The more than 100 letters we received in the past few weeks on biscuits and the gay marriage amendment caused some letters that had already been moved into the publishing pipeline to expire. Here are a few:
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Wells and wells
Your July 13 editorial on hydraulic fracturing (“Frack, maybe”) made many good suggestions. However, I have strong reservations about this process to extract natural gas.
Fracking requires the use of extremely large amounts of water to get at the natural gas found in the shale formations. A few years ago we had a very serious drought in North Carolina and there is a good chance we will encounter a drought in the future.
In addition we have a population that is increasing at a rapid rate. When you consider these two factors it is imperative that we protect our water supplies. It makes no sense to place our water supply in jeopardy while we frack for natural gas.
In some areas of the country where fracking is taking place there have been many instances of well contamination. We must not jeopardize anyone’s health by having the chemicals used in this process showing up in their well.
There are other answers to our energy problems. We need clean water for all of North Carolina and we should not risk our precious water resources.
Marvin Woll
Raleigh
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Speech help available
Like many people, I was saddened by your Sept. 1 editorial “Truth hits home,” which mentioned that the new state budget cuts would allow only three speech therapy session per year for adults. I just want to mention a little-known shining star in our national health care policy. Every child in the U.S. has the right to free speech therapy, as has been part of federal law for 40 years. Free speech therapy can begin as early as preschool and continue throughout high school.
The website of The Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org) has a brochure called Special Education Law and Children Who Stutter that explains the right to free speech therapy. The brochure makes it clear that all speech problems are covered by the benefit of free therapy.
The United States has the best policy in the world for helping children with speech problems and it is a shame that few people know about this amazing benefit for all kids with a speech problem. While the new Medicaid regulations offer only three speech therapy visits per year to adults, there needs to be more awareness of the right to free speech therapy for every child in America so that more kids take advantage of this benefit and improve their lives.
George J. Epes
Raleigh
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Layers of bloat
In between the crestfallen claims that budget cuts will starve their university and the insistence on ever-increasing tuitions covering growing campus expenses, we now see that the UNC-Chapel Hill onion has been peeled further. Paying nearly $200,000 for a mere department chair (e.g., “UNC professor resigns academic chairman post,” Sept. 2 news article) certainly suggests: 1) there is likely a lot more room for cuts to the UNC budget; and 2) the university is slowly but surely systematically straying markedly from its core mission. How far will this go?
Thanks to The N&O we will surely see – as this onion gets peeled away, layer by layer.
It goes to show, once again, that truth is the ultimate gravity.
Matt Heric
Durham
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Breakfast battles
Regarding the Sept. 2 column “Kiss mah grits; is this food?” It is truly amusing that someone who most likely was raised on brats and sauerkraut, spatzel, fried fish every Friday (year-round), beer, cheese, beercheese, beer brats, beercheese soup, whole milk and more cheese and more beer could complain about “Southern breakfast.”
I have two “GRITS” in my family (girls raised in the South), and I love them as much as they love their country ham biscuits. My suggestion is that the author keep her personal distastes to herself like most qualified “foodies” do. Ever heard the adage, when in Rome?
Dave Moody
Raleigh
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Just wondering
How many ride the bus system around town? What is the maximum number of seats filled in outlying routes? Given the cost for bus, maintenance, gas and driver, what is the taxpayer subsidy per rider to cover the loss? Would vans be smarter on routes with few riders? Given the lack of population density here, how many would ride planned rail routes? What will be the long-term loss that taxpayers will have to fund based on per rider usage? In light of economic conditions, what sense does it make to raise property taxes on already inflated values by a bond referendum for light rail and parks?
What will be the tax implications for a health care system that pays for birth control and breast pumps? Is this not individual responsibility? Why are we hostage to religious beliefs of those who oppose abortion and why demand the expense of ultrasound for those choosing this option? Does anyone want a return to coat-hanger abortions? Why not demand voter ID? Don’t we need IDs for just about everything else under the sun? Is there any common sense left in politics and politicians?
Betty J. Vaughn
Raleigh
