Overcoming with Christ
As a born citizen of Cherokee County in Wolf Creek, I want to apologize to our good citizens for the years of abuse I inflicted upon myself and then with drugs and alcohol.
There is a new life for those who decide they want more for themselves, and the welfare of their community. This letter is just to give my Savior – Jesus Christ – a “thank you” for what He did for me on the cross.
Jamie Lee Westmoreland
Murphy
Bad response to a break-in
Good afternoon. My name is Klaus Fritz, and I was the victim of a break-in at Sunset Motel on May 30.
I called the Murphy Police Department, and a Cpl. May came out about 45 minutes later to take the police report.
I gave him all the items that came to me on top of my head, and told the officer that once I get home that I will contact him with all the items stolen, as I always make a packaging list before each motorcycle trip.
So when I got home, I called your police department to speak with Cpl. May. This went on with five phone calls for one entire week because everytime I called in I was told that he either is not working this day or that he will be there next morning and so on.
Finally, another officer gave me an alternate phone number, which turned out to be his personal phone, where I reached him last Friday. First thing he asked me was how I got this number, and he was not happy about it.
I explained that I just gotten home and have the list ready to update the report. He told me to email it to him, which I did.
Again, it has been now an entire week. I sent three emails and left a voicemail, and Cpl. May has been doing nothing other than ignore me. At this point, I am wondering what a corporal does at a police department.
I also spoke with Ashley at the Sunset Motel, and she told me the same thing. She submitted the video to the department but never gotten a response back.
Included are emails and screen shots.
Klaus Fritz
Murphy visitor
From pickin’ to our politics
Decades ago, when I picked berries in the Trinity County Yolla Bolly Foothills, I’d go to bed, close my eyes and see black spots. Today, after picking in my Blue Ridge backyard, I go to bed and see spherical blue spots.
With blueberries, your fingers work like rakes, stripping off the berries. After my little bowl of red and white rejects sat on the dining room table overnight, the next day they’d all turned blue and tasty. Once picked, they don’t get bigger, but the blue deepens.
They’ve started up Friday night at the folk school again, in the large open-air cow barn. It was the Leyden family, the local house band for most of the contra dances. Behind the stage is a large forested hillside. It was Little Middle Week.
After 20 minutes of kids-appropriate bluegrass, heavy rain drops pounded the metal roof so loudly one couldn’t hear anything; so the music stopped for half an hour as the kids slowly built up enough nerve to go out running in the warm rain.
The rain also shut down the dirt speedway to the east of town, so we got to hear the rest of the music without the zoom-zoom.
Three new Supreme Court judges prolly lied or seriously misled the senators when answering their Roe vs. Wade questions: perhaps they’ll retire in disgrace (not), or perhaps they’ll have more company on the bench if the Democrats can get real, increase their majority, throw out the filibuster and act like leaders again after what seems like forever.
Fifty years without abortions being established by law: what a disgrace. In Jewish law, apparently the kid has no rights until their head appears, emerging from their mother’s womb.
Harry Holdorf
Brasstown
A protest, not an insurrection
The Jan. 6, 2021, protest was just that – a protest. This kangaroo court production by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is to change the narrative as to who is responsible for the entire mess. She has declared herself and her staff off limits for any questioning.
Former President Donald Trump requested – in front of four witnesses, one being Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – 20,000 National Guard troops days before the protest. Trump then requested these troops a second time.
Pelosi refused. She is over Capitol Hill Security, it was her responsibility, the final decision.
Also, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser refused in writing. Neither wanted the optics of troops.
So no matter how the ABC producer, paid for by taxpayer money, spins it, leaves out the truth, tells half-truths and lies, Pelosi is to blame.
Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was the only person murdered. She had no weapon when a Capitol police officer shot her. He was cleared of all wrongdoing without even being interviewed by police.
Allegations of any other murders are false. Many of the people who were arrested have been in jail 18 months haven’t been charged with anything. None were charged with insurrection, yet they are allegedly being
sorely mistreated.
This production is also to divert our attention from President Joe Biden’s failed policies, like his war on fossil fuels causing high gas prices, high costs and shortages of food and inflation highest in 40 years.
Fox News shows us what is happening. The others tell you what they want you to think. They spin it for Biden. Americans must wake up to these lies.
We must vote to remove as many of these career politicians that have gotten rich on our money and hard work, and get leaders who love this country.
Wanda Russ
Andrews
Lunatics take over asylum
Calling all conservatives. The real ones. Not the phonies. Ones whose cornerstone values are the Constitution, the rule of law and the institutions that make those possible.
When are you going to take your party back?
Yes, you who used to call yourselves Republican before your brothers and sisters swallowed the Kool-Aid of Putin’s puppet. And you, who still hold onto the Republican label, just because you have no place else to go. A political party without a moral core grounded in reality, not self-delusion, eventually self-destructs.
I am no fan of President Joe Biden. But he did identify Vladimir Putin as a war criminal. former President Donald Trump called him a “genius.” What do you think?
The big lie that Trump won the election worked well. Now it’s a litmus test for “real” Republicans. It didn’t matter that when it came time to produce evidence in open court, there was none. Believing mattered more than evidence. Intelligence has nothing to do with it.
Why was selling the fraud so easy? Because the lie was aimed at minds who want to be lied to. Even Trump was booed when he told people to get vaccinated.
When you invite people like that into your party, the lunatics eventually take over the asylum. The ones who know better, but are in the game to get power, have no choice but to bobble their heads along with loonies.
Courage only makes you a target. Just ask Congresswoman Liz Cheney. That is why the Republican Party today has so few moral leaders.
Who’s following them? The joke is anyone who challenges the delusion is called a “RINO.” The fact is: many real Republicans have already left.
James Tweed
Ocean City, N.J.
Be courteous with fireworks
From 1994 to 2021, there was a 74.7 percent decrease in injuries per hundred thousand pounds of consumer fireworks used in the United States, while there has been a 265 percent increase in consumption.
In 1994, the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory tested consumer fireworks in China for compliance with standards as regulated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Phantom Fireworks is a founding member of the AFSL, which tests about 75 percent of the fireworks coming into the country today.
Phantom tests all consumer fireworks it imports to the AFSL’s standards, which exceed CPSC standards. This is why we measure fireworks-related injury rates beginning in 1994.
Phantom Fireworks reminds people to be respectful of their neighbors when shooting fireworks:
- Use common sense.
- Make sure to let your neighbors know the time you will be shooting your fireworks, and make sure the time is within what is permitted by your local ordinances. Most firework shows end by 10 p.m.
- A sober adult should be in charge of the fireworks; children should never handle the products.
- Use fireworks on hard, flat surfaces; if you shoot on grass, lay down a hard, flat surface.
- Have water readily available for emergencies.
- Keep plenty of distance between the launch site and spectators.
- Brace your aerials, tubes and fountains with bricks to avoid tip-over.
- Use safety glasses and gloves when lighting.
- Keep pets inside during fireworks use, as the noise can frighten animals.
- Douse your fireworks thoroughly with water when you are done; dispose of them in a covered metal container outdoors and away from any buildings.
- Clean up when the show is over, which includes picking up any debris that may fall into your neighbors’ property.
For a complete list of safety tips, visit https://fireworks.com/education-and-safety/safety-tips.
William Weimer
Youngstown, Ohio
The writer is vice president of Phantom Fireworks.