Readers' Hotline 3/4/13

Speed trap
Can you have an investigative reporter determine why the bypass around Hillsville speed limit is only 55 when most areas that have similar features would have a 60 or 65 mph speed limit. I’m concerned that every time I use the bypass it has become a speed trap for the Hillsville Police Department to spend their time trying to catch people doing 55 on a highway that is designed for higher speeds.

Walk your talk
You people that are against guns, why don’t you walk your talk and put a sign out in your yard, “gun-free zone.”

Make them pay
Concerning the delinquent taxes in Carroll County, I am tired of hearing they just want to talk a little about it. I want to see something done and get behind this and put some fire under these people and make them pay. It is not right for some to pay and others not.

Whom you know
Any type of job you apply for in Carroll County, no matter how well qualified you are, if you are not buddies with somebody, you won’t get the job. Like the recent decision by the IDA board on the childcare center. There was a person on the board that goes to that church. That is not fair. Also, all the changes that are happening at the childcare center. If the building it county owned, it should not be able to be a religious-based center. I go to church every weekend, but that doesn’t mean I want my child in there with someone else from a different church trying to teach my child their ways.

Heating sources
If I had to use gas to heat my house, I would just stay cold. The only thing I use gas for is to run my car because it is dangerous to heat a house or anything else with gas.
Editor’s note: We note that you cited no evidence to back up your claim. CNN reported in January that natural gas is used to heat about half the homes in America.

Huh?
I thought Christians were supposed to be Christ-like and not be stuck up and if you went to church with somebody for over 12 years and they came to a certain pharmacy and their husband is picking up his medicine, and she nudges him to come and get it. She need not worry about me trying to talk to her. They have to face God and pay for that themselves.

Recycling fan
I was wondering if anyone could tell me where to recycle plastic paper and glass in Grayson County or in Independence or if they have a residential pickup service that would come by and pick it up curbside.

Crabby
I just don’t think someone should work in a pharmacy where people are going in to get their medicine where they are sick to start with and she has a bad attitude toward people. I have always used this same pharmacy. Nobody likes her attitude.

Magnifiers needed
This is about the phone book numbers being so small you can’t read them. Somebody please get in touch with the telephone company and tell them old people can’t read that stuff. It’s too small. Worst I have ever seen.

In business
I was reading the story on Willing Partners in Galax. Really enjoyed the story but I have heard several people say they think Willing Partners is closed because of the black draping on the windows. I think that needs to be put in the Hotline. I think that certainly needs to be addressed.
Editor’s note: Willing Partners is very much open to serve the public. The black fabric is part of a window dressing design done by the Blue Ridge Chapel Baptist Church. The black was a backdrop to make the main focus of the display, a large white cross, more visible.

United Nations control
Obama has informed the Senate that there are 17 treaties he wants ratified. If these treaties are ratified by the Senate, foreign law will replace the U.S. Constitution. The United Nations will have the power to impose global taxes on the American people. The United Nations will take control of oil resources off the American coast. U.N. bureaucrats and international lawyers will even have the authority to tell the U.S. Navy where it is allowed to go. Obama supports these anti-American international treaties that threaten our sovereignty, our constitution and even our way of life.
Editor’s note: This is so off the wall that we are publishing it anyway. Don’t believe everything you read.

The Tax Poem
Death and taxes
Tax his cow, tax his goat.
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his crops, tax his work.
Tax his tie, tax his shirt.
Tax his chew, tax his smoke.
Tax him until taxes are no joke.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule.
Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his oil, tax his gas.
Tax his notes, taxes his cash.
If he hollers, tax him more.
Tax him until he is good and sore.
Tax his coffin, tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lay.
Put these words upon his tomb.
"Taxes drove me to my doom."
After he is gone, he can’t relax.
They will still go after his inheritance tax.
This is what is happening today.
Editor’s note: This poem is circulating on the Internet and is not an original submission to the Hotline.

Lowest paid
I was just wondering if the Grayson County School System has found all this money they didn’t know they had. Would they consider giving the cafeteria staff back their allowance for clothes and shoes, since they are the lowest paid employees in the school system?

How to run things
The Galax Rec Center should take a look at how they run their program. Rec ball should be fun for all kids. This should be the time where kids learn about rules and foundation of sports. If kids play on a team, they should only be allowed to play on one team in that league, not multiple teams. And kids should never play on a team they are not a member of. When rules are not followed, kids lose interest and become discouraged. All teams should be equal in their ability as much as can be. And rec employees should not overstep their rules with the coaching due to their relationships with the refs.
 
Gun control worries
This country is so worried about gun control. Why should they be worried about gun control if we would have police out there who are protecting us? In this area, at several restaurants, I pass by and see multiple police officers, anywhere from three to five cars at one time, at one restaurant. They should be out patrolling. People would not be going out there buying guns if our officers were protecting us. Make sure our officers are out there. Get these officers out on the road and protecting the citizens so they won’t have to buy guns.
Editor’s note: So if we deny a lunch break to those who protect and serve, then everyone will lay down their weapons?

Great interest
I would like to thank the caller in the Feb. 25 Hotline who alerted me to the article in the National Geographic December 2012 magazine on Shamanism in Central Asia, Mongolia and Siberia. I attended the lecture in February and was disappointed that his time was limited. I love to learn about other places and cultures. My funds are limited, so I take advantage of these lectures and glimpses into other belief systems and I am really pleased that this type of learning opportunity is now available in the Twin Counties. I will read this article in the National Geographic with great interest.

See no evil
I think the caller in the Feb. 25 Hotline that told people to look at National Geographic magazine to learn about Shamanism should be ashamed. Don’t they know there are pictures of naked people in that magazine?