Outstanding vision and leadership
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Journal and to guest columnist John Gates for the wonderful column on Crosby Scholars ("Crosby Scholars accomplishes great things," May 2). I would like to add a bit to the Crosby success story.
There is no way Crosby Scholars would be where it is today without the outstanding vision and leadership of Executive Director Mona Lovett. When Mona came to the program in 1992, the Crosby Scholars had about 200 students in two schools. Today it has more than 7,000 students covering all traditional public middle and high schools in Forsyth County. The program includes community service, weekend academies, mentoring and counseling, and it works: One hundred percent of Crosby Scholars seniors and 96 percent of 10th-grade Crosby Scholars graduate from high school.
The program reaches more disadvantaged students today than ever. It has broad community support from the likes of Hanesbrands, BB&T, the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation, Reynolds American Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, DataMax Corp., the Winston-Salem Foundation, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools and the United Way, in addition to a broad base of community leaders. It will likely soon embrace 10,000 students, or almost half of the public school population in grades 6-12. This is due to the leadership and caring of Mona Lovett, her staff, her board and scores of volunteers.
PAUL FULTON
Winston-Salem
Raising taxes
Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue wants to raise our taxes ("Perdue budget raises sales tax," May 10). In other news, the sun rose today and water is wet. Speaking for those who are pulling the wagon, how about cutting some wasteful spending first? January 2013 can't come soon enough.
KEN WHITLEY
State Road
Tenuous arguments
The biblical arguments were tenuous, at best.
The people who endorsed the marriage amendment in The Readers' Forum seemed to go on and on about the sin that destroyed Sodom being homosexuality. But Ezekiel 16:49 says very clearly, "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."
According to the story in Genesis 19, the men in Sodom — "all the men in Sodom, from every part of the city, both young and old" — stood outside Lot's house and demanded his guests: "Bring them out so that we may know [have sex with] them."
First of all — all the men? That seems more than improbably; it's a ridiculous exaggeration. Especially since Lot's daughters were engaged to men in Sodom.
But beyond that, I don't know any homosexuals who act like that, and neither does anyone else. Whatever was going on there — and it seems more like an attempt by a mob to rape Lot's guests than anything — it's not a true or accurate portrayal of modern-day homosexuals.
It's a shame that the majority of voting North Carolinians see perfectly good, harmless people as abominable demons. Of course, many people in their position used to see African-Americans that way.
It took awhile, but they got past it, and I think the same will eventually be true for gay people.
HANK BOLES
Winston-Salem
Need they be reminded
Shame, shame, shame on North Carolina voters. Shame on the religious right. How dare they pick and choose what Old Testament verses to endorse and demand others abide by. Need they be reminded the essence of the New Testament is to "love one another as I have loved you" (which includes all mankind) and "judge not nor cast the first stone"? Need they be reminded that this great country was founded on religious freedom (and not just for Christianity) and liberty and justice for all ?
JANE RAINVILLE
Winston-Salem
Inherent rights
The Rev. Ron Baity and all of the other narrow-minded people in North Carolina should be ashamed of themselves. How dare they take away rights that are inherently mine as a human being?
I have been "married" for eight years. During the course of our relationship, my partner and I were forced to each pay for individual health insurance through our respective employers. In March, however, my partner began working for a company that provides health-care benefits for domestic partners. What a blessing it was to us, as it was a much cheaper option. Now, in the blink of an eye, that is gone.
In addition (not that I think this will happen), should our relationship turn violent, it is now doubtful that either law enforcement or the judicial system will do anything to protect one of us because we are not in the only legally recognized relationship in North Carolina.
I am not ashamed of who I am or who I love. I am, however, ashamed to live in the state of North Carolina.
MEG DENBO
Winston-Salem
Let's go down the list of wasteful spending:
ReplyDelete(5) making it law for grown women to endure sitting through a lecture before making a choice that a grown woman has already made before they got to the point of sitting through a lecture.
(4) suing a non-sectarian local government for the right to have sectarian prayer before meetings.
(3) cut funding to public education while inserting additional unfunded/underfunded mandates.
(2) Create a voter ID law rather than REQUIRING Board of Election workers to check ID's.
(1) Activist politicians bringing up a non-contested issue to MAKE it a CONTESTED issue, then claiming victim-hood to justify writing discrimination into our state's constitution.
(Talk about activist politicians, whew!)
Add President Obama's project labor agreements to the list of wasteful, self-serving spending.
DeleteSpeaking of whom, I see he's worth about $10MM, has about $1MM in a JPM account. I believe that makes him a member of the dreaded 1%, right along with his likely R opponent Romney.
Stab: I was speaking on the state level. I'm not as well versed in the Pres' project labor agreements; please enlighten me.
DeleteHi, LaSombra, I didn't read the LTE's, just shot from the hip. Obama requires major govt projects to use union labor, which drives costs up, not to mention discriminates against 6/7 of construction workers.
DeleteHee Hee.....thanks goodness the radical left-wingers kept the Marriage Protection Amendment in the news. Othewise, I don't think it would have passed.
ReplyDeleteIt just goes back to my old saying that-liberals will shoot themselves in the foot given enough time.
I know everybody in here is glad that I'm back. I was out on the West Coast for a while, where I was in one 'shameless', sin, infested city where gays have created a new fashion statement. They are wearing spandex with their 'packages' swinging wildly from within. I thought they might have been arrested, but not in that 'shameless' city.
Yeaaaah Yeaaaaaah oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Hee Hee....hot down, summer in city!
Romney leading Obama in the polls.
It's all GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
Here's our favorite governor, Beverly Perdue, making a fool out of herself on the Marriage Protection Amendment.
DeleteHow much longer will she be in office? Too long in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUe-7Dd30kk
I'm also glad everybody knows their ABCs, or at least the movie 'The Proposal'.
DeleteZimmerman had a broken nose, and cuts on his head. Martin had injuries to his knuckles. But Martin was just playing 'patty cake' with Zimmerman?
ReplyDeleteTape indicates that Zimmerman wanted the cops over to scene immediatedly. Why? Because Martin was following HIM. Ut oh!
Oh well, never rely on the liberal media to take the side of the truth. They've got a job to do-like stir up race based hatred.
Martin had injuries to his knuckles plus a fatal gunshot wound which trumps all of the injuries suffered by Zimmerman.
DeleteMartin should have just kept on walking instead of chasing down Zimmerman and attacking him. If he wouldn't have done that, he wouldn't have been shot.
DeleteBut, I wouldn't expect a liberal to understand 'logic'.
'Logic' says Martin was 'standing his ground' even if it was with a drink bottle and some Skittles.
DeleteIt is also too much to expect for some to comprehend that the world isn't made up of "liberal"/"conservative" strawmen.
DeleteI like to keep it 'simple' for some of the simpletons in here dotnet.
DeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: As long as we have state legislatures who view education spending as a liability instead of an asset, the importance of such programs as the Crosby Scholars cannot be overstated.
LTE 2: "Wasteful spending" - Lordy, have mercy. The state has been experiencing enough problems trying to fund its mandated programs due to the unusually high unemployment for the last 3 years (more benefits going out - fewer taxes coming in). The only "wasteful spending" left is that which will be spent as a result of stupid legislative decisions such as Amendment One (think lawsuit after lawsuit). I know there are a lot of cheapskates around, but is an additional 75 cents on every 100 dollars spent that big of a burden?
LTE 3: Not only were the biblical arguments tenuous, they were also irrelevant. Glad to see at least one author understands what the story of Sodom was all about. I agree that prohibitions against gay marriage will go the way of the prohibitions against mixed-race marriage.
LTE 4: Shame on the legislators for putting it on the ballot in the first place when it was totally unnecessary.
LTE 5: There was a 2nd paragraph that stated the amendment would not pertain to the ability of private companies to offer benefits to non-married couples. Since that paragraph was left off the ballot, it remains to be seen whether the paragraph can still be included since it was not officially approved by the voters. I don't envy the courts, because they are going to have a mess to figure out. Those who believe they can legislate people into becoming "good Christians" are going to be sorely disappointed.
Ramussen's Poll-Romney way ahead of Obama in North Carolina. Just as I have thought for a long time, North Carolinians aren't stupid.
ReplyDeleteSure, we've got our fair share of liberal, illogical, radical morons, but what state doesn't?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/north_carolina/election_2012_north_carolina_president
Well, not all North Carolinians "aren't" stupid.
Delete:) Going by last Tuesday's outcome, at least 30% of North Carolinians "aren't" stupid. That leaves an awful lot who are.
Delete"Now, in the blink of an eye, that is gone."
ReplyDeleteMEG DENBO
Ms. Denbo is wrong. The amendment specifically exempts private business from any and all of its effects.
A private business can offer whatever benefits it wants to its employees. It does affect municipal and county governments, and the university system, at least until it is interpreted by the courts. At the moment, several municipalities and the university system offer some benefits to same sex couples. There will undoubtedly be millions of dollars spent on litigation before this whole mess is over.
The smart private employers will offer full benefits for domestic partners. It's very much an employer's job market right now, but they still need to attract the best people. Means less turnover too.
DeleteThat's why gays should have pushed for civil unions. But oh no, they wanted the whole enchilada, when everybody knows these aberrant, sexual and social unions are not normal, nor in the best interest of our society.
DeleteSue they will, the gays that is. But unless the federal government comes up with a gay marriage law, or an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the suits are going nowhere.
10th Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
And bah-humbug, I say to liberals who are mad because the Marriage Protection Act passed. I'd like to see the civil rights of white males restored before gay marriages are allowed.
Of course, then again, I employ logical thinking.
Most of the people that pushed against passage of the amendment, either haven't lived in, or near a predominately gay community, or they haven't worked in an environment where gays were allowed to force their aberrant sexual behavior, predilections, and personalities on employees or other co-workers or, of course, they are gay themselves.
DeleteIt's no wonder Bob doesn't post here anymore. It's too bad, but I don't blame him at all.
DeleteIn reply to your earlier post, most major companies in NC offer benefits to same-sex couples.
DeleteThat includes the five largest companies in the state: Bank of America, Duke Energy, Loews, Reynolds American and BB&T, plus dozens of others including the software giant SAS, most of the companies in the Triangle Research Park and the Piedmont Triad Research Park.
Locally, all of the major employers except Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have enlightened policies. Wake Forest University itself, however, began offering benefits to their faculty and staff in 2000.
The main effect of this stupid amendment will be to hurt business recruitment statewide. Just goes to show how truly dumb some people are.
Jesus, Bucky, the damn amendment passed. Give it a rest. Now watch employers, conventions, and tourism pass us by in favor of states less populated with bigots and hypocrites.
ReplyDeleteStab, we're all bigots and hypocrites to some degree. Those are two words have been used too often by liberals. They are like the word 'racist'. When liberals don't like what you have to say, you're going to be called one of those three words for sure. They are virtually meaningless now.
Delete'Wolf' didn't mean much after Peter in Peter and the Wolf got through with it either.
Yaweh must love dumb people because he made so many of them...for instance, we know that there are at least 1,317,179 of them in NC, because that is how many voted for the so-called marriage amendment last week.
ReplyDeleteAnd we know that we have at least one on this forum because she keeps yammering on about "civil unions" as if there is a difference between that and "marriage".
In North Carolina and most of the rest of the semi-civilized world, "civil union" = "marriage" and vice versa. It's really simple.
The two of you go down to the Register of Deeds office (no mail order brides), fill out a form, plunk down $60 and they issue you a license. If you've got any sense, you then grab a couple of witnesses, find a magistrate (there is always at least one inside our $52 million luxury high rise jail), plunk down another $20 and a few minutes later the deed is done.
Then you buy the witnesses a drink at one of our excellent downtown bars and the unending honeymoon begins. Total cost under $100 and all done in less than an hour. You are effing married, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health as long as ye both shall live. Wahoo!
Of course, if you are a high roller and like flinging money around, you can spend a lot more. Even a simple church wedding will cost a good bit. One of my oldest friends' only daughter was getting married at a mainline church. Afterward, at the reception at the country club, he admitted to me what it was costing him, about $80,000.
I didn't say anything, but I was thinking...man, for that you could have had a nice little church wedding and a Porsche Boxster, or you could have done the magistrate thing and been working on a Porsche 911. Whatever, the couple would have had exactly the same legal standing as those who choose the $100 option.
That marriage lasted about 3 1/2 years, so figure about $22,500 per year and no Porsche in sight.
Call it "marriage" if you like, but in the eyes of the state, and those are the only eyes that really matter, it is simply a "civil union".
As always in these and many other matters, stupid is as stupid does.
I was smart enough to predict the amendment would pass. You, however, weren't.
DeleteNow who's looking pretty stupid?