Trucks ignore sign and city won’t help

I noticed on Martin Luther Jr. Ave., going towards Long Street, that the sign denoting “Truck Route” between Hill Street and Knox Street had lost the arrow attached to it. At the time, the Cone Mill plant at the top of Hill Street had closed, so I figured the sign was not that important.

I should have picked up the arrow and taken it to the proper city office so they could replace it. Now a business operating in the old mill has truck traffic going up and down Hill Street all day every day except weekends. Tractor trailers are constantly going over curbs and sidewalks as they turn onto Hill Street. Evidently they have decided to take advantage of the missing arrow on the truck route sign.

I don’t think this residential street was built for these heavy vehicles. I went to the Salisbury office to ask why these trucks were allowed to use Hill Street instead of the truck route. I did what they told me to do, and nothing happened.

Another neighbor went to the same office and was told he need a petition signed by most of the residents on Hill Street before they could do anything about this. Now, why would taxpayers have to take time out of their workaday lives to have a petition signed when there is a truck route in place? Since part of the sign is missing, the truck drivers can do whatever is easiest for them, and the city says, “Oh, well, there isn’t anything we can do about it.” That is the answer for most every concern a taxpayer may have in Salisbury, I have learned over the 21 years I have lived here.

I wonder how the owner of the business would like that kind of traffic on his street.

— Terie Brown

Salisbury

Teacher charged

Outrageous. Unbelievable. This guy must be a throwback to when the public school system actually worked. You know, back before there were policemen in the schoolhouse and the students actually drove the school buses, before the world got turned upside down.

Give this guy the combat infantry badge and send him into the private business world. They will be glad to have him.

— Stan Berkshire

Salisbury

So much for vets

We appreciate our Veterans! Oh, really?

I have a friend who is 65 years old and a veteran of the Vietnam War. He did not have a car or a driver’s license for several years. He finally purchased a car and since you have to have a license to get a tag he decided it was time to get one.

On April 17, after he got his license, we proceeded to the tag office, where we were informed that the paper license was not good enough to transfer title and get a tag. They needed identification, so he presented his birth certificate, Social Security card and a valid veteran’s ID card complete with photo. The answer was still no. A valid DMV ID card plus the paper license would be OK. It takes approximately 10 day to get the plastic version.

He asked why the photo ID he had wouldn’t work. The answer disturbed me since I also am a veteran of that war. “Your VA ID is not valid in this office for identification.” So veterans without a DMV-provided ID have to wait 10 days longer than anyone else to drive the car they paid for and insured, just so these people can see a piece of plastic rather than a piece paper issued by the same authority.

Oh yea, we love our veterans. Veterans, what do you think about this anti-veteran policy? I personally think it is just beyond stupid.

— Terry Denton

Salisbury

Stop TPP trade pact

It’s been six years since the American auto industry was rescued in part by the federal government. Like it or not, that action saved a lot of jobs in North Carolina. But Washington might wreck it all with another bad trade deal that allows trade cheats to keep on cheating.

The United States ran a trade deficit of more than $260 billion with the 11 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks. Many of those same governments manipulate their currency to make their exports cheaper and America’s more expensive. Guess what that costs America? Good-paying manufacturing jobs, plain and simple!

Artificially cheap money is part of what allows Japanese companies to sell 1.5 million cars here while American companies only sell 20,000 over there. It’s why the TPP needs a currency rule, but if President Obama is able to get Congress to grant the TPP “fast track” status, there will be no fixing this or any of the many other troubling things about the TPP — like provisions banning our “Buy American” laws or extending drug company monopoly patents.

One provision would even create a new right for corporations to sue our government in international court to collect damages paid for by U.S. taxpayers over laws they say hurt their expected future profits.

Never heard of such a thing? I had to look it up to be sure. They call it “Investor State Dispute Settlement,” but they’d be more honest calling it a legalized corporate extortion racket.

The more people find out this stuff about the TPP, the more the public will stand against it. Fast-Track would guarantee passage of the TPP anyway by forcing Congress to abandon its power to fix or reject the TPP. Hopefully our congressional delegation won’t fall for it.

— Russell Bennett

Salisbury

Promise broken

I am very upset with our newly elected Rowan County commissioners. They made campaign speeches to be advocates for and support a no-kill shelter. Nothing is being done. They are not responding to emails.

Is this a campaign lie? If so, what else was a lie? I have emailed several with no response.

— Michelle Lipe

Kannapolis