Voices From The Readers

Fine To Tax Bullets
Editor:
We tax gas, cigarettes, and other commodities, so let’s tax bullets.

If it cost $1,000 a bullet, we can stop all this arguing over what or who shoots a bullet. If those who want to use force against us are worth $,1000 a pop, shoot them in self-defense. If you want to shoot up a children’s school and it cost, at a minimum, $26,000 to buy bullets that hit their killing mark, plus the thousands to buy the multiple bullets he put into his mother’s head, and the thousands to buy the loads of ammo that he ended up firing that didn’t kill anyone and the ones left in his high volume gun magazine after putting a $,1000 bullet into his own head, maybe while he was saving up all that money (how long does it take a teenager to save a quarter million dollars?) he might have changed his mind or switched to paint-balls or prescribed psychotropic drugs,

So, let’s tax bullets. Make shooting someone or animal more an economic decision than an emotional or "rage" one.

Tony Kendrick
Ocean City

Thumbs Down To Core
Editor:

On Thursday, I attended The Wicomico PTA meeting for parents concerning Common Core (CC). What I saw and heard that night was a formula for disaster.

I heard what proponents of CC want CC to be, but what it really is, is a fraud. The federal government has rolled out the CC program prematurely. It is a fact that schools do not have the funds to fully implement the program, and the so-called curriculum for now, is just the same old curriculum with “CC stamped on the cover”. We need to pray for our teachers and our school administrators because they find themselves between “a rock and a hard place”, but they need to speak out and demand some answers as well.

We the tax paying public and they, the hard working teachers, have had no say in the matter of CC’s implementation. Schools are now forced to piecemeal the program together, not knowing if they will have the funds, or if they will have a curriculum that will match the goals and teaching plans of CC. The building of an airplane while in flight is a perfect analogy. Another fact is that they do not know how they are going to deal with the students which are already having a problem with the current course levels before CC requires everything to be ramped up.

So what is really happening is that the statist have launched this program before it is ready while they have the power to ram it down our throats. Why the secrecy? Where were the public meetings before it was implemented? What’s the rush? What I saw at the meeting is just how deceptive our current government officials are behaving. They secretly pass legislation "meaning well", but which does nothing to solve any problems, but it makes them feel good at the expense of our tax dollars and our liberties.

The data mining that is going to take place in CC is what the Statist are really salivating over. They want control over the masses because they think they know better. I guarantee you that when the computer software and curriculums are developed it is going to work at further indoctrinating the students with a Progressive, global, amoral, big government agenda. CC is designed to centrally control the "Common Folk" who are too uninformed as to what is really taking place before their very eyes. And all this is being facilitated by a "Mainstream Media" which is in collusion with the "Statist" and works at not revealing any information to the public that would put their fellow progressive Statist agenda in jeopardy.

Luke 14: 27-28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Pastor John Abent
Berlin

Local Property Rights
Are In Jeopardy
Editor:
(The following letter was addressed to County Commission President Bud Church.)

The March 15, 2013 edition of The Dispatch article, "Wicomico Working On Tier Map", reminded me of your letter promising a public hearing in Worcester County regarding SB 236 Tier Map Adoption.

In preparation for the upcoming hearing, I noticed in the article, Wicomico County Council has taken significant steps to reach out to the public prior to submitting their Tier Map. They even approved the definition of a Tier IV minor subdivision to allow up to seven lots. Apparently, they don’t just say they promote property rights, they actually vote to protect property rights.

Wicomico County established a program to notify rural property owners about the potential impact associated with the Tier Map changes. They sent over 3,100 postcards to property owners at risk of losing property rights due to impending Tier Map. A1 zoning for Tier IV represents 75 percent of all land in Wicomico County. So far 97 property owners have requested to opt out of Tier VI and five requests to remain in Tier IV. That’s 267 properties comprising 14,500 acres of land owned by individuals that do not want to lose their property rights. Councilman John Hall is quoted, "Frankly, I would prefer to see our office continue to identify more properties to go to Tier III. I would like to see more that are willing to opt in."

In the face of such a restrictive bill, Wicomico County Council has done a wonderful job to work with the public to protect property rights. Since February 19, the day the Worcester County Commissioners voted against property rights by voting down Bill 12-6, have the County Commissioners done anything to notify citizens who own land in Tier IV? If you have been acting responsibly and proactively, with due consideration of your constituency, to protect the property rights of Worcester County citizens then I thank you. If you have done nothing to individually notify land owners or promote public participation from those whose livelihoods depend on their land, the real "stakeholders" then shame on you.

The three poorly planned, advertised and attended Worcester County Public Information Workshops do not count as County Commissioners working to protect property rights. First, the Pocomoke Parade has been held on the Monday after Thanksgiving for well over 10 years, but clearly the constituents of Pocomoke or any parent with children in the parade were not considered in the planning of the Pocomoke workshop. The meetings were poorly advertised in free local newspapers that are not delivered to homes or rural area businesses.

No mass mailings were conducted to inform rural land owners their land was even being considered for Tier Mapping. Most noticeable, only three commissioners even bothered to attend the workshops. Not great examples of reaching out to your constituents in the name of protecting property rights.

Please provide me with an update on exactly what you and your staff are doing to protect the property right of Worcester County residents; otherwise, based on the fact I have heard nothing since the Feb. 19 Bill 12-6 public hearing, read nothing other than the press release for the SB236 hearing date, in any newspaper regarding Worcester County and Tier Maps, I have to assume you have done nothing. I will be compelled to notify the public and draw comparisons between responsible public servants and irresponsible public servants.

I look forward to hearing from you promptly.
Kellee Kennett

Support Acknowledged
Editor:

We are writing this letter to express our sincere appreciation to the Berlin area businesses. Many generous donations were supplied to Stevenson United Methodist Church to assist us in celebrating the joy of Easter with the children of the Berlin community on Saturday, March 30.

Many thanks to the following businesses and friends:

 Main Street Sweets, Rayne’s Reef, Tex Mex and Beyond, Walmart, Pappa John’s, Adkins Company, Treasure Chest, Victorian Charm, TaDa, The Nest, Main Street Deli, Children’s Book Garden, Danny King, Patsy Bell, Downtown Video, J.J. Fish, Berlin Coffee House, Rainbow Florist, Cupcakes in Bloom and the Stevenson Congregation.

We are really blessed to have such a giving community in the Town of Berlin.

Thank you to all the children that shared this Easter event with us. We look forward to seeing your families at Stevenson Church.

Stevenson United Methodist Church’s Sunday School/Youth Program