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THE NEWS-JOURNAL Raeford, N.C. January 6, 2016 Viewpoints Hope I haven’t offended you According to the number of ar ticles I have written and my cloudy memories of past events, I have now been writing the Frog Holler Philosopher for a little over three years. Although Ken MacDonald has had to email more than once on a Monday looking for that week’s entry, I have somehow managed to meet the deadlines each time. At some point, something is going to happen to end this streak, but I will try to keep pumping them out. I often think that the column is not very well named, but it was named after an old News-Journal feature called “The Puppy Creek Philosopher.” I always admired the savvy satire of the writer and wish I had his insights and humor. I do feel at liberty to get as philosophical as I am capable of. My other inspiration was the late Raz Autry’s “A View From the Country.” Writing a column such as this has been a great experience. I had never written anything for publica tion before, other than song lyrics, so this has been a nice challenge. It has also been provocative. Meeting a deadline requires that I kick my mind into gear often for the purpose of finding a topic. Luckily, the only constraints I have on topics are my own. It has forced me to observe my environment in a different way, looking closer at details and taking you, the readers, into consideration. The process of writing brings clarification of ideas. It is easy to thinkfreely, and converse informally about things, but when I look at these Frog Holler Philosopher Ron Huff ideas staring back at me from the page, they beg for a higher order. The consideration of that higher order stimulates the brain to dig a little deeper and be a little more analytical and cautious with what is presented. I constantly walk the line between writing exactly what I think and cushioning my thoughts too much. As a moderate, this is usu ally not too hard for me, but there are certainly issues that are delicate that need to be discussed, even if it is a little uncomfortable. Examination of ideas through the lens of the public is a good exercise. It has been fun to interact with the readers of the column. Most are very gracious and seem to enjoy them, or at least say they do. I am sure there are many who hate everything I write that has a political element. I only hope that these people continue to read and at least consider my view point. I try hard to consider theirs. I have certainly chronicled my life well over the last three years. While not as personal, the column is a diary of sorts. Often when I see old friends that ask what I’ve been up to, I first ask if they read the column. If they do, then they know everything already! I have had people tell me that it took bravery to write about contro versial subjects such as the legaliza tion of marijuana. I will admit that it is sometimes easier to just shut up, but our country allows us to state our opinions and good citizenship all but demands it. I recently wrote a column on political correctness. I am truly sorry if anyone was offended by that article, but the risk of offense is what the debate is all about. I have spent much time considering this correctness, but I am sure there have been some unintended insults along the way. Some of us need to thicken our skins a little. Writing these columns places a time stamp on events that might not otherwise have been put in a timeframe of reference. I can assure you without doubt that Raeford Road in Hoke County has transformed in the last three years. I discussed the potentially new hospitals in the column and now, behold, they have come. With them, the corridor has exploded with growth. My favorite benefitof the writing has been the elevation of my own awareness of things. I have studied things more closely for the purpose of passing my experiences along to you. I have been forced to organize my thoughts and straggle to express them. Although I can’t prove it, I have a feeling that delving deeper into my capabilities has stretched and opened my mind a little bit. This is a good thing! Hopefully, I can continue this quest. Thanks for reading! More later. TODAY’S HOMEWORK (Notes on Education) "I'm not sure public schools understand that were their customer—that we, the business community, are your customer. What they don't understand is they are producing a product at the end of that high school graduation. Now is that product in a form that we, the customer, can use it? Or is it defective, and we're not interested?" — REx Tillerxon, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil "As a public school teacher, let me be clear: my students are not products. Education is not about turning children into widgets for big business. It is about readying children for life, and that includes so much more than the tiny and inhuman vision of people like Rex Tillerson. Hands off my students, my daughter, and my country!" — Steven Singer, parent, teacher, and public education activist, in press release by The Badass Teachers Association We Get Letters Four oblivious apocalyptic horsemen To the Editor: President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, former Secretary of State Clinton, and Senator Bernie Sanders are oblivious to the danger posed by ISIS. Bernie Sanders keeps harp ing on our economy, and hardly talks about ISIS. He is way out in left field. President Obama referred to ISIS as the JV team and dithered when moderate Syrians asked for air strikes. Over the past year, Obama’s air campaign against ISIS averaged 20 sorties per day compared to 1100 sorties per day in Operation Desert Storm and 800 per day during the second Gulf War. Obama continues to refuse to call them radical Islamic terrorists. When referring to the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, Secretary Kerry said there was “a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that.” And then he described the killing of 130 people in Paris as indiscriminate. There is no ratio nale for any terrorist attacks, and The News-Journal Published every Wednesday by Dickson Press, Inc. Robert A. Dickson, President • Anne Dickson Fogleman, Secretary/Treasurer 119 W. Elwood Avenue, Raeford, NC 28376 • (910) 875-2121 Home Page: www.thenews-journal.com L PRINTED WITH ^SOYINK m Ken MacDonald (ken@tlienews-journal.com) Publisher Catharin Shepard (cshepard@thenews-journal.com) Reporter Hal Nunn (hal@thenews-journal.com) Sports Writer Hal Nunn (hal@thenews-journal.com) Sales Representative Wendy Tredway (wendy@thenews-journal.com) Sales Representative Sheila Black (sheiia@thenews-journai.com) Office Manager Robin Huffman (rohin@thenews-journal.com) Composition Design/ Legal Advertising email ads to: ads@t)ienews-journa!.com email classifieds to: classifieds@thenews-journal.com email legals to: robin@thenews-journai.com Periodical Class Postage at Raeford, N.C. (USPS 388-260) Postmaster: Send address changes to: P.O. Box 550 Raeford, N.C. 28376 By the numbers: year in review By Chris Fitzsimon N.C. Policy Watch (This edition of Monday num bers is a final look at 2015 and includes at least one number from each month of Monday numbers in the past year that policymakers should address in 2016) lina could widen lottery’s reach,” Raleigh News & Observer, August 22,2015) University of North Carolina Sys tem,’ ’ Executive Summary, February 2015) 468—amount in dollars of the lottery sales per capita on Halifax County in 2014 (Ibid) 43—^rank of North Carolina among the 50 states in average teach er pay (“TABOR would guarantee a permanent place at the bottom for North Carolina,” Progressive Pulse, August 26,2015) 2—rank of Halifax County among 100 counties in highest lot tery sales per capita (Ibid) 27.4—^percentage of people in Halifax living below the poverty level (U.S. Census Bureau) 1—rank of North Carolina among the states for the largest decline in average teacher salaries from2003-2004to2013-2014(Ibid) 5.8—^percentage increase in pro ductivity in North Carolina during the ongoing recovery from the Great Recession (“The State of Working North Carolina 2015,” N.C. Justice Center) 61—^percentage of North Caro lina workers who earn less than $20,000 a year who have no access to paid sick leave (“Caregivers at Risk: The urgent need for fair pay and paid leave forallofNC’s caregiv ers,” N.C. Justice Center, June 2014) 425,000—number of jobs in North Carolina that can be traced back to the impact of the university system (Ihid) 24.9—^percentageofreductionin per student funding for the university system since 2008 (“State-hy-State Fact Sheets: Higher Education Cuts Jeopardize Students’ and States’ Economic Future,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 5,2015) 38—^percentage of North Caro lina workers who earn between $20,000 and $35,000 a year who have no access to paid sick leave (Ibid) 2,424—number of public schools in North Carolina that re ceived a letter grade with the release last February of the A-F report card grading system (N.C. Department of Pubhc Instruction) 3—percentagedecrease in wages inNorthCarohna during the ongoing recovery from the Great Recession (Ibid) 8 8—^number of Americans killed every day with a gun (‘ ‘Gun Violence by the Numbers,” Everytown for Gun Safety, September 28,2015) 30,(X)0—minimum reduction in voter turnout in the 2014 election caused by new voting limitations and polling-place problems (‘ ‘Alarm Bells from Silenced Voters,’ ’ Democ racy North Carolina, May 2015) 7—number of people under the age of 19 who are killed by a gun every day in the United States (Ibid) 1,815—amount in dollars of the annual tax cut in the budget passed by the General Assembly in 2015 for the wealthiest one percent of taxpayers (“Chartbook: Four Charts on the Final Budget,” N.C. Budget & Tax Center, September 16,2015) 39—rank of North Carolina among the 50 states with the high est average student loan debt of graduates of 4-year colleges and universities in 2013 (Institute for College Access & Success, Project on Student Debt) 100—percentage of schools that received a grade of F that have MORE than 50 percent of their students ehgible to receive free or reduced lunch (Ibid) 97.9— percentage of schools that received a grade of D that have MORE than 50 percent of their students ehgible to receive free or reduced lunch (Ibid) 28,312—amountindollarsofthe average student loan debt of gradu ates of East Carolina University in 2013, the highest in the University of North Carolina system (Ibid) 520 million—amount in dollars of the loss in state revenue from proposed elimination of the state capital gains tax (“A Capital Loss: Eliminating taxes on capital gains would make North Carolina’s tax system more unfair and make the state’s revenue challenge worse,” N.C. Budget & Tax Center, Janu ary 2015) showing sympathy for the Charlie Hebdo attack is ridiculous. In a Democratic debate, for mer Secretary Clinton said she couldn ’ t refer to the Pari s killers as radical Islamic terrorists, which is parroting Obama’s view of the ter rorists. Clinton and Obama think we should lead from behind and let others be out front, and ISIS and others are taking advantage of this policy of non-leadership, and they threaten the security of this country and the Western world. Donald Moskowitz Londonderry, NH 7—amount in dollars of the annual INCREASE in taxes in the budget for the lowest 20 percent of taxpayers, with annual incomes below $20,000 (Ibid) 90—^percentage of graduates of Eayetteville State University in 2013 with student loan debt, the highest percentage in theUniversity of North Carolina system (Ibid) 67—percentage of benefit of ehminating capital gains tax that would flow to the top one percent of North Carolina taxpayers (Ibid) 135—number of days since spokesman for the N.C. Education Lottery told the Raleigh News & Observer that lottery officials “don’t want people playing with the rent, food, or gas money” (“North Caro- 28 bilhon—amount in dollars the University of North Carolina system contributes to the state’s economy (Economic Modeling Specialists International, “Demonstrating the Collective Economic Value of the 957,000—amount in dollars of the average income of top one per cent of taxpayers in North Carolina (Ibid) 112—^number of days until the 2016 session of the General As sembly convenes (N.C. General Assembly) Bond issue may be decided late in the game A concerted push has begun in support of the $2 bilhon bond refer endum that voters will consider dur ing the March 15 primary election. During the first week in January, apro-bond committee will officially launch its campaign to encourage “yes” votes on the bond package during an event at N.C. State Uni versity’s Centennial Campus. It includes more than $1.3 billion for the University of North Carolina and community college systems and $309.5 million for water and sewer loans and grants, along with money for parks, the North Carohna Zoo, the National Guard and the state De partment of Agriculture. See the list of projects atVoteYesToInvest.com. It will be the first time since No vember 2000 that voters statewide will consider a bond package put on the ballot by the General Assem bly. Back then, voters easily voted to borrow $3.1 billion for higher education-related projects. “Let’s face it, the bonds will pro vide a critical face-hft for our state, providing long-term infrastructure and facilities that will benefit North Carolinians for generations,” wrote former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, who also is co-chairman of the NC Connect Bond Committee, in a recent opinion editorial. At first glance, it would appear One on One Patrick Gannon, Capitol Press Association that this referendum will be a slam dunk. So far, there’s no organized opposition. But timing is everything. Rob Christensen, a longtime pohtical writer for the News & Ob server of Raleigh, predicts that the referendum will be defeated because of the turnout of conservative voters for the hotly contested Republican presidential primary. “Do you really think all of those Trump, Cruz and Ben Carson voters are going to be anxious to borrow a lot of money for new government projects?” Christensen wrote. He might be correct. During the 2015 legislative session, nearly 20 of the more conservative House Republicans voted against putting the bond package on the ballot. And if Hillary Clinton has sewn up the Democratic nomination by March 15, Democrats - who are more likely to support borrowing - might not be as excited to go to the polls. Another strike against the pro posal is that it doesn’tinclude money for transportation projects. An early version of the bond legislation in cluded $400 million to supplemeni highway funding, but lawmakers decided there were better ways tc find extra transportation dollars. It’s safe to say that most Nortl Carolinians believe more money is needed for roads. It’s also safe to say that you’ll be hearing much more about the bone referendum in the coming weeks The pro-bond campaign already has raised more than $1 million - with hopes of raising much more - to rar ads and otherwise get the word out You’ll hear that no new taxes will be needed to pay for the bonds although the money to pay olf the debt has to come from somewhere which means other state priorities might getless money. You’ll hear the borrowing won’t negatively affeci the state’s AAA bond rating. And you’ll hear that the state’s population just topped 10 millior people, and better infrastructure is needed to support that influx of new residents. But just keep in mind that the vast majority - if not all - of the information you will hear about the referendum before March 15 wil come from those who want you tc vote for it. We’ll hear from the voices thai matter on March 15.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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