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Letters to the editor: 07/20/00

Too late for me

To the Editor:

This letter is in response to the request for bussing to Smoky Mountain High School. I feel this is a great idea.

Three years ago, I started high school at Blue Ridge School. My freshman year we were not allowed to choose the classes we wanted. However, I was hopeful that the next year would be different. It was; I chose two elective courses that were very important to me because I wanted to be a nurse. I was wrong - the classes were dropped and there I was four weeks into the school year and doing nothing. I was then forced to take something I was not interested in.

It was then I wanted to transfer to SMHS. I couldn't. I do not drive and both my parents work full time. I had no transportation.

I am now supposed to be going into my senior year at BRS. I am not. I have wasted enough of my time taking classes that don't benefit me.

I would greatly like to have transportation to SMHS. However, it is too late for me. Since SMHS is on 4x4 and BRS is on a seven-period schedule, I wouldn't have enough credits to graduate.

However, it is not too late for many other kids who need a quality education - students like my brother who will be entering high school in a couple of years.

I don't want him to go through what I did.

Children hardly ever get noticed. Believe it or not they do want an education, but they have no way of obtaining it.

Busing to SMHS is the right solution. If this is what we want, we should get it. Listen to us. Please, as residents of Jackson County, help us, your kids, get the education we deserve.

Thank you.
Jennifer Caudell
Sapphire

Jamboree was great success

To the Editor:

Our 12th annual Balsam Mountains Bluegrass and Gospel Jamboree held at the Community Service Center again this year was another huge success. An estimated 1,200 people were in attendance this year to hear some of the best music anywhere, and a good time was had by all.

Also, the fund-raiser for the Trevor Gates family medical benefit was very successful as proceeds from the jamboree went to help this family. A large amount of money was raised for Trevor. We at the jamboree would like to thank everyone who helped make this fund-raiser a success.

Although we can't thank everyone here who helped we would like to mention a few who were very helpful:

Thanks to Margo Gray and the staff at The Sylva Herald for their expertise and professional advice and support; the employees of Jackson Paper for their financial support; Smoky Mountain Chevrolet for their financial support and door prizes; Tim's NAPA auto parts for their financial support and door prizes; Savannah Volunteer Fire Department for their donations of ice and seats; Balsam Baptist and Mount Pleasant Baptist churches for their donations of seats; Coca-Cola of Bryson City; Sunbeam Bread; and Moore's Potato Chips.

Also thanks to all 22 bands that performed, the volunteer staff that worked so hard during the day; Mark Hawk and Bert Farmer, who helped the event run smoothly; and especially to Chuck Norris, who worked more than 16 hours doing a fine job providing sound for all the groups.

Also thanks to everyone who gave in one way or another to the Gates family. Many out of state visitors were in town for our jamboree and were impressed with our community and its good ol' mountain hospitality. Hope to see you all again next year.

Thank you,
Terry Crisp
Balsam Mountain Jamboree

To the Editor:

On July 9, thieves entered the choir room at Sylva First Baptist Church and stole my purse, along with those of several other choir members. I want to thank the thieves for teaching me some valuable life lessons.

I had forgotten, all too easily, how difficult it is to forgive those who have hurt you immeasurably and have violated your privacy in such a way as to make you fear further intrusions and to make you ever after be afraid of even small things. Thank you for teaching me that forgiving is, in and of itself, the balm of Gilead applied. How glad I am to know that God's love can indeed heal any wounds our hearts are asked to suffer.

It has been my privilege to worship and work with members of our church for three years. Thank you for making me realize how important the people of my church are and how much their love and support means to me - from the adults who remained to comfort us, the trustees who work even now to set things straight, right down to little Ben, who told me he was sorry somebody "stealed my purse," and Hannah, who made sure I knew that God would make everything all right. Surely once you were the innocent children that they still are.

The Sylva policewomen were kind and supportive. They never once proclaimed me a fool for having felt safe in my own church. I thank you for providing me the opportunity to know that they do indeed serve and protect our community. And I thank you for teaching me that my church is still a safe harbor, because it is the people who are the church and not the building made only of mortar and bricks.

Most importantly, I thank you for reminding me that even though you stole my dignity, my identity, my hard-earned money, and my security, there is one thing you can never take from me - my faith in Christ and my belief that everything that happens to me only gives God another opportunity to work things out for the good of all concerned even you.

If it were left to me to decide your punishment, I would ask that you be commanded to attend my Sunday school class one hour for every dollar that you stole. What you have done to me is such a small thing: what you have done to Him may cost you much more. Perhaps by the time you completed your punishment you would come to know the God I know - who forgives you in spite of what you've done. May God have mercy on your immortal souls.

Lastly, thank you, my thieves, for reminding me that it is possible to sing in the darkest of nights, and that as long as I walk in the prints His shoes have made, joy does indeed come with the breaking of a new day's dawn.
Merry G. Broughton
Franklin

Back to Archive: 07/20/00.