VOICE OF THE PEOPLE | Feb. 2, 2010

The Herald

City manager doesn’t need bonus

In this economy, I don’t think the city should be giving the city manager a 4.2 percent bonus or a raise. He shouldn’t get another raise for at least two or three more years, and our police officers and firefighters, who put their lives on the line for us, should be getting raises and bonuses.

We should be donating money to help the children who leave school on Friday and don’t have much to eat over the weekend. The “Back the Pack” program has helped a lot!

And there are many soup kitchens that need money.

I see the city wasting a lot of money for things Rock Hill doesn’t need. It’s time for the mayor and City Council members to step up, stop, think and say no!

Thanks, Jim Reno and Kevin Sutton, who voted against this arrangement. Please spend our money in different ways.

No more bonuses or raises!

Betty Pressley

Rock Hill

Sovereignty resolution protects freedom

As you may or may not know, the South Carolina House of Representatives has adopted a state sovereignty resolution, and of course this spells out things pretty clearly to the new administration in Washington. At present, lawmakers in 20 states are pushing to regain their state sovereignty from the United States government under the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution.

I firmly believe that there will be more states in the near future that will follow suit, and of course this is bothering the socialistic cronies in Washington. Isn’t it a shame that socialism ran for president and became president? As Joe Biden told ABC News, “Opportunity presents itself in the middle of a crisis.” Yes and the Obama administration is definitely using the current crisis to facilitate the reconstruction of our nation, which includes the imposition of socialized medicine and central control over our entire economy.

It was also brought to my attention recently that the General Assembly declares that “the people of this state have sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign and independent state, and shall exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction and right pertaining thereto, which is not expressly delegated by them to the United States of America in the Congress assembled.”

My question to all America is: Will this administration continue to provoke us to justify martial law on their part? The answer is positively yes! They are in a good position to do so, and they know that, and of course Obama could take care of that Constitution he finds so appalling.

We are the people of the United States and we must stand together or our country will be gone, as we once knew it to be. Freedom and justice for all!

The Rev. Andrew E. Ranhosky

Chester

Government should let charity do its job

Leonard Pitts recent column “Do conservatives have a conscience” was as dimwitted as anything I have ever read. The short answer to Pitts’ question is a resounding, yes! Pat Robertson’s comment that the earthquake was God's judgment on Haiti may have been insensitive, but was no worse than “progressive” Danny Glover’s that it was the earth’s response to the lack of action taken at the Global Warming Conference in Copenhagen. I would match Robertson’s history of charitable relief to Glover’s any time.

Progressives such as Pitts and Glover who support an expanding role for government welfare over private charities fail to recognize the truth in the adage, “Feed a man a fish and you feed him for one day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Implied in that saying is that when you feed him one day you must keep feeding him. The result is dependency and loss of incentive. By its nature, government can provide fish, but does a poor job of teaching someone to fish. Their “one size fits all” approach has little regard to individual circumstances and abilities.

Government has a valid role in providing disaster relief, but should limit providing welfare in other areas. Privately funded organizations are much better equipped to handle this kind of assistance and would do more if government would get out of the way. This could be done by giving tax credit for charitable donations rather than tax deductions.