OPINION
The Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt
Publisher Emeritus
1974-2015
617 N. Liberty Street
336-722-8624
WWW.WSCHRONICLE.COM
Donna Rogers Managing Editor
WALI D. Pitt Digital Manager
Paulette L. Moore office Manager
Our Mission
The Chronicle is dedicated to serving the
residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
by giving voice to the voiceless, speaking truth
to power, standing for integrity and
encouraging open communication and
lively debate throughout the community.
GUEST EDITORIAL
Legislators
target voter
fraud again
Here they come again. The election reformers in
the General Assembly are getting ready to make
another charge. Given the scant evidence they're pro
vided so far, they're tilting at windmills.
But that apparently won't stop the efforts that are
too many people _ including some federal judges _ a
clear attempt to disenfranchise Democrats rather than
a move to protect the sanctity of the vote.
State Senate leader Phil
Berger said that election
□
laws will be examined
again in the upcoming ses
sion, which opens [this
week]. Berger says he sees
a "potential for fraud."
But when former Gov.
Pat McCrory narrowly lost
his re-election bid, his sup
porters filed wild claims of I
fraud all over the state. And every one of them was
found bogus by state and local boards of elections
with Republican majorities that were appointed by
McCrory himself.
We're happy to see measures that target real voter
fraud. Hint to Berger, et al: Make absentee voting
more secure.
The length of early voting periods, the location of
polling places .and even voter ID aren't measures
needed to prevent fraud.
If there's substantial evidence to disprove that
point, then please bring it forward. But so far, those
fraud charges have proved _ well, fraudulent. It'S
really time to put up or shut up, don't you think?
The Fayetteville Observer
Before
Obamacare?
Not a good
place
The Republican Congress is trying to push ahead to
repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Democrats are trying to stall their efforts. They know how
it was for Americans to be without health care before
Obamacare. The problem is, Republicans don’t have any
thing to replace it with.
President Obama' said in the beginning that the pro
gram is open for improvement. He even said during his
farewell address on Tuesday that he would support anoth
er plan if it were a good one and helped people.
Republicans should be trying
to fix the program instead of
repealing it.
The GOP supposedly had
plans to replace Obamacare
and they passed the plans, but
President Obama vetoed
them. Where are those plans
now when at least one surely
would be signed by a
President Trump?
Why don’t the Republicans have ideas to help
Americans? Because they are too busy trying to hurt
Americans and help themselves.
We hope we won’t have to go back to the times before
Obamacare. Even hospitals have been petitioning
Republicans to replace Obamacare and and not leave us
stranded. >
It’s time to move forward, not backward. But that
could be said about so much the Republicans are doing
now.
( J ■
m
i
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Foster care,
adoptions
are in state _
of crisis
To the Editor i
Foster care and adoption are in a
state of crisis. Foster care has been
growing at an alarming rate with a
shortage of permanent, safe and lov
ing homes for adoptable children.
About five years ago, we had just
over 8,000 children in foster care in
our state. Today, there are about
10,500 children in foster care, an
increase of more than 25 percent in
the last five years. That is a trend we
would very much likg to reverse.
For a child in foster care, it's a
state of limbo, where they don't know
what their future holds. They don't
know whether they're going to
remain with that foster family, move
to another foster home, return to their
biological family or whatever situa
tion they came from, or whether they
are going to find an adoptive family.
The biggest challenges we have
with adoption are public awareness
and increased resources to find the
right family for the child. Every child
that we place for adoption has a set of
unique needs.
Time is an eternity to a child. We
don’t want any child to spend one
day longer than they absolutely need
to in foster care. Our goal is to help
each child achieve permanency with
a safe and loving family that will be
theirs forever. We want to shorten
that period of time as much as possi
ble.
It's important to prioritize the
long-term implications of a child not
knowing who their family is going to
be. It impacts how they see the world
and how they see themselves. It
impacts -their sense of identity and
belonging in ways that have pro
found implications long-term for
them.
Brian Maness
President and CEO
Children’s Home Society of
North Carolina
Greensboro
We must work
to instill hope
to stop the
violence in area
To the Editor:
The New South Community
Coalition is deeply troubled and
challenged by the crimes and acts of
violence that continue to occur in
our local city neighborhoods. One
of the latest incidents is the murder
of a 19-year-old African-American
male on 12.24.16 by an unknown
assailant in the Easton neighborhood
area. Such continued acts of vio
lence and crime are invariably com
ing from a place of fear and hope
lessness, where these young men no
longer appear to value life or fear
death. Leaving us to ask: “Where is
their hope?” And, the answer: “In
our communities and our places of
worship.”
From our communities, we need
more men to mentor these fatherless
young men to teach them how to
find their paths through life. We
need more women to teach our
young women how to achieve their
full potentials as human beings.
From our places of worship, we
need our pastors to teach about the
importance of being my brother’s
keeper and my sister’s keeper.
Finally, we must reach out to
this millennial generation and teach
them about the principles of nonvio
lence. We must ask them to put
down their weapons of destruction
and walk in peace and love, show
ing them the way to true courage.
Most importantly, we must work
to truly heal these youth through the
words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just
weapon, which cuts without wound
ing and ennobles the man who
wields it. It is a sword that heals.**
Rev. Robert E. Leak 111
President, New South
Community Coalition
President, EastonIBelview
Neighborhood Association
Animal Control:
Thanks for help
with dogs, cats
that need homes
To the Editor:
We would like to take a moment
to thank our community for all of
your support in 2016.
First, a special thanks to Project ,
Pearl who sponsored 81 cats and 24
dogs for a total of $6,431 in spon
sorships throughout 2016! These
sponsorships pay a portion of the
adoption fee in order to help animals
who may otherwise be overlooked
(like older dogs or cats) have a bet
ter chance at being adopted. Their
medical foster program gave second
chances to 68 animals who other
wise would not have qualified for
our adoption program. If you are
interested in making a donation to
assist with sponsorships or medical
fosters, you can contact Project
Pearl at projectpearl@triadjt.com.
In 2016,1,251 animals were
adopted and 328 were transferred to
our Community Care Partner pro
grams, who agree to follow adoption
requirements such as spaying and
neutering the animals in their care.
The Community Care and Almost
Home programs provide additional
adoption, rescue & foster care
resources for the Forsyth County
Animal Shelter. Currently over 40
animal rescue, welfare, veterinarian
and professional organizations par
ticipate in the Community Care and
Almost Home Programs.
We’d like to recognize AARF,
Forsyth Humane Society, Schnauzer
Rescue of the Carolinas, and
Siamese Cat Rescue as well as
numerous other CCP organizations
who take the time to transfer ani
mals from our care into their facili- -
ties or foster homes.
Last, but most definitely not
least, we really appreciate our vol
unteers. They have put in approxi
mately 8,000 hours this year helping
the animals in our adoption pro
gram.
Tonya B. Ward
Senior Office Assistant
Forsyth County Animal Control
We Welcome Your Feedback
Submit letters and guest columns to let
ters® wschronicle.com before 5 p.m. Friday
for the next week’s publication date.
Letters intended for publication should be
addressed “Letters to the Editor” and include
your name, address, phone number and email
address. Please keep letters to 350 words or
less.
If you are waiting a guest column, please
include a photo of yourself, your name,
address, phone number and email address.
Please keep guest columns to 550 words or
less. Letters and columns can also be mailed
or dropped off at W-S Chronicle, 617 N.
Liberty St., W-S, NC, 27101; or sent via our
website, www.wschronicle.com.
4
We reserve the right to
edit any item submitted for
clarity or brevity and
determine when and
whether material will
be used.
We welcome your
comments at our
website.
Also, go to our Facebook
page to comment. We are at
facebook .com/WSChronicle.
Send us a tweet on Twitter.
We are at twitter.com/WSjChronicle.
*
4