Promises just are not enough
This letter is in rebuttal to Dr. Vernon Dixon of Hiawassee, Ga.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, your kind was apoplectic about global cooling and the inevitability of the next ice age, claiming we only had 10 years before we all froze to death. When that did not happen, “environmentalists” pivoted to global warming and again said we only had 10 years to save the planet before we all burned to a crisp.
When another 10 years came and went, the environmentalists again pivoted to a new phrase: climate change. Any weather anomaly can now be explained away by climate change.
On President Joe Biden’s first day in office, he canceled the Keystone pipeline, terminating many good-paying jobs. The workers were told to go get high-paying “green” jobs. Yet, when Biden’s press secretary was asked where these green jobs were, she mocked the question.
Your “reliable studies” are a pipe dream. It will grow the economy; it will provide jobs. What are you waiting for? Trouble is you have no real answers as to where these jobs exist today.
As far as I see it, folks that treat weather anomalies as a religion have no real answers, just more unrealized promises for the future. Promises do not put food on the table, Vernon.
And free-market solutions do not require government intervention to pick winners and losers, because we know how well that always works out.
Arthur Sullivan, Murphy
School town halls needed
We all are processing the facts revealed at the March 15 Cherokee County Board of Commissioners meeting. At the meeting, Superintendent Jeana Conley’s presentation included:
- A projection of a continuing loss of 40-50 students per year for the next 4-5 years.
- The current aggregate student population of about 1,000 students had been reduced by 142 because of a “brain drain” of students leaving Cherokee County for other alternatives. This included 42 students who went to Union County.
- The anticipated state grant will not be forthcoming as it was proposed in the state’s 2020-21 budget, which was not approved. While the state budget for 2021-22 will probably include a grant request, there is no guarantee that it will not receive a similar fate.
The proposed 1,000 student capacity consolidated high school will be further impacted by The Learning Center charter school adding high school grades accommodating 100 students. Combined with Conley’s projection of future student totals, we may have a 70 percent occupancy in the proposed consolidated high school.
The plan is one alternative from a 2018 study that projected a $50 million cost. Given the aging of the costing and the recent dramatic increase in construction costs, cost overruns of at least 20 percent to 50 percent – or even more – when construction bids are received subject to plans and specifications, can reasonably be
anticipated.
A series of town meetings are in order for the county commission and school board to explain their reasoning and resultant opinions, as well as receiving input from parents and other taxpayers.
Jack Simons, Brasstown
Celebrating all our roots
Kudos and commendations to Stacy Van Buskirk for her feature on Tipper Pressley in the March 24 edition of the Cherokee Scout. The article was a wonderful example of thorough investigative research and local, personal interest.
Similarly, I must add praise and congratulations to Tipper Pressley for her deep passion and solemn respect not only for her upbringing, but also for her drive to celebrate her roots. She is to be commended for her ability to honor her ancestors, while laying the foundation for future generations to learn about and appreciate their Appalachian culture.
On a lighter note, the front-page photo of Tipper in rocking chair is contradicted by the story because it does not appear the lady ever really rests.
Good for her, and good for the rest of us to have folks like Tipper and her family showing the way.
Bo Gray, Andrews
Sentence was far too lenient
I’ve just finished reading “Woman guilty of child abuse” in the March 17 edition of the Cherokee Scout.
I am furious! This woman, Mary Martha Rankin, was found guilty of giving her children “feces to eat and urine to drink, touching the child’s private parts and teaching the child to kiss.”
The woman plead guilty and was given 99 months in prison, with the possibility to serve 167 months. However, the sentenced was suspended, and the 60 days she served was all she has to do. She was given probation.
That precious child or children will have to live everyday with the knowledge that they were treated like that, with the sexual abuse and child neglect.
I am furious beyond upset that they set her free. She needs to serve life for destroying her children. They will never be the same, their innocence is lost.
Something needs to be done on behalf of the children. She needs to be punished in jail.
Teresa Rauch, Murphy
Resurrection day is here
As we fast forward remembering Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, which brings all of mankind hope for another glorious day when those who have accepted Christ’s death on the cross, burial and miraculous resurrection from the dead will be ushered into the throne room of God, and there we will remain forevermore with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
This sinful world has no hold on those who love God, and it sure doesn’t have any hope for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. People for generations have denied the resurrection of Christ and have gone out into a holding place, until the great white judgment seat of Christ denies them to their face by the saddest words spoken from Jesus’ mouth – depart from Me, for I never knew you.
As I live and breathe, the word of God I am telling you all it is going to happen just like the Scriptures say, and no human being can turn the tide of what God has ordained in the age of grace, which we are living in today.
Don’t throw your life away to ill winds of deceit that Satan has been selling since the Garden of Eden. God’s word has remained faithful for more than 2,000 years and has been proved to be not only trustworthy, but downright holy and righteous to the core. God didn’t create you to spend eternity separated from Him.
If I could myself save everyone, I surely would, but that task belongs to the One who hung upon that old rugged cross we sing about and died for all sinners that they might be set free to live in glory with the Lord, Jesus Christ – King overall.
Frank Combs, Blairsville, Ga.
Bibles to be given away
I will be collecting new small Bibles and New Testaments to take to the Mexican border crisis in April. I sense an urgency to flood the area with the word of God, presenting a Holy Bible to as many men, women and children as
possible.
English Bibles are being accepted, although Spanish editions are preferred but hard to obtain. Some Dollar Stores have pocket-size editions for $1. These are ideal.
Bibles may be sent to me at P.O. Box 189, Brasstown, NC 28902. I can be emailed at belucky@wildblue.net.
I have lived in Cherokee County for two years, having moved here from LaBelle, Fla. My 80-year-old husband died from Covid-19 in October. I retired from the Seminole Tribe Department of Law Enforcement after a career with various police and sheriff’s departments as a 911 dispatcher and certified deputy.
I am an author with a book on true miracles in my life, Operation: Devil’s Garden, and I am working on my next one that comes out late this year – Operation: Jesus’ Mountain.
On Saturday, April 3, I will be located at noon in the front corner of the parking lot next to Burger King in Murphy until 4 p.m. Anyone who has Bibles to donate is welcome to drop them off.
Betty Luckey, Brasstown
Grateful for cultural mix
Thank you for the quality of ongoing attention the Cherokee Scout gives to the cultural mix that makes up our exceptionally beautiful area.
I particularly commend you for the four features you published in February giving attention to outstanding African-American residents, in recognition of Black History Month. Your effort to alert readers in the first weeks of March, through well-placed advertisements, that these stories were still accessible via your website was also noteworthy.
This week, I have thoroughly enjoyed Stacy Van Buskirk’s story about the work Tipper Pressley is doing through her prize-winning blog, “Blind Pig and the Acorn.”
Keep up the great work.
Janell Walden Agyeman, Murphy