To submit your opinion email holly@wtoe.com

The Highway Patrol supports Governor Easley's veto of HB 2167. This legislation, if it becomes law, would allow wider boat trailers on our highways both during the day and at night. The Highway Patrol's concern with this legislation is that 9 ½ foot wide boats traveling on our highways at night, when visibility is limited, will increase collisions. In addition, we asked the General Assembly to lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers to .04 which is consistent with the standard for commercial motor vehicles. As with commercial vehicles, transporting these wider boats takes increased concentration and skill. I was disappointed that the General Assembly rejected the proposal to reduce the blood alcohol content for motorists towing wider boat trailers since it endangers lives. These issues represent safety concerns that we feel need to be addressed before we can support the proposed legislation.

Last year, Troopers investigated 300 collisions involving motorists transporting boats. During 2007, Troopers issued five over width violations to motorists transporting non-commercial boat trailers statewide. By comparison, Troopers issued more than 900,000 citations for all violations during 2007. Clearly, Troopers have not targeted boaters.

Trooper's primary mission is to keep the roads as safe as possible and they do that by enforcing the state's traffic laws and investigating traffic collisions. This legislation, as written, will jeopardize safety on our highways.


Sincerely,

Bryan E. Beatty
Secretary
North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety
 

     As most of you know we have a section in our local Mitchell-News Journal the Rants and Raves. You also know that the Rants far outnumber the Raves. Since the inception of this section it has allowed anyone without disclosing his or her identity to slander anyone without worry of repercussion. In other words a free ticket for a free shot.

The definition of slander or defamation from wikipedia is stated as: the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressively stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image.

Upon reading the definition of slander you can agree that the Mitchell-News has done just this with the Rants & Raves section. The negative image has been given to our fine town of Spruce Pine with all the Ghost Town references. The character of our local Law Enforcement officers has suffered from this. Our churches have seen this abuse as well as their pastors.

If you are a business owner the door is wide open in the rants and raves for you to be slandered by anyone at anytime and if the column continues you can bet you will. How much good publicity does it take to ever overcome just a little bad? The problem is that some people will only see or hear the bad and not the good. How many people read that Spruce Pine is a ghost town and form an opinion just by that? They didn't read that Spruce Pine has 85+ businesses in the city limits. And so detrimental is the slander for

everyone else it is directed at too.

You may argue that it’s freedom of speech but our freedoms must also, have limitations. One might also add that freedom of speech also means that they have the freedom not to publish anything that might slander someone. Wikipedia also goes on to say that: Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism.

How then is Mitchell-News not liable? Maybe because they stand behind the fact that they are not the person or persons responsible for what is said. But if anything is printed in their paper, whether they say they agree or disagree with it, they are actually promoting it just because it is now in print for everyone to read. And they don't have a clue who these statements are coming from or what their agenda is anyway.

Why do they do it? Because it sells papers. People love controversy, at anyone’s expense. This is where we come into the picture as local businesses. If we advertise in this paper we also are promoting this rants and raves section. Yes they may have the right to publish what they want, and likewise we have the right to advertise where we want. And there are several other opportunities for advertising we can use. WTOE & WKYK not only have many listeners but a website second to none with hundreds of thousands of hits. The last Blue Ridge Christian News edition had 64 pages with copies going into 5 counties at no cost to the customer. The Avery Post and Avery Journal have continuing coverage of events and personal interest stories in Mitchell County as well as The Yancey Journal .

A wise man once said "do what you want to, because your probably going to anyway!" But as for me, I plan to find other means to advertise by until some kind of changes are made that won't allow this kind of local abuse and hopefully you will too!

Sincerely,

Concerned for the well being of our community.

My name is Barbara Bow I am the Assistant Aerospace Education Officer for the Asheville Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. We are a non-profit, all volunteer agency, also known as the Air Force Auxiliary. Our Tax ID# is 75-6037853. For additional information on national and local CAP, view websites at www.cap.gov and www.ashevillecap.org.

Currently, the Museum/Visitor Center at the Arizona Memorial is sinking at an alarming rate, because it was built on garbage landfill. We would like to encourage all citizens  to make a donation in support of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund. Plans for a new center are in place, and groundbreaking should be this fall.  Our Cadets and Senior Members are asking community leaders, business owners, civic organizations, schools and the public to assist in the reconstruction of the Pearl Harbor Museum and Visitor Center. 

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund consists of collecting funds (which will be matched by a very generous patriot). The theme is “Pennies for Pearl”.  (One elementary school has already raised $10,000.00 simply by students bringing in “loose change”!!!!)    Additional information can be viewed on the website at www.pearlharbormemorialfund.com .

I have collection boxes, informational & educational materials available for any individuals, businesses, civic organizations, churches, and schools wishing to participate in this urgent matter.  I am available to make group presentations or to provide you with materials.  I can be contacted directly by phone or by email at bowbarbar@mindspring.com.

In closing, we hope you will consider our request to support and participate in rebuilding the Pearl Harbor Memorial and Visitor Center.

Dear Friends:

I invite you to be a fan of dignity and join me in a campaign to stop the use of the "R-word" (retard). This week, the film "Tropic Thunder" opens in movie theaters across the nation. While intended to be a satire on Hollywood actors and producers, the film has a scene which is offensive and demeans people with intellectual disabilities.

I am asking you to help spread awareness about the R-word campaign and voice your displeasure with the hurtful content depicted in "Tropic Thunder." And if you or your friends head to the theater, please choose another movie!

Visit www.R-word.org  and pledge not to use the R-word.

Be a fan of Dignity, don't say the R-word.

Gratefully,

Keith L. Fishburne

President/CEO

Special Olympics North Carolina

Visit www.sonc.net  for more information on the R-word campaign

As a Citizen of North Carolina I am opposed to the Real ID, National ID, National ID System or "Enhanced Drivers License" and do not want my privacy invaded. I do not approve the use of our biometric data being stored in a database that can be accessed by untold numbers of individuals.

There is no such thing as a secure database. The Department of Homeland Security was hacked more than 850 times in two years, which is more than one time every day for two years! The Pentagon recently admitted that sensitive data may have been compromised when the Chinese hacked into their systems. If the nation's top defense cannot keep their databases secure, how are they going to protect our information? The answer is simple, they cannot and will not.

They were not able to stop employees from snooping at the records of Presidential Candidates private information submitted for their passports and they will not stop them from snooping at your personal information.

The Real ID Act allows our private information to be shared with other countries as well as private corporations. There is no limit as to what information can be added in the future. This system will not stop terrorists, it will however allow the government to track all Americans and it will be a gold mine for hackers and identity thieves once all of our sensitive data is in a single database.

North Carolina Legislators need to stop the Real ID in its tracks and oppose this unfunded mandate, but most of them have never heard of the Real ID, so they claim. How can most of our legislators feign ignorance regarding the Real ID when they voted to fund it?  Help us find out.

Demand they issue legislation to reject and repeal the Real ID. Visit www.ncard.info for more information on the Real ID and our progress on stopping the Real ID.


Jim Palmer
McDowell County
828-231-4064