A new school year is about to start and, once again, a number of local television stations are begging their viewers for school supplies or money to buy school items. Isn't it amazing that in spite of the millions of tax dollars paid to the state and the "miraculous" N.C. Education Lottery, the state of North Carolina is still unable or unwilling to finance fully the education it requires by law?
But why should legislators and well-paid state and county school administrators worry about offering free education as long as concerned residents of this state continue to help "needy" children start school with a shiny notebook and a box of colorful crayons?
MICHEL H. BOURQUIN
Westfield
Optimistic
I try to remain optimistic about our political future, but recent events make me worry that I will not be able to. We are surrounded by political families who will ignore any type of marital or financial transgression to get elected. Even wives are now willing to forgive and forget just as long as their philandering spouses get to occupy the office they seek.
What a disappointment the Edwardses are. He was elected to represent us and then immediately began to campaign for a higher office. During this time he apparently had an affair with an employee of his campaign who later gave birth to a child out of wedlock. His excuse is that he did this while his wife was in remission from cancer, and she forgave his transgression as long as it remained secret and did not damage his run for office.
The Edwardses have at least been successful in making the Clintons look like Ward and June Cleaver.
TOM D. JONES
Winston-Salem
Moved
The letter "Darkness" (Aug. 7) so moved me that I cut it out of the paper. I have read and re-read it, and each time I read it, I am touched more deeply.
How difficult it is to believe that there is still so much hatred in our great country. And yet I am very much aware that, unfortunately, racism still does exist.
I hope this letter will make all of us stop and think about who we are and how we treat other people -- all people.
ELEANOR C. POWELL
Winston-Salem
It Depends
The Democrats believe that we should switch as quickly as possible to renewable resources to replace foreign oil. The Republicans believe that we should start drilling for oil at home to replace foreign oil. Who is right? It depends on what we're trying to accomplish.
If the point is to break our addiction to foreign oil, the Republicans may be right. But if the point is to break our addiction to oil, domestic or foreign, then the Democrats are probably right. (It is disingenuous boilerplate, though, for either party to claim that the other would prefer to keep importing foreign oil; nobody really wants that.)
I doubt that we will, as a nation, agree completely on what our true goal is, but it is true that sooner or later all the oil will either be gone or too hard to reach efficiently.
This is a situation that calls for compromise. Yes, let's drill, with limits, for oil at home. It will be instructive to see if the promises of "better, cleaner technology" pan out. At the same time, let's provide incentives for creative replacement technologies.
I guess this is the Paris Hilton approach.
See? That's not so hard.
RON F. SLATER
Winston-Salem
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