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Thompson, Dukes have vested interest in library design
After reading the article on Odell Thompson and Jim Dukes’ appointment to the (Jackson County Library Board’s new library) design committee all I thought of was: “Conflict of interest from the get-go.”
Mr. Thompson might be a very nice person; I don’t know. I never met him. So might Mr. Dukes. But the article made it very clear that both of these businessmen have a vested interest in the library. Didn’t the commissioners pay Mr. Thompson a consulting fee already? And I believe Mr. Dukes is the developer in the same area the library will be built.
Articles about the library are full of references to Mr. Thompson’s interest in being the architect. But just think about it – if any public official like, say, the president or a governor or any politician elected by the people were to have the same person who builds airplanes or federal buildings and gets money for it, not to mention consulting fees, be put on the cabinet or some other influential committee ... well, there would be a groundswell of hoots and hollers about special interests and conflict of interests and undue influence.
So what if the commissioners make the final decision? If it happens to be Mr. Thompson then there will always be those questions lurking behind the library shelves.
Perhaps the gentleman would be better utilized as an advisor and then if he is the best person for the job in the end, then more power to him.
I just thought that the article was well-done and that the taxpayers, like me, and voters should be gulping with disbelief. I surely am. This is not good for our city, it’s not good for taxpayers and leaves some questions about the mindset of our commissioners, board and committee members.
J.T. Cowart
Sylva and Pensacola, Fla.
Attack should be investigated
To the Editor:
I am a regular reader of the Sylva Herald, although I live in Swain County. You would probably be surprised how many outside the county read your paper, which I believe is outstanding. I just wanted to make a comment on the recent letter from Randy Marrinan concerning local law enforcement and the tragedy that happened to him by two thugs.
First of all, I appreciate the work of all local law enforcement officials, but this particular incident that happened to Mr. Marrinan needs to be investigated and dealt with to the maximum. Mr. Marrinan is absolutely correct in the fact that these thugs do not need to be walking the streets. The next time it could be someone’s son, daughter, mother or father that this happens to.
Another thought, which many would not agree with because they feel like it is not their responsibility, is for the local churches to pool together and help this man pay his medical bills. I am not talking about opening the door for every Tom, Dick and Harry to get their medical bills paid for by the churches, but I do believe in extreme cases like this it is our Christian duty to help our fellow man.
If no one with authority from the local government will step up to the plate and help this man take care of this, then the community needs to step up to the plate and practice what we preach, which is to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Buddy Walls
Bryson City
Everyone welcome to help with new library
To the Editor:
It can be said with some certainty that February was a busy month as the community organized to work toward a new library. Summaries and photos of the three general community meetings can be found at www.newjacksonlibrary.org on the link titled “Community Meetings.”
We are fortunate to have several new people joining the library project. They bring good ideas and revitalize those who have been working for some time to forge a community library. That is not to say, however, that we do not need many more people working on this project. It is obvious from these first meetings that a great deal of work is ahead.
Several fund-raising projects are in development and the list of other projects is numerous. Please look at meeting schedules on each committee Web page and come join us. If you cannot attend meetings but would like to contribute, please e-mail Linda Watson at linwatson60@yahoo.com for ideas of how you can work on the project at home, at your business and in your community center.
We invite you to join the e-mail list so that you may receive regular updates and information related to the library project. You may join at the Web site or e-mail me and I will add your name.
Linda Watson
Sylva
Social Security
To the Editor:
As a member of the North Carolina AARP Advocacy Council, I have been studying Social Security issues for several years.
I would offer everyone a single recommendation and that is to look at the entire issue before coming to a conclusion.
I will provide one example to highlight the need to know as much as possible before supporting any change.
Those who save in any manner for retirement will likely start a draw-down on savings upon retirement. Once the savings are gone, and if they were the retiree’s only income, the retiree will have no money for his remaining years.
Social Security offers a lifetime income once a retiree qualifies to receive it. The current Social Security system needs to be strengthened. It needs modest changes.
It would take many pages to examine the entire Social Security issue, however. The purpose of this letter is to encourage everyone to study the issue in depth. This is an important social safety net that keeps thousands from starving and must not be lost without full public debate.
Hugh Moon
Sylva
Peace advocates mark two years
To the Editor:
As March 9 approaches I am writing to tell you about the Women in Black’s second anniversary of weekly peace vigils. For two years we have met to pray for and raise awareness in the community about the need for peaceful reconciliation of problems.
In the last two years we have given money to REACH to help them in their endeavor to stop domestic violence. We have been involved in other national demonstrations and have made available scholarships for attendance at peace conferences. This year look for us at the Greening Up the Mountains festival.
We, the women of WIB, would like to invite any woman who shares our desire to stop current and prevent future violence to come and join us in prayer and action.
A song has this phrase: “Peace is flowing like a river, flowing out of you and me, spreading out into the desert, setting all the captives free.”
Come sing this song with us at the end of our vigil on Wednesdays, from noon-1 p.m. at the base of the steps to the old Courthouse.
Rose Smith
Dillsboro
Smoke Rise Field Club urged to reconsider plans for Tilley Creek shooting range
To the Editor:
I live on Pressley Creek Road in Cullowhee. My property adjoins the former Pressley property, currently owned by Sam Matthews, on the north side of Tilley Creek Road.
It has come to my attention that Smoke Rise Field Club of Cashiers has entered into negotiations with Matthews to purchase his property for the purpose of establishing an outdoor shooting range to include skeet, rifle and pistol activities.
These activities would be conducted six-and-a-half days per week for six hours a day. I am opposed to such an inappropriate activity being conducted along Tilley Creek Road. The reasons are many but are not the subject of my letter.
I am a gun owner and a member of the NRA and have been for decades. I am a firm supporter of the Second Amendment to the Constitution and the right of American citizens to keep and bear arms. I believe by the very nature of the proposed shooting range that (gun club developers) feel as I do about the exercise of our rights.
I therefore ask them to give long and careful consideration to the negative impact that moving forward with this plan will have on all of us 70 million gun owners in the United States.
In the 25 years since my family and I came to Jackson County I have taken an active interest in the affairs of the county. Most recently I have been privileged to be part of the Citizens Against ETJ effort and the Build Our Library Downtown effort.
I have spoken to several other residents who live in close proximity to Tilley Creek, and they are also opposed to a shooting range being established there.
I can assure gun club developers that in matters that concern our homes and our communities in Jackson County any and all threats to them are met with swift, passionate, well-organized, well-financed and very well-publicized opposition. It is the publicity that I ask gun club owners to consider.
Smoke Rise officials have an opportunity to show the public that we gun owners are in fact responsible and concerned members of the community and that we are sensitive to the rights of the rest of our neighbors, not the false image that some people try to paint us – a bunch of self-absorbed, booze-swilling louts who want to endanger the public and the environment with their lunatic activities. If the last part of that sentence offends gun club owners, they need to get used to it because that is the image we will come away with.
It will not be the local residents, who are themselves gun owners to a very large degree, but some in the media and others who will take advantage of this situation to further their agenda.
Smoke Rise officials should do the right thing, do the responsible thing, do the smart thing and withdraw the Tilley Creek location from your consideration.
Louis Spagna
Cullowhee
Airport could be used by WCU, SCC
To the Editor:
I noticed a recent letter to the editor decrying the Jackson County Airport Authority’s “wasting” of taxpayer money on maintaining and improving the airport.
If the airport has reached its full potential now, then a good argument can be made that the whole thing was a bad idea promoted by a few with their own interests in mind. On the other hand, if there is untapped potential, then the thing to do now is to tap that potential without further delay. I have a suggestion.
The Herald recently reported on Western Carolina University’s proposed Millennium Initiative, which involves a large tract of land that expands the university campus. One of the boundaries is the Jackson County Airport. The same issue of the paper told how several area residents advanced their careers by taking courses at Southwestern Community College.
Someone said “when life presents you with lemons, make lemonade.” Or, to paraphrase, when you have two excellent institutions of knowledge with an available airport between them, and many students who are looking for a challenging course of study that can lead to an exciting career, offer them the opportunity to study aviation.
It is not unusual to find colleges and universities that offer flight instruction along with other aviation courses such as aircraft maintenance, aviation electronics and airport management, to name just a few, which could be part of a business or engineering curriculum. And whether students wish to make a career out of aviation, or use it for a parallel interest, it can prove to be very rewarding.
Since the Airport Authority needs to generate more income (i.e. justify its existence), and both schools are interested in attracting more students, I believe a cooperative venture could be a win-win situation.
Becky Adams
Sylva
Airport argument denies asset
To the Editor:
In response to last week’s letter “Good Ole Boys’ Club,” I would like to mention a few facts the citizens of Jackson County may be interested in knowing about our local airport.
For years I have listened to those folks who hold no interest in aviation speak out against the airport. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, they should be aware of the positive things about the issue, even if they are not interested in aviation.
Marie Leatherwood has every right to know where tax dollars are spent and voice an opinion, as does every citizen in this county, but she is misinformed about how the airport operates. I know of no “good ole boys’ club,” but, there are men and women who use aircraft as a good, safe form of transportation for business and also fly for pleasure.
They purchase fuel at the Jackson County Airport much like you do at self-service gas stations that use credit card readers, which require no attendant to be paid a salary. The sale of fuel, along with hangar/tie-down rental and property tax on their aircraft, offset most of the cost of maintaining the facility.
Major improvements and repairs are paid with funds from the Federal Aviation Administration and from the N.C. DOT from tax revenues collected on aviation fuel.
Another benefit of having a local airport is the business generated by transit aircraft that stop over for fuel or visit local attractions and stay in motels, eat in restaurants, rent cars, and do business in this area. In some areas of North Carolina, aviation generates considerable tax revenues when offering aircraft repair, flight schools, and other aviation-related services.
Recreational flying is a pleasure much like boating, biking and hiking. It is not just a privileged few who enjoy the airport, but everyone has that opportunity. I don’t mind sharing the road with a bicycle even if the cyclist does not pay a use tax for the road, or I don’t begrudge anyone fishing in the lake, though they do not pay a use tax on the lake other than a fishing license. Some do not use our county’s parks and recreation area, but I don’t mind our tax dollars supporting them because it is for the good of the whole county.
So is the airport.
In September 2004, the FAA made new rules that will reduce the cost of producing light sport aircraft and encourage recreational flying. There is even a new license just for the recreational pilot that is less expensive to obtain. Because of the improved safety and growing popularity of sport flying, aircraft ownership is now within reach of many in this area who are interested. Combine this new industry with our beautiful area; we have the potential to become an attractive destination for visitors who enjoy this kind of sport. Also, having an airport may look inviting to industry that own aircraft and are looking to expand. Then those who are poor, “hungry and can’t buy medicine” will have an opportunity to better themselves and their families.
The new hangars will bring in rent immediately because there is a waiting list to fill them from within the county and aircraft owners in neighboring counties that do not have an airport (they also have hungry people). As with any public facility, we have had our share of problems at the airport, but the Airport Authority has done a good job of handling them.
Part of the problem we have is the lack of interest from the non-flying owners (you, the taxpayer) and the resentment of those who refuse to see the vision of what an asset the airport could be to all of us and those who want to see it closed.
Even after 20 years, some still see the airport as just an issue to argue about.
Come on, get over it.
Andy Beck
Sylva
Farm subsidies not going to those in need
To the Editor:
Most of us who work, if we have not already done so, will in the next month to six weeks pay state and federal income taxes.
As a taxpayer I am outraged. I am incensed. I am infuriated enough that a copy of this letter is being sent to the president of the United States, the majority and minority leaders of both the House and Senate, and to the Secretary of Agriculture. I will add to this list anyone else I can think of whose blood pressure I can raise.
I am angry almost beyond words and I intend to let those who pretend to represent me know it. You should be outraged, too, but if you’re not and I stand alone, fine, I won’t have to concern myself with the dead weight of indifferent masses.
Allow me to remind you of something that you have perhaps forgotten, or maybe never knew. It’s doubtful this has been taught in school during the last 40-odd years, so please bear with me.
In 1767 the Townshend Acts were passed by the English Parliament. They were designed to collect revenues from the colonists in America by putting customs duties on imports of glass, lead, paints, paper and tea. The colonials protested against what they perceived as “taxation without representation.”
Ring any bells?
The boycott which followed decreased British trade and in just three years (by 1770) most of the acts were repealed, except for the tea tax, which caused the Boston Tea Party. You should know what happened next but if you don’t, look it up.
It is my opinion, it is my belief, it is my conviction we are tasting today, 235 years later, precisely what the colonials experienced, “taxation without representation.”
Do you agree?
I don’t care, to be perfectly honest.
Your so-called “representatives” in Congress are able to confiscate the hard-earned money you send in every April and spend it pretty much as they see fit. The professional politician you just re-elected last November simply takes your money and spreads it among the beggars in his district in exchange for votes, support and endorsements in his never-ending, self-serving attempt (usually successful) to keep his job.
Finally, the straw that ended this citizen’s generosity and goodwill toward government: the debate that appeared in the Wednesday, Feb. 23, edition of USA Today had to do with agricultural subsidies. Shown in the editorial were the smiling faces of David Rockefeller, Ted Turner and Scottie Pippen. Along with being rich and famous, these three moochers, according to the paper, each received over $200,000 in federal farm subsidies over the past decade.
You can confirm all this, I’m sure (I’m not making it up). Seven decades after the dust bowl years the subsidy programs are still with us, taking our money and giving it to mega-farms, wealthy investors and even dead farmers, whose estates exist only to collect the subsidies. What do you think would happen to my wife if she tries to collect even one Social Security check after I die?
The article also stated that the top 10 percent of recipients (mostly huge agribusinesses) collect almost 70 percent of the payments. So don’t tell me about “poor farmers.” I’m not buying it.
Now I’ve told you some of what I plan to do about this unconscionable atrocity perpetrated on American taxpayers. What do you plan to do?
I suspect, what you always do, absolutely nothing.
David Snell
Dillsboro
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