Dear Editor,
2007 in North Carolina saw four times more property crimes than all other crimes combined, and a clearance rate of less than 15%. This means over 85% of property crime cases, state wide, go unresolved. Until now, the response by North Carolina's law enforcement and citizens to property crime has been primarily reactive. Only after the crime has been committed does law enforcement get involved and after the crime has been investigated there is very little done in the way of advising the victim on future crime prevention.
Law enforcement officials talk tough about stopping crime, but the statistics tell the truth; property crime is embarrassingly out of control! The techniques used by citizens and law enforcement do not effectively prevent property crime. Law enforcement officials have the authority as elected public servants to innovate and allocate resources as necessary to protect property by staying a step ahead of crime.
Most law enforcement departments have sidestepped the opportunity to actively prevent crime. Do you receive a monthly or quarterly newsletter from your local police or sheriff's department alerting you to new trends in crime and how to prevent it? Have you ever been visited by a policeman or sheriff's deputy on patrol who saw your lawnmower under the shed in the back yard or the enclosed trailer in your driveway and wanted to let you know that they were at risk of being stolen? When was the last time a law enforcement officer saw you working in the yard and stopped just to talk about crime in your area and remind you to write down the serial numbers on your property?
We are responsible for protecting our own property. We also elect sheriffs and police chiefs to be our partners against crime and inform and warn us about criminal risks. As the economy tightens, property crime will become more rampant and with worries about filling our cars up with gas, loosing our jobs, and putting food on the table, the last thing we want to deal with is replacing stolen or damaged property. Encourage your law enforcement leadership to be more active in crime prevention. We gave them the job when we elected them as public servants. Law enforcement works for us! Remember the next time your law enforcement leader is up for election, not what he or she said they would do, but what they actually did to prevent crime and protect our families. The statistics tell the truth. Let's work hard to prevent crime!
Brandon Andrew Hafner
Brandon Andrew Hafner
December 09, 2008
John McCain likes to call himself the "Straight Talker". Maybe he was at one time, but not anymore. He has stated that Barack Obama favors comprehensive sex ed for kindergartners, implying that Obama would teach 6 year olds all about sex. Karl Rove, by no means an Obama partisan but a mastermind behind the GOP, has said McCain has gone too far in his "truth" telling. Sen. Obama has supported, as have many republicans, the common sense notion that some touch is good and some is bad touch and that is what should be taught. John McCain's VP pick Sarah Palin wants us to vote for her because she is from a small town and a hockey mom, I don't care if she was from the smallest town in America or New York City. I want a competent President not someone who condescends to Americans.
Charlotte, NC
Jerome McCollom
October 19, 2008
Beverly Perdue and all her cronies in Raleigh are the single cause of poor education in North Carolina. Please vote all these bums out in November. By the way, the NC education system won't change if you just push the D button again in the ballot booth.
Ron
October 16, 2008
Dear Editor,
North Carolina has a 30 percent dropout in our educational system. A needed change is of our most importance.
Pat McCrory supports more charter schools and some vouchers, which allow parents with children of special needs to choose their own schools of education. Children in North Carolina charter schools are acquiring a superior education. McCrory recognizes that all children will not choose a college education; so why not offer vocational training in carpentry, plumbing, heating and cooling, electricians and many different other trades. We must provide the educational tools and encourage all students to become financially independent for themselves and their families. Our children deserve the best of both in education and a growing economy.
Beverly Perdue says Pat McCrory policies are dangerous, as Perdue continues to support a system which offers no ideas reducing our 30 percent dropout. Perdue objects to any parent's rights to choose in education. As a part of the members of the NC General Assembly, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, presiding over the NC Senate, allowed the NC General Assembly to "steal" and/or re-appropriate taxpayers' funds from the educational fund to spend on other projects. Doesn't this prove Beverly Perdue is the more dangerous one? Is Perdue protecting our children? The North Carolina courts ordered the NC General Assembly to return these funds to the educational fund.
North Carolina needs changes to enhance our educational system for all students. Pat McCrory has positive ideas to improve our education and our economy; bringing more jobs for our citizens and taxpayers.
Oscar Y. Harward
October 06, 2008
Dear Editor,
Someone is going to make a million. Americans all over the country are asking where they can find the white armbands that say "Remember The Bailout." I've never seen anything speading so quickly in my life. The political blogs are jammed with people talking about white armbands. Rumor has it that some of the printers in Washington are making them. When I find out, my name will be one of those orders.
It sounds like there's going to be a Revolution over this bailout. Even with the goddess Sarah Palin by his side, John McCain won't be so popular now.
Christine Estep
October 01, 2008
Dear Editor,
Please keep the pressure on Superintendent Gorman to audit the entire free and reduced lunch program. He is teaching the students that fraud is acceptable as long as you receive money.
R. Matthews
September 26, 2008
Dear Editor,
The city has no business using taxpayer dollars to fund a private venture like the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The funding should come from receipts from paid admissions to the facility, corporate sponsorships, contributions from the TV networks that televise the races (and I'm sure profit handsomely from doing so) – and also require speedway owners and the France family to kick in a few bucks as well.
As a highly lucrative sports enterprise, NASCAR should be ashamed of itself for demanding taxpayer money to pay for its Hall of Fame – even if it is in the form of hotel occupancy taxes. Likewise, the members of Charlotte City Council who support this irresponsible use of committing taxpayer money should be voted out of office.
Stephen V. Gilmore
September 25, 2008
Why doesn't CMS use its highly touted anti-bullying policies to exact real punishment of students who "bully" teachers? If the policy can protect gays from verbal "attacks," why isn't it being used to protect teachers in CMS from physical attacks? Sorry, but 84 attacks against teachers in 2007 and only three expulsions is just not acceptable; 84 for 84 is more like it!
Mel Morganstein
Instead of the state-financed public school monopoly wrangling over whether or not to spend millions of dollars to free lunches, most of which will probably not be spent on free lunches anyway, how about they take a hard look at real educational issues? That is supposedly the purpose of a board of education: ensuring programs and funding that make our schools the best they can be. This is obviously not what is happening.
Charlotte schools are awful. The best way to end this decline is by giving students and parents choices in the form of vouchers. They cost far less than the hundreds of millions poured into frivolous programs like "free and subsidized" lunches (these are certainly not free for taxpayers). Furthermore, they make parents more responsible for their children's education and make schools more directly accountable to parents to provide students with the best educational quality possible.
When voting this election season it is important to pick a candidate that includes school choice as part of their platform. That is why my vote goes to Mike Munger, the Libertarian, who has the most comprehensive school choice package of any of the three candidates for governor. Bev Perdue will actually expand the public school monopoly, and Pat McCrory's record on education is apparent from the abysmal quality of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.
Edward HEarn
The Democratic "Powers That Be" in the State of Ohio have managed to get things set up where a person can 'Register' to vote and 'VOTE' at the same time. If this doesn't sound like a big deal, listen to what is going on. Pro-Obama groups, like ACORN, are going into the inner-cities and other areas , offering a meal and a ride into town. The cost? Register and vote while you are there - then disappear. They are picking up people living in the streets, parks and anywhere they can find them. Ohio is a 'battleground' state, where the votes between Bush and Kerry were very minimal.
Contact your friends and relatives in Ohio and ask them to get involved in stopping this. Investigations into voter fraud are already being called for. Don't let these people 'steal' this election!
Charles Hankinson
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