Letters to the Editor

Beach access on the meter

EDITOR: On my first visit to the North Carolina coast about a dozen years ago, I was very pleased to learn that, wherever a street or a road had to stop for the ocean, a nice agency called CAMA had placed a sign indicating that the general public could gain access to the beach at that point.

I was pleased because, unlike the shoreline residents up at Currituck and other contested places, I believe that no one should have the right to claim “ownership”of natural resources as serene and beautiful as beaches, regardless of the location of their domiciliary property.

Now, at Wrightsville Beach, and more recently at Carolina Beach, parking meters have sprung up like weeds at all of the friendly, inviting CAMA places.

John Q. Public can still get on the beach, but now he must either: 1) leave his car parked in his driveway or garage and walk or ride a helicopter to the strand; or 2) drive to the shore with a sack full of quarters and an accurate timepiece.

What a chintzy way to fatten the municipal coffers.

John D. Sabo

Wilmington

Jobs lost

EDITOR: It’s about time that U.S. textile companies say imports coming from countries like China are hurting our workers.

It is strange that when we had eight years of Bill Clinton, the labor unions never said these imports are taking the bread out of our worker’s mouths. It seems that when there is a Democrat in office, the labor unions have lockjaw. Sad, but true.

Joseph DiFede

Wilmington

Stop spending

EDITOR: A bus load of members of Citizens for a Sound Economy, Cape Fear Chapter, traveled to Raleigh to participate, with hundreds of people from all over the state, in the Tar Heel Tea Party Against High Taxes Rally.

I personally believe the state and local governments must stop seeking bond money until past expenditures are under control. We should not borrow money now that our children and future generations will have to pay for. Irresponsible spending must stop now and state and local governments must seriously cut waste and pork from their budgets.

Taxes are killing our retirees and working families.

Phyllis A. Millette

Wilmington

Bible school

EDITOR: I want to thank staff writer Allison Ballard for the article on the Vacation Bible School held at St. John’s Episcopal Church. I applaud you for sharing this information with the people of Wilmington and have gotten a lot of positive comments from the article.

There is one thing I feel we do need to clarify. Area Episcopal churches have for the last several years worked together to offer a Vacation Bible School to all Episcopal youth and youth throughout the Wilmington area. I could not have done this without the help from St. James, St. Andrews on the Sound and St. Paul ‘s. …

Arden C. Gaddy

Christian Education Director and Youth Ministries

Coordinator

St. John’s Episcopal Church

Wilmington

Not a fan

EDITOR: Bill Caster has filed for mayor of the city of Wilmington in part to escape responsibility for the ruination of New Hanover County.

For all the newbies in Wilmington, Bill Caster has served on the New Hanover County Commissioners since 1992 and is responsible along with the local Republican Party for the urban sprawl and high taxes …

Remember the white elephants created by the local Republican Party in New Hanover, such as the incinerator, Airlie Gardens, the jail project on Blue Clay Road, the high school-middle school joined together in Veterans Park, the countywide sewer to bring sewage from Pender County into Wilmington to be dumped eventually in the Cape Fear River … the county’s bidding war with the city for the Dobo water system, the empty county-built “international” airport, and a county workforce that is bloated and terribly inefficient.

If the voters in the city of Wilmington fall for Bill Caster as mayor, they deserve the misery that will surely follow him to the city of Wilmington.

Who wants to relive the misery of the ’90s in Wilmington? The recent 13-percent county tax increase is only the tip of the iceberg. Wait till next year.

Why not let Bill Caster stand for election as county commissioner next year and vote him out of office in disgrace?

Dana E. Page

Wilmington

Jail project mess

EDITOR: As a taxpaying citizen of New Hanover County, I would like the County Commissioners or someone to explain exactly what the taxpayers of this county received in return for the almost $ 1 million that was paid to Miller Builders Inc. in connection with the new jail project. …

Since ground had hardly been broken (in violation of state wetlands regulations), there was precious little to “oversee” or “expedite.”

… Annexation, the Airlie Gardens fence, the $ 46 million jail, the convention center, the new police department site – and the beat goes on.

Bob Swanson

Wilmington

Patients rights?

EDITOR: The Patients Bill of Rights has been intentionally misnamed by the proponents of the legislation.

It should be renamed “The right to sue your employer and health insurer in order to create wealth for trial attorneys who missed out on the tobacco litigation.”

Through some convoluted historical reference to the original Bill of Rights, certain legislators decided to create a set of patients rights.

The rights give the illusion that patients are getting something they don’t have now. If you look at the proposed list of patient rights you will find that most, if not all health insurers, provide the benefits prescribed in the list of proposed rights (direct access to emergency room care, direct access to a specialists, etc.). However, the last provision of the bill is the right to sue your employer and health insurer for pain, suffering, and punitive damages.

This sounds noble at first until you realize that the intent of the legislation is to promote lawsuits. Nothing else. The lawsuits will create opportunities for certain lawyers who want to feed at the massive trough of the U.S. healthcare system. …

One would guess that if the tobacco litigation could create so much wealth, then the medical system will too.

The Patients Bill of Rights does not protect the patient. It just simply allows certain legislators to pay back the campaign contributions made by the trial attorneys PAC.

Hank Estep

Wilmington

Ad images

EDITOR: I read the article about our young girls and their body image of themselves, then I saw the Dillard’s ad on the back page. Is it any wonder that our children have such a problem?

All companies who sell children’s clothing need to take a little responsibility and use real children in their ads, not stick figures.

Kathie Winseck

Carolina Beach

Litter bugs

EDITOR: Remember the jingle, “I like calling North Carolina home”? I hesitate to wonder what kind of homes North Carolinians actually keep!

Recent roadside mowing has exposed this state’s dirty litter secret: We’re infested with litter bugs!

… Clean and Green? Give a hoot, don’t pollute? Put litter in its place? Keep America beautiful?

Bah! Slogans don’t litter highways . . . the sooner this is realized and legal action is taken, the sooner we can actually take pride in calling North Carolina home…

Matt Doyle

Castle Hayne