Winston-Salem Journal LTE FR 11/30/12

What they want

I don’t believe a Republican can ever again be president in a country where more people are in the wagon than are outside pulling it. If we can’t beat a president who has been a total failure in his economic policies and has pushed America into an ongoing recession (it’s been his economy for the last two years), then we never can.

People vote their pocketbooks, and the people in the wagon know the liberals will give them more handouts than the conservatives. And they will continue to believe that it’s the Republicans’ opposition to President Obama’s policies that have extended the recession.

The government only takes in $1.2 trillion a year on federal income taxes. Those who think raising taxes on the rich from 35 to 39.5 percent (around 10 percent) is going to help with the deficit have no understanding of economics. That move, which I really don’t object to, will only raise, at the most, another $90 billion per year. Nothing compared to the deficits this administration is running. Those who think that raising taxes higher than 10 percent would help must realize that at some point, the “law of diminishing returns “ will kick in and less revenue will come in.

My proposal is the Republican Congress give the liberals whatever they want on taxes and spending. Let the liberals show us their policies work, and don’t sink us into oblivion. If they work, great. But if they don’t, the liberals have to take the blame.

DAVID F. MOSER

Winston-Salem

Businesses closed

I am a postal-service letter carrier. I would like to reply to the letter writer who recently complained when he found the DMV closed on Veterans’ Day (“Monday holidays,” Nov. 24). He included the U.S. Postal Service, among others, for criticism for observing the holiday “while for the private sector it is just another workday.”

Speaking only for myself, I must note that every Saturday, when I carry my route, I find a great majority of my private-sector businesses closed. Recently on Black Friday, and annually on Christmas Eve and Good Friday, I will once again encounter most of them closed. This is not a complaint. I am fortunate to have a good job.

At Waughtown Station, about half of our employees are veterans, including two reservists who were called up to serve in Iraq. I think we need not apologize for observing Veterans’ Day. Instead, let us express our gratefulness to the first responders and hospital personnel, among many others, who are on duty 24/7/365.

DAVID OHMBERGER

Winston-Salem

On a playground

We send representatives to emerging nations to assure that, when they hold elections, citizens have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote. In our own country, there are many reports of voter suppression that attempt to prevent our own citizens from exercising their right to vote. Who is protecting our citizens' rights?

Our ambassadors go to foreign countries to assist in negotiating cease-fire plans and to broker peace deals using compromise and diplomacy. In our own country, elected officials engage in covert actions and a different kind of warfare to undermine the future of our country. They quibble and squabble and sometimes sound more like children on a playground than duly elected officials who should have the welfare of their constituents foremost in their minds.

Who is assisting our members of Congress in learning that compromise is a positive, not a negative? That compromise is a time-proved method of making our country stronger and more productive? That compromise is not a sign of weakness? That our citizens deserve better than we are getting?

Perhaps the answers lie within each of us.

BARBARA WATKINS DAYE

Boone

Clinton-era economy

There’s been a lot of chatter about the “fiscal cliff” and what to do about it. We hear a lot about Clinton tax rates tossed around and about. Well, if both houses of Congress want the Clinton era tax rates, then they must also include Clinton spending limits. The spending rates cannot be one dime more than what was spent in the last two years of the Clinton term in office.

I would love to see the president, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House John Boehner wrap their arms and fiscal brains around that.

STEVE HENDERSON

Winston-Salem

Sum It Up

The Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Do you think Americans will put aside their political differences for the holiday season?

Absolutely not. Two words explain why: fiscal cliff.

SAM JONES

I do believe they would overlook their political differences for the sake of Santa Claus except probably for the ideological die-hards who could not get over the Waterloo they suffered in the last elections and the fact that President Obama gets four more years to run the country.

BOON T. LEE

Winston-Salem Journal LTE TH 11/29/12

Two problems, one decision

Our city and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System have a unique opportunity to collaborate on one decision that can solve two problems.

Problem One: It is important that R.J. Reynolds High School have a nearby football stadium and multi-sport practice fields, but visibly intruding on Hanes Park is an untenable sacrifice of green multi-use public park space.

Problem Two: Neighbors and alumni are distressed that historic Griffith High School buildings are scheduled for demolition.

The Solution: Build a state-of-the-art high-rise Reynolds High School on Clemmonsville Road in the complex with Deaton-Thompson Stadium, Griffith Elementary School and Georgia Taylor Recreation Center. Integrate the 1926 Griffith façade and cornerstone into R.J. Reynolds, and respectfully keep the Griffith name on that wing.

An additional payoff: Reynolds Auditorium and Hanes Park — along with the re-purposing of the Reynolds classroom buildings — would become a destination, a city jewel. Offer concerts, drama and other big events in the auditorium; education of all kinds (for all ages) in former classrooms, labs, studios and gyms; with nature and ecology study and hobbies in Hanes Park — along with existing outdoor team and informal recreation.

Why not?

ELLEN S. YARBOROUGH

Winston-Salem

Conscientious description

The writer of the Nov. 24 letter “Get It right” refers to the “inaccurate portrayal” of the proposed Reynolds High School stadium site. The group “Save Hanes Park” has been conscientious in its description of the site as being located on school property next to Hanes Park. The fact that the stadium would be located on school property does not mean it has no impact on Hanes Park.

If a landfill were proposed next to the letter writer's home, he would be the first say “save my home.”

HENRY LAFFERTY

Winston-Salem

Change the date

The 12 days of Christmas has morphed into the 12 weeks of Christmas, eclipsing Thanksgiving and even Halloween, somewhat. I think it would make much more sense for the United States to join Canada in celebrating Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October every year.

MARTHA ROWE

Clemmons

Finish the Thought

Saturday, we asked readers to complete the sentence: “We’ll know the fiscal cliff is real if …”

“… Wile E. Coyote falls over the edge and survives. Because he’s real, right?”

GUY NEAL WILLIAMS

“… when we see the Pied Piper.”

REGINA BRADSHAW

“... the GOP says ‘No deal,’ resulting in a gridlock on taxation in Congress. However, I agree with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that no deal is better than a bad deal.”

BOON T. LEE

“… ‘At this point in time’ I would like to say ‘with all due respect’ that ‘at the end of the day’ the nation will find it is not facing a ‘fiscal cliff’ so much as a ‘fiscal slope.’

“Will Congress solve the problem? Hah! ‘At the end of the day’ it will surely ‘kick the can down the road’ again, as so often before. Yes. And let me add with much ‘gravitas’ and again ‘with all due respect’ that when someone finally picks it up ‘at the end of the day,’ he or she will find it hardly looks like a can at all, only as something that has been ‘kicked down the road’ once too often.”

HUNTER JAMES

“… the House and Senate work together for the good of our country instead of their party, and House Speaker John Boehner can persuade the tea-party members to start acting like grown men instead of children who are not going to play anymore because they lost their ball game.”

NAOMI J. DAVIS

“... Santa brings you a sack full of non-backed US currency.”

JAN HUGOSSON

“ … not. Even if Congress and the president do nothing by Jan. 1, they could always do something later.

“There is no cliff. It is just another ‘crisis’ manufactured by the Republicans in Congress to gut all social programs and continue tax cuts for the filthy rich and they're using a debt-deficit scare to do it.

“Do tax cuts for the rich sound like a way to reduce the debt-deficit if debt-deficit reduction is what it's all about?”

KAM BENFIELD

“… Congress, Democrats and Republicans, work together.”

ED GAYLOR

“The fiscal cliff is real and we will believe it when, not if, it affects us. This is because it is merely a symptom of a larger fiscal problem that can't be postponed for a few months.

“You will take home less pay. You or your friends will be laid off. Insurance costs will go up.

“We spend more than we take in. Taxes for everyone will increase. Entitlements will drop.

“There is no painless fix and still the politicians can't tell us the truth because they fear they may get kicked off the gravy train.

“Every person who served in Congress or as president from LBJ is at fault. We gave them too much power and money to play with.

“Here comes the bill.”

KEN HOGLUND

Winston-Salem Journal LTE WE 11/28/12

Get rid of the rumblings

I've heard some really interesting (read weird) excuses for why Mitt Romney lost the presidential election, but the excuse in the letter “It was the storms” (Nov. 23) has to be the best/worst. First Tropical Storm Isaac during the Republican National Convention, then the good weather during the Democratic National Convention. Superstorm Sandy had to come along right before election time. That played right into President Obama's hand, didn't it? And poor Romney didn't have Air Force One, though I never heard that Romney had trouble getting around to all the states he went to; did anyone else? Did anyone hear Romney using that excuse for why he lost?

I do agree with her on one point. I am glad that the negative ads are gone. Now if we could just get rid of all the negative Republican/Democratic rumblings on the editorial pages and in the newsrooms, I'd be one happy woman. Can we get back to reporting the day-to-day news, please? Quit the bashing of both parties.

What we really need is for members of Congress, who really are the decision-makers in the government, to get off their asses and get to work. Meaning, work together. That means both Republicans and Democrats looking for what is best for us, all the people they represent. Not just their money people, but us middle-of-the-road people too; and do something soon that will be the best for all. The best leaders compromise. It can be done.

LOIS VONCANNON

Kernersville

Greedy culture

One of the great tragedies of the past election is the amount of money spent on political campaigning. With our nation on the verge of financial bankruptcy, and millions of Americans without jobs, being reduced to poverty, millions of dollars were spent to promote contenders for the presidency.

A bipartisan Congress passed legislation to limit the amount of money spent on campaigns by each candidate. Then the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this law did not limit the amount of money that could be collected in Super-PACs for candidates, and Congress and the president have done nothing about this hypocrisy.

President Obama apparently was glad to get all the money he could for his campaign, and Mitt Romney and his supporters also undertook to raise all the money they could for advertising. The media were delighted by the millions that flowed into their coffers, revealing the problem with much of our American culture: it is greedy.

Obama does not mind spending millions, making America indebted to China. And Congress passes laws to increase its own salaries and enjoy special health and retirement plans. Our president, along with Americans, must challenge Congress to make laws avoiding conflicts of interest by putting limits on their terms and see that restrictions in expenditures for campaigning are legally established.

Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world for he was genuinely concerned about helping others, not himself. The question is, what happens to America and its greedy culture under our president?

JIM HELVEY

Winston-Salem

Mismanagement

The solution for people who are in financial difficulties because of poor stewardship of their finances is not to give them more. It will be mismanaged at best and wasted at worst. The lottery winner that wastes his or her fortunes will do the same if he or she wins again.

The elected officials of the federal government have proven to be incapable of stewarding the resources that they have been given. And, by penalty of law, the citizenry is forced to be an enabler of their dysfunction. And they have the gall to ask for more. No matter where the revenue is coming from, more will only perpetuate their inability to govern wisely, courageously and respectfully.

They should stop spending time devising how to get more. Rather, they should figure out how to wisely spend what they have. That is what we, the people, have to do. We don’t have the luxury of taking from others so as to not face the hard choices. With all due respect, and I apologize for the harsh words, but they are lazy cowards (and none of them, for decades now, are excluded from that indictment).

Please don’t misunderstand me. I believe it’s the responsibility of all citizens to support those we have elected and the programs needed for the functioning of society. I would not even begrudge my tax burden being increased if I had some confidence that my leaders were respectful of that which they have been given to steward.

VERNON SCHMIDT

Winston-Salem

Many contributions

Bill Clinton was our president for eight years. Since serving as president, he has led foundations and initiatives that have worked to improve the world. He has provided millions of dollars to help the less fortunate and to alleviate disease and poverty. He has committed countless hours and resources to helping Haiti overcome the 2010 earthquake that devastated it. He has made many positive contributions to our world, yet all the writer of the letter “Rumor” (Nov. 25) has to say about him is that he committed a sexual indiscretion 14 years ago.

The letter is petty and childish and no, it’s not funny. And it demeans the Journal to print such blithe trash.

HENRY TUBB

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Journal LTE TU 11/27/12

Serious concerns

I must respond to the letter “Hyperbole doesn't help” (Nov. 16):

No, I do not believe the signatures of 2,500 people opposing the proposed Reynolds High School stadium can be correctly labeled as hyperbole. Neither Mount Tabor nor West Forsyth high schools has a major regional hospital within walking distance, nor are in ambulance routes or in already congested areas.

Parking is a major problem for the proposed stadium and there is also a water issue. Having lived in West Highlands for over 50 years, I have seen water standing in the area many, many times. Hanes Park was closed this past summer for almost a week because of flooding.

Thank you to Huber Hanes III (“Stadium proposal is a Hawthorne curve ball,” Oct. 21) for telling it like it is. Surely the powers that be will listen to the neighbors who live here and know that a stadium in this tight location would cause endless problems.

JO ALLMAN

Winston Salem

Avoid closed meetings

The easiest way to avoid blowback from what is said in a closed meeting is not to have a closed meeting (“Effort by some on council a waste of time,” Nov. 21). That is not always possible; for example, when bidding matters are being discussed, outside activity could thwart the public good.

North Carolina law requires that minutes taken at closed meetings be sufficiently complete that someone not present can tell what transpired. I would suggest that these minutes be published when the activity being discussed is complete. For example, when a legal decision is affirmed by the council in public, the minutes from the closed meeting should be published. Closed meetings are to prevent interference in the public good; they are not to protect elected officials’ views and actions.

One other word about closed meetings: State law says they are to be called for a specific purpose and outlines the purposes for which they can be called. Briefing sessions, conducted as closed meetings, are not legal under N.C. law — something the Journal might want to investigate.

DOROTHY MATHEWS

Rural Hall

Our president

Barack Obama is the president of the United States, and how about showing respect for the man. Even if we don't like him and didn't vote for him, he is our president. When we say demeaning things about our president, think about the message we are sending to the rest of the world. I love my country but I am disappointed in my fellow Americans who continue to berate the president.

The election is over. Mitt Romney didn't win. We can come up with reasons why he did not win but does it really matter now? The American people chose Barack Obama and that's how it is. We need to get over it and move on.

We are Americans living in the greatest country in the world. Let's all act like grown-ups and work toward being united and not divided. Americans have always pulled together and that is what makes our nation so great. It is time for us to put our differences aside and get with the program and start acting like Americans.

GLENDA SOUTHWORTH

Lewisville

Hope for Israel

I’m Jewish. My Israeli family unequivocally deserves security. But so do Christian and Muslim Palestinian families. Those families, made refugees when we Jews forced them out of their homes and villages, continue to suffer under an Israeli occupation that South Africans recognize as worse than Apartheid.

With hope, the Gaza cease-fire will end both the horrible rocket attacks that terrorize Israelis and Israel’s terrorism of Palestinians that is — with our help — of 10- to 100-fold greater magnitude. Israeli peace group B’tselem reports that Israel has killed over 30 times more Christian and Muslim Palestinian children as Palestinians have killed Israeli children. Further terrorizing and killing Palestinian families is not the way to achieve peace nor is it consistent with our American values.

The idea that Israel’s violence is somehow moral or justified doesn’t make sense to me when Israel is responsible for most of the civilian deaths and when Israel is killing men, women and children who we Jews had made refugees in the first place. While Israel claims it only targets militants, if Palestinians targeted only Israeli soldiers by bombing their apartment buildings (as Israel does to Palestinians), killing entire Israeli families in the process, we would be horrified and clearly see the immorality of the action.

There is hope. We Americans know that Christians, Jews and Muslims can live peacefully together. Instead of our giving unconditional support to Israel for extinguishing more Christian and Muslim Palestinian lives, let’s give Israel unconditional support for repatriation of those refugee families.

STEVE FELDMAN

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Journal LTE MO 11/26/12

Compromise

After this hard-fought and often bitter political campaign, I hope that we can come together as a united country so that the word “compromise” will be used again by our political representatives in Washington. That will only happen if the unreasonable and unwarranted hatred toward our president is put aside.

President Obama has reached out again to the Republican/tea-party leaders in hopes of stopping the U.S. from “going over the fiscal cliff,” which will happen if the two sides do not come together. This would be devastating to our country's standing in the world and devastating to our economy and to all Americans. The stock market will surely tumble. If the Republicans stick to the Grover Norquist pledge of no increase in taxes, an increase in taxes will happen anyway. Yes, all Americans will pay higher taxes.

It is time to stop listening to the hatred spewed by Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove and their cronies and to do what is best for our country. Call your representatives and ask them to act like responsible adults and compromise. Yes, compromise!

JO ANN MOUNT

Winston-Salem

A great attraction

Regarding Scott Sexton's Nov. 20 column, “New bike trail,” a Virginia Creeper-like trail around Pilot Mountain would be a great attraction to mountain bikers and foot-travelers alike. What a great way to turn a “lemon of a fire into lemonade,” as the headline said.

Thanks to Ken Putnam and Wayne Horton for their earlier, and, I hope, continued work on this excellent project.

KEN LUMSDEN

Winston-Salem

Conservative inertia

The Republican presidential candidates contested who was the most authentic or longest conservative — all uncritically assuming conservatism to be good and virtuous. Yet now that Republicans ask, “what went wrong?” they might face the regressiveness of conservatism itself.

What is it conservatives want to conserve? The way things are or were or they thought they were, thus highly susceptible to nostalgia and status quo? Inertia by extension.

One recalls the Broadway musical and book, “Is there life after high school?” Especially for star athletes, cruelly marginalized following their glory days.

I am so old I vividly remember the 1920s, the GOP golden age of Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, when Republicans were always cheerful, charitable, hospitable, civic-minded, kind to children and animals and vital patrons of education and the arts. Af fluence enabled living as they pleased. Even then they didn’t send their children to conservative-arts colleges.

Liberals are, of course, also subject to convention, caution and respectability. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wore conventional business suits and wrote classical English.

CYCLONE COVEY

Winston-Salem

No losing

Frackers can’t lose. If they drill and find gas, there’s a market for it. If they drill a dry hole, there’s a bigger market for it.

Nuclear-power plants up and down the East Coast are looking for holes to dump their toxic waste in, so it’s out of sight, off their hands.

If frackers police themselves, there is no policing.

HAROLD HAYES

Clemmons

Disregarding doesn’t help

As a Reynolds High School alumnus residing near Hanes Park, I support high-school athletics but can’t support the three proposed options for a football stadium at Hanes Park (“School board will consider stadium proposal,” Nov 21).

The Nov. 16 letter “Hyperbole doesn’t help” offers nothing to those concerned about the Hanes Park area. It loses credibility with its disparaging tone (“typical … hyperbole,” “ridiculous,” “equally dubious”) and disregards urgent concerns of the larger community.

Consider the proposals’ impact on the community: Remote campus parking on Hawthorne Road leads to residential parking near Hanes Park. Old-growth trees are killed on the project site and along Hawthorne Road. Project structures destroy park vistas. Precious, urban green space is reduced. Access to Northwest Boulevard, a main emergency route to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, is obstructed (cars, buses, crowds).

In the Business 40 shutdown plan for future bridge construction, Northwest Boulevard is a critical outlet for rerouting interstate traffic, resulting in years of congestion. During this time, extra congestion on Northwest Boulevard from the proposed stadium’s traffic is horribly undesirable.

A 2,200-seat stadium seems overdone for a 600-900 average attendance at Reynolds home football games. Why is the primary criterion the maximum likely allowed by the Winston-Salem City Council? The larger the stadium, the larger the impact on our community.

A fourth proposed option, seating unstated, is on the hill next to Reynolds Auditorium, close to the Hawthorne Road campus parking. Of the four, this option has the least impact on the community.

BILL ALLEN

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Journal LTE SU 11/25/12

Ken Keuffel

As a faithful subscriber to the Journal for the last 25 years, I have been sorry to see all the cutbacks that decreased the relevance and viability of your paper over that time. When I learned that Ken Keuffel, your performing-arts reporter, had been laid off last week, I found myself at the point of wondering why I should keep my subscription active anymore.

One of the things that has attracts many of us to this city is its vibrant performing-arts scene. With so many offerings available, having a trusted voice to offer guidance has been essential. Ken Keuffel has capably provided that informed perspective for many years. I’m going to miss his fairness and his insights.

And, I’m sorry to say, given this latest development, I believe my next subscription bill will go unanswered.

Thank you for your many years of committed service to this community, Ken.

LAWRENCE DILLON

Winston-Salem

Dillon teaches composition at the UNC School of the Arts. — the editor

Question

I have heard a lot of discussion about whether Gen. David Petraeus' indiscretion disqualifies him for office. The more pertinent question is whether we would want a CIA director who thinks cyperspace communications are secret.

ROMAINE POINDEXTER

Kernersville

The important issues

I hope the bellyaching represented by condescending letters like “The real issues” (Nov. 20) ends soon.

The writer portrays those who voted for President Obama as casting their ballots “on issues that have absolutely nothing to do with solving the problems that face our country,” like the economy and our dependence of foreign oil. He says that they voted on peripherals like birth-control pills and gay marriage. How helpful of him to decide what problems should concern people.

Of course, the economy and energy are important issues. And that’s why I’d never vote for a candidate who believes the solution to paying the deficit down is to have even less revenue to apply to it, like Mitt Romney, nor for anyone whose energy policies — relying on drilling and ignoring the clean-energy solutions that the rest of the industrialized world is using to good effect — guarantee we’d continue to be dependent on foreign oil.

On the other hand, are reproductive rights — including abortion — really a trivial matter to conservatives? They sure threw a fit when contraceptives became an issue last year. And it’s easy to say that gay marriage isn’t a problem that needs to be solved when no one is stopping you from marrying the person you love.

Any way you slice it, Obama supporters voted for the candidate who offered the best solutions to the problems at hand — all the problems at hand.

BETH PARE

Winston-Salem

Rumor

There is an unconfirmed rumor that Bill Clinton has asked Gen. David Petraeus' biographer, Paula Broadwell, to write his biography.

BOB REAGAN

Winston-Salem

Sum It Up

Do you think Americans will put aside their political differences for the holiday season?

Correspondent of the Week: We have endured

We have endured

Our nation is suffering. Our economy is weak. The Northeast is still dark, cold and hungry from Superstorm Sandy. We are a divided and angry people following an ugly national election; over 700,000 having signed petitions to secede from the union. Our purported leaders have divided us by labels, classes, incomes and percentages. The light in the city upon the hill is flickering.

But I recently saw the movie “Lincoln.” It tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s committed efforts to pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Our political language and strategies are child’s play compared to those employed in 1865. Our nation was divided — North versus South; black versus white; brother versus brother — by four years of brutal, savage civil war that left over 800,000 dead. But our nation endured.

We have endured incompetent and corrupt leadership, political scandal, world wars, civil war and natural disasters. How have we done it? I believe by faith and reliance in a power greater than ourselves — a power acknowledged in our creating documents by the Founding Fathers as the source of human rights and the guiding star for our governing.

Lincoln rekindled my hope and faith in our country enduring our current condition and time. May we find another Lincoln. More importantly, may we rededicate ourselves to the source of our greatness. Let us seek divine guidance for our country, our leaders and ourselves as we work to bind our wounds, recapture our greatness and relight the light.

ROBERT ESLEECK

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Journal LTE SA 11/24/12

Sounds similar

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice and President Obama insist that she was simply offering the public the best information she had at the time on the Benghazi incident where four Americans were killed. Sounds similar to President George W. Bush's reason for the Iraq war, where thousands of Americans were killed.

Quite a difference in the number of casualties, but the GOP can't seem to understand this. Especially not Sen. John McCain.

R.C. MURPHY

Winston-Salem

Impressive

My husband and I in recent days were discussing the recent election and the revived angst about the King Veteran’s Memorial-Christian flag lawsuit. He said the following:

“Whether it be a man with a Bible, or a man with a buck, be impressed what they do with it ... not that they have it.”

I asked him who said that, and he said he didn't know, but stated he was saying it now. I thought at first how simple it was, but it really is not simple at all. It made me think seriously how this statement seems to say so little but, in just a few words, speaks volumes.

Think about it.

Smart man, my David.

PATRICIA R. STOCKMEISTER

Winston-Salem

Get it right

Accuracy is important. If I read one more letter to the editor, guest column or photo caption that places the proposed R.J. Reynolds High School stadium in Hanes Park , I’ll go crazy! This continuing inaccurate portrayal of the stadium site is the single most inflammatory and divisive issue surrounding the project.

The guest column “Stadium proposal is a Hawthorne curve ball” (Oct. 23) contained innumerable inaccuracies and paranoid fears. To liken this project to the deadly Hawthorne Curve, or suggest that parking lots will be built on what is Hanes Park properly, is a disservice that dissuades reasonable dialogue and only serves to inflame, and not accurately depict, the facts and issues surrounding this stadium.

Let’s reasonably discuss traffic, lights, safety and topics that have room for compromise and are not black or white facts. However, the proposed stadium site is a fact: It is on Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school property, not in Hanes Park. I do not want a stadium in Hanes Park; the RJR Booster Club and Home Field Advantage advocacy groups do not want a stadium in Hanes Park. We simply want what nearly all other area high schools have: a stadium for the benefit of all students on school property.

So please, fact-check before publication. Accurate representation regarding the location of the stadium will prevent unnecessary angst for those whose major concern is the actual location of the project. This will allow for reasoned discussion and ultimately timely progress towards making this stadium a reality.

BRIAN MYERS

Winston-Salem

Disregarding doesn’t help

As a Reynolds High School alumnus residing near Hanes Park, I support high-school athletics but can’t support the proposed football stadium.

The Nov. 16 letter “Hyperbole doesn’t help” offers nothing to those concerned about the Hanes Park area. The letter loses credibility with its disparaging tone (“typical … hyperbole,” “ridiculous,” “equally dubious”).

Further, it disregards urgent concerns of the larger community, portraying the whole matter as “simply upgrading an existing athletic facility.”

Consider the proposal’s impact on the community: Remote campus parking on Hawthorne Road leads to residential parking near Hanes Park. Old-growth trees are killed on the project site and along Hawthorne Road. Project structures destroy park vistas. Urban green space (precious resource) is reduced. Access to Northwest Boulevard, a main emergency route to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, is obstructed (cars, buses, crowds).

In the Business 40 shutdown plan for future bridge construction, Northwest Boulevard is a critical outlet for rerouting interstate traffic, resulting in years of congestion. During this time, extra congestion on Northwest Boulevard from the proposed stadium’s traffic is horribly undesirable.

Is a 3,000-seat stadium required for a 600-900 average attendance at Reynolds home football games? 3,000 seems overdone, being more than three times 900.

We still don’t know the total cost of an apparently overdone stadium and all related structures. And who will pay if fundraising fails, as before with the Reynolds Auditorium renovation?

Irony: Hanes Park allows Reynolds home-field advantage in baseball, softball, track and tennis. (Gyms offer indoor sports the same.)

BILL ALLEN

Winston-Salem

Finish the Thought

Briefly complete the sentence below and sent it to us at letters@wsjournal.com. We’ll print some of the results in a few days. Only signed entries, please — no anonymous ones.

“We'll know the fiscal cliff is real if...”

Winston-Salem Journal LTE FR 11/23/12

Questionable motives

The tragedy of the recent epidemic of fungal meningitis brought about by spinal injections of contaminated steroids is made more poignant by a study this spring that showed steroid injections for “pinched nerve” pain in the lower back were no better than saline (salt water) injections. With study results like these, why are doctors doing spinal steroid injections at all? The answer, of course, is found in the large fees charged for the procedure. What insurance company would pay big money for salt-water injections in the spine, or no injection at all (acupuncture)?

Another question is why these clinics used the contaminated product, when similar steroid injectables are available from the large, reputable drug companies with better quality control? The answer: the contaminated product cost a dollar or two less per dose. In the effort to cut costs, some clinic managers put a small cost savings above patient safety — with disastrous results.

Now it is time for the lawyers and lawsuits to come into play, and I, for one, hope they win big to discourage this type of malpractice in the future.

DR. JAMES S. CAMPBELL

Pfafftown

It was the storms

In response to Kathleen Parker’s Nov. 13 column “What doomed Romney:” It's no big mystery what doomed Mitt Romney. It was two storms that stole his victory.

First was Tropical Storm Isaac, predicted to come ashore at or near Tampa during the Republican National Convention. Many people canceled their plans to attend the convention. It was delayed by one day due to the weather predictions, so it was a shortened convention. The storm put a damper on the entire convention. Clint Eastwood was worse than the storm.

The Democratic National Convention in Charlotte had no predictions of storms and was not shortened. Superstorm Sandy hit the northeast coast and put President Obama in front of the nation on TV for several days. He and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were hugging up and giving the world the impression that Obama was Superman and could do anything. That exposure to the nation and the world was a plus for Obama. TV coverage can make a president or break a president.

Another plus for Obama was Air Force One. Romney didn't have that on his side.

I'm so glad it's over and we won't have those awful negative ads on TV for a while.

BAYNARDA MARVIN

Winston-Salem

Evidence and lies

First they claimed he was a Muslim. Then they insisted he was born in Kenya. Then they swore he was a terrorist sympathizer. All of this, despite vast mountains of evidence to the contrary.

Conservatives have spent the last four years demonizing the president of the United States, telling unsupported lie after unsupported lie about him. Evidence doesn’t mean anything to them; truth doesn’t mean anything to them; they’re in love with their lies.

Now they expect us to believe that President Obama is involved in some kind of cover-up over the disaster in Libya? Why, because Fox News says so? Or because they’ve been so right about everything else? Come on, pull the other one. Oh, wait, that’s what you’re doing.

BONNIE G. VAUGHN

Winston-Salem

Inaction

Gridlock in Washington could be avoided if our illustrious representatives would consider the effect inaction has on we the voting public.

I used to believe we elected these people to serve in the public’s best interest. Inaction instead of compromise is not what they are paid handsomely for.

We citizens have to compromise in our daily lives so as to coexist in our chosen paths.

Here endeth my reading.

LOUIS W. JONES

Winston-Salem

Not this time

It's over ... but I don't get it. Over 50 percent of the voters picked the candidate who has been the most divisive president in my lifetime, which has been for almost three quarters of a century.

I have always understood why people have picked one candidate over another, but not this time. I always felt if my candidate lost, so be it. I could live with the opponent for another four years. But the past four years have been nothing but a failure. Of course, a lot of freebies were handed out.

As you can tell by now, my choice was former Gov. Mitt Romney. Here was an honest, decent, intelligent man who felt it was a privilege to help others, yet he was demonized by the opposition and the press, including this paper, with all sorts of falsehoods.

I'm not the smartest guy in town but would someone explain how this happened? Now what do we do? Do we go through another four years of bickering and higher unemployment, dividing the country even more? I hope not. We cannot afford more of this and while I hope I am wrong, I see the middle class disappearing. And while I'm not an overly religious man, I wonder if this is a test from God to see if we as a nation can survive.

I love America and I hope the best years of my country are not in the rear-view mirror.

ART FRAUENHOFER

Clemmons