Area facing annexation should prepare for tax pain
I can truly feel the pain of the county residents who are about to be annexed by the city. I live in Westcliff and was also annexed without any support from the county to fight this annexation.
I already lived in an area that had city water and sewer, fire protection from Franklin Volunteer Fire Department and a low crime rate. My monthly trash service ran about $200 per year.
What did I get in return for the forced annexation? Higher taxes, higher water ans sewer rates (my monthly water and sewer bill runs about $150 per month now, more than doubled), recycling pickup (already did that) and trash collection.
I almost forgot the big difference: the city will pick up my leaves and branches if I put them at the curb. I don’t put many leaves out because we use them for mulch.
I am troubled by the fact that the county commissioners didn’t hire a lawyer to fight my area being annexed. Is it because one or more of the current commissioners lives in the poposed annexation zone?
Well, my fellow annex victims, get ready for the inevitable. Hope all of you new city residents have enough income to pay for your tax increase.
ó Tony Stroud
Salisbury
Parents didn’t hear news
If you have a child in school you may want to hear my story. I have a 5-year-old son in kindergarten. My child has been having problems getting enough rest. We took him to the doctor and found out he has fluid in his ears, with 70 percent hearing loss. We called his teacher to tell her he would miss a few days of school to have surgery. She told us she knew he had a hearing loss, and they have been talking to him on his better side.
After finding out she knew, we had a meeting with the principal. He told us he had no idea about this and had the school nurse call us. She stated that the hearing test was done in November 2007 and that there were other kids who scored low on the test. The audiologist was supposed to return a week after the first test to recheck those kids. This has not been done yet. We are very upset that his teacher knew this and did not tell us when she had called us in to tell us our child may fail. We feel the school and teacher neglected our son.
ó Brandy Garrison
Salisbury
The nation’s downfall
When mankind turns away from God, who then do they turn to? In World War II, the soldiers would say that you could not find an atheist in a fox hole. When we have catastrophies in our homeland, who do the people turn to?
The lord God has given mankind 6,000 years to judge himself, but mankind has failed at that, too.
We today have no leadership in this country, which is also the case in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We are about to witness the downfall of our economy, as well as the destruction of our cities and states. We have become the appeasement nation on all fronts. We have not won a war since World War II; our climate is changing, and our hopes are fading.
The world as we know it is changing fast. The European Union, the Asian nations, as well as Russia and Middle Eastern nations, are all working to bring the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia to their knees.
Mankind has invented the way for total annihilation by creation of the atomic bomb.
All governments must have laws. The Bible from the beginning to end announces the laws of the government of God. But we disregard these laws. If they were obeyed by all, this would be a peaceable, loving world.
ó Paul Anthony
China Grove