The losers under Mecklenburg County’s new mask mandate? Retail workers.

Mask mandate

This time around I predict we are going to see more confrontation, more community members challenging the mask mandate. The ultimate losers? Retail workers.

Retail workers I’ve spoken to are scared about having to enforce Mecklenburg’s new mask mandate. In a market where it is already hard to find staffing, how many will quit in anticipation of a hostile work environment about to bubble over? They did not sign up to enforce local mask mandates.

I have been vaccinated and also survived COVID so my risk for serious complications is almost zero. But after further evaluation and hearing from community members, I decided I will wear a mask. Not because I agree, but because I have empathy for those who are now supposed to be the mask police.

Life for retail workers in Mecklenburg County is about to get rough. Please be kind.

Andrew Piatt, Charlotte

Makes no sense

So let me see if I understand this? The Mecklenburg County mask mandate “is essential to protect the most vulnerable and children under 12.” If I go to the supermarket where I’m in and out in under 30 minutes and the only person I am close to for more than a few minutes is the cashier, I have to wear a mask. But I can go to church with 500 or more people (including the vulnerable and children) crowded together for an hour and masks aren’t required.

To say that makes no sense is an understatement.

Benne Hutson, Charlotte

Biden’s good sense

For 20 long years the U.S. has been propping up a corrupted government in Afghanistan and training a lost cause army. Joe Biden had the good sense and courage to get the hell out.

However messy, only the military industrial complex profited from that folly. The rest of us paid the price. Until now!

Finally, “Mission Accomplished.”

James Parzino, Surf City

Biden must go

President Biden’s disastrous failure in Afghanistan results in the Taliban once again in control and our citizens there in grave danger, not to mention the potential national security threats here at home. Time for him to step down.

Tom Donna, Myrtle Beach

Unfair criticism

I agree that America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan appears to be poorly planned and Republicans are all over President Biden, but when President Trump completely abandoned the Kurds in Syria, who had heroically fought by our side for years, most Republicans were silent, as usual.

Thomas Abrams, Charlotte

Smokies parking

The writer is senior programs manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Regarding “Great Smoky Mountains to require reservations and parking fees near popular waterfall,” (Aug. 18):

The National Park Service’s new pilot program requiring parking reservations at Laurel Falls addresses a problem that has been growing for decades: national parks are facing dangerous levels of overcrowding.

As America’s most-visited national park, Great Smokies is certainly not immune.

Without this program, parking lots at Laurel Falls will continue to overflow, creating dangerous scenarios for families attempting to cross a busy roadway. While safety is the biggest concern, massive crowds also mean trail and ecosystem damage, and unhappy visitors packed onto overlooks shoulder-to-shoulder.

The pilot program at Laurel Falls is not a hurdle or barrier to visiting our beloved national parks; it’s an effort to protect them for future generations.

Jeffrey Hunter, Burnsville

Expanding fiber

The Aug. 16 article about Charlotte fiber internet expanding brought back memories of blocked streets and torn up yards, as Google, AT&T, and Spectrum all installed or upgraded their underground infrastructure in my yard in Highland Creek.

If we’re going to get serious about providing wide access to broadband, we can’t afford to install it three times. We need to come up with a means of sharing the infrastructure while still allowing competition among providers.

David Fahey, Charlotte