Educate immigrant children among us

Thank you for publishing Eunice Brock's inspiring article in The Chapel Hill News ("Educate all state's residents," March 12).

It seems madness to me to deny higher education to immigrant children growing up in our own communities while at the same time aggressively recruiting people from other countries to fill positions that require a higher education.

Let's educate the people who are here, native and immigrant, and stop raiding other countries of their educated people. -- Heiderose Kober, Efland

Country has left its democratic roots

When countries act in collusion to merge their corporations and government to dictate sociology, it is usually known as socialism.

I can remember when people such as Ralph Nader would make public argument in the late 1960s and early '70s against mutual associations using political attacks against people in America that resulted in those people not being able to rent property, gain employment or live in their own country without intimidation and constant harassment.

Forcing people into starvation, prisons and programs of psychology has been the foundation of communism for centuries. What's resulted from this act of collusion is that these people in America being attacked under this program of government have no human rights.

Surely you can't think it's the corporations rights to hold secret trails and maliciously prosecute people for things that aren't even true so they can enhance and advocate their own political and financial agendas. Under our country's laws, this kind of discourse against our citizens would be illegal and unconstitutional, but what we live under in America is anarchy and it hardly resembles its democratic roots. -- Richard Hellstrom, Lexington, Ky.

Political cesspool drives some away

As I watch the constant news coverage of the 2008 presidential race, I can't help but wonder why anyone would want to run for office in this country.

I can't imagine why anyone decent with a real desire to actually fix the problems facing this nation would want to step into our political cesspool. Why would anyone want to go through the microscopic scrutiny of a national press frothing at the mouth for the next juicy bit of politically harmful nonsense found on a candidate, and then chew on it until their analysis of it becomes more exploitive and hurtful than the issue itself?

News people would like us to believe they are on a quest for the truth, but in reality it looks like they are just feeding the "inquirer mentality" of the masses. In between dealing with a press that is just is likely to bite you as lick you, you have to deal with a political opponent that wants the press to stay focused on you because the longer they stay snapping at your heels the longer their nonsense goes unnoticed.

In the surreal world of politics, where kissing backside is an art form, you must wait your turn for political advancement. The black guy can't just cut in front of the white woman even if he arrived there first, and no one can reject, denounce or apologize for something strong or often enough. We must try to make every constituent group happy. Leaving even one liberal crying in their non-fat latte just wouldn't be civilized.

The truth is Democrats need to stop being a bunch of babies and open their eyes because they may have someone they can pin their hopes on, someone who is living proof the American dream was once within range for many and someone who believes he can put it back within reach of a great many more. -- Kim Morrison, Homosassa, Fla.

Wandering child brought out the best

On the evening of March 25, one of our 2-year-old twin boys, Zander, "escaped" from the house and wandered into the woods in southern Orange County.

Zander has autism, and despite our best efforts at safety and containment, he found a way to sneak by us for one of his favorite activities -- walking in the woods. After a quick, fruitless search in the direction that he usually travels, we wasted no time in calling emergency services via 911.

I want to publicly thank the men and women who responded from our local agencies. Their response was amazing. In about an hour, our neighborhood was flooded with at least 40 professionals from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, fire department, Highway Patrol, EMS and volunteers. They established command centers, controlled traffic, searched our home, brought in scent dogs, deployed helicopters and established a search plan.

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass happened to be out of town, but he was in touch with his teams and prepared to return immediately if needed.

In looking back on that evening, it is astounding to see how rapidly and effectively our local teams can be deployed. The sheriff's department also made excellent decisions in using the communications network and media resources. Because of the reverse 911 messages, some nearby residents, Ms. Smith-Miller and her son, heard about Zander and went outside and found him unhurt in the woods.

Our son was recovered because of these caring volunteers and the total search plan executed under the direction of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. I want to give special thanks to Lt. Walker, Capt. Blackwood, Investigator Painter, and Lt. Deal, who were our primary contacts throughout the evening.

I want Orange County residents to know that we can all be comforted by the skill and commitment that exists in our local services. -- Rick McGee, Chapel Hill

Reader questions UNC Hospitals fees

Although at 83 years of age, I am in reasonably good health. My personal physician, a member of the UNC Healthcare conglomerate, conducts routine blood work every three months.

With Medicare and private health insurance taking care of most of the costs, I have not paid them much attention. But Medicare summary notices just received caught my eye: One revealed that my routine blood work performed by UNC Hospitals on Dec. 18, 2007, was billed to Medicare in the amount of $614. A second summary notice reported a charge by UNC Hospitals of $190 for a urinalysis on Jan. 2 to determine if I had a bladder infection.

Another family member who uses a private physician practicing with a reputable group of internists in Chapel Hill had charges to Medicare for blood work and urinalysis last August totaling $278. This still seems high, but the tab at UNC Hospitals is almost three times that amount. There may be different tests that involve different costs, of course, but the report from the hospital is a page and a half; while that from the private practitioner usually runs to four pages.

I suspect that the difference is that the charges by UNC Hospitals have to provide for the salaries -- with last year's bonuses now counted as salary after public protest -- for its CEO and senior administrative staff. And I worry about what such charges do to the ever-increasing costs of health insurance, to the costs sustained by Medicare and to the budgets of the uninsured. -- Junius A. Davis, Chapel Hill

Trash is dangerous as well as unsightly

We were playing around a creek in our neighborhood recently, and we found lots of trash. In one particular place, we found glass -- lots and lot of glass. This included a light bulb, which really worried us because light bulbs have mercury. Glass wasn't the only trash we found. We also found aluminum cans, cups, plastic bottles and take-out boxes -- the list keeps going on. So we decided to clean up the creek and pick up the trash.

Not only is the trash ugly, but it could really hurt someone, animals and people alike. We should know because when one of us (Hope) picked up a piece of partly buried glass, it cut off part of her fingernail and she started bleeding.

So, people, please, PLEASE, pick up your trash (and if you see broken glass, we would advise wearing gloves when you pick it up). -- Mia (age 6) and Hope (age 12) Pungello and Willa (age 10) Papanikolas, Chapel Hill

Article's subject has many ancestors

I am the oldest grandchild of James Nunn. And I enjoyed reading the article, "The days of ash cakes and locust beer" (James Nunn story), in your paper written by Harriet King in the Feb. 17 edition.

Three of his children are still living and reside in the surrounding areas of Chapel Hill. James Nunn Jr. lives just outside of Chapel Hill; Phyllis Marie Nunn Watlington in Durham and William Lewis Nunn in Moncure. My mother, Alma Nunn Jones, died in 2001 and my uncle Charles Nunn died in 2002. My grandmother, Ella Farrow Nunn, died in 1988 at the age of 80.

Most of his 25 grandchildren live in the Chapel Hill-Durham area and between us we have 47 children and they (the 47) have about 23 children.

My grandfather (and grandmother) left us an incredible legacy of faith in God, love of family, good morals, values and the inspiration that anything is possible. Even though my grandfather only had a third-grade education, he was a hard worker and he passed on that kind of work ethic to us. When you think that he was born only 20 years after the abolition of slavery, he was an incredible man to have a business and a large farm during those times.

Two of my grandsons (second- and fourth-graders at Pearsontown Elementary School in Durham) have to write about famous African-Americans for Black History month. Before I knew about your article, I suggested that they write about their great-great-grandfather; and I told them about the book that Dr. Towle had written. In fact, I still have my signed copy of the book. By the way, we called him Papa (Pa-pa, the "a" is flat like the "a" in apple).

Thank you for the featuring this article on my grandfather, James Nunn, a "unique North Carolinian." -- Belinda L. Jones, Chapel Hill

Kansan recalls Carolina connections

With Kansas facing North Carolina in the Final Four, I thought it timely that I provide a little basketball trivia that you won't find in Sports Illustrated.

I can't pin down the year, but when I was an air route traffic controller in Kansas City, I would drive to my hometown Topeka on weekends to see my folks. Mother always insisted that I meet "this nice young man" who lived several doors from us on Boswell Street. I was more interested in meeting some nice young girl, so I never got around to doing so.

Fast-forward to the late or mid 1980s. It occurred to me while I was attending an Elder Hostel jazz week at UNC that I would be able to squeeze in a few minutes to finally meet this "young man." I found the Dean Smith Center and was directed to the waiting room outside his office. When Dean entered, we sat down and I told him the story about my not having the time to meet him at his home in Topeka. Dean graciously accepted my excuse. He also recalled that his mother had sung in my father's Presbyterian church choir.

While chatting, Roy Williams walked in and Dean introduced me to his assistant for some 10 seasons.

As an aside, one of my Topeka school buddies, Robert Moore, lived on Boswell, several blocks north of the two Smith families. He and his wife, Ellie, are enjoying their retirement years in Chapel Hill. One more aside: Bob is a proud Jayhawker!

Although I never went to Kansas, in 1936 during the Kansas relays I had a chance to meet and get the autograph of Dr. James Naismith. I have it framed with an autographed photo I took of Michael Jordan, whom I seem to recall had an attachment to the Tar Heels. -- William H. Smith, Palm Desert, Calif.