School buses aren’t wasting tax dollars
In response to the June 24 letter “Rowan missing the bus on ways to cut spending”:
The statement was made that “taxpayers pay for fuel, but many children do not ride the bus. They drive their cars. The buses are half-empty and the buses run by a student’s house, wasting fuel.” the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Transportation Department prides itself on our efficiency. Our regular buses run at more than 80 percent capacity, and every effort is made to share buses at the secondary level. If students do drive to school, buses are not routed just to drive past their homes.
Many of our dedicated school-bus drivers often transport more than 60 students on 72-passenger-capacity buses. Please be aware that we are not missing the bus on ways to cut spending.
ó Johnny Brown
Salisbury
Editor’s note: Brown is transportation director for the Rowan-Salisbury School System.
Kings of the court
This letter is in regard to gang violence in Salisbury. During the last community forum, the City Council looked to citizens to assist in finding a solution to gang problems. Like many others, I don’t hold the missing piece to the puzzle, but I believe we must attend to the stable pieces, if the puzzle is to be complete. Perhaps we need to turn our attention to community programs that positively influence young boys and girls, such as the Youth Basketball Association.
I’ve had the pleasure to witness the hard work and commitment of 14 young men who make up the Salisbury Kings Basketball Team. Under Head Coach Tony Hillian and Coaches Mike White and Andrew Mitchell Jr., this team has worked tirelessly over the last five months in daily practices, academic tutoring, life-skills training and personal development workshops. The hard work paid off when they earned the N.C. Youth Basketball State Championship title, which qualified them to compete for the national title in Lakeland, Fla., June 29-July 7.
What does this have to do with gangs? I submit that if these young men were not on the Kings team, then they might have been on the “wrong” team. This group of young men, their coaches and parents have been visible throughout the city raising funds by having carwashes, food sales and soliciting donations. I keep hearing city administrators ask, “What can we do to prevent gang activities?” We can start by attending to what is already working. Support the team in its fundraising efforts.
I encourage citizens to gather at the Dunbar Center parking lot at 6:30 p.m. Friday to send these young men off like the champs they are.
Invest in a teen’s life! To make donations, contact: Salisbury-Rowan Basketball Association, P.O. Box 2561, Salisbury, NC, 28144, or contact Coach Hillian at 704-267-3152.
ó Essie K. Foxx
East Spencer
A sad send-offThere is always something to tick people off. Well, this year is the last year we get to have the Smoke Out, and frankly, I don’t like to see it go. It brings money to Salisbury, and they are hard-working people just like us.
Why do people have to be so darn picky? That is so wrong. The bikers are human like us.
I work at a hotel, and my husband and I have made friends with some of them. We will miss them terribly, but maybe we can change some people’s minds.
ó Brenda Morris & family
Salisbury
No sign of trouble
Well, all you big-time county commissioners can come out of your hole now that the Smoke Out is over. But please help count the money that was here. Vote yourself a raise for all you do. You should be rewarded for getting it out of Salisbury. I hope you lose all your seats and your new chairs, also.
All they did was have a good time, like they always do. I went by five times and never saw anything wrong.
Please work on this illegal invasion that our good buddy President Bush is sticking down our throats. That should keep you busy for the rest of your terms. Then I hope you lose your job. If my vote counts, you will.
ó Harold Holder
Rockwell
No real choices
Regarding Cal Thomas’ column of June 24, I am stupefied at the media’s fascination with Michael Bloomberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Lieberman and Fred Thompson. All of these politicians are no more original in their policies than any other politician, regardless of their partisan affiliation. They are proponents of the nanny state which is government unlimited in its ability to dictate the public and private decisions of the individual. Each is opposed to individual liberty, private property and constitutional government.
The problem is bipartisanship, not partisanship. At the state and federal level, we have politics and elections that are clearly segregated to ensure only the participation of Democrats, Republicans and the occasional billionaire “independent” certified as worthy by the mass media. God help the ordinary citizen who wants to run as an independent or minor party candidate for county commission or state legislature. The ordinary citizen who directly opposes the established parties will soon realize that the election laws are clearly separate, unequal and discriminatory.
If our choices are so narrowly defined, then I think it is safe to conclude that representative democracy is clearly broken. Why does the mass media wail and cry about the state of democracy in foreign lands? Why not turn their laptops upon the state of democracy here at home? After all, the last time a minor party was able to contest half of the seats in the U.S. House was in the year 1920. If this were Ukraine, for example, there would be a hue and cry for the poor Ukrainians and their lack of political choice. But this is America, so who cares?
ó Russell Lovetinsky
Salisbury
Another honor
It was a delight to read Rose Post’s June 20 article on David W. Butler Jr. Being a personal friend of this family and having known David Jr., I wanted to share with readers of your newspaper an additional honor that was bestowed on this family.
Not only is his sister Cynthia a member of the faculty at David W. Butler High School; the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, N.C. Association of Educators and the National Education Association took another bold and unprecedented step in David Jr.’s honor. They named a scholarship in his honor for all 11 high schools in the Mecklenburg school system. This kind of honor speaks volumes of the man David Jr. was and the lives that he touched.
I would like to say to David Jr.’s mother, Mrs. Fannie T. Butler, I know that you are proud of the way you raised your son and the impact he made on the lives that he touched.
The city of Salisbury and our school system should also be equally proud that he was a product of this community.
ó Deedee Wright
Salisbury