Best weekly I’ve ever read
This letter was addressed to Editor Randy Foster.
I had occasion to spend a couple of days in Murphy last month and stopped at the Visitor Center on Tennessee Street. There I picked up the Aug. 7 edition of the Cherokee Scout. I want to tell you that I believe this is the best weekly newspaper I have ever read.
Your broad background and experience in the newspaper business shows. It is obvious that you have integrated yourself into the community because of the depth of the local stories which you write. And you sure are a prolific writer.
My father was a journalism professor and also was a newspaper editor for many years so I do have an insight as to what a good local newspaper looks like. (I have been reading them for 86 years.)
Howard Sims, Altamonte Springs, Fla.
1st-grader left on school bus
Aug. 26 was my grandson’s first day at Ranger Elementary School.
My daughter took him to school at 7:20 a.m. and straight to the cafeteria. He is in first grade. An aide said you have to go straight to the classroom, so she did.
The teacher had five other students who didn’t get to eat, either, because nobody told them. The teacher asked, “Where are your gym shoes?” Well, nobody told my daughter or other former Hiwassee Dam Elementary School students they needed shoes that were never worn anywhere else.
He got on the bus to ride to Hiwassee Dam. Nobody helped him, so he got on the wrong bus at 2:40 p.m., fell asleep and nobody noticed. They found him on a bus at 5 p.m., but he didn’t show up at Hiwassee Dam until 5:29 p.m.
Thank God after three hours of tears he was found. The sticker they put on him at school fell off of him onto the floor, and he had slept the whole time.
It’s been a very upsetting day! The people who decided to move all the littles to Ranger from Hiwassee Dam have rocks in their head.
Anne Rose, Murphy
Rearranging the Titanic
Being a father who has had three children and two grandchildren graduate from Murphy High School, I’ve always had a keen interest in local education.
Back in the early 1980s, I served as president of the PTA for both the high school and grammar school in Murphy. For a couple of years, I contributed all our charitable money (Emerson Electric) to the school system. The kids are our future and our legacies. We had our problems, but nothing like what has been going on of late.
This childish fighting between Cherokee County commissioners and school board members has to stop. The school board inherited a difficult problem handed to them by the commissioners, and whatever the school board does will be akin to moving furniture around on a sinking Titanic. Commissioners giving blame to anyone but themselves, including the free press, is not a very good look.
We gave away $50 million-plus for our schools and have a $50 million liability judgment stemming from the Department of Social Services fiasco. Perhaps the people chunking rocks should look in the mirror.
Curtis Brown, Murphy
Citizen’s free speech stolen
As a longtime resident (40 years) of Murphy and Cherokee County, I am writing to express my deep sadness and disappointment after a recent event in my neighborhood.
As a U.S. citizen, all individuals have a right to free speech and freedom of expression. During this time leading up to our national election, supporters of all parties have the freedom to support whichever candidate they choose by displaying signs on private residential property.
On Sept. 15, someone came onto my property (at night) and stole my political yard sign. I felt violated and hurt by this illegal act. Who gives this person the right to steal my sign from my yard? Do I have the right to go steal the opposing candidate’s signs placed around the county?
I want to alert the community that people are giving themselves the freedom to steal other people’s sign from private residences. Is it an act of violence to steal signs? Is that the climate of the situation we want to support? We all have the right to support the candidate of choice.
Are we going to allow a few people to demoralize the community, or are we going to be respectful of each other?
I am not going to retaliate this act, but I am letting the community know that this is happening often here in Cherokee County – hence few opposing political signs are seen. I hate to see the majority squishing the minority, and resorting to oppressing the minority.
This statement says it all: “Beware of any Christian movement that acts as though the world is full of enemies to be destroyed rather than full of neighbors to be loved.”
Mary Beth Cornwell, Murphy
Robinson & Trump center
I would like to give a great big thank you to everyone who has helped to make the Donald Trump/Mark Robinson Center a huge success.
On Sept. 17 from noon-6 p.m., the Trump Robinson Center celebrated being open with more than 100 folks stopping in over the day. Ribbon cutting was held at 2 p.m. by co-founders Debi Alcorn of the Smoky Mountain Republican Women and Penny Johnson of Citizens for a Better America.
There were door prizes given throughout the day. Thank you to all the merchants and restaurants that gave donations.
A special thank you to all the volunteers who have helped get it open, worked at the center during hours and many more contributions. The patriotism, love for our country and community, and willingness to do whatever it takes to win back our country is truly phenomenal and makes us all very proud to be part of it.
The center is at Ranger Plaza, 5621 U.S. 64 W., across from Hot Spot, and will be open from noon-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday through November.
Penny Johnson, Murphy
Election must be a landslide
Former President Donald Trump has no intention of winning the election. He told his people not to vote.
Kamala Harris needs to win by a landslide in order to prevent Trumpers from de-certifying enough state’s ballot counts to throw the election into the House, where it’s one-vote-per state and, with Supreme Court support, Trump and states rights would win.
Harry Holdorf, Blairsville, Ga.
Book Fair a huge success
The Rotary Club of Murphy is thrilled to announce the resounding success of its recent Scholastic Book Fair, which generated an impressive $7,061 in sales.
Thanks to the community support, all proceeds will go directly to the Rotary Reads program. This initiative supports Rotary members as they volunteer their time to read books aloud in Cherokee County elementary school classrooms.
The importance of reading to children during their early years cannot be overstated. Research shows children who are read to regularly develop stronger language skills, improve concentration and gain a love for learning. Through the Rotary Reads program, Rotary members model the joy and value of reading, fostering a lifelong love of books in young students.
Special guest readers from Rotary will continue to visit classrooms, showing children firsthand the importance of becoming lifelong readers. As part of this effort, the books purchased for the Rotary Reads program are generously donated to the classrooms, enhancing classroom libraries and providing students with ongoing access to quality reading materials.
The Rotary Club of Murphy extends its heartfelt thanks to the community and schools that made this book fair such a success.
In particular, we want to congratulate Donna Collins, a dedicated teacher at Martins Creek School, for winning a $100 Amazon gift card for sending the most students to the fair.
Together, we are inspiring a love of reading and helping to build brighter futures for the students of Cherokee County.
Special thanks to Jeana Conley, our Book Fair chairperson, for leading this event. Her enthusiasm, energy, dedication and creativity made this event possible, fun and super successful. She embodies the Rotary spirit of Service Above Self.
Thank you to all our club members and community volunteers for making this a memorable first event.
Jacqueline Egli, Murphy
Trump has God’s plan
The mess we’re in today as a nation is a spiritual problem. The love of many people – for God and others – has grown cold; therefore, wickedness and sin abound (Matthew 24:12).
Hatred, conflict and corrupt politics are just a symptom of sin and the deeper spiritual poverty that keep us at odds with one another and from having a dialogue together to resolve our problems.
America has a covenant with God, but we have broken our covenant. Prayer is our greatest spiritual weapon. The only way to save our country is to pray and repent, according to 2 Chronicles 7:14, and to
turn back to the biblical principles that our nation was founded upon, or we are totally doomed.
We must mix our faith with action and vote if we want to see change. The current open border situation, with terrorists and other illegals invading our country, is causing violent crimes and destroying our nation physically, spiritually and morally from within, and it makes us a prime target for 9/11-type attacks from outside invaders.
Attorneys Mat Staver, Tom Fitton and Jay Sekulow have been suing states since the last presidential election to clean up their voter rolls. It’s a law that people who are not registered to vote are to be removed from the voter rolls, and these court cases are causing states to have to do that. If states won’t remove the names willingly, it taints the election process.
We must put someone in office who cares about America’s welfare; supports our longtime allies; respects the right to life; honors our rights and protects our safety by closing the borders. President Donald Trump did all that when he was in office and, as fallible as he may be, he demonstrated that he was the best candidate to carry out God’s plan for our nation to prosper.
We need to work together to restore our nation back to being one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Your one vote does make a difference.
Shirley Frisbee, Marble