MARCH 18, 2010 ISSUE
Letters to the Editor
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Visitor Expresses Concern About Parking Tickets in Boone
The easiest thing in the world is to get a parking ticket in Boone, North Carolina. That recent statement from a friend struck me as absolutely true!
My wife and I recently made a trip from the coast to Boone, North Carolina, to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We anticipated the beauty of the area, the snow and all the quaint aspects of the town. Our first day there was proving all of our expectations to be true as we went from store to store in the downtown area. Then, about mid-day we began to run afoul of Boone’s dirty little secret…parking violations and its ticket system. It turns out that Boone’s reputation for parking tickets is no secret at all.
Suffice it to say we did not see the sign indicating one-hour parking nor did we see the less-than-visible sign for paid parking. After an enjoyable afternoon of shopping and spending several dollars in several downtown stores, we decided to check out the rest of Boone. It was then we found not one, not two but three parking tickets on the windshield of the car. One ticket would have delivered the message. We understand Boone is a college town and college students often park where they will with little regard to the law. That is true especially when parking is very limited, as it appears to be in Boone. But, we were there to experience and enjoy the downtown stores at Boone.
The next day I expressed my frustration with the multiple parking tickets to a local merchant. To my surprise, the local merchant shared my frustration about the parking situation and the zealous officials who issue parking tickets. I proceeded to the downtown basement office dealing with ticket collections. I was not a happy visitor and expressed my unhappiness to two ladies in the office. The lady in the back of the office began to defend the ticketing policy with a sense of arrogance and unprofessionalism that would make any government official proud. She proudly proclaimed the town merchants wanted the parking/ticketing policy and the town had to honor their wishes. After paying the fine, I immediately surveyed enough merchants to understand there was little to no support for Boone’s parking/ticketing policy. In fact, the merchants expressed a great deal of frustration with Boone’s politicians who refuse to change the policy. Apparently, the old rude lady (one of Boone’s finest government officials) lied. Welcome to Boone and its tangled political web of lies.
I believe Boone’s policies regarding parking downtown work to curb tourism, and they certainly discourage visitors to the downtown merchants. Signage advertising the little bit of available metered parking and pay parking lots are well camouflaged. I believe my friend—the easiest thing in the world is to get a parking ticket in Boone, North Carolina.
Dr. Larry P. Ferrell
Relay Kickoff Was a Big Success
Thank you to everyone who helped make our Relay for Life Kickoff event held on Monday, March 8, such a great success. Our event was held in the beautiful auditorium at Watauga Medical Center, and we were able to use their technology to show some inspirational videos to our team captains and others in attendance. Thanks to Appalachian Regional Healthcare System and Dr. Godwin for allowing us to use your facility. Food for the event was generously donated by Sam Akers at Domino’s Pizza; George and Charlotte Baunchalk of Subways of Boone, Banner Elk and Newland; Bill Landers of Harris Teeter; and Chris Spears from Food Lion on Highway 421 South.
Thanks also to Neville Chaney of WJ Office City for donating paper and allowing us to do our copying for Relay at his business and to Steve Presnell at Omega T’s for giving us a great deal on our birthday T-shirts.
Most of all, thank you to all our team captains and volunteers who turned out to pick up their materials, to our wonderful speakers who told us why they relay and inspired us all to stay well, get well, find cures and fight back!
Join us in the fight for more birthdays by joining a Relay team, making a donation and attending our Relay for Life Event at Watauga High School on June 18 and 19.
Kathy Idol and Sharon Trivette, co-chairs
Watauga Relay for Life
New Hampshire Student Seeks North Carolinians’ Help
Dear Citizens of North Carolina,
My name is Krista. I am studying your great state of North Carolina. I will write a report our essential question is how the geography of a place affect the way peoples live work and play.
I really want to learn more about the land and animals. Because some day I am going to move there and would love to learn more about North Carolina before I move. I would love to hear from you!
Small items such as postcards, old license plates, rocks and pictures would be helpful for my project.
Key chains would be very helpful for my project. And some brochures or anything else that you think would be helpful.
Thank you for your help and support,
Krista
Mrs. Browher’s Class
Inter-Lakes Elementary School
21 Laker Lane
Meredith, N.H. 03253
Throwing Government Money at Economy’s Problems Won’t Work
Does a growing economy create jobs, or does job creation drive the economy to grow? I believe both to be true. In fact, the effect of each can compound the results of the other.
Let’s look at the growing economy: Somehow the government, in their infinite wisdom, believes if you throw money at a problem (stimulus spending), you can make the problem, (a recession), go away and begin a recovery. But, stimulus spending is like someone taking aspirin when they’re sick; it makes them feel better but does nothing to cure the illness. When the feeling good wears off do you take more aspirin, as the government is talking about with another stimulus bill? When do you move to the cure?
Let’s look at the jobs side of this. The government is talking about creating jobs in the private sector by lowering health insurance costs, or giving tax credits if we hire. I’m a successful businessman, and these bureaucrats believe they can motivate me to hire someone by lowering my costs. This is dumb. I will not hire if there is nothing productive for the new hires to do! The bureaucrats say if people are working, they’ll spend money and then the economy will take off and I’ll have something to produce. DUMB! That’s like starting to dance and hoping the band will start playing. Why is it that only we the people in the real world can see this?
So, can the government do anything to create jobs? Yes! The most important thing government can do is providing stability. Business is looking for stability, not stimulus, just stability. We hate surprises, and believe me in the past year we have been stunned!
Our government justifies all private sector manipulation with the Commerce Clause in our Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). Our Founding Fathers would be outraged to know the micro management that government is now forcing on the private sector. Micro management by bureaucrats is absurd, and destabilizing. The idea of someone who has never signed a paycheck on the front side, telling us how to manage our business is ridiculous.
The government’s role in the economy should be limited to providing a stable environment with no surprises. How is this to be done? How has it always been done? By providing fiscal responsibility, steady money growth, reasonable interest rates and open commerce between states and countries. Those are the basics, and they’ve always worked. Stimulus, micro-managing, over-regulation and growth in government have always failed.
We all learned to drive a car the same way; sit up straight, mirrors set and hands at 10:00 and 2:00. Everyone around the world learns this way. But what happens with our driving skills as we get comfortable in our driving? One hand drops off the wheel, we move around in our seat, begin doing other things; we ignore what we learned and become lax and careless. Now, say it starts to rain, or get foggy, or there’s an accident up ahead; problems. Everyone sits up straight, hands go back to 10:00 and 2:00 and we’re ready for the difficulty. We are back to what we learned that works; stability in our driving.
Well that’s the way it should be in the economy. We’re in difficult times and we need to go back to “10:00 and 2:00”—fiscal responsibility, steady money growth, reasonable interest rates and open commerce. These are all on the macro-level of involvement for our government. The government needs to provide us with stability, stay out of the micro-economy and let business grow the economy and create jobs!
Vance Patterson
Morganton
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