Why do we bail out automakers, but not schools?

Why is it we can bail out car companies and banks, but we can't help our school systems?

Our children are our future. Doesn't anyone think they are important?

We continue to raise the bar for their test scores, but we want to cut the help that gets them up to that bar?

Where are our priorities?

Robie Huffman
Claremont

North Carolina cannot afford education cuts

To the legislature,

I pastor Dayspring Ministries. We have an academic subsidiary to our ministry, Parakaleo.

Parakaleo is a Greek word that means to come alongside and motivate, inspire and comfort.

The board of Parakaleo's vision and passion is to inspire our youth and motivate their parents to create a paradigm shift regarding their value of education.

Our objective is to enhance the value of education in the hearts of our community so that our youth will be motivated to not simply learn, but to excel.

Then I read of your intended budget cuts in education.

We all realize that these are tough economic times and that your job isn't easy. However, the loud cry of your constituents against these proposed cuts really should give you and your colleagues pause.

Do you not realize that it is the educated who will help us as a community?

Ideas and solutions from ingenuity, thinking outside of the box, realizations from micro- and macro-economics stem from the ability to think clearly and reach sound conclusions. This is one of the benefits of an education.

If you reduce the time students have to learn, you will reduce how much they learn as well.

Recently, we held a "Come meet your Neighbors Day" at our church. We were blessed to have all the usual components — vendors, hot dogs, popcorn, etc. It was extremely well attended.

A young girl, probably about 13 years old, came to me and said her hot dog was cold. So I pointed her to the microwave and suggested she heat it. She asked me to do it for her. I told her to read the directions on the microwave.

Her response was "You do it, I don't like to read." Translation: I can't read well enough to work a microwave.

I strongly urge you to reconsider and not cut our education budget. We truly cannot afford it.

We need to extend our school year, pay our hard-working teachers a good salary, strengthen our schools' infrastucture, create more online educational opportunities for our students and demonstrate the value of our school system to our youth by protecting and enhancing the budget for education.

Our youth, our future. Shouldn't they have the opportunity to have a great school system so they can become all they were intended to be?

Let's not stifle their potential.

Dr. Glenn Pinckney Sr.
Dayspring Ministries
Executive Director
Parakaleo
Hickory

People, not animals, create shelter expenses,

Mr. Clontz makes a good point about fiscal responsibility, but some problems do not go away in good times or bad.

We want to keep the county clear of rabies and other animal-carried diseases, and the only way is to capture and quarantine them.

The animals are not the cause of the problem, it is people who desert or let animals run loose that are the problem. If one has a pet and not planning on raising more, spaying or neutering will keep the runaways down and the shelter demands will decrease, too.

The county animal shelter project should go ahead with the planning and budgeted for construction when the fiscal situation looks better.

Jerry Bange
Conover