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Monday, September 15, 2008 10:38 AM Wilson utility customer wants some answers Over the past few months there have been several letters concerning Wilson's utility costs. We moved to Wilson eight years ago from Richmond, Va. When I received my first utility bill, I thought that one of my neighbors had tapped into my meter. Our costs were 58 percent higher in Wilson. When I questioned other citizens, I received the same response. The costs are based on "The Bond Issue." I could never understand the rationale or perhaps, the rationalizations. The time has come for The Wilson Times to investigate and fully explain to the citizens of Wilson answers to the following questions: 1. What is ElectriCities and why do we have to belong to it? 2. Is it a conflict of interest for our mayor to be on the board? 3. Shouldn't the citizens of Wilson understand the reason for the unconscionable increases given to the ElectriCities executives? 4. What are the complete details of "the bond issue" that the city is paying off? How did the citizens benefit from it? Will it ever be paid off? Who are the bond holders? 5. Why is the city in the utilities business at all? I recognize that it provides jobs for some, but I believe that the correct term is "pork barreling." What would our utilities cost if we dealt directly with Progress Energy? The current rate increases have underscored how out of control the situation really is. The current utility rate increases are forcing some businesses to close and I am certain they will have a negative effect on the economic growth of Wilson. Let's face it. Ultimately it is going to impact on our real estate values. Why would anyone want to move to Wilson and pay these exorbitant rates? It's time for The Wilson Times to report the facts and to provide the information that we, the taxpayers of Wilson, need to fix the problem. Our city government is too busy planning another "good old boy" waste of our tax dollars. I couldn't believe it when I read that they were planning a new city hall, especially in our downturned economy. You could also report how much has been spent to date on this project. I am looking forward to your answers to all the facts about this subject. I know that I have not listed all the issues. Thomas Guinan Canal Drive Web site debunks false political rumors There's a lot of bad stuff circulating on the Internet these days about the presidential candidates, especially regarding Sen. Obama and Gov. Palin. Some of it is mean and vicious; some of it simply innocently misinformed. We all tend to believe anything that confirms what we want to believe, and that's dangerous. As a general rule, it's a mistake to believe anything that comes in a widely circulated e-mail, no matter how much we would like to believe it. There is a way of checking up on this. The Annenberg Foundation, a non-partisan organization, maintains a Web site, www.factcheck.org, that keeps up with what's being said almost daily. They are equal-opportunity debunkers. If you want to know what's true and false about the anti-Palin or anti-Obama stuff making the rounds, go to that source and you will find your questions examined briefly or in detail, either way you prefer. When any of the candidates misinterprets a fact or puts a misleading spin on a statement, it will be caught. Not too often is there an outright falsehood, but things politicians say and do are often taken out of context. Sadly sometimes, deliberately. I'm a Democrat myself, but I don't appreciate Democrats putting out misleading stuff on McCain and Palin. They're both admirable people. And of course I don't like the smears on Sens. Obama and Biden, either. And if I may add a point in defense of my own candidate: The clearest proof that Obama is not a Muslim is that he says he isn't. In Islamic law, it is the highest type of blasphemy and apostasy for a Muslim to say, "I am a Christian," or in any other way to deny Islam. There were times in history when there were crypto-Jews, pretending to be Christian to avoid persecution. There are millions of crypto-Christians in the world today, hiding their faith for the purpose of survival. But Muslims do not have that option. The religion does not allow it, under any circumstances. Theoretically, such an apostate should be put to death, but in actual practice there hasn't been a lot of that in modern times. Roger Bullard Little John Drive Higher education no guarantee How much higher education should a U.S. president have? Maybe we should remind ourselves that a majority of the Nazi officers at the Wannsee Conference during World War II held doctorates, the highest graduate degree. Their so-called Final Solution to the problem of what to do with Jews was to murder millions of them in death camps. And our two greatest presidents, Washington and Lincoln, had no college at all. Edward Styles Kingswood Road |
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