Voices From The Readers

Voices From The Readers
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Council Erred On Election
Editor:
Here we go again. Six out of seven council members voted to maintain separate elections.

Congratulations to Joe Hall, the only member with enough sense to hold the elections on the same dates.

One council member wants to have fun, food and music. Oh well, whats 10,000-plus dollars? Just a drop in the bucket for the way the council spends the taxpayers money.

Stu Shinnick
Ocean City

Let Aid Help Americans
Editor:

(The following letter was addressed to Senator Barbara Mikulski and a copy was sent to this publication.)

This email concerns the amount of money the federal government is gifting to foreign countries and the need for that money not only on the Eastern Shore but in America, in general.  

Unfortunately, with expenditures like the gift to Taiwan recently, the American people will never be able to get back to normal. A couple of nights ago I attended a business meeting and during the discussion it was suggested that an idea we came up with should be forwarded to your office. A discussion about rising debt and what could be done, raised the idea of a “debt bond” similar to the War Bonds. I am sure you remember the war bonds of World War II that our parents bought. Another effort that was very successful was the March of Dimes. As business owners, we thought a “Debt Bond” was a good idea. Let the American people get behind this.

Just this past week an article appeared in my local newspaper about giving Taiwan $10 million! How are we to pay off our National debt if the federal government continues giving away money? How can the American people expect to get caught up when you have gifts of millions to foreign countries? The aid is needed right here, right now.

Eugene R. Parker
Ocean City

Support Appreciated
Editor:

I would like to commend those members of the Worcester County Bar Association who generously donated to the bar’s annual Thanksgiving Fund.

With the help of Dave Smith and crew from the Ocean Plaza Mall Superfresh, we were able to provide a Thanksgiving turkey, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and cranberry sauce to 325 less fortunate families here in Worcester County.

It is truly an honor and a blessing that our members stand ready to step up and help those in need and for that we should all be proud and thankful.

I am particularly thankful to the law firms of Ayres, Jenkins, Gordy & Almand, PA and Williams, Moore, Shockley & Harrison, LLP as well as the Ocean City Lions Club for carrying the ball across the goal line when it appeared that we would not meeting our anticipated funding commitment.

I wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
David C. Gaskill
Ocean City

(The writer serves on the Worcester County Bar Association’s Committee on Charitable Endeavors.)

A Hope For Unity
Editor:

Recently Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) in Salisbury approved the following minute: “Wicomico River Friends Meeting unites with the intentions of the Occupy Movement to bring attention to the inequalities in our society and urge economic justice through nonviolent means.”

The Occupy Movement calls attention to the failures of our government. Unceasing electioneering and an often corrupting influence of special interests are preventing our officials from doing the jobs we have hired them to do. This has led to ineffective regulations and poor enforcement that allowed a near collapse of our economy which we have not fully recovered from.

It seems appropriate to make this statement during this season of Thanksgiving. Despite a poor economy, we are very grateful for the freedoms and bounty which we enjoy. Even those among us who have the least have it better than many other places in the world.

That does not mean some of our neighbors here are not suffering. A new shelter for the homeless has just opened in Salisbury. It is a blessing which will ease some of the need but not all of it. We pray for a time when shelters are closing from a lack of people needing them.

Social movements begin when society has reached a breaking point forcing people into the streets with their anger and pain. The Occupy Movement is very young. It will take time for its leadership to evolve and coherent solutions to emerge to compete in the market place of ideas. During this process, we will be with them, praying for the success of the underlying goal which unites us: a more just and responsive government that better serves everyone.

We wish for all of our neighbors: peace, prosperity, and a happy Thanksgiving.
Dana Kester-McCabe
Salisbury
(The writer is the clerk of the Wicomico River Friends Meeting.)

Donation Recognized
Editor:

The Ocean City/Worcester County Humane Society would like to thank the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #10 for the generous contribution of $4,150 collected as a result of their recent golf tournament. This monetary gift will be used to help with the care of our many shelter animals waiting for their forever homes. We appreciate your continued support.

Kenille Davies
Ocean City
(The writer is the director of the Ocean City/Worcester County Humane Society.)

Contradictory Politics
Editor:

Romney may become the Republican nominee because he’s the only wannabe who’s not a clown. But Mitt’s contradictions make him look goofy, and goofiness is next to clowniness.

He wants us to think he’s moderate because he was Republican governor of a Democratic state. He hopes we’ll forget that while running, he committed to clean energy, gay rights and choice. Yet, having been elected, he reneged on them all. The original Mr. Flip-Flop.

He now says, “’Obamacare (though based on Romneycare in Massachusetts) is wrong. I’ll repeal it.”

But what he’s really like us to forget is that later he became one of the fat cat Wall St. manipulators who caused Great Depression II and should now be in jail. Working for Bain Capital, he bought companies, stripped their assets and sent their jobs to India.

He is now wooing the Tea Party. His big promise is to cut a half-trillion in his first term by despoiling Social Security and Medicare. The Pentagon will get more; Amtrack, less. If Big 3 Auto weaken, he’ll let them fail. Yet he swears he’ll create 11 million jobs.

He helped Ohio’s Kasich try (in vain) to defeat repeal of a law disabling public employees’ unions. He praised pro-law campaigners, but refused to take a stand on the repeal. He is taking campaign help from New Jersey’s Christie who has been brutal to teachers.

If Romney wins, TP-ers will bully him into giving their extremism full force. They will vet his Supreme Court choices and curb any flip-flopping on Citizens United, a decision that lets corporations buy our elections. When a vote asked, “are you for people or for corportations?”, he summarized the decision in four words — “Corporations are people, too.”

Again, what about jobs? His real answer may be another four words — “Get yourself  to India.”

James A. Hoage
Severna Park