Letters

In our warped, violent, greedy no-holds barred society, where bad is good and wrong is right, here come these voices saying change in politics and direction of the country, but where is this when it comes to the heart?
Back on that dark and horrible day of 9-11, we as a nation came together as one, treated one another better and made that American spirit stronger and proud.
Time went by, attitudes changed. Our country drifted back to same old ways of distrust in the powers that be, trash talking and condoning violence, hatred and race baiting.

After reading the letters submitted for Richard Vaughan, I feel the need to respond.
Vaughan states that he has run his office in a financially responsible manner. However, if you take a look at his approved budgets since taking office, you see a different story.
The current yearly budget includes line item requests which include $135,000 for “automobiles” and “automobile expenses” and $6,000 for “construction.”

The Public Safety Interoperability Communications grant project was a regional effort by Carroll County, Grayson County and Galax.
The total grant project was $1,577,479.  Grayson County received over $800,000 of those funds.
In January 2008, I was contacted by Carroll County and Galax officials regarding meetings on the project.
I was told that no one from Grayson County had attended any of the meetings, and Grayson County would not be included in the project without representation.

The Town of Independence has never looked better. A little sprucing up has gone a long way.

The new mural on town hall, the biking/walking trail to the park and the welcome flags have helped make our town a little more attractive to those who live here and to visitors.