Letters to the Editor 11.08.06

by

Coble hangover

Corporate-sponsored Howard Coble has most emphatically not served us in the 6th District well. Nor has he served America well. If you had bothered to research his voting record, you would not have described him as a good public servant. You would find that he voted with Bush and DeLay more than 90 percent of the time. Not only did he support the war resolution and support torture, but this lizard brain also voted for the pharmacy-sponsored Medicare prescription fiasco and voted to give oil companies huge taxpayer subsidies, and blocked a law that would prevent price gouging at the gas pumps. He voted for NAFTA, which has destroyed North Carolina’s rural economy. He also supports the corporate takeover of the internet and does not believe in net neutrality. This good ol’ boy needs to be sent packing with his six pack!

Laura Gengen

Julian, NC

Chuck’s back

Both the Greensboro City Council and the Guilford County Commissioners should create police review boards made up of unpaid volunteers. I would like your newspaper to consider endorsing this idea.

Chuck Mann

Greensboro

Mom of Fools

Thanks for the article [“House of Fools pays some dues”; Oct. 25, 2006; by Jordan Green]. Obviously I’m a little prejudiced, since I’m a “band mom.” Your newspaper is on top of things here. None of the other papers in the area seem to have picked up on just how big this band will be getting. Check out their website on MySpace and the reviews of their EP that are listed there.

You might note for future reference that there are many “older” folks out there who love this music as well. It really crosses generational lines.

Thanks again for the neat write up and the well deserved attention to this very hard working and talented group of musicians!

Deborah J. Bowers

Greensboro

Here’s a tip

Hello,

While I understand your frustration with tipping or lack of tipping in the waitstaff industry [“A guide to tipping from a recent grad”; Oct. 18, 2006; by Stephanie Witt], I have another issue. Why choose this type of work in the first place? You know the hours suck and the pay is poor. Why should I subsidize your bad decision by ‘increasing your wage’? In other words, the restaurants ought to pay you better to start with, rather than making me responsible for their payroll.

I have worked in the business, just like you, but that’s why I got out. Too low of pay, while the restaurateurs were driving fancy cars and living in big houses. Pay me instead.

It’s spitting in the wind to try to change the system, so I do tip appropriately, but I just go crazy when this topic comes up. How much to tip the waitress, the barber, the mailman, the paperboy, the car wash attendant, the sky cab, the bell hop, the nail lady and now the people at Starbucks?

Why do we tip them? Everyone says because they work in ‘low paying jobs’. That’s not my fault.

Have you ever tipped anyone that really has your back in financial decisions? Your insurance man, real estate broker, investment bannker, mortgage lender? They handle thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars of your assets and do we thank them with a monetary tip? No.

Thanks for letting me vent’…. I love your writing, too.

Joe Robinson

Colfax, NC

Chicken pickin’?

Dear Editor,

I operate a chicken sanctuary and have great respect and compassion for our feathered friends and other animals. It distresses me to read about cruelty to animals, and I was particularly horrified when I heard what an undercover investigator from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals saw at a Butterball plant in Ozark, Ark.: Live turkeys were punched, kicked, slammed against trucks and walls, hung by broken legs, stomped on, sexually assaulted and other atrocities. Extreme cruelty happens all the time in chicken and turkey slaughterhouses. Birds are inexplicably exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. They are shackled upside-down and their heads are run through an electrified stun bath that immobilizes them, but does not render them unconscious. Many birds are still alive when their throats are cut or when they are dumped in the tanks of boiling water used for feather removal.

I’m bringing this up now because I want people to be mindful of animal suffering when they’re planning their Thanksgiving dinners. Instead of sticking a dead bird in the center of the table, people can focus their holiday feast on fresh seasonal vegetables, casseroles, soy-based roasts, and other vegetarian foods. When turkeys no longer suffer for Thanksgiving, I’ll really have a reason to give thanks.

Kay Evans

Chocowinity, NC