Snarling and snapping

Dear Editor,

Seems every time I pick up a newspaper these days someone is snarling and snapping at the heels of the Democrats.

Nothing wrong with sharing your opinion, however the Republicans aren’t exactly saints heading to glory either.

Republican Idaho Senator Larry Craig involved in a homosexual scandal in the airport bathroom, our own ex-Governor Mark Sanford hiking the Appalachian Trail, and let’s not forget Richard Nixon and Watergate, to name just a few. Now what good did that do to say that? Just made Republican supporters mad — nothing more, nothing less.

Same when you snap at the Democrats — makes Democratic supporters more determined than ever to elect their candidates.

If you really care about America, the best thing to do is do as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says.

Most of you claim to be Christians, so you should know what that verse says. If not, look it up if you really care. Do what it says and believe instead of snarling and snapping. Why not — you’re not changing things for the better with your spiteful letters other than to get your frustration out and probably the praise of your friends.

Eddie Boggs

Westminster

Dealing with addiction

Dear Editor,

I found Alex Saitta’s letter on the growing meth problem in the county to be very insightful. Alex is a problem-solver, and I think we would all be well advised to take his solution-orientated ideas seriously.

Abuse of prescription drugs is also rising, and a grave concern. Pain clinics seem to be all over — Mr. Jones or Mrs. Smith needs the drug, says they have a pain, and the prescription is written. Not only are adults abusing prescription drugs, but medicine chests in too many homes are full of these opiates, and children are often getting their hands on them.

And when people become addicted to these prescription opiates, and they no longer can get them as readily as before, many are turning to street heroin, and that is one reason for that drug’s resurgence in the country.

Shockingly, Pickens County is one of the leaders in the state in drug overdose deaths. Before a problem can be solved, it first has to be recognized and accepted as a problem. And this problem is a matter of life and death.

A dialog of over-prescribing, dependence and allowing these prescription drugs to get in the wrong hands needs to be started by our elected officials, who seem oblivious to the problem.

But we as parents, siblings, friends and even children must be proactive in the lives of those we love. Do what you can, all you can, to help those you love that fight addiction.

Addiction is not a character flaw — it is the worst kind of disease, one that attacks the soul as well as the body. With faith, hard work and prayer, addiction “can” be beaten.

Visit this website for help locally, local.soberrecovery.com/Narcotics_Anonymous_Easley_SC-r1298556-Easley_SC.html.

Rick Tate

Easley

The love of money

Dear Editor,

Eight or 10 years ago, the Pickens County School Board used a loophole in the law to fund a $375 million building project. Known as the Greenville Plan, it was later made illegal by the S.C. legislature. Voters said no in a referendum, but the board did it anyway.

Well, now there is a different board, so things should be better, right? Not. They’ve blown around $2.5 million in savings to give teachers three raises and one raise to assistant principals. Then they said they would have to close three schools because there wasn’t enough money. Recently, they voted to enter into what looks like an illegal contract with the superintendent. Did the majority of the board say, “we might be wrong”? Nope. They’re defending their decision to pad the pockets of their friends while using your money and their office to do just that. Their reasoning? Somebody might go to Greenville County. Do you know how much of the roughly $100 million budget goes to salaries and benefits? About 90 percent. That leaves 10 percent for everything else.

One board member compared Alex Saitta to a leech and implied that he is an egomaniac because Saitta pointed out that the contract is probably illegal according to recent case law. Saitta has lots of human defects, but he can’t be bought, he won’t use his office or influence to do political favors for his friends, and when he votes he uses common sense to do what is beneficial for voters and the school district, i.e. students, and the education of those students. And he won’t bend or sway to coddle the good ol’ boy politicians. He’s a damn yankee who has better ethics than my fellows.

Just so all of you know, there’s much talk among the board about closing Dacusville Middle. And no, Henry Wilson is not among the guilty. He’s been a relatively pleasant surprise on a liberal board that would make Hillary Clinton look conservative. Henry, plant your feet and take a decisive stand for what is good and right and legal.

There are people in this county who swell with pride because they give underprivileged kids backpacks of food. Then they want salary increases that will tax parents deeper into poverty. Educators love quotes and sayings. Here’s one. The love of money is the root of all evil.

Jimmy Gillespie

Central

Bias and  inaccuracies

Dear Editor,

This is in reference to the “Brexit” editorial by Phil Noble in the July 6 issue.

The scope of bias and inaccuracies in Mr. Noble’s editorial are massive. First off, the organization he is affiliated with, S.C. New Democrats, is in itself inaccurate. There is nothing new about the message, the people, the tactics or the philosophy of this group compared to the Democrat Party of the last 40 years.

In his editorial, he talks about how bad the Brexit is and how it has and will destroy your investments and the economy. Well, less than one week after the article was in the paper, the Dow Jones Industrials reached record levels. He was proven 100 percent wrong in very short time.

He compared the Brexit approval voters to Republican supporters of Donald Trump and said they were old, white, rural, uneducated, poor males who are xenophobic (not his word). Well, there’s a sweeping generalization based on race, class and education. I thought that’s exactly the kind of thing a “New Democrat” would abhor. Yes, educated minority women did vote for the Brexit. Yes, of the most liberal UK voters (Green and Lib Dem) 25 percent and 30 percent respectively voted for Brexit.

Mr. Noble does not like it when people want to be independent and free. That means less government and less control for those in power, which he tries very hard to ensure, are members of the Democrat Party. The examples of why the Democrat Party should not be strongly supported are many, but since we’re talking about voting, I’ll use that example.

The Democrat Party is fiercely against voter identification laws. They use massive donations by billionaire George Soros (who became wealthy by stock market speculation and thus is “Big Wall Street”) to fund this and many other activities. President Obama worked for ACORN, which was convicted in several cases of voter fraud. Hillary Clinton is against all voter ID laws and in fact wants universal automatic registration at age 18, 20 days of early voting, and to return to the southern states having to get permission to change election laws from the federal Justice Department. All of these favor voter fraud.

Old Dominion University conducted a study on non-citizen voting in U.S. elections and found that the majority (54 percent to 80 percent, depending on the position-specific election) vote for the Democrat running. They found that Democrats have very likely won positions based on non-citizen votes. The voting irregularities extend to 2.75 million people registered to vote in more than one state and 1.8 million DEAD people registered to vote. In May 2016, CBS News reported 215 dead people voted in Los Angeles County alone.

These voting issues are illegal. This violates the Voting Rights Act. It violates the Constitution, which says only U.S. citizens have the right to vote. The Democratic Party benefits from this illegal activity, and so they protect it.

New Democrats? Hardly. The enforcers of Jim Crow laws in the 1880s and into the 1960s used them to get elected to gain power, wealth and control people. Now, the same Democratic Party uses illegal voting to win elections to gain power, wealth and control people. Nothing new about it.

Reed Severance

Pickens