Doctor was always kind and caring

Your Voice

By: Letters to the Editor | Hickory Daily Record
Published: June 06, 2009

One of the best doctors I have ever known will be leaving Springs Road Family Practice. I have been lucky to have Dr. Steven Corder as my physician for the past 18 years.

Even after moving from the Catawba County area, I still kept him as my physician. I would drive four hours for an appointment with him. It was worth every minute. His kindness and caring were always evident, and he will be truly missed.

I am so glad to have had him as my physician, and I know he will be do an excellent job in his new branch of long term/nursing home care.

I will have a difficult time finding a new physician; because I will be looking for that special smile and caring way that Dr. Corder always gave.

Thanks, Dr. Corder, and God bless you on your new venture.

Victoria Sigmon
Longs, S.C.

Thanks for support for diabetes research

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation had its 2009 award celebration earlier this week.

So far in 2009, the Catawba Valley has raised more than $120,000 for the research of Type 1 diabetes. There were three elementary schools that raised more than $5,000 each.

Also, CertainTeed Vinyl Facility in Claremont was honored at the award celebration for rising more than $23,000. On behalf of the CertainTeed Diversity Council we would like to thank everyone who played or sponsored a hole at the 6th annual JDRF golf tournament in May.

This golf tournament has raised more than $100,000 in its six years. None of this would have possible with out the help of the community. Plans are already underway for the seventh golf tournament, and the tentative date is May 4, 2010. With the help of the community, there will one day be a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

Thanks again to everyone who helped raise more than $120,000 for JDRF.

Brian Hardy
President
CertainTeed Diversity Council
Claremont

Cutting education potentially disastrous

I am writing to urge our lawmakers to do everything in their power to protect funding to our public schools.

North Carolina has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, and cutting education funding may doom the younger generations to the same fate.

During a recent visit to a doctor, I overheard a teenage patient in the waiting room talking to a younger boy and encouraging him to stay in school. The older boy proudly explained that his brother would be the first person in his family to graduate from high school and that he would be the second.

That boy knew he had the opportunity to make a better life for himself. Sadly, the current recommendations for educational cuts in North Carolina send a far different message.

Cutting the funding for education now virtually guarantees that more of our citizens will need government assistance for food, housing, medical care, etc. for the rest of their lives. The consequences are potentially disastrous.

Our policy makers have the power to make the right choice for the future of our community. If they choose to support the proposed budget cuts to education, their legacy could be a generation of poorly educated citizens who rely on the government to support them.

Legislators could take a lesson from the wise teenager mentioned above and protect the funding to our schools. Then, their legacy could be a generation of North Carolinians who know that education is the key to progress, even when times are especially tough.

Stephanie S. Lindsay
Hickory