Groups’ generosity makes a difference
Hanford-Dole Elementary has been truly blessed by local organizations and churches willing to provide basic necessities and toys for many of our students. Catawba College’s Residence Life and Students Affairs Office provided Thanksgiving meals to 20 of our families in November. At Christmas, the Spencer Jaycees and Haven Lutheran Church brought toys, and Milford Hills Methodist provided a generous check for toys for our Christmas Store. Union Lutheran Women provided a wonderful check from their “Thanks Offering,” which was used for basic necessities and clothing for a number of our students. Last week, the Rockwell AMVETS No. 845 Auxiliary donated a bag full of new socks and underwear. For some of our students, new socks and underwear are a luxury!
These churches and organizations have done many activities to raise money to enable purchases like this. We are truly grateful for the generosity of these groups for making a difference for many of our students.
— Fran Simpson
Hanford-Dole Elementary

Simpson is the site coordinator at Hanford-Dole for Communities in Schools of Rowan County.

Kingly attitude
I would like to know when being chairman of the County Board of Commissioners became the equivalent of king of Rowan County? Jim Sides is completely out of control. He thinks he can lay down all the rules and everybody has to do things his way or no way.
I also think it is shameful and totally disrespectful that the new Board of Commissioners thinks it is all right to disregard everything the previous board worked for and came to an agreement on with the School Board toward building a central office. They should have to follow through on agreements already made before they took office. A central office for the schools should be in downtown Salisbury because, after all, it is the county seat. Would you think about moving the courthouse to Salisbury Mall?
— Linda Taylor
Rockwell
Our version of D.C.
Re: Commissioner Jim Sides’ decision that “if the media is in, the meeting with school leaders is off.”
Sides is the John Boehner of Rowan County.
— William Kerley
Salisbury
Backward thinking
I think that Jim Sides has it backward. As an elected official, he should meet in public and pray in private.
— Elizabeth Smith
Salisbury
Endless food worries
I read Dr. Christopher Nagy’s negative report about the harmful results of eating wheat and other whole grain products. I’m completely baffled, as this goes completely against the grain, no pun intended, of everything I have previously read or been told by my personal physician.
Now, wheat and whole grain products join the ever growing list of harmful foods that we should avoid such as refined flour products and anything white, red meat, pork, poultry because of growth hormones, eggs, any dairy products, vegetables and fruits not organically grown and even fish because of possible mercury content. My mother is nearing 91, and she had older siblings who lived into their 90s, with another one who almost made it to 90. They grew up in an era when you didn’t question the nutritional value of food but simply ate it. It was all they had.
I wonder how long they would have lived if they hadn’t consumed so much pork and bread.
Maybe we should just exercise, stay active and use some common sense about what we eat and not worry about these confusing and conflicting health reports.
— Jimmy Hensley
Woodleaf
Barbarians & guns
Politicians and liberals are off again on the wrong foot as they try to tell us what we should do about gun control. It is not a mystery; it is complicated, and not so easy when properly addressed.
Beginning as far back as I can remember, with the Kennedy assassinations and every needless killing since, such violence defies any reasonable understanding. We see the same acts of barbarism repeated over and over again. Usually we don’t know why, because along with the people they kill, they also kill themselves. Today we have in custody one of the barbarians who killed people in a theater.
For many the word barbarian is not suitable. You see, some believe these barbarians must be schizophrenic or have some other medical abnormality and therefore are not responsible for what they do. They were sane enough to plan the attack, to pull the trigger, and they’re sane enough to stand trial and be punished when convicted.
The politicians and liberals can pass laws restricting guns, but it will not stop the killing. Not as long as there are guns on Earth, because people will find a way to get a gun for protection against the barbarians, and the barbarians will find a way to acquire a gun to kill again and again.
If you ban assault guns, a hunting rifle or a shotgun or a pistol will do just a well. Robert Kennedy could have been killed with a dirty fork or knife, so should we take away all the forks and knives?
The problem, you see, is not the gun — it is the barbarian with the gun. A gun will lie peacefully in your drawer, your closet, your safe and never kill anyone — not until someone pulls the trigger with intent to kill innocent people for some obscure reason.
We must find a way to identify the barbarians and isolate them from the rest of us. Easily said – not so easily done.
— Richard Roberts
Kannapolis