VOICE OF THE PEOPLE | July 27

Moon landing produced some indelible memories

Watching the 40th anniversary footage of the 1969 landing on the moon on the History Channel and reading the stories in The Herald brought back great memories. On that July 20 summer day, at age 11, my day had been filled with playing barefoot in the woods, walking the creek and riding a few pines behind our house in the Rock Hill neighborhood of Swann Meadows. That night we packed up for the 20-minute ride into the “city” to watch the moon landing at my uncle's house, as he had the big TV.

The grainy images were in black and white but my memories are in vivid color. I had long admired my dad, a chivalrous, Southern ex-Marine, but that night, seeing his excitement and pure pride, made a lasting impact on me. Although it was Walter Cronkite's voice detailing the first steps, it was my dad in the background with flashbacks to the Gemini and Mercury Astronauts who the set the stage for this world-changing event.

Shepard, Glenn, White, Grissom and Chaffee and others graduated from planes to jets to become astronauts, and some even gave their live. It was the hundreds of engineers and, yes, even those onetime evil Axis, German rocket scientists, now rehabilitated as NASA employees who made this all possible.

As we loaded up well after 1 a.m. for our drive home, I lay in the back window of our 1963 Chevy Impala SS and watched as the moon followed us home. I had come a long way from the Jetsons and Jonny Quest, and now knew that if you believed and worked hard, anything was possible.

President Kennedy's words from Sept. 12, 1962, rang true: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

I watched the footage that made me so proud to be an American in 1969 and, as my 10-year-old son watched with me, maybe a little of the memories and pride I shared will rub off on him — just as my dad and his shining example impacted me.

Roddy Broadnax

Charlotte

Concrete barrier was a good idea

The newly installed barrier on Mount Gallant Road was long overdue. As someone who lives in this development, I have seen first-hand how fast some people drive down Fieldcrest Drive. The speed limit is 25 mph, not 50. It was only a matter of time before some child got run over by people cutting through to save a few minutes on their commute.

It's funny that someone should mention school bus stops because there are two of them on Fieldcrest Road. But to suggest ways to get around this only emphasizes the problem. Maybe the light could be made to stay green longer to help. Or maybe the right-turn lane should have been put in like it was supposed to before Walgreens was built.

I think the answer would be to more to add another left-hand turn lane to help alleviate the problem. I don't like the fact that they have added yet another road to get to Food Lion, but it is what it is. At times, pulling out onto Fieldcrest was hazardous at best, just to have someone fly up behind you. At one point, we wanted to have speed bumps installed to help the speeding problems. Think for a moment how you would like people cutting through your neighborhood at speeds far too fast with children playing or waiting on a school bus. Just try leaving a little earlier, not suggesting cutting through parking lots or other developments just to save some time.

Paul Church

Rock Hill

Time has come to reform health care

I have never before written a lettler to the editor but I feel compelled to do so due to the seriousness and immediacy of the health care issue under discussion in Washington. I strongly urge all of our legislators to come together in a spirit of bipartisanship and a willingness to compromise to forge health care legislation that embodies the principles of choice, cost reduction, quality and affordability. Adherence to these principles will require courage, as there will be critics galore when these principles are embodied in legislation.

Time is short. Action must be taken now while there are still options available. Don't wait until health care becomes such a crisis that draconian measures would have to be implemented. Remember, in three years, the youngest of the baby boomers turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare.

Legislators, please cast away the political ties that bind and blind, and pass appropriate legislation embodying the principles mentioned above.

Eileen Misek

Fort Mill