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Writer wishes luck to both sheriff’s candidates
To the Editor:
I appreciate the high levels of constructive criticism that people within the community have made toward my recent letter to the editor. I agree with you all that we as a community want to feel safe and we also want our children to be safe. Law enforcment, whether it is the Sheriff’s Office, the Sylva Police Department, or the N.C. Highway Patrol, is all out-manned to say the least. I understand the pride and the courage it takes to protect the citizens. It can not be easy.
I apologize if I undermined the men and women in uniform that work the long hours to serve and protect.
However, I don’t want to see anyone hurt, criminals or law-abiding citizens. I was not there at the shooting I mentioned, and I can only imagine how those officers felt. But I think there are always alternatives to death and injury. There are always better ways to do things. I understand that the man who lost his life could have surrendered like someone said, but he didn’t. Law enforcement needs training and equipment to deal with that situation. After all, that man had a family, too. Just because he was committing a crime, he didn’t deserve to die, did he? If that man were my son, brother or father, I would be devastated, wouldn’t you?
So when it comes down to it, Jimmy Ashe and Jim Cruzan both have made great sacrifices for this community and they both have the potential to be true leaders. Both have made great strides to better the Sheriff’s Department, and the voters will decide. I wish both of them well.
John Woodring
Webster
Carter, Clinton also employed warrantless surveillance
To the Editor:
Mary Anne Farrell in her March 30 letter, titled “American democracy in serious trouble” stated “Richard Nixon was the last American president who spied on us.”
Assuming she is referring to President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping of al-Qaeda operatives calling individuals in the United States, then she is mistaken.
In 1977, President Carter and his attorney general, Griffin Bell, authorized warrantless electronic surveillance used in the conviction of two men for spying on behalf of Vietnam, and Attorney General Janet Reno in 1993 signed off on the warrantless search of an American home on the basis of the dubious “inherent authority” theory and former Clinton Assistant Attorney General John Schmidt supported this warrantless National Security Administration eavesdropping in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
It would appear both former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had a similar view when it comes to protecting our country from foreign elements. If one is illegal, wouldn’t all three be?
Larry Gardner
Sylva
Present commissioners not considering debt load on county’s citizens
To the Editor:
Are we being sold out by the present county commissioners – Chairman Brian McMahan and Joe Cowan, who are seeking re-election; and Roberta Crawford, Eddie Madden and Conrad Burrell, who are not seeking re-election?
Burrell is excused from what I have to say: he did his best to stop some of the nearly $60 million in debt the taxpayers will face from this fiscally irresponsible board by trying to prioritize more needed projects. He has also worked hard to get roads and eliminate the $25,000 or more vehicles per day (expected to be 40,000 in the future) on N.C. 107, which is a disaster. Everybody is trying to protect their turf and stop him from doing anything to alleviate the hazardous situation.
Now that you know who is responsible for your impending debt load, let’s talk about it.
Let’s use “mountain talk,” and call an ace and ace and a spade a spade. Let’s talk about a board that has made fools and suckers of the local population, which means multi-generational people, mountain born, that are being forced off their own land by unaffordable taxes and the staggering debt load of around $60 million – actually $59,373,795. Taxpayers, this is your life of paying as well as your grandchildren’s if we let all of these projects be funded as these commissioners have stated they intend to do.
The Sylva Herald reported these facts to all of us, and on March 16, also reported that county leaders expressed concern that their options and work they could accomplish are limited.
“It’s a big disappointment to me,” said Cowan. “I was hoping we could do more sooner.”
As a taxpayer, I am thankful Cowan and other board members couldn’t get more indebtedness due to a law on debt limits. They have piled on all the debt on the people that the law allowed by giving to every faction that had their hand out, whatever they asked for; and they have left the door open for some local people and developers to gash and hack the mountainsides, eroding the land and pouring sediment into our streams, polluting everything in their wake.
There has been no statement to our federal government by these commissioners against the sale of our national forest lands. Is it surprising if you consider that this acreage would go to developers like Balsam Mountain Preserve for palatial estates for “the rich and famous,” and Brian McMahan works for this developer? You certainly don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Let’s talk facts and more facts. Although Jackson County is mandated by law to go through revaluation, the commissioners set the dollar rate. Revaluation may change your property’s value from $200,000 to $400,000, but by lowering the tax rate you pay, your taxes wouldn’t go up. You wouldn’t be struggling to feed your families and keep your land.
Remember that some $60 million in debt carries an interest rate of 4 percent and we will be paying interest on interest as well as principal.
These people are drunk on their own power to control and damage not only the mountains, but the fabric of our lives and future. They are selling us out for things and more things. There is no law that forces us to fund projects any faster than we choose. No laws that say our county can’t put a limit on any project and simply say to the people that want everything, “You will make do with what the basic population can afford; we will not force them out of their homes, off their land or into more choices of food, heat, medicine, medical or taxes.”
I am sickened that this board of commissioners made every decision on every project before the election of new board members. They don’t intend for our representatives to speak for us. All you need to do is vote in May for good people and take back your government and your future and the future of the mountain people. Vote and change things.
I say this to you: Are you whipped dogs that you can’t even take care of your own and are willing to give up your rights to two-bit politicians?
Marie Leatherwood
Sylva
Jackson County schools better than most
To the Editor:
I feel compelled to respond to John Davis’ letter regarding our school system in the March 30 issue of The Sylva Herald. I’ve worked for Jackson County Schools for more than five years and I simply do not see the same picture Davis sees.
Perceptions are influenced by experiences, and my exposure to public education dates to 1945 and embraces school practices in many states and several foreign countries where I have been a student, worker or volunteer. I must admit, however, to attempt to define and clarify the multitude of issues Davis addressed is dizzying.
The cultural changes that have taken place in American in the last 60 plus years have altered our way of life and our institutions (such as education), not always in a positive way. The devil, of course, is in the details, but changes in our way of life have deprived our children of the influence of stable homes and families, especially a strong male influence, a consequence not entirely unintended.
There was a time in America when children went to school ready to listen and learn, and teachers had only to teach. Children sitting up straight in their desks, hands folded neatly in front of them, 40 pairs of eyes watching the teachers’ every move – all are as antiquated as the one-room schoolhouse.
Teachers today are required to be parents, priests, counselors, nurses, baby-sitters and disciplinarians to their charges. That any teaching is accomplished in the course of a day is a minor miracle in itself.
Davis accuses the school system of ill-treatment of our children, of teachers not working for student improvement or not listening to parents’ concerns, being unfair, being discriminatory, and discouraging scholastic achievement.
How does one respond objectively to such incautious indictments? I think I will simply ask Davis to take a closer, more detached, impersonal look at our schools. Teachers, principals and staff work long and hard, sometimes under the most difficult of circumstances, and give the very best they have to give with not just a small sacrifice.
Are our schools and public education perfect? No, indeed they are not. Are there problems in our schools and room for improvement? Yes, most emphatically, there is.
I can honestly state that, outside my family, it was my teachers who had the greatest influence in my life. Whatever I have achieved is directly attributable to their inspiring dedication to teaching and their dedication to me personally.
The institution of learning has changed considerably since 1945, but teachers haven’t changed all that much. They’re still dedicated, they’re still committed and they still impact the lives of our children.
In my opinion, the greatest hindrance to the education of our children is parents’ unwillingness or inability to, well, parent. Believe it or not, the responsibility for the education of children belongs to parents, and they have long since abdicated that obligation.
It does (as Hillary Clinton was soundly ridiculed for stating) “take a village to raise a child,” and in my judgement neither the village nor many families work that well. Subsequently, education suffers, along with most of the rest of America.
The infusion of politics in education has certainly not been helpful, any more than lawyers, who tend to create more problems than they resolve.
Were it up to me, and you can thank your lucky stars it isn’t, I would appeal for stronger discipline, emphasize sportsmanship and pride in one’s school and self, and promote stronger male influence at home and in our schools.
David Snell
Dillsboro
Educators need to address problems with schools
To the Editor:
I’m writing in response to Steven Gentile’s March 23 letter about the school system. We have more of a problem with our school system than meets the eye or school officials are willing to discuss.
At the March 21 Smoky Mountain High School parents’ night I was told that my child, who will be a freshman next year, did not have any choice concerning the subjects he would take but had to accept those at hand, like it or not. I did not receive any satisfaction from those educators, just a brush off. All I was concerned about was the basics of an education for my child.
We do not have dedicated, devoted, concerned or committed teachers anymore. It again is pass the buck for smaller class sizes and three or four assistants to do the work for the ones who are paid to do it in the first place. Complaints have been made and brought to many teachers’ attention concerning bullying and related matters, just to be brushed off and no action taken until a child is suspended for taking up for himself. We do not have programs in place to make sure children receive a quality eduction, nor any that will guarantee a safe and warm environment, regardless of what the educators say.
After many talks with parents who have children dropping out of school, it comes down to the teachers and their attitudes towards those students. Here again, this system is and has been failing for many years, and if (Superintendent) Sue Nations can’t see this, then I feel that many educators in this county should seek employment elsewhere.
There is no excuse for any child being denied an education in this county or state, but when the (federal government) puts their fingers in the pie, it all gets out of hand and many children get left behind. And this so-called “No Child Left Behind,” is a come-on and is not worth the trouble. We have too many students here that are being left behind in many ways.
Our county school board ignores the importance of what our educational system should be. Too much time is spent travelling around the country spending our tax dollars, when the attention should be placed on our school system by our school board.
Why should a student be held in after-school detention because of a failure to turn in a homework assignment or for not turning in a signed note, or a few other stupid and ridiculous matters? This happens all the time where my child attends school. Yet, these teachers tell the students they will pick their work up later, then fail them because they did not pick it up in the first place and did not give the proper credit for the students’ work.
Our schools are only as good as the educators we have in them, and many of those schools have not any educators worthwhile to teach our children. Why should a school have more than 200 clubs for students when it’s taking away from the learning part? Where do they find time to teach or our children to learn?
Nations’ reasons (for the dropout rate) are really too general without any real explanations. She is afraid of the real truth, and many school board members hide behind loopholes in school laws and fail to keep the parents informed of the best education we seek for our children. Is this not a real joke on someone’s part?
Where did all the money go for the band, football and the other activities at SMHS? Why has the school kept the same band uniforms for so many years? Many are ragtag now. Like myself, many parents are losing faith, not only in the schools and the educators but in the school board as well.
There is no real emphasis on the needed activities, due to turnovers in the areas of importance; again, the school board could care less and finds a flunkey that’s crazy enough to take the job. I personally do not feel that the county school board has done all it should have been doing to try and make things better for our school system and our children.
It’s not just up to the school board and superintendent. It’s also up to the community to carry out the quality education purpose for our future generation and to have responsible personnel to fulfill the rightful goals within our school system.
Alvin Frady
Sylva
Herald does good job reporting news
To the Editor:
It was good to hear about your 80 years of reporting the local news.
I read several area tabloids and some of them will do sporadic coverage of what is going on locally, but nobody gives it the full coverage like The Sylva Herald, or more correctly, “The Herald,” as locals call it, because it accurately covers more that just Sylva.
I’ve gone to government meetings, which appear to be always covered by your reporters.
When I read about it later in The Herald, the reporting is very accurate as to what took place at the meeting with no addition, deletion or slanting of the news. That gives me trust in your newspaper. Lord knows that’s becoming a commodity today.
It’s also nice to know that I can attend to other business or just sit home and watch the tube and miss a meeting that is important to me and to the other citizens of this area, because you have assigned your reporters to be there for us.
You are our eyes and ears in government, and that’s a valuable service.
The power of the press is so important, because I believe that the pen is still mightier than the sword.
First Amendment rights are very important to people and if they are not then should be.
The “press” has always been at the forefront to protect these rights. I’ve lost track of the number of lawsuits the press has had to fight based on the Freedom of Information Act, in order to get government agencies to release public information.
Long live freedom of the press, because you work for all of us.
So don’t be embarrassed to pat yourself and your workers on the back because you deserve it.
Eighty years is a long time for anything to be alive, especially a small, hometown weekly newspaper in this day and age.
Maybe I should live so long and remain so articulate.
With a little luck and the help of a higher power, if we’re both around when I turn 80, I’ll write and let you know and you can congratulate me.
Jim McCarthy
Dillsboro
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