Bond would help towns with water

Small and medium-sized towns would receive much-needed funding to improve their deteriorating water and sewer systems through the Connect NC bond proposed by Governor McCrory. More than $309 million dedicated to water and sewer system projects would help communities who otherwise could not afford to pay for long overdue repairs, maintenance, and modernization.

Clean water and reliable infrastructure are essential to safeguarding the environment, protecting public health, and making every North Carolina community economically competitive. The infrastructure challenge is particularly difficult in rural areas where many water and sewer systems were built more than fifty years ago. Many towns have difficulty finding funds for critical improvements to water and sewer facilities. Sudden breakdowns of water or sewer systems can interrupt daily life and are a less-than-welcoming sign for prospective job-creating businesses.

Of the $309.5 million included in the Connect NC bond proposed by Governor McCrory, $100 million would fund grant projects that small and medium-sized towns simply can’t afford today. The remaining $209.5 million would be used for low-interest loans for water and sewer improvement projects. When the loans are paid back, the money will be loaned again to other water and sewer systems across the state – a process that can be repeated over and over again. It is estimated that over the next 20 years, the $209.5 million will pay for more than $450 million in water and sewer projects.

No tax increases are needed to finance the Connect NC bonds, and the time is right to take advantage of today’s low interest rates. The funding provided by the Connect NC bond referendum would help our small towns meet their infrastructure challenges, attract businesses, and improve quality of life for residents.

— Kim H. Colson

Raleigh

Colson is director of the Division of Water Infrastructure, N. C. Department of Environmental Quality, and chair of the State Water Infrastructure Authority.

Cartoon was off

The writer is responding to a March 6 cartoon in the Post that showed voters having to jump through hoops.

I find this cartoon very distasteful, it seems to be saying that GOP legislators that have served in the last 10 years, and had anything to do with voting law changes, are idiots.

I am not a Republican, but I would think that there were some Democrats and independents that helped change our voting laws, which I believe to be fine.

Whoever wrote this cartoon obviously doesn’t agree with the ID requirement for voting. It only makes the process legal. If he/she would check, statistics show that in counties and states in the last presidential election, dead people and more people than live in the state and county voted.

In God I trust.

— George W. Linton,Jr.

Salisbury

Where’s the flag?

While reviewing aerial photos I took of the new Rowan- Salisbury school system administration building, it became very apparent there was no flag pole on the property.

I’m sure this must have been an oversight. Such a magnificent building dedicated to education should have our nation’s flag, state flag and even county flag flying proudly.

Our children pledge their allegiance to our flag daily, but there is not one in front or around our $9 million admin building!

Looks like someone made a “F” in building class.

— James Poe

Salisbury

No antibiotics, KFC

Major restaurant chains are taking significant action to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms, but some chains like KFC, the largest fried chicken restaurant, are lagging behind.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill 23,000 Americans a year, sickening millions more. A big factor is the routine use of antibiotics on food producing animals that often aren’t sick. That routine overuse breeds antibiotic resistant bacteria that threaten public health.

Last year McDonald’s committed to stop serving chicken raised on medically important antibiotics, and Tyson Foods, a major chicken producer and supplier to McDonald’s, followed suit. Then Subway made a groundbreaking commitment for all meats. Subway hit its first milestone of that commitment by releasing a new sandwich featuring chicken raised without antibiotics.

Consumers are even hungrier for meat raised without antibiotics, and KFC should fill the order in 2016 with a strong policy to serve meat raised without the routine use of antibiotics.

— Wil Mulligan

Raleigh

Mulligan is campaign organizer for NCPIRG, a consumer group formerly known as N.C. Public Interest Research Group.