… Salisbury Pride members, supporters ask mayor for proclamation

It’s great to be able to speak your piece before government. Make your voices heard now and vote with those convictions in the fall.

— Geof Wilson

Much thanks to all those people who shared their stories. I, too, grew up in Rowan County and left when I was 19 because of lack of understanding from church, school and neighbors. I have waited 50+ years to hear these words spoken in all sincerity right here in my hometown. Rowan County and Mayor Woodson, you have a job to do and you know the right thing to do!

— Judy McDaniel

As a member of such an amazing group, I have so much PRIDE in what we are asking for. We only thank Mayor Woodson and council for allowing us to present our request. Awareness and education can happen everywhere.

— Fonda Jenkins-Kimrey

it was amazing to be able to tell my story, and I just hope I make a difference!

— Jamie Monroe

… Letters: Remember what Jesus had to say about prayer

Mr. Paris: the issue is about speech — the First Amendment. That amendment prohibits Congress from proscribing speech, and as in our Constitution, the Congress, and only the Congress, has the authority to draft legislation, that prohibition extends to every other branch of government.

You do not like the way commissioners pray, and a federal judge moves to forbid it (though the Constitution gives him no authority so to do), so you approve.

Let’s see how you and others who are thrilled now will react, when other justices in years to come prohibit other speech. Pac-Man is loosed, and he will gobble indiscriminately.

— Steve Owen

The issue is not whether the people elected to the council can pray. Of course they can. They can pray to whomever they wish as often as they wish and go to any church they wish. That’s their right as guaranteed under the 1st amendment, freedom of worship.

The issue is that council members, government officials acting in their official capacity, cannot, as per the 1st Amendment, give preference to one religion over another.

— Greg Page

… School system gets increased funding in proposed budget

Part of what is stalling Rowan’s economic growth is the constant refusal to properly fund our schools. Relocation of businesses and families lags behind Cabarrus. Having taught in both systems, it’s clear that we’re not providing our children in Rowan the quality they they deserve. You won’t attract and keep quality teachers with poor pay and buildings that aren’t maintained regularly and replaced, say every 70 years or so. (Cleveland, Woodleaf, Long Street, Ellis Street etc.)

— Ron Turbyfill

A less than one percent raise would be, and is, a slap in the face to everyone the school system employs.

— Clay Boger

… Editorial: Numbers      to think about

This is the county manager’s proposed budget. Mr. Church has a flair for the dramatic. His opening statement says that “needs” require an 18-cent increase and he concludes with a budget that calls for 1.2 cents. He is a different kind of bird. Most managers ask for much more than they can get from commission or council and then the elected officials can argue it down, showing they are looking out for the taxpayers.

The manager usually asks for a Corvette and they argue him down to a Camaro. This is new. Maybe here, the county manager argues for a Chevy Cobalt and waits for commission, school board and citizens to argue him up to a Camaro?

— Todd Paris

“In Rowan County it seems as if a growth spurt is just around the corner,” Church says. Everyone hopes he’s right. Yes, let’s hope it’s right. However, minimum wage jobs while they do help they are not a cureall to everything. We need higher paying jobs and lots of them. Also of note: In the past, state law required 40 percent of lottery proceeds to be set aside for school construction. In the 2013 North Carolina legislative session, this 40 percent earmark was eliminated.

— Mark Lyerly

This is a very realistic writing on where the county finds itself after years of neglect by the former commission. I think we all feel for the predicament left by the former commission. However, two of those accountable (Pierce & Caskey) still sit on the commission, for now!

The ‘Taj MaMall’ fiasco will just start to be seen in everybody’s pocket books — more coming in future years as we start peeling back that roof.

— John Blair

… John Hood: Ask right questions about student test scores

And so therefore, what are the right questions? What is the relationship between testing and learning? In what ways can testing be implemented to improve teaching and learning? What role does society play in the achievement of our students?

— Reginald Brown

I have read the article twice now and can’t, for the life of me, find the point. If this article’s purpose is to begin a dialog, what should be the conversation starter?

— Robin Daye

… Commissioners implement alternate policy for prayers

Why is any kind of invocation necessary? Go in… sit down.. and have a meeting. Simple!

— Robin Hager

Is it possible for all Christian commissioners to gather for prayer 5-10 minutes before the official starting time of the meeting, either in a separate room or before unlocking the doors? Don’t see how anyone could be offended by that.

— Laurel Adams

I know I live in the Bible Belt, but people, we voted these people in to find jobs and open business to our county, not to be our “moral compass!” Start doing the jobs you were hired to do.

— Jennifer Doering

The ACLU doesn’t do this to make money. They do this to prevent the majority from trampling the rights of the minority, and to protect our constitutional guarantee to a separation of church and state.

— Sarah Geer

… Gerald Ford’s 1968 visit to Salisbury

Earl Ruth and Gerald Ford were politicians in a day when civility prevailed. Both were good guys focused on getting things done in the best interests of all Americans. Earl Ruth had a fabulous sense of humor.

— David Post

… A question about evolution

You are confusing the theories of evolution, biogenesis, and the current theory of the origin of the universe. Evolution attempts to explain nothing about how the universe or life formed, but merely how life changed after it first occurred. Is it not reasonable that animals with favorable traits would produce more offspring, and put more of their favorable genes in the gene pool? After millions of years of these slight changes, these animals can look pretty different than they did in the past. Just look at what we have done with dogs in the past few thousand years through artificial selection!

— Abraham Post

Evolutionists used to include the big bang and chemical evolution in their theory until they realized they violated too many known laws of science so now they want to start with complex cells and just go from there, and they hope you won’t notice.

Those experiments done with dogs, they are still dogs correct? The type of evolution you believe in supposedly produces non-dogs.

— Arville Edgeworth

There is no scientific explanation for anything in the Bible – why would you believe any of it? Evolution is provable

— Chris Pollard

He seems to believe that a complex cell represents the beginning of evolution. This is entirely wrong. It could be argued that the appearance of cells as we understand them today, coming at the end of a process taking well over a billion years, represented the end of the “heavy lifting” portion of the evolutionary process. No “random act” resulted in the first cells. They were the product of a very long, very *selective* (NOT random) process.

— Ken Phelps

As for the Big Bang. No one knows what happened before it. This was the first, big event and metaphors can’t do it justice but here is a weak attempt. Imagine an egg placed on a deserted island so it hatches there and knows no other place. The animal, whatever it is, cannot cross the water. It has no way to know if or what exists beyond the water.

The metaphor fails because we can travel across water but the evidence of our universe is that billions of years ago, all matter and energy was in a tiny point and expanded from there. Physicists have a good idea what happened immediately after the Big Bang (and use terms like 1 times ten to the negative twenty seconds to show how fine this knowledge is) but can know nothing about before it.

— Brian Dean

… Kent Bernhardt: A secret long kept

You are true to yourself — a trait I admire! There were likely other young Welk fans out there who were afraid of being teased — they were too scared to admit they secretly liked it. I didn’t go around telling everybody about it, but I’ve loved that show since I can remember, although I like other typical teen music also.

— Linda Spence

Yes, there are still a lot of us out here. Welk music and stars are hard to beat. None of them had a gimmick which stars today have to do since a lot of them truly can’t sing.

— Judy Shaw