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Country lost opportunity for real morality in White House
To the Editor:
It is heartbreaking that America has lost the opportunity to have real morality in the White House. As a conservative Christian "fundamentalist," I am dumbfounded that so many of my fellow Americans appear to have such a rigidly narrow view of morality. Christ clearly taught and lived a life that demonstrated a love of all mankind, not just the wealthy, but also including the poor, the elderly, the criminal, and our enemies; a respect for all human life, not merely unborn children; a respect for the blessings and gifts bestowed upon us by God, without the arrogant view that we somehow deserve them and can therefore do whatever we please with them. I am appalled that we have now elected a man who does not demonstrate a life of Christian faith, but prefers to prostitute the concept of Christian faith for political gain instead.
I look at my young children and wonder how I will explain to them 10 years from now when they ask me why was I unable to take them to the doctor each time they didn't feel good, why didn't we do something to provide them with clean air and water, why wasn't I able to help them go to college, why do people around the world dislike us so, why are they as young adults having to pay for deficits that were driven to dizzying heights in their childhood, why are they being called to fight in a war that was begun in their childhood without clear justification and is still unresolved...
Through the process of this campaign, I had finally begun to feel hopeful that the America I love so much would once again shine. That once again we would be able to focus on crowning "thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea" instead of just finding new ways to have "bombs bursting in air." I wish to goodness that there was more time spent singing America the Beautiful. It's definitely what I'll be singing to my children for the next four years. They have got to understand the importance of it, even if our nation's leader does not.
Cornelia Waldrum
Sylva
More to story that TWSA is telling
To the Editor:
There is more to the story‚"Rhodes Cove sewage dumps into Love Branch‚" reported in The Sylva Herald on Oct. 28.
Yes, Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority did find a stopped up sewer on Love Branch, and TWSA fixed it. Yes, an estimated 80,000 gallons of untreated waste water flowed into Love Branch, then into Scotts Creek and into the Tuckaseigee River.
But it is largely citizen action that motivated TWSA to work hard to monitor bacteria (fecal coliform) levels in Scotts Creek and its tributaries. Volunteers and staff of the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River have been intensively monitoring Scotts Creek and other places in Jackson and Swain counties since the middle of July. Fecal coliform levels in Scotts Creek at the kayak put-in at Dillsboro have been significantly above the health regulatory limit for bodily contact since mid-summer. One August measurement was 15 times that limit. We have approval by local officials to post the river to advise against recreational use of the water there. The summer levels exceeded those in Fontana Lake that have led to holding tanks on houseboats and an expensive system to pump and truck waste.
In September, bacteria levels temporarily fell within the health regulation limit due to storm dilution, but they have rebounded significantly. WATR is pleased with TWSA's positive reaction to the data. TWSA's Hugh Montgomery has put in place a good program for finding the fecal coliform sources, and the discovery and fix of the Love Branch problem is the first example of the benefits of that program.
WATR applauds TWSA's quick and continued response. In the coming months, hopefully more of the sewage problems may be identified and then fixed. Currently, we are enlisting more sampling help from the honors biology students at Western Carolina University, under the guidance of Dan Perlmutter.
At the end of the day, citizen concern is an essential part of keeping our streams clean and disease-free. Little has been done in response to the unacceptable bacteria levels measured in Savannah and Greens creeks and also in Kirkland Creek in Swain County. There is more work for concerned citizens. If you are interested, call WATR at 488-9630 or see the Web site www.watrnc.org.
For those who want to get involved or who are just plain curious, WATR will conduct a brief "Water Monitoring Demonstration" on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 11 a.m., with a free picnic lunch. We will meet at the Greens Creek Road "turnout‚" located about two-tenths miles from the intersection of U.S. 441 and Greens Creek Road. This evemt will be good for kids middle school and older who are interested in the environment.
Roger Clapp
Bryson City
(Clapp is executive director of the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River)
County airport is 'money pit'
To the Editor:
This letter is in response to a letter to the editor by Ray Ambrose, "Airport has economic impact on county," printed in the Oct. 28 edition of The Sylva Herald.
Mr. Ambrose, since you are a fairly "new" addition to the county, I feel the need to address your letter. In it you stated, not in specific terms or with documented evidence, many generalizations of all of the glorious benefits that have accrued to the taxpayers of Jackson County by the funding of the notorious Jackson County Airport.
You praised the Jackson County commissioners and others for their wisdom and public spirit. Is it wisdom for the Jackson County commissioners to fund, from 2001 to fiscal year 2005, grants of $40,000, $16,666 and $16,667 so that the federal, state and local taxpayers could be ripped off? The county acted as the enabler, through the matching grant system, for the Jackson County Airport to acquire from all sources $806,669. Now there is a plan to borrow $1.2 million and get more Jackson County matching grant money.
The taxpayers had better pick up the phone and speak their piece and say, "No more wasted money!"
Ambrose implied that, since the federal and state governments fund most of it, why worry? I happen to be a taxpayer, and I care about being ripped off on any level. As a retired pilot, I would expect Ambrose to defend his special-interest turf.
A little extra information for you, Mr. Ambrose, because I don't want you to be ignorant of hard facts. From the inception of the "great" Jackson County Airport in 1979 until 1999, the year the Jackson County Airport Authority took over, not one cent of profit was made. On the contrary, it lost $47,103 and this did not count the millions and millions of taxpayers' money that had already gone into that money pit.
All the local people speak with total contempt and knowledge of this. The Airport Authority has now sucked up $806,669, with a hand out for more.
Everything I have quoted to you is documented fact that I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and I have much more information about the waste, the projected grandiose projects, and the outrageous expenditures on a little over seven acres of $1,927,000. The Jackson County commissioners raised the county's taxes by $1,126,000 so they could do things like this and come back for more.
Mr. Ambrose, if you or any taxpayer would like to see the documented facts, I will be happy to share all documentation with you at the Jackson County library. Call me and we will set a meeting time.
Oh yes, my connected family has been paying taxes in Jackson County since the early 1800s, and on and off in Sylva for nearly 100 years. We have earned our right to speak out for the good of the people.
Marie Leatherwood
Sylva
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