves.

I travel Red Brush Road daily. For the past week I have seen a beautiful Boxer which has been set out to fend for himself. He has no collar so there is no way to identify him. I have tried to entice him to come to me, but he is waiting for his family to reclaim him. He watches hopefully when each car passes. One can see the expectation on his face as he hears a car coming, and can see the disappointment when it is not his family.

If this is your dog, please reclaim him, if you are not able to care for him any longer, be kind enough to find him a home. Do not let him slowly starve or be hit by a car to suffer injury or death. He has been your friend and companion, do not desert him now.

Lillian A. Holder

Mount Airy

To the Editor,

In a recent editorial “Health care reform deserves serious debate,” your example of public/private competition was how Federal Express and UPS “have done quite well in competing with the U.S. Postal system, despite a playing field badly tilted in favor of the postal system.”

The example is a myth that the Postal Service has lived with for quite some time. In 2006 Congress decided to put it to rest and directed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report on whatever advantages the Postal Service might have in the competitive marketplace.

The FTC found that the competitive products of the Postal Service “enjoy an estimated implicit subsidy of between $39-$117 million a year.” However, the FTC found further that “federally imposed restraints on the USPS’s operations increase its costs to provide competitive products by an estimated $330-$782 million a year.”

The FTC concluded the Postal Service’s “unique legal status provides it with a net competitive disadvantage versus private carriers.”

Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with your readers.

Sincerely,

Enola C. Rice

Communications

Program Specialist

Charlotte

To the Editor,

I was so pleased to hear about the sea turtles getting a new state-of-the-art hospital, complete with an operating suite, in Pender County.

I’m a 56-year-old woman, married to a disabled man. His disability check covers the rent, a few groceries and his medicine. I work a full time job as a home health aide. I’ve been a nursing assistant for more than half of my life. I now work for an agency in the area as a private contractor. As such, the agency is not required to pay for health insurance-not even part of the cost. So health insurance is a luxury I can’t afford. So is illness.

If I don’t work, we can get more government assistance, medically, but couldn’t pay the bills. By working, we’re barely keeping our heads above water.

I’m not asking for much — or maybe I am. I’d like peace of mind that if I get sick, we won’t lose everything and that I can get affordable care. I want the quality of health care we give sea turtles.

Our country needs to reexamine our priorities.

Thank you,

Susan Krepps

Mount Airy

To the Editor,

Many industries in Mount Airy have closed leaving many people with out jobs. The council is working hard to bring jobs back to Mount Airy. I do not like incentives but they are necessary. There are some things we can do now to help this city put our own house in order.

The city manager and the department heads are running the most inefficient operation in the state. The Brookshire regime is taxing citizens through the back door. So the mayor and the city council can tell citizens we are not raising taxes. How does the Brookshire regime do this? One way is they discontinue a city service. When the city annexed the new area, the garbage service manager called and told me I would no longer have garbage service at the mobile home park on West Lebanon Street. Why?

He told me I did not pay enough taxes to get garbage service. I received this service at my property tax rate before the new annexation. The Brookshire regime doubled my taxes with a phone call. It took more trucks and personnel to give garbage service to the new area. Rather than tell the truth they discontinued service to the older citizens. This covered up their mistake.

If I do not pay enough taxes to get garbage service, do I pay enough taxes to get fire and police protection? No department head should have the authority to determine who pays enough taxes to get a city service or know how much taxes people pay.

My youngest son graduated from Mount Airy High School in 1977. From that time forward I have not used the school system. If we are taxed for the services, we use. I am entitled to a refund. Then I could afford the garbage service.

About ten years ago the city installed a fire hydrant in my parking lot on West Lebanon Street. I asked for it to be removed. The person I talked to at the water department said there was no other place to put the hydrant. He told me if a citizen lost property or life because I made the city remove the hydrant it would be my fault. The hydrant stayed.

Over the years the city employees would open the fire hydrant full blast and wash away my paved parking lot. These city employees would stand and watch my parking lot wash away. After ten years the city found a place to put this fire hydrant after they could cover up their mistake of putting the fire hydrant on private property and telling me there was no other place to up the hydrant. I paid the price for this mistake.

One month I forgot to pay the water bill for an office building. The water department not only cut the water off to the office building but also cut the water off to the mobile home park. When I went to pay the water bill for the office building, the lady charge a $25.00 fee for cutting the water on at the office building, which I expected to pay. I asked for a $25.00 fee for their mistake. She said it does not work that way. She was right. The mistakes that the Brookshire regime makes me paid for by the Mount Airy citizens.

All the driveways on Allred Mill Road have been repaired that was taken up for the new water and sewer system. All but one, which is a house I own.

One day I arrived at my house on Allred Mill Road and was surprised to find four men with survey equipment in my yard. They had put rods with flags in the ground and attached colored flags to many shrubs and trees. They left. The next day a city employee came to see me. He told me they were going to use a fifty foot right of way, three football fields long to put water and sewer lines. I could not use this land but would still pay my regular property tax. This right of way took my garden, green house, trees and shrubs and the gas tank for heating. My house was part of the right of way. The city employee offered me $10.00 and other valuable considerations.

Common sense would tell you that there is a better way to install the water and sewer lines. After spending three days and paying four men to lay out these lines, a city engineer came up with another plan. I could go on and on with these stories but it would be the same old waste of time and resources. The city should not be in the construction business. The construction of sidewalks should be contracted to a private company.

I have watched the work being done on these construction sites. Examples of what goes on at the sites are two events that I saw. I followed a dump truck that left one of these sites. He went up East Lebanon Street to West Lebanon Street, turned left on Mitchell Street, left on Orchard Street, left on Willow Street, left again on West Lebanon Street, left on Mitchell Street, and left on Orchard Street. This is second time around this square. At Willow Street he turned right and went to Rawley Avenue, turned right on Rawley Avenue, at the top of Rawley Avenue, he turned around so fast that I lost him. When I turn around I figure that he would go to the city garage. He was not at the city garage. I followed another dump truck with the same results. One thing I am sure of, if they ever have dump trucks racing at NASCAR. These guys are winners.

We may not walk on street of gold but Mount Airy citizens are paying the price. We should consider contracting out Landscaping and Garage Service.

I know that I will not get my parking lot repaired, the driveway on Allred Mill Road repaired or my garbage service. My only recourse is the courts.

Mac Willis

Mount Airy