Winston-Salem Journal LTE's TU 11/08/11

Mean and vicious
The recent column by Jelisa Castrodale in the Journal's relish insert regarding the noise that aggravates people living there and our desire to have a vibrant downtown was over the line, out of bounds and a 15-yard personal foul ("Don't close downtown's window of opportunity," Oct. 20).
As president of the homeowners association, Martha Albertson should have been expressing the view of those homeowners. If not, they can elect another president (what a thankless job). Martha is one of the nicest, most giving people I have ever known and has contributed more to this community than 99.9 percent of the rest of us.
I personally am more aligned with the business side of this issue than the downtown homeowners. Martha and the homeowners may have shown their age a bit when suggesting 11 p.m. was late enough for folks to be around on weekends (it was late enough in our day, now folks don't go out before 10 p.m.).
The column was mean and vicious. I could almost hear the woman writing it chuckling to herself as she got in another zinger that she thought was funny and clever. They were neither, and I found the article basically not very good. She won't make the big time.
This column actually conjured up a vision, to me, of a left-wing Michele Bachmann. That is kinda scary.

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BERT GRISARD
Winston-Salem

Not in favor?
Of all the specious arguments I have ever heard, the letter "Deciding the question" (Nov. 1) is near, if not at, the top of the list. To imply that the Republican-controlled legislature is not in favor of a constitutional ban on gay marriage, that they just want the voters to decide, is a lie. If this question is not on the ballot, then the ban cannot be approved by the voters; so just the fact that it is on the ballot means that the people who put it there want it to pass.
This is so obvious that if they — the legislators and their supporters — cannot see this, they are not capable of rational thought.
To use what other states are doing to advance the letter writer's position ranks right up there with, "But, mommy (or daddy), all the other kids are doing it."
I will agree that it is our privilege to vote. It is also our duty.

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PAUL D. WHITSON
Advance

Ridiculous salary
Thank you for the information about the $8.8 million salary of Duke Energy's CEO, James Rogers, last year, while Duke seeks an 18 percent raise in rates ("Duke Energy CEO made $8.8M in '10," Oct 29). I woke up in the middle of the night thinking how ridiculous this salary is. It's 220 times my annual salary, but I chose a life of service with a nonprofit, so maybe I'm not a good comparison.
But the highest salaried person I could think of is a friend who as a doctor makes $200,000 a year. Even at that income, my friend would have to work 44 years to earn what Duke's CEO made last year. Put differently, my friend's income amounts to an after-taxes net of about $10,000 per month — that seems plenty to live comfortably — but maybe Duke's CEO really needs his after-taxes $440,000 per month (over $14,000 per day).
Even if we went back to the "communist" days of a 75 percent tax bracket for that income, he'd still net $180,000 per month. So according to current business standards (that a Duke spokesman was using to justify this high salary), one year of a CEO's services equals the worth of 44 years of a doctor's services. No wonder people are protesting at Occupy events around the country, and it's amazing they are, overall, peaceful. They certainly have my support.
Likewise, my deepest thanks to all the folks who spoke up at the hearings about Duke's proposed hikes.

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JAMES A. MITCHELL
Winston-Salem

Gay marriage amendment
Marriage is for procreation, not love. Love helps but is not necessary. The Catholic Church will annul any marriage where one of the partners refuses to have children. An annulment differs from a divorce in that it says there was no marriage to begin with.
Before I was married I had the right to marry any eligible female on this planet. Likewise my wife at one time had the right to marry any eligible male on this same planet.
Our gay and lesbian friends were born with this identical right, but they are not content. They want the additional right to "marry" any and every one on the Earth, male or female.

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ROBERT LUNDERGAN
Kernersville

Food for the hungry
It seems to me that Jesus would want the money being used to have his name spoken in Forsyth County commission meetings to be used to buy food for the hungry. Egotism is not something that God would support, but helping others is what he had his son do. Why can't we do that?

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JERE DAILEY
Advance