Housing Authority story missed opportunity

Housing Authority story missed opportunity

I have subscribed to and read the Hickory Daily Record since the 1940s and have always been proud that the publication sought and printed the best in our community. Ms Williamson's piece in today's (Feb. 16) issue, while suggesting shortcomings (unfounded) in the operations of our local Housing Authority, missed an ideal opportunity to continue this tradition.

You took efforts to interview the Authority's executive director, several commissioners and others about the affairs of the Authority. Don't you feel that discussions with these individuals afforded you the ideal opportunity to construct a piece informing the public of the dedicated efforts of this body and its goal of providing affordable housing to hundreds of families?

The very individuals that you interviewed would have been honored to tell you of the mission of the Authority and how it translates its goals into the very real housing benefits it provides. It would appear, however, that you chose not to create a positive and informative article that would have made your readers proud to be beneficiaries of the Authority's efforts.

Rather the HDR pursued unproven issues that in no way reflect the successes the Authority has delivered to its many publics through the years. I guess I am disappointed to realize that the newspaper that has always seemed to me to represent the best in our community has, in this instance, failed to present a positive depiction of the Hickory Public Housing Authority, a truly meaningful asset in our community.

Clement Geitner
HHA Board of Commissioners member
Hickory

Tax and spend won’t solve state problems

I read with interest the HDR Feb. 20 front page-article concerning the Democratic Party primary. It was most appropriate that it was held at the teachers’ "Union Hall," the North Carolina Association of Educators Headquarters Building.

At the Democratic Valentine's Day fundraiser the current three announced candidates for Gov. Perdue's job gave the crowd of party activists political "red meat" valentines. It would appear that the two main talking points for the election will be improving education and creating jobs in our state.

These should be the top goals for the Democratic and Republican parties. How many generations of state political control have the Democratic Party had and how well have they done to reach these goals? Remember to include Gov. Perdue with her veto pen.

Unfortunately not addressed at the gathering were capitalistic concepts to be considered when working toward the aforementioned goals.

- You can't legislate the poor into prosperity by removing the wealth out of prosperity.

- You can't tax the state’s individuals and corporations/business into financial prosperity.

- The state government can't give to anyone anything that the state does not first take from somebody else.

- You can't multiply state revenues with "wealth redistribution." No one has ever been employed by a poor person.

- Class envy/warfare divides a population into a permanent class system that establishes a few in governance controlling the rest of the people.

- Personal and corporate tax reform that will make our state competitive again for major job-producing industry and give more disposable income to our people.

- Get out of the corrupt conducing state-owned ABC business. Get the revenue from the related fees and taxes.

- Make public educators compete with private school teacher/student standards and results. "Vouchers" and "charter" are not dirty evil concepts.

Many of the above ideas were those of now long-gone true conservative Democrats who remain now in name only for election purposes. The primary race has started. Maybe the Democrats will enlighten us as to how within the guidelines of capitalism and our constitutional republic they will obtain their goals for education and job growth. Raise taxes and spend more is not an acceptable answer to this voter.

Robert Earl Hutchinson
Conover

 No name-calling letters are refreshing

 Just a note of appreciation to the Rev. Cliff Moone, Eli Glynn and Robert Kappelusch for their recent letters. They were very informative, sensible and well-written. So refreshing that there was no name-calling, no hatred, no vile language or calling people evil – just good old common sense.

Also, I want to say how very much I enjoy reading the column written by Loyd Hoke. Look forward to it, really enjoy his intelligence and how interesting it always is.

Just one more comment regarding the 2012 election. This will be one of the most important elections in our history. Please pay attention and make sure you have as much information as possible. The future of our nation is depending on it.

Doylene Mull
Hickory

 Jobs create demand and boost economy

 Jobs, Mr. McCall, are our worry, not European nanny states. Going back as far as 1950, we have never sustained negative annual growth in GDP like we had in 2009.

Spending during Reagan’s eight years grew by 80 percent and revenue by about 75 percent. Clinton’s eight years saw spending grow about 38 percent and revenue by about 80 percent.

Under Bush, spending grew 67 percent, but revenue was well below at 25 percent. After three years, spending under Obama has increased by 20 percent, in large part for the stimulus. Revenues have actually fallen 9 percent due to Bush tax cuts, stimulus tax cuts, the recession, and Republicans refusing to budge on tax increases.

We have a revenue problem. The deficits are not sustainable and reducing them will not happen without increases in revenue, a conclusion Republicans refuse to accept.

Mr. McCall claims to know what the president thinks. I don’t know what Republicans think, but past behavior shows they spend as much as Democrats while in power but raise cane about it when not in power. Reagan and Bush left record deficits. Speaker Boehner pleaded with tears for TARP.

Robust economies and full employment ease deficits. The economy needs demand. Increasing taxes on low- and middle- income workers does not create demand. Cutting government spending does not create demand.

Mr. McCall got it right on the need for change. We have to get rid of representatives who place their personal and political obsessions above the priority of creating jobs.

David Turman
Hickory

 Better preparation needed for big game

On Feb. 20, I attended the Northwestern Conference basketball championship finals at Hickory High School. This is not about the disgraceful job done by the referees, it was beyond bad for everyone concerned. This is about the less than acceptable job done by the host school Hickory High.

The purpose of the event being held there is Hickory's seating capacity – including end zone bleachers. At the championship men's game between Hickory and Alexander Central, business was good. A conservative estimate would be that between 200 and 300 people were forced to stand. Why did they have to stand? The answer is simple: The end zone seats were closed, pushed back against the walls on both ends.

 I asked numerous people from Hickory why, and each time I got the same reply: "Nobody has the key to the bleachers." Who had the lack of foresight to not expect a huge crowd for this game? These teams had already played three times with each being decided by a 3-point shot at the buzzer. The game hyped itself, there was a lot of interest.

The game was a tense battle between two rivals and sent a lot of people home with a bad taste but not because of the outcome, Hickory won by 11 and was the better team on that night.

Too few police officers, too few seats, too few members of the Hickory High administration in attendance, and too few attentions to detail. These things should be considered in the future when post season arrangements are made.

I was told by a Hickory High alumni, who I consider a straight shooter, "It's Hickory High, what do you expect?" I must say that I expected much more.

Richard Gilbert
Taylorsville

 Good education is the best jobs program

 In a recent letter to the editor rebutting my letter regarding liberalism and Christianity, James McCall reminded us of the adage, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” Mr. McCall and I finally agree on something.

It is far better for our society, fiscally and socially, for us to put our efforts into teaching rather than giving. As Mr. McCall correctly states, the benefits of teaching last a lifetime. So let’s talk about the state of teaching in North Carolina today.

The extremists in our conservative-led legislature have slashed funding at every level of education from pre-K through college. The following programs have been eliminated or seriously cut: More at Four, Smart Start, UNCG–I School, Virtual College, and the NC Teaching Fellows program. Six thousand NC students who received need-based financial aid last year will not receive them this year.

Tuition at NC public colleges and universities has risen 10 percent in the past year and continues to rise. Community colleges, which are the number one resource for technical training and job retraining in our state, have had their budget cut by 10.7 percent, leading to waiting lists for enrollment and cuts in services. Student/teacher ratios have dramatically risen at every level of education.

The agenda of this legislature has decimated our public education system so that we now rank 49th in per-pupil spending in the country behind Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina.

North Carolina is a state that has historically been a champion of public education beginning with the founding of the country’s first public university in 1793. Public education brought our state from an impoverished rural economy to one specializing in banking, manufacturing, high-tech, and biomedical research. We are who we are today because of public education.

We hear a lot from conservatives about the need to create jobs in our state. But our current legislature doesn’t get that the best jobs program is a good education program. How can we create jobs when our students can’t get the classes they need in academics or technical training? How can we attract companies from out of state when our classrooms are overcrowded, our programs are slashed, and our in-state tuitions are no longer competitive?

If conservatives like James McCall truly believe that “teaching a person to fish” is the best way out of poverty, they’d best start voting that way.

Elizabeth Glynn
Newton

 Ruritans appreciate the public’s support

 George Hildebrand Ruritan Club thanks everyone who came to the benefit breakfast and bake sale on Saturday, February 18. With the support and generosity of the caring people of George Hildebrand as well as people from many other communities, we surpassed all our expectations.

With everyone's help, the club raised more than $2600.00, almost half of which was donations. We also appreciate your patience and understanding as we worked to prepare your orders, knowing many of you visited with friends and neighbors as you waited.

The spirit of neighbors helping neighbors was evident in our community this day. Thank you sincerely.

 Dianne Starnes
George Hildebrand

Landfill fee proposal is misguided

Andy Wells, Republican candidate for the 96th District NC House seat, in a recent letter to the HDR, made what at first glance seems to be a positive argument for helping solve two problems facing the community he wishes to represent in the legislature. He suggests that waiving the landfill fees for folks like one of his clients would make it more economically feasible for his client and other owners of vacant business properties here to demolish these buildings.

This, he argues would help create some jobs and help revitalize our community.

As a homeowner and a citizen who would also like to see opportunities for more jobs and for future growth in our community, my first reaction to this proposal was perhaps this is a workable idea. However, upon a deeper reading of the letter, I also noticed a political position that is perhaps popular but which is disingenuous and misguided.

Mr. Wells argues if “We get government out of the way of the private sector” then all will be well with the world – jobs will be created and urban blight will be eliminated. Here’s the problem: there is “No Free Lunch!” For all the talk from “cut the government” conservatives, when you look beneath the surface, they do not actually believe in real free market, private enterprise.

When they favor “limited government” what they often mean is government limited to them.

In advocating that the landfill fees be waived for those like his clients, what he is really asking is that government show favoritism to these property owners, subsidize their businesses, and pass on the costs of the added stress on the landfill and its maintenance to the rest of us. Indeed, taking this approach could mean that the landfill user fees (taxes) we in the 96th already pay might have to be increased.

The cost of providing landfill space and maintaining the landfill to protect water and air quality does not change because the fees are waived. In some cases, passing these costs back to the rest of us could mean people who used to work in now defunct factories would be financially aiding those who sent their jobs to China or elsewhere.

Mr. Wells is running for the legislature on a campaign platform that says our state government is too big. Obviously, he thinks local government is too. I think sometimes it’s not government’s size that is the issue, but rather government for whom. Is it government for all the people or government for just a favored few?

Cliff Moone
Hickory