Rep. Walter Jones will be missed | Charlotte Observer

Walter Jones was the ideal politician

I had the privilege of getting to hear Rep. Walter Jones speak a few years ago. Very rarely do we find a public servant who is able to place principles above party and stand firmly for his beliefs despite expectations and opposition. Rep. Jones was that man. A wonderful example of bravery, leadership and courage, even to the point of openly admitting to past mistakes and visibly making drastic 180-degree turns in order to stand for what was right at any cost.

For those who don’t know much about Rep. Jones’ service on Capitol Hill, please take a few moments to honor his memory by learning about what he did. Then, encourage your own representatives to take on the same attitude. Rep. Jones will truly be missed.

Do the people even count anymore?

The Grand Old Party (GOP) used to value each American voter, but I guess that has changed. Trump lost the popular vote by almost three million votes but still won the election. How does that make sense?

The Republican-controlled N.C. legislature was asked multiple times to quit the practice of gerrymandering to provide a Republican advantage. Mark Harris wants to be seated in the U.S. House even though he hired people that allegedly collected absentee ballots so they could submit the ones that they wanted.

Has the GOP become a “group of perpetrators”?

ICE is needed in our communities

Sheriffs in three major N.C. counties refuse to support ICE’s 287(g) program in which illegal immigrants are detained before being released from jail. These immigrants are already here illegally and now they have served time in jail. Is that not breaking the laws of our country twofold?

Of the 200 arrested in a recent round-up, one-fourth already had criminal records, one-fourth have evaded deportation orders and one-fifth have pending cases. These statistics alone justify the need for ICE in our communities. These sheriffs blame ICE for “making persons in our community afraid of law enforcement.” What frightens me is not ICE, it is the elected sheriffs of Mecklenburg, Wake and Durham counties.

Where is our protection as legal citizens?

Work toward true immigration reform

I am a first generation American/Greek. My father immigrated so long ago that there weren’t really any legal restrictions. He came at his mother’s urging to protect him from trouble in his village. He was 14 and he came alone. He was generally unwelcomed, but he survived and succeeded.

I owe a belated “thank you” to those long-dead who chose to help him along the way. While today’s immigration stories are not identical, they are certainly similar, and I urge our lawmakers to support a budget agreement that approves funding for the remaining 2019 appropriations bills without undocumented immigrant detention, deportation or a border wall.

I think future generations will thank them for their help along the way while they work toward true immigration reform.

I see where Tillis is coming from

Sen. Thom Tillis has expressed concern over climate change but would not support any climate change measure that would raise prices. I can see the political wisdom in that.

However, under the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, the fee money paid by fossil fuel producers would all go to consumers as a dividend. The carbon dividend will be very much appreciated. The Green New Deal expresses honest concern, while the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act presents a solution.

We need more Alzheimer’s research

This outstanding article establishes how remarkable Carl Scheer was in setting a standard for how executives in professional sports should behave as well as how a loving family and friends deal with dementia.

I commend Bob Scheer and his family for having the fortitude to make public this story because not only does it set an example of how best to care for a sick family member but also brings great attention to the essential need for much more basic and clinical research into diseases that correlate with aging. Even during just the past two weeks, medical researchers identified relationships between failure to floss and Alzheimer’s and the presence of an appendix and Parkinson’s.

We need much more research in these fields.