Page 4A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, July 27, 1995
FETTER AIITS IY
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JIM
HEFFNER
Guest Columnist
Use and misuse of the
English language
Some people call us wordsmiths.
I think that's a bit pretentious, but words are a news-
man's stock in trade. More exactly, the arrangement of
words into readable sentences is what we strive for.
Anyway, this morning I was watching one of the
morning TV shows, and I caught myself being atten-
tive to what was being said.
The two hosts, Bryant Gumble and Giselle some-
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GUEST
COLUMN
Rep. Sue Myrick
NC 9th District
Happy birthday Medicare
This Sunday marks the 30th birthday of Medicare.
Unfortunately, at a time when we should be celebrat-
ing the world's premier healthcare system, we instead
are faced with a crisis of no small proportion.
You may know that Medicare is governed by a
board of trustees, with four of the six trustees being
members of the Clinton Administration. Just a'few
months ago they released their report on the status of
Medicare, and what they said was disturbing. In 1996,
the Hospital - Insurance Trust fund, which pays
Medicare beneficiaries’ hospital bills, will begin to run
= thing or other, both did interviews with Southern cooks
* from Atlanta. They were down there to do stories on
¢ the upcoming Olympic Games, a waste of time if you
© ask me. I mean the games as well as their trip to
"© Atlanta, and don't you just hate to hear that town re-
a deficit. This fund, supported by a 2.9 percent payroll
tax, will be exhausted in just seven years, and only two
years later, will be $126 billion in the hole. i
new congressional majority's efforts to preserve
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ferred to as Hotlanta, but I veer from the subject.
Gumble asked a tall, Jethro-looking chef to describe
Southern cooking, and the fellow replied, "I guess you
i could say it's comfortable."
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Comfortable? A soft couch is comfortable, cooking
is either good, bad. palatable, terrible or delicious. I
didn't understand the chef's response at all.
Next Gumble asked the chairman of Atlanta's
# Olympic committee if it was true that all the prime
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wseats to the games had gone to VIPs and celebrities.
The guy talked for several minutes about how there
* were 11 million tickets to the Games, "More than Los
~ Angeles and Barcelona combined," but he never an-
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: heat off him.
Giselle whatever-her-name-is interviewed a lady
“ who prepared several peach dishes.
After the woman expounded on several kinds of the
fruits, she demonstrated to Giselle the proper way to
>. peel a peach.
_ "First you boil it for two minutes, then put it in ice
water, then peel it like this," she said, peeling the
peach. :
Giselle said, "isn't that terrific to know?"
Giselle's remark was less than scintillating to say the
least.
By the time all this repartee was completed, I could
have peeled a peck of peaches without getting near a
pot of water.
My point is, do people pay attention to what they
are saying on television? Listen to them sometimes,
and you will see what I mean.
On the same subject, words that is, when Jimmy
Our View
Hayes’ experience will be good for KMPD
The recent appointment of Bob Hayes as Kings
Mountain Police Chief was a good move by outgoing
city manager Chuck Nance.
Hayes was not only one of the most qualified of all
the applicants, but he has other attributes that many
other applicants may not have had.
The most obvious, perhaps, is his experience.
Hayes has spent 34 years with KMPD, working his
way through the ranks from patrolman to Captain and
assistant chief. Several times in the past he served as
interim chief while the city searched outside the de-
partment for a permanent chief.
Through those years Hayes has not only gained
work experience, but he has developed a rapport with
other officers, city administrators and the general pub-
lic that is second to none. He has seen first-hand things
that have worked and things that have failed.
Your Right To Say It
In this time when the city is going through so much
turmoil - including the resignation of its police chief in
the midst of an investigation into the purchase of a ve-
hicle previously owned by the city - it is essential to
have a man in charge who is highly-professional and
well-respected by other officers and the public.
Bob Hayes is the ideal person to lead the department
through the challenges that lie ahead. He has capable
officers to assist him as attested to by the promotion of
veteran officers Richard Reynolds, Houston Corn and
Melvin Proctor to fill key positions of leadership in
various divisions within the department.
We wish the chief and his department well. We
know that by working together as a team and putting
the citizens' safety and welfare as their number one ob-
jective they can give Kings Mountain a department
that all can be proud of.
Hendrick didn’t consider City Manager position
To the editor:
It has been called to my attention that your
Please do not use my name in articles which say that
I considered the position. As far as I know, I was never
Medicare, has now admitted that Medicare growth
must slow down if the system is to remain solvent.
Bolstered by this bi-partisan consensus on the need
to save Medicare, I have been talking with you all, to
get your input and ideas on how to preserve this vital
program. My colleagues in the House have been doing
the same thing back in their hometowns, and based on
the feedback we have received, we have established
six basic principles to guide our efforts to preserve and
protect Medicare.
- We must act immediately to preserve Medicare for
current retirees, and to protect the system for the next
generation of beneficiaries. The President's trustees
have reported that the Medicare Part A Trust Fund will
be bankrupt in seven years. prompt, decisive action
must be taken to save the system. Skis
- Medicare spending must increase at a slower rate.
The budget resolution that just passed in Congress
guarantees that Medicare funding will increase from
$4,800 per beneficiary this year to $6,700 per-benefi-
ciary in seven years. We are not cutting Medicare
spending, but continuing to increase it. However, the
program must increase at a slower, more responsible
rate, if it is to continue.
- Senior citizens deserve the same choices available
to other Americans. Currently, Medicare beneficiaries
are given only one option when they enroll in the pro-
gram - a bureaucratic, outdated, one-size-fitsall<pro-
gram that has not really changed since Congress
-passed it 30 years ago. A Medicare system designed-in
the 1960s cannot adequately meet the needs of seniors
in the 1990s and beyond. Our seniors should have the
same opportunities as other Americans in selecting
health care options that bets meet their needs.
|
President Clinton, who for months criticized the
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8 : ; ant : paper has printed that I was in line for the Interim considered, nor did I want to be. ai t intertue mi the relationshi § ;
& i Stores al yr Soutien highway 5 ad 2 handslide busi- City Manager's position when George Wood left that I want the citizens of Kings Mountain to know that I be niin PD 5 ¢ relationship tk 4
& pg m 3 ° > il % on we . hy iy =. he M position. I now find out that your newspaper, once Wish them the very best. I hope Mr. Hicks gets the co- yo 4.000 regulations on patients and provi dors Tost 3
rankly, I think the people North of the Mason- 554i, ig saying that I was edged out of that position by operation he needs in order to properly administer the be eased. Medicare beneficiaries must be able to COR" &
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Dixon line talk funny. When Fuzzy was elected, I
thought the language books would be back on the
shelves, but so far I haven't seen them. Arkansas is a
Southern state isn't it? Maybe not.
The books were an insult to any decent Southerner's
! intelligence, and I despised them all, but I admit I've
i picked up a couple of terms lately that are more
i Southern than Northern.
One of them is "Jawnya" (Jr.), as in "Get in this
! house Jawnya." Then there is "cane chew." That's real-
| ly two words, and it means can't you, as in "Cane chew
i do anything right, Jawnya?" My final example, I just
| heard on the John Boy and Billy radio show this morn-
I seriously doubt that any language in the world is
so misused as English, and why not? The language is
sometimes so vague as to be misleading. Desert, for
example, can be a large, sandy area, or it can mean to
quit the military without discharge papers. Dessert is a
sweet dish usually eaten after a meal, but it is pro-
i nounced just like desert, meaning leaving the military,
| etc., or something like that. See how confusing it is?
There are many such examples, but all in all our lan-
guage is beautiful when used by an expert such as the
i poet who wrote:
| 1burn my candle at both ends,
It shall not last the night,
But oh my foes and oh my friends,
It sheds a wondrous light.
Gary Hicks. Please understand that I was contacted by
the city and asked if I might help them, and in each
case, I told them that I would sit down and talk with
them about their problems. Such a meeting never took
place. I was never interviewed by the City Council for
the position.
Ruling limiting inmate suits good
The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently ruled
in a pair of lawsuits that inmates injured or killed in
accidents while performing prison labor cannot sue the
state for negligence. Up until these rulings, injured
prisoners or their survivors could file lawsuits, while at
victed criminals employed within the Department of
Correction can only file claims for losses with the
state's Industrial Commission. Previously, prison in-
mates had the option of filing negligence suits, in addi-
tion to workers’ compensation claims.
In one of the cases heard by the Court, an inmate's
mother had been awarded $73,685 in a wrongful death
lawsuit when her son died in a work accident. The
Court reversed the decision, only allowing the prison-
er's estate to file a claim under workers' compensation.
Such legal wranglings, nonetheless, rub many North
Carolinians the wrong way. Most taxpayers would be
surprised to learn that any criminal who is unintention-
ally injured or killed while laboring to "pay his debt to
society" should have a dual right to seek compensation
from the state. Although constitutional scholars could
affairs of the city, whereby he can follow the city char-
ter, the Municipal Finance Act, which is overseen by
the Local Government Commission in the Office of
the State Treasurer, and the General Statutes of the
State of North Carolina.
Joseph R. Hendrick Sr.
GUEST COLUMN
4
tinue their existing coverage - including their choice of
doctors and hospitals.
- Senior citizens should be rewarded for helping to
root out waste, fraud and abuse. I receive hundreds of
letters from senior citizens who see waste, fraud and
abuse in their Medicare bills. I believe in rewarding
these individuals as they make the Medicare system
more efficient by exposing waste.
- Strengthening Medicare is too important to. be left
to "politics as usual.” Throughout the summer, House
Republicans will stand ready to work with the
President and House Democrats to save and preserve
the Medicare system. I strongly believe that this
should be a non-partisan endeavor that focuses on
strengthening the program for current and future se-
argue for decades that inmates and their families have
such rights, the Court did a good day's work in quash-
ing negligence lawsuits by prisoners.
Not all of the judges agreed. Judge Edward Greene
dissented in both cases. He postulated that convicted
criminals should have both options, since the legisla-
ture had not specifically excluded inmates from the
law governing negligence suits. Luckily, judges with a
decidedly more conservative view on the issue pre-
vailed. The result of their opinion will be tens of mil-
lions of taxpayer dollars saved by the state not having
to fight lawsuits and pay out judgments to criminals.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that electing a conserva-
tive judiciary is not important!
HERALD LETTER POLICY
The Herald welcomes your letters to the editor for
publication in each Thursday's paper. We ask that you
follow these guidelines: Xo
Keep letters brief and to the point. Letters in excess
of 600 words will not be published. Rn
Type and double-space if possible; if not, write legi-
bly. Include your full name, address and phone number
for verification purposes. {TARE
The Herald reserves the right to edit letters ‘for
length, spelling, libelous and slanderous statements,
good taste, or any other reason; and the Herald refuses
to reject any letter for any reason.
mie Phillips in need of a special ange}
Soc. and 31m
When you meet Joe and Jimmie
Phillips, the first thing that will
probably come to mind is "Hey,
they're just your regular couple.
Nothin' fancy, just good Southern
folk." And they're that. They live
in a modest home out on St. Luke's
right?). And just like everybody
HILL
SIDE
damage from the treatments.
Along with the regular house
bills, grocery bills, and utilities
bills that are piling up, the Phillips
also have a heavy medical bill
which includes regular hospital
treatments and medicine prescrip-
tions that total over $400 dollars
is sitting right there in that. cabi-
net." Shelved on her cabinet, her
mantle, and in various nooks and
crannies sat tiny, delicate figurines
- a collection of angels. And if
there should ever be a time when
they most needed those angels, it
would be now.
walk the earth everyday, and you
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=| proud of (Your normal parents, Hill "He takes pain medication and used to tell me when I was on
aspirin to keep his blood from clot- younger. He used to say, "Angels i |
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else, they have bills to pay. The
problem is, they can't pay them.
So what? So everybody meets up
with hard luck?
A mechanic at Tony's Exxon on
Virginia Avenue in Bessemer City,
Joe is known around town for his
work. You might have seen him.
He's probably fixed your car.
Well, it's been a while since Joe
has fixed a car, and for him, it
seems like forever.
On June 17, just around a month
ago, Joe was in an accident. He
was directing a vehicle into the ser-
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Joe and Jimmie Phillips put their faith in God as they face the trials
of Jimmie's cancer and Joe's injuries from a service station accident.
vice bay, when all of a sudden he
found himself pinned between the
customer's car and his workbench
which sat along the wall of the ser-
vice station. The customer, who
had tried to brake his car, braked
but then slipped only to hit the ac-
celerator leaving Joe badly injured
and unable to work.
Since the accident, Joe and his
wife, Jimmie, have found them-
selves in dire straits, because they
have another dilemma. Jimmie has
not been able to work since
December of 1992, because she
has been battling Adenoid Cystic
Carcinoma - a form of throat can-
cer.
Jimmie has been through numer-
ous extensive radiation treatments,
And although her cancer is in re-
mission, she has suffered physical
ting. He also takes a stomach med-
ication and a medication for his
blood pressure," said Jimmie, who
takes about five medications her-
self.
With no income coming in to
take care of the bills, the Phillips
have been thankful to receive nu-
merous donations and words of in-
spiration from some gracious peo-
ple in the community. It's a sad
situation, but somehow, this couple
manages to keep a smile on their
faces. "I trust God. I have faith,
and I know He's gonna take care of
us. I don't know how, but I know
He will," says Jimmie with all the
confidence one person could bear.
She says, "The thing I like to do
never know when you might meet
one." Joe and Jimmie Phillips
need an angel.
If you would like to help, collec-
tion jars will be placed in various
stores around the Bessemer City
and Kings Mountain areas. There
is also a Joe and Jimmie Phillips
Fund set up at Central Carolina
Bank. Donations will be received
at any CCB location. - Joe and
Jimmie Phillips live at 528 St.
Lukes Church Road in Kings
mountain. Any information that
may be of help or any means of
support may be sent to their ad-
dress. [ns dhe)
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