Letters to the editor: 10/03/02

When will they tire of fighting?

To the Editor:

Or should they, like the Apostle Paul in the old King James Bible says, "We have fought a good fight; we have finished our course" and seeing the handwriting on the wall say they are tired of fighting.

Lloyd Cowan

Sylva

Jackson County needs an adequate library

To the Editor:

I asked a few questions and heard other disturbing phrases, such as "rapidly becoming obsolete" and "severe limitations for storage" and "no office space for staff."

Being a library addict, I expressed my concern. What's to be done? I got a multitude of answers: acquire funding and add a second floor; excavate and put in a basement; acquire land adjacent to the present site and expand; build a new library up at the Sylva Plaza; form a joint agreement with Southwestern Community College and build a mutually desirable, multi-purpose facility; acquire a planning grant.

With so many options available, I assumed that something would happen... soon. That was more than 20 years ago.

In the last two decades, I have made occasional inquiries. What is happening with the new/expanded/renovated library? The answer I received was some variation of "the time is not right," followed by comments on the economy, current priorities, politics, etc. I assumed that like the Old Testament injunction, everything had its season. Perhaps after remodeling Main Street, redesigning the water system, building the Justice Center and painting the old courthouse, there would come a season to build a new library. Not so.

Meanwhile, the library's services were curtailed repeatedly. Cramped space meant fewer books. Once the space originally designated for public meetings and cultural programs was converted into office space cubicles, a host of musical, literary and educational programs were omitted.

The Macon County Library expanded, Swain County's Marianna Black renovated, Cashiers Library became a showcase, Haywood County Library sponsored recitals, writers groups, lectures and art shows. Only the Jackson County Library seems to shrink.

I have tried to be diplomatic, and at times when I became impatient, I was advised that I simply didn't understand the issues. Leave the problem to wiser, more accomplished people. Be patient. In time, our local and state leaders will turn their eyes towards the library and bring respite.

I am tired of waiting. Jackson County needs an adequate library. I want some answers. Hundreds of children are being underserved and the population of this county is being denied a multitude of educational and cultural services.

When will Jackson County have an adequate library? Inquiring minds want to know.

Gary Carden

Sylva

Hostility generates hostility

To the Editor:

The Soviet Union was a nuclear threat for years and we never attacked them. Should we really spend millions of dollars to fight lraq when we have a trillion dollar deficit? What would we think of a CEO that managed his company like this?

Saddam Hussein is obviously a problem, but is declaring war on lraq the best way to deal with it? If he is a product of fear and hate towards Americans, would a bombing campaign change those feelings? In our haste to protect ourselves we may be creating more enemies. Hostility only generates hostility.

Once Saddam is gone, who will be next? As long as we are a world power there will be those who do not trust us. Do we become the world bully to keep everyone in check? Even our allies will have serious doubts about us if we continue to disregard their requests to hold off. If our country refuses to listen to the UN, why should anyone else? Wouldn't we earn more respect by listening to our neighbors and working on a plan together?

We live in a wonderful country and enjoy rights and freedoms found in few others. We can have a direct effect on the decisions our government makes. Please contact your representatives and let them know how you feel on this issue. The vote is coming up soon. If you go to the website http://capwiz.com/wa/officials/congress/?state=NC&azip=28779&lvl= C&district=11 you can send a message to the president, your senator and your state representative with one click. They need to hear from you on this important issue.

Cynthia Gallinger

Sylva

Weapons required to deter criminals

To the Editor:

However, one vital means of protection was conspicuously absent. This is a very dangerous world and there are some very bad people in it. The most effective means of protecting your person and your property is to possess sufficient weaponry to deter criminals permanently.

There is only one person responsible for your safety and that person is you. No one is truly safe, anywhere, unless they have the proper means to defend themselves, anywhere, at any time.

We have nurtured in the United States a very liberal, tolerant approach to bad behavior. Our inept judicial system does little to curtail criminal activity. Only in areas where large number of good citizens possess guns has the crime rate been significantly reduced consistently.

Criminals are basically cowards and seek easy prey. If they believe you may be armed and willing and able to defend yourself, they normally won't attack. Or if they do, they will only do it once.

The Swain/Qualla Safe Elderwatch provides good information and is well worth remembering. But hardened, determined criminals necessitate an equally determined citizenry, which refuses to submit to being a victim.

David Snell

Dillsboro

'Highway Uglification' offends writer

To the Editor:

This butcher of the byways cuts horizontally, vertically, upside down all which-a-ways. A boom can extends its reach beyond highway right-of-way to private property. It mangles everything in its path.

As a resident of the Dicks Creek community, I have always felt fortunate that I can start and end my workday with a drive along this scenic stream that flows through woods and farmstead on its way to the Tuckaseigee.

Last week, I turned off the busy four-lane onto Dicks Creek Road and gained that inner peace I feel upon entering the "home" stretch. Suddenly I was jarred by scenes of devastation: splintered and mangled stumps of trees up to 4 inches across, half-cut limbs dangling by shreds, trees skinned of their bark and left standing, probably to die.

This was at once outrageous and disheartening.

There's no question that the DOT has done a lot of good work on this road over the years: a neat paving job, rebuilding the bridges that cross the meandering creek. Out on the four-lanes across the state, the Wildflower Program has drawn praise from citizens and out-of-state travelers as the epitome of highway beautification. Much time and care and manpower has been put into the landscaping at the Sylva exit. It's just hard to believe that the same agency that beautifies with the one hand has to ravage with the other.

My suggestion to the trout fishermen, leaf-lookers, Sunday drivers, bicyclists and joggers who took pleasure in this stretch of road is to go elsewhere for a couple of years while nature heals itself.

I invite you who travel home along scenic stretches to visit Dicks Creek Road to see the devastation that could come to your area if you're not vigilant. Perhaps you can head off this program of what can only be called "Highway Uglification."

Bill Lee

Dicks Creek

Parent appreciates coaches, athletic program

To the Editor:

Since before school started coach Cindi Simmons has held volleyball practice or there has been a game every day, Monday through Friday. She has worked diligently to bring this team along. They have had success, but surely everyone knows that winning or losing is not the most important thing about being part of a team. It is the things players learn about how to work together, how to work harder when you are behind, and how to support your teammates so the job gets done that stick with kids through life. They learn how to win graciously and how to take in a loss.

It is evident that coach Simmons loves these girls. She cares about their grades and what they plan to do with their life. She spends hours practicing with the girls. She spends nights at away games, eating a sandwich for supper on the bus. I know that whatever her coaching supplement is it is small compared to the amount of hours put in.

There are many fine coaches at Smoky Mountain who travel all over Western North Carolina representing our school and our town. One of the things we have seen when we have played away games are beautiful, well-equipped schools.

The Athletic Booster Club raises money every year by selling memberships, merchandise, banners and program ads to help support our athletic teams. If you would like to help support athletics, contact Athletic Director Si Simmons at the high school.

Even if you don't have a child at the school right now, chances are you know someone else's child. If you have the means to buy a piece of equipment, uniforms or send kids to an athletic camp, your support would be greatly appreciated.

DiAnne Crisp

Sylva

Saddened by Baptist disunity

The very fact of this obvious disunity in the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association proves to everybody in our community that God's Spirit is not controlling this shameful situation. It is positively tragic that a Christian denomination like the Southern Baptist, known worldwide for its focus on witness to the "lost," should present such a public witness of their judgmental attitude toward fellow Christians in their own denomination who don't agree with "their special set of rules." (I think Jesus had quite a lot to say in His Word about religious leaders who decide that rules are more important than relationship.)

It also concerns me that Christians who say they believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God would ignore the part where Jesus sent a woman to deliver the good news (Gospel) to His disciples that Jesus was alive. That same Word also forewarned us that well-meaning men might not always be receptive to the message God gives a woman. That does not make the message or the messenger any less important or less vital to God's work in this fallen world.

I believe, as most Southern Baptists do, that God's perfect will is for women not to have spiritual authority over men, but God's Word demonstrates that He will use anybody or any thing He choose - men, women, unnamed children with lunches, donkeys, birds, and even big fish to accomplish His purposes and nobody has the right to judge another person's call to ministry! The fruit of a person's (or an association's) ministry is proof of the validity of their call!

Finally, I would share my deep concern for any Christian denomination or association that would declare that any book, even God's Holy Word, is to be respected or worshiped and hallowed above Jesus Christ, who was declared by that same Holy Word to be The Word, The Way, The Truth and The Life!

Furthermore, I would also like to know the source of the rumor that the King James version of the Bible is the only true word of God. Did Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea, ever speak one word of King James English?

Lastly, isn't there a scripture somewhere in the first gospel that says we are not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds (present tense) from the mouth of God? Am I being totally unreasonable to interpret that to mean that God still speaks today, and did not stop when the last period was written at the end of the Revelation AND that God speaks to each individual believer by the very Spirit that Jesus, Himself, promised to send to teach us and remind us of every command God has ever given to His people? They will know we are Christians by our love.

Respectfully submitted,

Lorraine Arnold

Sylva

'Rush to war' is actually a diversion

To the Editor:

The current "Defense Planning Guidance," an updated version of Vice President Dick Cheney's "Defense Strategy for the 1990s," is basically a plan for the United States to rule the world. The plan is defined in a recent article by David Armstrong in the October issue of Harper's magazine: "...It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful."

In a Sept. 9 "Letter to the Editor," Robert Franz attempted to "transform" the current 9-11 pride and patriotism to something beyond the level of popular rituals of grief and "healing," the banalities of television talkers, or the borrowed eloquence of politicians.

He suggests that we are "citizens of the last superpower on Earth," but does not question the current mission of our government. Do we not have a responsibility as "world citizens" to raise concerns over the endless drumbeat of our current leaders for an endless war on terrorism?

"War" doesn't accurately describe what is required to stop terrorism in the future, and the risk of using the term is that it provides a rationale for restricting civil liberties and treating disagreement as disloyalty. The language of war in the struggle against terrorism is only the latest attempt to turn a national emergency into a political trump card.

The qualities needed for a serious campaign against terrorists - secrecy, international police intelligence, political shrewdness (coordinated with other nations), quiet ruthlessness, covert actions that remain covert, and above all infinite patience - are all forgotten or overridden in a media-stoked frenzy for instant results such as another "short" war with Iraq.

Mr. Franz also suggests we create a 9-11 "holiday" to celebrate and exercise "national humility," a day to examine our past and present actions. Americans "stand tall" and stand "united"; we are not very good at "standing with humility."

There is little ground for humility when we tell the world that "you are either with us or against us."

Following a policy of "standing alone" can only bankrupt us spiritually and fiscally. We proceed without regard for international laws or our own Constitution. It is not a policy worthy of a great and democratic nation. Our government continues to expand its military budget at the expense of our own "quality of life."

Homeland security should also include health care, protection against corporate greed and rising poverty levels.

The rush to war shortly before national elections is a diversion and will alienate us from the rest of the world. We have a responsibility not to remain silent. Roger Turner

Sylva

Setting the record straight

To the Editor:

First let me say that it's easier to lay blame and point fingers than to take responsibility for the problems that may arise. When name-calling and finger-pointing go on, it usually is to cover up one's own shortcomings. The fact that my name came up at all during the Sept. 26 meeting shows that these people didn't grasp the real problem - service.

Sylva officials don't care about who doesn't get along with who. They just want the service they are paying for to be provided.

If the job is done, there are no problems. If you take the job and the money, then do it. No excuses. Do whatever you have to do to get it done.

I don't have a say in the town routes any more, but I did nothing - other than leave Country Collections - to hinder them. The drivers who left did so weeks after my wife and I did. I'm not saying that we ran it perfectly; we didn't. There were problems, but we handled them and tried not to repeat them.

I'm going to stray for a moment to answer the accusations made against me. I stole nothing, but I heard about a report filed about a skid steer loader, time clock and office furniture being missing. The skid steer's monthly rental contract was in my wife's name. We paid the rent from our personal account and then billed Country Collections. They paid us with a check; then they stopped payment on the check.

We then repossessed the skid steer and took it back to Asheville to its owners. The time clock was a gift to me from a friend, and the chairs I took came from my own trips to the swap shop at the Dillsboro staffed recycling center. There was no theft, and no lists were tampered with in any way by my wife, Sandy, or me.

I do want to apologize to the Sylva Town Board, Mayor Brenda Oliver and the town staff. I'm sorry I couldn't stay and finish the job I started. Like I said, we were not perfect, but Sandy and I and the crew we had with us would have continued to improve. And, for the record, if the chance to work for Sylva ever arose again, I would do my best to get the job. The only thing I would do different is that there would be no partners and thus no conflict.

Hopefully this will help stop the rumors and passing the buck, so that the job Sylva is paying for will be done.

Thank you,

Bobby Gunter

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