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Opinion

Lowry’s lesson


We published a story on Jan. 22 about a survey that concluded that Robeson County ranked No. 1 in North Carolina in poverty and, perhaps even more distressing, No. 80 out of about 3,200 counties in the United States. We considered an accompanying editorial, but balked, figuring enough of the bad news for that day. But a story that was published yesterday on Terry Lowry, a surgeon at the Heart Center that is managed by Duke Medicine and is...
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Romney’s take on US poverty
Although Mitt Romney has yet to win a majority in a Republican primary, he won big in Florida. After he and the pro-Romney super PACs flooded the airwaves with millions of dollars’ worth of ads in a state where nearly half the homeowners are under water, he talked about who he wants to represent. “We will hear from the Democrat Party the plight of the poor, and there’s no question, it’s not good being poor,” he told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien. “Yo...
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Straightening

the record


We made a little bit of a mess last week, and feel obliged to tidy it up. While reporting on the county Board of Commissioners retreat, we highlighted a comment by Commissioner David Edge that, while accurate, was easily taken out of context. The result has been that Edge has come under attack by what we consider the most determined of advocates, people who love animals and work tirelessly to ensure they do not suffer needlessly at the hand...
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Blame yourself, not Paula Deen
Celebrity chef Paula Deen lustily massages salt into “a mighty fat hog” as the dogs circle the cooking island. For the yams, “I’m only using half a stick of butter,” she drawls before breaking into high laughter. Deen’s popular Food Network show does Southern cooking with no brakes on the pork fat, butter, sugar or other dietarily incorrect ingredients. Deen is plenty of woman in a land of plenty, and it has come as little surprise that she...
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Jonnie Lewis
Your View
“No. Isn’t that why the state of North Carolina has one of the highest gas taxes in the U.S. today?” Joseph R. Hernandez St. Pauls “No. Everyone who travels 95 help with the wear and tear of the interstate so everyone that travels the road should help pay for the improvement with a toll both. It also depends on where you put the toll both and N.C. already has some of the best roads than any other state. Also, that is what state money is...
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Big

problem


One out of three adults in this country is obese, and about one in six of our children is as well. That adds up to more than 90 million Americans who are risking their health. But if you are starving for good news, the percentages of obese Americans are unchanged since 2003. So while Americans aren’t getting any fatter, they aren’t getting any skinnier. The average American adult is an inch taller than in the 1960s, but more than 20 pound...
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Your view
“No, because sometimes wherever you stay may be closer to the school house. Say you stay right beside the school house but you could also be out-of-district. I wouldn’t want to have to travel across town when the school is right beside my house.” Nicole Goins Fairmont “No, I don’t think there should be a limit, simply because kids should be accepted anywhere they want to go to school. They may want to go for to be with their friends tha...
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Perdue’s

gambit


It might be a bit early in the game for a Hail Mary, but Gov. Bev Perdue’s surprise decision earlier this week to propose an increase in the sales tax as a way to boost education suggests that she understands the challenge of being re-elected to a second term. Perdue said she will include in her 2012 budget an increase of three quarters of a cent in the sales tax, which would boost it from 6.75 percent to 7.5 percent, costing the average ho...
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Your View
No, I don’t recycle. I am sure when they force the issue in my area then I will. I have nothing against it and I think is a great thing. Renee Hunsinger White Oak I do recycle. I never throw out clothes, shoes, accessories. They can be passed on to others, such as Good Will, the homeless shelters and such. My family moved here from Jacksonville N.C. back in 2000 and we had to recycle even back then, so it sort of just kept going on here...
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A small

price to pay


It seems unfathomable that North Carolina once had a program that called for the forcible sterilization of people who were considered “feeble-minded,” mostly epileptics, the mentally handicapped and poor black women. This week, a special task force put a price on that government-sanctioned abomination — $50,000 for each person who was sterilized, a figure that could add up to as much as $100 million for the state. The good bet is that money...
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Answering

that call


What if your 911 call went unanswered? What if there was no one to protect you should a burglar invade your home, to help you escape from the upstairs of a burning building, to administer first aid to your injuries following a traffic accident? Contemplate that for a second, and if it doesn’t scare you, it should. In Robeson County, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of first responders — police, deputies, paramedics and firefighter...
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Your View
Yes, My resolution this year is for me and my family to attend church more often. Keli Harris Maxton Yes, to read the Bible all the way through I want to be more knowledgeable. I think its very important as a Christian to know the book of God as a reference to our daily lives Holly Smith Fairmont Yes, I did make a new years resolution and it was to get closer to God because in the end he is all that matters. Torie Nicole Lockl...
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About time
Today’s Our View should have been written a lot sooner. Credit to the Lumberton City Council, which on Monday is expected to approve a curbside recycling program that should be operating in a few months. When it does, the city will offer the only such program in Robeson County. It’s shameful that it took so long. There are approximately 10,000 curbside recycling programs in the United States, an average of 200 a state, so it’s clear that ...
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Green

machine


Couldn’t it be cool if Robeson County could profit off a naturally occurring gas that is produced by decomposing organic material and use that money to defray future costs at the landfill for expansion and maintenance that would otherwise be subsidized by county residents and, at the same time, reduce dirty air? Robeson County’s landfill is among a handful in the state that is turning trash into cash by trapping methane gas, which happens t...
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