Letters to the editor: 01/10/02

'Christmas Project' was huge success

To the Editor:

We at the Department on Aging of Jackson County would like to express our sincere thanks for the overwhelming response to our "Christmas Boxes for the Elderly Project" in December.

We asked the community to donate gift boxes with items such as gloves, paper towels, Kleenex, dish soap, stationary, batteries, etc. that we could deliver to homebound elderly in our county. You responded tremendously! We received and delivered 114 boxes!

We never dreamed of receiving such a hugh response. Thank you, Jackson County, for giving from your heart to our community. God bless you all.

Sincererly,

Helen Bryson - Department on Aging Director

DeeDee Ehrlich - Elder Nutrition Program Director

America's heroes deserve thanks

To the Editor:

Yesterday (Sunday, Jan. 5) I watched the commissioner of the New York City Fire Department on television. He was giving great praise to the NYC Fire Department, as well as firefighters throughout the U.S.

I am not a fire commissioner, but I am a resident of Jackson County, going on 13 years now. My family and I have been blessed and not had to use the fire department or rescue squad. However, I have observed these dedicated individuals at work, and I think they are super folks.

I, for one, just want to say, "Thanks." You are a great asset to Jackson County.

Gwin B. Allen

Sylva

Welcome to the town of SPIR

To the Editor:

During the past several months I have tried to get Mayor Brenda Oliver and Sylva's town board members to delay hiring a town manager until Tommy Thompson retires in three years or until it could be done without eliminating a town maintenance position and cutting back on the money town employees received as a Christmas bonus. My attempts to change their minds ended in failure.

I then tried to get them to make Tommy Thompson Sylva's first town manager as a way of showing the town's appreciation for 13 years of dedicated service and a job well done. Again I failed.

The town of Sylva is very fortunate to have the finest group of Town Hall, street maintenance and Police Department employees, as well as volunteer fire department, of any town our size in all of North Carolina. They are all hard-working, dedicated people, and I, as a taxpayer of the town of Sylva, am ashamed of the way they are under appreciated and treated by our elected officials. All town employees deserve better; you all should have received a full Christmas bonus.

The town board should have hired two people in the maintenance department instead of eliminating another position, and the town should have made Carla Robinson's part-time secretary position fulltime to relieve her work load at both Town Hall and the Police Department. I again failed to achieve what I tried to get done.

Tommy Thompson should have been our first town manager, but Richard McHargue had the degree the mayor and the town board wanted. Tommy has 13 years of administrative experience, which they totally ignored. He has a proven track record of budgeting the town's money, but his way of budgeting did not fit in with the agenda the mayor and town board want to accomplish.

Tommy also knows our town, all its problems. He also knows what needs to be done now and what can and should be put off until funds are available. He knows the town's citizens, their needs, wants and desires.

I tried to get others to join in my fight; many people called and told me they agreed with my ideas but said that a few letters would not change town politics. I really thought I could do something to change things, but again I failed.

Anyway, congratulations to Richard McHargue. I hope you will take into consideration board member Eldridge Painter's definition of the town limits extending from lngles to Dillsboro and out a long ways in other directions and not accept that the only place in town requiring work is from the courthouse fountain to Meatballs.

Thank you, Tommy Thompson, for 13 years of dedication that saved everyone's tax dollars. I know you and all the other town employees and our Police and fire departments will continue serving us well and making us proud to be residents of Sylva. I thank and appreciate each and everyone of you for all your hard work and dedication.

The taxpayers of Sylva will realize they should have joined me in this fight when the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 tax bills come out. They will find out then what this whole agenda of the mayor and town board is going to cost, and we will have to live either with big tax increases or town services will be cut again. I dread to think what will happen if we get a foot or two of snow or a big ice storm when the town crew is short two employees.

Thank you,

Herb Zachmann

Sylva

Lyle Wilson property should not be in Forest Hills' ETJ

To the Editor:

The Village of Forest Hills board members already had their minds made up to include us in their ETJ before they held their meetings. But the council and the mayor did not do their homework to get the fact on the Lyle Wilson property. All they had to do was check our deed.

The Adams property that joins Forest Hills has no road right of way across our property. Also, there are six homes in our neighborhood. We gave the council a petition signed by 100 percent of them during the Oct. 22 meeting. The facts we provided fell on deaf ears. It was like a kangaroo court.

The Lyle Wilson property was bought in the early 1930s when there was no Forest Hills. It was called the Cox Farm. We are not a part of Forest Hills; we have a private road and don't want to be a part of that group.

We hope something will be done to make ETJ illegal. All we want is to control our own property and to be left alone.

Albert and Mary Wilson

Cullowhee

Football family will endure

To the Editor:

A week before Christmas my husband was informed that he and the rest of the football coaches at Western Carolina University had been fired after five and a half years.

As we all know, a lot of outrage has followed. My first thought was, of course, disbelief.

Then I asked, "Why?" and "How will this effect my children?" After much prayer I now know the answer.

Our journey in Cullowhee is over. We have had an incredible journey of personal growth, family growth and unity, and spiritual growth. We will leave here only with wonderful memories of WCU football and friendships that will last a lifetime.

The spirituality and faith we have found here will be our guiding light toward our future... where ever that may be.

Don't be sad for us, friends. God has a divine plan for all of us. Rejoice that we have been one of the fortunate ones to have had such an endearing, fullfilling, spiritual journey here, and that we have had the oppurtunity to know all of you.

Thank you to everyone at WCU and to all our friends for your love, support and prayers over the past five and a half years.

Sincerely,

Karen, Kurt, LaRae, Grace and Eva Beathard

Sylva

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