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Salvation Army says thanks

To the editor:

The Halifax County/South Boston Chapter of the Salvation Army is thankful and grateful to the citizens of Halifax County and bell ringers for donations of time and dollars so generously given during Christmas of 2011.

As you know, many families and individuals in our community are in need of help due to a variety of factors not of their making.  While all of us are susceptible to hard times, children and the elderly are the most at risk and make up the majority of persons served.  With the loving support of people like you, many of the families and individuals in need can be helped.

A special thank you to Wal-Mart for allowing the Salvation Army to use their store for such a worthwhile purpose and the bell ringers, churches and organizations that gave of their time to raise over $15,000.

They are Judy Scott and members of Mount Laurel United Methodist Church, Marvis Phillips and members of McCanless Memorial Methodist Church, Peg Anderson, Kathy Andrews, Sue Bailey and Jean Bainbridge, Don Bagwell, W.W. “Ted” Bennett, Meg and Kate Bane, Diane Brown, Anne Caldwell, Darlene Carr, Chris and the Rev. Gary Butterworth, Larry Clay and Anita Quinn, Kevin Chandler of SSCSB, Bill and Jane Confroy, Tim and Laura Confroy, Hazel Boyd, Arlene Dailey, Jim Davis, Johnny Davis, Harvey Dillard, Rucker Eggleston, Holt Evans, John Farrington, Dan Faulkner, Laurietta Faulkner, Dr. Joe and Debbie Ferguson, Mark Foster, Sam Golightly, Maryland Goode, Edna Guthrie, Kim Harlow, Carol Hollis, Hollis Jennings, Joanie Layman, Jennifer Lacks, Larry Lacks, Tiffany Leath, Mrs. J. Lenzen and Eric Lenzen, Russ Lindley, Andrew Logan, Sylvia Lovelace of HCDSS, Andy Lowe, David and Tracy Martin, Larry Mayfield and D. Medley of SSCSB, Jimmy Medley, Mathew McCargo, Judy McCauey, Nancy McCormick, Bill and Elizabeth McLaughlin, Eva and Kiki McLaughlin, Tucker McLaughlin, Dick Moore, Jimmy Moore, Marcia Mosby, Claudia Perkins, Leon Plaster, Carrington Powell, Sydney Puryear, Helen and Ron Reiter, Robbie Robertson, Gatha Richardson, Eddie Rogers, Erin Rudder, Jennifer Rutledge, Melanie Saunders, Faye and Ray Satterfield, Joe Simonson, Shana Smith, Wallace Terry, Dr. Johnson and Betty Willis, Rachel Warden, Jimmy Woods, Ernest Vass, Logan and Carolyn Young, Al V. Zimmerman III.

Thank you again, and we look forward to your continued support.

Sincerely,

Bill Confroy

Halifax

No consolation

To the editor:

A well-known philosopher once said, “Explanations are for the mental masses.”

This is what came to mind when I read VUI’s most recent propaganda release, “We’re committed to protecting water quality.”

Why does VUI feel the need to continue to explain themselves, if in fact uranium mining would be as safe and innocuous as they claim?

If uranium mining had ever been safe anywhere, which it has not, they wouldn’t feel such a desperate need to explain just how safe “their” mine would be.

What they have presented is a pretty drawing of a disaster waiting to happen. A “containment cell” constructed just like your local landfill, only instead of household garbage, it contains radioactive waste.

A nice concept, but one whose reliability over the course of “1,000 years” is indeed doubtful.

The truly frightening part is the sentence that reads, “Covering tailings material with water during operations...”  Where do they imagine all that water will end up?  Water containing not only radioactive material, but a host of other toxins as well?  And how do they know for certain that an earthquake could not crack that containment cell open like an egg, or that a hurricane would not dump enough water on Coles Hill to cause those cells to become so saturated that they leak their contents into the groundwater surrounding them?

The truth is that VUI has no real idea how these cells will perform over time. No amount of “regulations” would prevent such naturally occurring catastrophies.

VUI is putting their faith in an unknown, and they expect the rest of us here in Southside to do the same.

Like the builders of the Titanic, VUI wants to take us for a ride on their “unsinkable” ship.  And we all know how many of those have ever been built.  None. Zero.  The same as the number of “safe” uranium mines that have ever been.

VUI can show us all the cute diagrams they want, but they can never truthfully say what will happen over the course of the next thousand years, or even the next five minutes.

The risks posed by uranium mining in Southside far outweigh whatever fleeting benefits it might present.  VUI’s  cheerleading ads are no consolation to those of us who stand to lose everything and gain nothing from uranium.

Jesse Andrews

Halifax

Congratulations

To the editor:

Mental Health America of Halifax County would like to congratulate Matthew McCargo and Brad Ballou on their community service awards.

It has been our pleasure to work with both Matthew and Brad on various community projects. In doing so we have witnessed first hand their devotion to our community and their superior leadership skills.

They both work tirelessly to improve the quality of life for our citizens, especially the youth of our county.  They are always willing to help and have been valuable supporters of Mental Health America of Halifax County.

We join the Halifax County Business and Professional Council in commending Matthew and Brad on their community service.

Sincerely,

Irene J. Gravitt

Executive Director

Mental Health America of Halifax County

Enough is enough

To the editor:

Anyone who has watched any local television stations over the past week has noticed campaign ads to re-elect President Obama.

It seems our president has become Candidate Obama and is turning his attention to being re-elected rather than concentrating his full attention to the matters of our country.

This is a fallacy of the U.S. Constitution in which the founding fathers envisioned a four-year term for the President of the United States. After two and a half years, the president again becomes a candidate if he or she is in the first term in office. And let’s face it, our nation deserves and needs the president’s full attention.

I have heard of a possible solution to this problem (I believe it came from Republican Candidate Ron Paul) that would solve everything.

The president would be elected for one six-year term in office and would not be permitted to seek re-election. Once serving for one six-year term, the former president would not be allowed to seek the office of president again in the future (such as Grover Cleveland, who served two non-consecutive terms as president).

That way, the president would be a full-time president and not a part-time president and part-time candidate. Problem solved!

Why are re-election ads popping up now? Simple…the Democrats are running scared. You know the Democrats…they’re the ones who like to tax folks who work and give it to those who don’t.

I’m not talking about Americans who are too sick or too old to work…I’m talking about those who just do not want to work and want the government to take care of them.

As I have said before, the welfare system was created to serve as a temporary helping hand…it was not created to be a way of life.

I’m tired of Democrats reaching into my pocket and yours and giving everything to those who hold out their hands for government handouts because they don’t want to work.

America is not a welfare state…but the Democrats are leading us to that end.

It’s time American taxpayers took back the country.

Enough is enough!

Sonny Riddle

South Boston