Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 02.02.16

Why N.C. lawmakers snub teachers

The editorial urging State House Speaker Tim Moore to adopt a goal to raise N.C. public teacher pay to the national average is both reasonable and right. After all, teachers are with our children – the people whose parents and relatives would sacrifice almost anything for their well-being.

Sadly, it’s not likely to happen as the legislature is bent on weakening public schools in favor of privately controlled education. Raising teacher pay, even in a reasonable way, would hinder that goal.

Teachers already have it pretty good

Ten percent is never modest and $47,783 is not bad for nine months work. $5,309 per month or $63,710 per year is a salary many high stress workers would love to have.

Teachers need lawmakers, not us

No one should have to write a check back to the state to pay for teachers’ salaries. The legislature can repeal future tax cuts that do not benefit middle class and working families, a tax cut that last year would have more than funded a 10 percent pay hike for teachers. Our legislature needs to fulfill its responsibility to provide a quality education to all students.

I have the same worries about Trump

Last year, I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.. I viewed an introductory film explaining Hitler’s rise to power and immediately thought, “Wow – substitute a few words and it sounds just like Trump.”

Thank you, Dana Milbank, for sharing the concerns of Holocaust survivors, who obviously feel and fear this more deeply than I do. Voters, wake up – this is NOT a road we want to go on.

What we saw at LGBTQ events

The majority of Charlotteans, if told the truth about what was happening, would NOT want large-scale LGBTQ events hosted in our city. My colleagues and I have attended multiple Gay Pride events and have witnessed photographs displaying male, full-frontal nudity in vendor booths.

Most recently, at last summer’s Pride event, a few dozen shirtless women were personally on display. Other than the tape across their nipples, they were completely bare, on Tryon Street, in broad daylight.

If expanding Charlotte’s non-discrimination ordinance is meant to benefit these guests, no thank you.

Planned Parenthood outrage is real

My outrage at the actions and attitudes of Planned Parenthood leaders is neither false nor fake. The decision of a handful of people on a grand jury in Texas does not change the facts.

Funding tens of thousands of local community and non-profit health centers would impact more lives than Planned Parenthood, and provide services more effectively.

Keep Super Bowl city selection as is

Holding the Super Bowl in the city with the best record is not only populist sentiment by Charlotte resident Stephen Gilmore (gee, which team would that be this year?), it’s also entirely impractical.

The Super Bowl might be the most expensive and logistically complicated traveling circus in the world. Host cities are chosen four years in advance and must meet a laundry list of requirements.

Then there’s the weather. Since 2003, the New England Patriots would have hosted no less than four Super Bowls in February. The NFL would rather not roll the dice on the elements that often.

A request from a Panthers’ fan

Please give us a dome,

Where the Panthers can roam,

And the fans can stay comfy and dry.

Getting soaked to the skin,

In an icy cold wind,

Is no way for us old fans to die!

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 02.02.16."