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September 13, 2007 The Kings Mountain Herald Page 7 LETTER TO THE EDITOR McHenry: Thanks for attending town hall meeting I want to extend a sincere thank you to the nearly 700 peo- ple who attended the town hall meetings I held all across the Tenth District in August. The right of the people to openly and freely question their leaders and discuss solutions to common problems is the reason our democracy works so well. That is why I hold these meet- ings every August. Your thoughtful questions, comments, and advice — on issues ranging from immigration reform to lowering taxes to the war in Iraq and even personal concerns about federal agencies like the Veterans Administration — provide invaluable lessons for how I can more effectively serve you and change the way Washington works. We don’t all agree on every single issue, and that’s to be expected. But based on the con- versations we had at the town hall meetings, these things are crystal clear: One, you're fed up with busi- ness as usual in Washington. I agree. My disdain for waste- GUEST COLUMN ful spending, over-taxation, bur- densome regulations, and incompetence in the government played a big role in inspiring me to enter public service and work to fix these problems. Washington wasn’t broken in one day, and won't be repaired in one day either. I share your frus- tration, and I appreciate your support as I continue the long, hard" fight to change the way Washington does business. Two, you demand secure bor- ders and an end to illegal immi- gration. I have sponsored numerous bills and cast every immigration vote I've taken on the side of bor- der security, law enforcement — and against amnesty. The prob- lem with this debate is that, unlike you and me, too many Washington politicians don’t understand that broken borders are the root cause of our illegal immigration crisis. Our first pri- ority must be border security. Three, you're ready to see real progress in Iraq. General David Petraeus will present a report to Congress this month on how well the surge is working. The strategies and tac- tics we employ going forward will rest on the substance of his report. I promise you that I will always vote to give the coura- geous men and women of our . Armed Services the best training, equipment, and care possible, regardless of the politics involved. In addition to these lessons from our town hall meetings, I am returning to Congress this month with a renewed sense of urgency on the grave threat fac- ing our nation from international terrorist groups. While on a fact-finding mis- sion to Israel in early August, I saw first-hand the way frequent terrorist attacks can fundamen- tally alter a free society’s way of life for the worse. Israeli citizens are burdened with constant sur- veillance and countless security checks in their everyday lives to ensure their protection. Israelis are even frisked and searched before they can enter their local McDonald's. That is no way for a democracy to operate. In order to prevent that from happening here, we must remain vigilant in the war against Islamic extremists, and make absolutely sure our military, intelligence, and homeland secu- rity operations have the resources, technologies, and capabilities they need to defeat the terrorists, wherever they are. Finally, I want to thank all of the education, healthcare, busi- ness, and civic leaders who met with me as I traveled to 21 cities and towns through every county in the Tenth District. These productive meetings covered a wide array of issues; and I can say with great confi- dence that Western North Carolina is blessed to have such excellent local leadership. I am excited to see the impres- sive results of our hard work coming together. In addition to making strong gains in educa- tion and healthcare, Western North Carolina is witnessing the early stages of a steady economic revival. In recent months, our region has attracted several new major employers, creating hun- dreds of new jobs. Again, | am grateful to all who attended the town hall meetings. Very few members of Congress still hold open forums like this — much less in every county of their district — but the give-and- take of these meetings provides valuable information about how I can represent you effectively in Congress, and I place tremen- dous value on your advice. In addition - to face-to-face meetings, I frequently hold town hall events over the phone and on the internet from my Washington office. Information about them is avail- able on my website (http://mchenry.house.gov), and I encourage all who are interested to join in on the dis- cussion about how we can change the way Washington works. Thanks again and God bless. Patrick McHenry Where in the world is whoever? Probably, Charlotte I've been awake all night a few times lately, which has given me an opportunity to watch early morning newscasts from over in the world class city. : I had no idea how the local TV sta- tions endeav- ored to per- sonalize everything. Every news segment one of the stations Jim Heffner po an Guest Column € wih re SRE erence to a certain cam- era. It’s really funny if you listen close. They’ll show morning traffic from several locations and tell you which camera is providing the feed. “Looking at camera 16,” the announcer says, “we can see that morning traffic is extremely heavy on Brookshire Boulevard, but camera 59 indicates every- thing is moving smoothly on I- 77" Recently, as I watched, the announcer mentioned cameras 16, 30, 36 and 59 for sure. There were probably others. I just don’t remember them. Get up early and watch and you'll find that every story, almost, is “Breaking News.” At 6:45 that morning, the chan- nel I was watching talked about a shooting that occurred at 2 a.m. and continued to call it breaking news for hours. They even tell you which stu- dio they are broadcasting from. Now that’s what I call, breaking news. “This news is coming to you from Studio 12,” said an early morning announcer. Who cares? Who cares that Matt and Al and Meredith always come to you from Studio 1A? I certainly don’t. There’s one local station that likes to say it’s news is being broadcast “live from the news- room.” I guess that’s as opposed to “dead from downtown.” Every station has its own little quirks. See Heffner, Page 8 Take the H&R Block Income Tax Course and see if you'd enjoy earning extra income preparing taxes” Even if you don’t go on to become a tax professional, you'll be able to complete your own return and help others with theirs. Bilingual students encouraged ta enroll! For class times and locations, visit hrblock.com/taxcourses or call 1-800-HRBLOCK. Enroll now! H&R BLOCK" You got people” Gastonia, Shelby, For Additional Kings Mountain, Information Cherryville, and Call: 866-434-3028 Beimont *Enrcllment restrictions: may apply. Enrollment in, or completion of, the H&R Block Income Tax Course i neither an otter nor a guarantees of employment. ©2007 H&R Black Tax Services, Inc. DisplayAd ESNOBM / PRE II SA IO. i mis ahr i
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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