L
E T T E R S T
O T
H E E
D I T O R
MARCH
20, 2008
Congratulations
and Thank You to Ms. Spivey
I was very excited to take our son to school to Pate Elementary
and read the sign out front telling us who the teacher of the
year is. The teacher of the year at Pate Elementary is Ms. Catherine
Spivey. The students in her class have a very wonderful teacher.
I have had dealings with many teachers as I have a child in high
school but NONE can compare to Ms. Spivey. Our son comes home
every day and tells us what he has learned. It is such a wonderful
feeling to know that our son enjoys school and his teacher makes
learning fun.
When we are on the way to school our son will take out a book
to read and he does this because of Ms. Spivey. She understands
that kids will be kids but she lets them know that she expects
them to do their work.
I can walk our son in on some mornings and she always has a smile
on her face. I am very honored to have our son in her class and
am very PROUD of her for this great accomplishment.
I hope other parents feel the same about their children’s
teacher as we do ours because her receiving this honor shows what
a great person she is.
CONGRATULATIONS MS. CATHERINE SPIVEY, WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, NO ONE DESERVES IT MORE THAN YOU.
Heyward and Tammy Shoemake, Darlington, SC\
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Socialism
in America
In his recent letter to the editor
Larry Donaldson states ‘We do not live in a socialist
country yet, but with all the promises that are being made this
year we may soon be.”
After careful consideration I felt that one word in his statement
needs a bit of clarification. It is the word ‘yet.’
By use of this word we are left with the thought that with one
of the choices in the upcoming presidential election we just might
reach that goal.
But I digress. Let’s go back to the beginning by clarifying
the word ‘socialism.’ As usual I went to Google to
get the best description of the word. Believe me when I
say that there are many. I selected the following because it seems
best suited for this letter.
“According to Joseph Schumpeter, socialism is the public
ownership of the means of production and distribution; but in
American parlance it is often used pejoratively to describe any
attempt at governmental regulation or intervention. ...”
Note the second part of the above statement, but in American parlance,
etc. Have we not already conformed to this statement? Let’s
start at the beginning.
1. Congress passed the ‘income tax’ legislation in
1913, which became the law of the land. This allowed the federal
government to begin ‘ownership’ of our wages.
2. Congress took step number two in 1935 to pass a ‘minimum
wage’ law that gave the feds the right to technically increase
our contribution of the income tax.
3. As a ploy to help the workers of America, Congress took step
number three by passing the Social Security Act, also in 1935.
I should point out here that it was President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt that was directly responsible for steps 2 and 3 above.
I find it odd that there are those in very high places that have
called President Roosevelt ‘our greatest president.’
Hmmm.
At this point are you ready to begin talking about ‘Socialism?’
Socialism will not start with the coming presidential election
since it already has taken a strong foothold in America.
How is it possible when our educational system keeps us up to
date with the word ‘democracy?’
I find the continued use of the ‘d’ word by both those
who should know better and our political parties and candidates
to be, not only wrong, but highly insulting.
When are we going to stand up and yell from the highest rooftop
in the land that the United States of America is a REPUBLIC? Is
there something about this word that you find repugnant? To me
it has that ‘sweet’ sound and every time I hear it
I thank the good Lord for allowing me to be born an American.
Someone once said these words which I now impart on those who
would continue to sit by and allow our country to slowly, but
surely, sink further into the depths of Socialism, “Love
it or Leave it.”
Gene Deragon, Lamar, SC
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Why
Women Should Vote
IThis is the story of our grandmothers, and great-grandmothers,
as they lived only 90 years ago.
It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go
to the poles and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of “obstructing
sidewalk traffic.”
They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against
an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice
Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the
women. Thus unfolded the “Night of Terror” on
Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse
in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists
imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s
White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail.
Their food—all of it colorless slop—was infested with
worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on
a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down
her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited.
She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out
to the press.
Some women won’t vote this year because—why, exactly?
We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our
vote doesn’t matter?
It’s raining? We need to get out and vote and use this right
that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women.
Whether you vote the democratic, republican or independent party
- remember to vote.
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