I remember my first experience with a veteran services person, more than 20 years ago, C and P exams at the federal building in Winston-Salem. Rejection and more evidence needed and finally success.
In my experience, without a qualified veteran services officer, I would not have gotten my claim approved. A well-qualified service officer is worth every penny he or she may get paid.
Letters to the editor of the Salisbury Post will not solve the problem. Slinging mud at one another will not get the job done.
What is a veteran services officer worth? Only a veteran or his or her dependent who needs help can truly answer that question.
If Rowan County cannot afford to pay for the service of a full-time veteran services officer, then maybe the veterans of Rowan County should come together and support our veteran services officer, no matter who she or he may be.
Have any of these people who are deciding whether to do away with the veteran services officer’s job ever served in our military — or had to file a claim for benefits they have earned?
Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of our veteran services officer.
— Hugh Martin

Salisbury

How involved are social workers in the lives of children after they’ve been adopted? Based on stories that I’ve heard, the answer is not very much. I believe that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Take the Erica Parsons case, for example. She was adopted and now she’s missing and her adoptive parents are being investigated. Could this situation have been avoided if social workers had been more involved? I have also heard of cases where children who have been adopted suffer from verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse from their adoptive parents.
In some instances, if their adoptive parents didn’t kill them, they killed themselves.
I am a sophomore at Appalachian State University majoring in social work. I’m going to be the person who decides which families are fit to adopt and which aren’t. I can’t make the mistake of misjudging a family. Children are precious and deserve to be loved and cared for. With this being said, I think social workers should be more involved in their cases. Some might disagree and say, “Social workers hassle me enough as it is. I want them less involved in my personal life.” And yes, while I agree that social workers can be pretty invasive in the lives of people, it is always with an individual’s or group of individuals’ best interest in mind. If social workers can make more of an effort to follow up on their cases and actually care, I think that the number of deaths, injuries and disappearances of adopted children would be lowered.
— Stephanie Allman

Salisbury

I always enjoy seeing news about our local schools and sports scores, and awards are no exception. Today I read a prominent article about the North Rowan girls’ volleyball victory, with a bold-faced “Big win for Cougars,” and paragraphs about prep tennis, golf and other volleyball results. Then, with one sip of coffee left, I spied a tiny, one-sentence blurb at the bottom of the page, where one might even find a correction or disclaimer: “Salisbury’s boys golf and boys tennis teams were recognized by the NCHSAA for having the highest team GPAs in the state.” I wonder how many people didn’t spot it! These boys worked hard and excelled in their academics and their sports. They weren’t only concerned about winning; they were concerned about their futures.
I am thrilled as much as anyone when my kids’ school wins sporting events, but if we want kids to succeed, we need to encourage them to think beyond the 100 yards of the field. Like it or not, the local paper has influence and a stake in the education of our youth. Putting those “scholars” in an inconspicuous corner is a sad commentary on what we think is important in high school. I’d like to see the Post get on the ball.
— Amy Wimmer

Salisbury