God sent 2 of his angels
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to two Cherokee County residents this past couple of weeks.
I was putting air in my tires at Joe Brown’s convenience store when a polite, bearded young fellow assisted me and took the time to explain everything to me. His name was Jason, he said he was an asphalt worker recently out of work and he drove a reddish-colored SUV. There was a passenger with him, and I’m pretty sure it was a young woman.
I’m grateful he took the time to help me. He’s a keeper.
I was shopping at United Grocery Outlet, and I was a wee bit concerned about the bill because the economy hasn’t been too terrific lately, when a sweet young woman with glasses paid for my groceries. What a wonderful blessing she was to me.
The Lord always fulfills His promises, and so kindness came back from two different guardian angels.
Dolores von Philp, Murphy
$360 charge is still there
My hat is off to all those who fell prey to large bills for 911 assistance. For you, the fight is over and you won. I had the exact same service you did, but my $360 charge for one visit was not written off.
I’ve just exhausted my appeals, which ended at a closed-door meeting of Cherokee County commissioners, who did not reverse my bill. I offered to show my journal entry on the day I fell, where I recorded my vital signs and medical history were not taken and I found it odd.
I celebrated my 88th birthday on Jan. 22. The commissioners meeting was Jan. 23. I got a telephone call Jan. 24 telling me I have to pay the full $360.
Two of the people who turned my appeal down are not elected officials, yet they hold power over you and me. No one can tell me on what grounds the commissioners rejected my appeal.
I am very concerned about this. I pay my bills, those I owe. I do not feel I owe this one since no more was done for me than for any others, and their bills are wiped out.
I called Legal Aid and was given another number. I asked the lady who answered about some lawyers who would assist me. She asked where I lived. When I told her, she acted as though I’d slapped her and emphatically said, “No, no, they don’t go to Murphy, they never go to Cherokee County,” and hung up.
I don’t yet know my next step to try to right this wrong. I hope someone with a constructive idea will call me at 828-644-9490.
I wish I’d stayed on the floor or taken pictures with my camera of what went on Aug. 11, 2022.
Vivian Greene, Murphy
Roundabout a wrong turn
Three cheers for Jacki Bruder! She hit the nail on the head with her comment about the dumb roundabout idea – “People can barely follow a four-way stop, and the traffic lights work fine”.
What I would like to know is who initially contacted the N.C. Department of Transportation to get this started? I don’t think the DOT was driving through Murphy and said, “You know, these people really need a roundabout!”
If the DOT has money to spend, how about a traffic light on the four- lane to slow these idiots down speeding through Murphy? Or maybe paving a gravel road in my neighborhood?
What I would really like to know is how many ambulances have been called to the downtown Murphy intersection for crashes in the last few years? I bet the number is staggering!
Mary Anne Wilber, Murphy
Be wary of Kratom use
Kratom is an herbal substance that can be purchased at gas stations, head shops and online. It produces opioid and stimulant like effects depending on the amount a person takes, acting as a stimulant in low doses, but in high doses as a sedative.
Even though it is legal and readily available, many are becoming addicted. It has been reported people are using Kratom to try and kick their opioid habits, yet it isn’t as effective as someone might think.
While Kratom is legal, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has not approved it for any use. It may be seen in some eyes as a legal, safer high, but there is a downfall.
Even though it may be uncommon to overdose on Kratom, there have been reports of people overdosing from it. Ethan, a 23-year-old, overdosed on Kratom, and his parents have sparked a lawsuit and caused an uproar in the industry.
Lawyer Matt Wetherington said Kratom is marketed as natural and completely safe, but the Kratom sold in the United States is ultra-concentrated and more like heroin or other opioids. The lawyers involved in the lawsuit against the Kratom industry want to send a message that despite how Kratom is sometimes marketed, it is unsafe for human consumption.
Some signs to look for if someone is using low doses of Kratom are alertness, unusually talkative and excess physical energy. Signs to look for in higher doses of Kratom are sweating, nausea, constipation, drowsiness, tachycardia, itching, vomiting, dry mouth, loss of appetite and increased urination.
Finding out your child or loved one is using drugs can be scary and overwhelming. If you or a loved one are struggling with addiction, reach out for help before it is too late.
For more, visit: https://www.narcononnewliferetreat.org/blog/kratom-overdose-sparks-a-lawsuit.html, written by Alina Snowden, Denham Springs, La.
Aaron Olson, Denham Springs, La.
The writer is community relations director of the nonprofit Narconon New Life Retreat drug and alcohol rehabilitation and education center. Visit www.narcononnewliferetreat.org.
A country I don’t recognize
I stirred this morning and wondered if someone seized control of my great country, the United States?
- What happened to the U.S. border? Who erased it? How did 5 million people enter my country illegally? Did Congress secretly repeal the Illegal Immigration Reform & Immigrant Responsibility Act?
- Since when does debt not have to be repaid? Who insisted the more dollars the government prints, the more prosperity will follow? Why does Congress believe $30 trillion in debt isn’t a big deal?
- When did clean-burning, cheap and abundant natural gas become dirty coal? Why did plentiful natural gas that offered America energy self-sufficiency, reduced pollution and inexpensive electricity become an undesirable fuel whose extraction is a war against nature?
- Federal law prohibits harassment of Supreme Court justices. How did hoodlums, furious over an abortion decision, surround the homes of six justices without consequences?
- When did Americans create a government Ministry of Truth? On whose orders did the FBI contract private news organizations to censor stories it didn’t like or feared?
- Which congressional rule allowed the Speaker of the House to exhibit crude behavior and tear up the State of the Union address on national television?
- Did some states legislate or was a federal law passed that allows biological males to compete in female sports?
- Was there a debate about the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that caused the deaths of 13 Marines and more than 100 Afghans? Who planned it and why? Why has the Pentagon covered up that three dozen blue passport-holding Americans died on the other side of that gate?
- Who redefined our military’s mission from protecting our nation and winning wars to woke CRT social engineering?
- Do retired generals routinely libel their commander-in-chief as a near-Nazi?
Terry Payne, Marble
Can’t escape God’s wrath
America is about to experience God’s fierce judgment. Our nation has become a cesspool of sexually deviant behaviors. The stench of America’s many abominable sexual sins has provoked God to anger.
Homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders and drag queens are now a protected class. The Bible calls them “filthy dreamers that defile the flesh.” Children are taught in public school that these perverted behaviors are normal. They’re also teaching gender identity, including transgender and gender nonconforming identities.
School library books push the LGBT agenda to normalize their perversions. If you object to these lifestyles, you’re a bigot. Drag queens are homosexuals who hate womanhood, making fun of women by dressing up in freakish, sexy clothing, caked with circus clown makeup and having huge breasts.
Drag queens are in our public libraries reading stories of queerness to our children. They’re invited to speak in our schools. Our government is bastardizing the military, forcing them to watch drag queen shows. These reprobates are even speaking in our churches.
I heard a drag queen pastor say that Jesus is a drag queen. Why God didn’t strike him dead in the pulpit is beyond me.
Frankenstein doctors are mutilating children, cutting off their breasts and constructing penises. These confused kids are being encouraged to act on their “feelings.” Transgendered children become homosexuals and lesbians. Pedophiles are seeking to change the law, lowering the age limit.
Pornography is a major pastime, with 40 million Americans watching porn daily. No surprise that there’s rampant adultery, fornication, rape, incestuous rape, prostitution, divorce, child sex trafficking and child porn. Approximately 100,000 children are sex trafficked in America with an average age of 13, 99 percent females, raped an average of 10 times a day by pedophile monsters.
Sodom and Gomorrah did not escape God’s wrath, and neither will America.
Mary Mason, Murphy
Why no noise protection?
In regards to all the constant noise the people in the Harshaw Road area have been enduring for about two years now.
In case they didn’t know, Clay County jumped right on it and protected their residents from the headache that is happening here in Cherokee County. And mentioned Cherokee County in their document.
Apparently, we were told Cherokee County could not prohibit crypto mines here unless it was passed for the entire state, and then by the president.
I, for one, am disgusted with the time it has taken to stop this noise. Imagine if you were making noise 24/7 at your house and only one of your neighbors complained. You would be visited by Murphy’s finest, and told to stop and desist or be fined daily until you did. At the least, they should have been made to build a structure around/enclosing their equipment.
Cherokee County has done nothing to protect these residents, their pets and our wildlife. My question is, why not?
Lorraine Kozlowski, Murphy
Jesus is waiting
I’ve heard all my life that Jesus is coming. I thought He was coming right then, and I wouldn’t grow up it was scary. I soon come to realize, He is coming. We just don’t know when.
The difference now is, we see all the things He said would come to pass before His return. It is being fulfilled right before our eyes.
Don’t be like me when I was growing up. I would hear this all the time, and I put it in the back of my mind and didn’t dwell on it. Now my eyes have been opened, and I can see clearly that Jesus is soon coming.
Believe me, it is gonna happen, and it is closer now than ever before. He is still knocking on your heart’s door, don’t put Him off. Another minute, another hour or another day, it may be too late.
Call on His name, while He can still be found, it will be the best decision you will ever make. Let me tell you, Hell is real, it is a forever burning and screaming in pain place. It is also a place where the worm dieth not.
You don’t want to suffer in pain and agony forever and ever, and you don’t have to, for Jesus is still calling. Make heaven your home today is my prayer.
Cynthia Pinkerton, Murphy