|
|
|
Last Updated: Jul 10, 2008 - 12:32:05 PM |
An Open Letter of Thanks
To the Community:
I want to thank the person who turned in the diamond and tsavorite ring to the Customer Service Counter of the Iron Bridge Wal-Mart store on April 27. It was several hours after leaving the store that I realized my ring was missing. After searching the house, I went to the last place I remember seeing my ring. I retraced my steps in the Garden Department and didn’t find the ring; I went to the Customer Service Counter and asked if anyone had turned in a ring with diamond and green stones. The clerk checked the lost and found cabinet and handed me my ring. They had no idea who had turned in the ring, so I couldn’t contact them personally, but I want to express my deepest thanks to that very honest person. You could have very easily put the ring in your pocket and no one would have known, but since you didn’t I was able to have the ring that my husband gave me on our 25th wedding anniversary 15 years ago. Again, THANK YOU.
Gail King
The Disappearing Dad
To the Editor:
In the final analysis, a man leaves only two things to this world, his children and his country. Today’s dads have chosen to defend neither. We utter not a word as public education teaches our children the hope and glory of communism and filth and shame of America. We watch in silence as our country is raped and dismembered by politicians and bureaucrats for their gain. We tout the virtues and accomplishments of a past America as if we were somehow a part of it. No, that was a time when there were still men in this country, real daddies. It’s Dad’s, not Mom’s, responsibility to preserve America’s heritage as it was preserved for us, but today Dad is conspicuously absent from that American scene.
Lee Pipes
Percentage Too High on C-Sections
To the Editor:
Your moms-to-be story today had a positive and joyful tone. I noted that the mother-to-be had been scheduled for a C-section, and I assumed that there was a medical reason for that because of the mention of bed rest.
It worries me that C-sections now account for 30% of new babies. On the one hand, C-sections are a wonderful emergency medicine tool to save the life of a mother or a new baby. On the other hand, I think that if 30% of women were really not capable of safe childbirth, the human race would have gone extinct long ago.
I can imagine the responses to this letter. How about “I love it when a man explains about birth”? Or maybe “I would like to see you birth a baby.” Or perhaps “Why are you looking for something dark in a happy story?”
Granted, that childbirth is the hardest and bravest thing that women do. Granted, that C-sections can and do save lives. Granted. I can be negative. But C-sections can sometimes be motivated by a doctor’s desire to avoid a malpractice suit or a parent’s desire to time a birth, and those reasons are not sufficient.
Chris Wiegard
Affordable Housing for the Middle Class
To the Editor:
I wasn’t surprised that Ms. Shefers commented on my letter to the editor; after all, she was one of the readers who chastised me in the past; and yes, she made the famous “capitalism” quote. From the sound of her letter, she’s a proud greedy seller. She makes no bones about her house being priced so high that she references Donald Trump. But tell me something Ms. Shefers, could a school teacher afford your home? Could a fireman or a police officer afford your home? Probably not. And maybe that’s fair enough, but tell me, Ms. Shefers, where can a school teacher, fireman, or police officer truly afford a home in Chesterfield County these days – shouldn’t they be allowed to live in safe, comfortable, affordable housing in their own community? How many folks that earn the national average can afford a home these days? When I speak about affordability, I refer to that golden rule of thumb – keeping your mortgage payment (including the escrow portion) at no more than 28% of their monthly income (net income, not gross)? Please, answer the question in the next edition of the Village News – I’ll be waiting to read your answer.
I could sell my home today and probably clear around $100,000 after only living in it for almost 13 years. But even with that amount of cash, I still could not afford to purchase a larger home without exceeding that 28% rule of thumb I mentioned above. How many people today are living in homes that they can’t afford to furnish because they’re house-poor due to the mortgage payment? How many people who purchased homes in the last several years are strapped for cash?
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you better hurry up and buy a house now before prices go up again – that’s what one of the cover stories of this week’s edition of the Village News would have you believe. Of course, anyone in real estate is going to preach that nonsense. I’ll tell you why prices can’t go up any higher and must come down – because the higher they go, the more folks are shut out of ever purchasing a home of their own. Not everyone can earn six figures annually – and that’s what it takes to purchase today’s homes and stay within that golden rule of thumb.
Remember, buyers, you don’t have to settle for these outrageous prices. Think long and hard before you purchase. Is it worth it to lose your sense of financial security? Check out the local foreclosure listings; you might be surprised to see who’s in foreclosure these days. It isn’t the old, crappy house anymore – you can find at least one in many upscale neighborhoods, i.e. Rivers Bend, and almost every new development that’s gone up in the last three years has at least one. If you study them closely, you’ll realize that most of these foreclosures are on homes that were purchased in the last five years, or less. Don’t let the Greta Shefers of the world rock your financial world. You probably are thinking right about now that I earn the national average – but you’re wrong – I earn well above it, but I’m not arrogant enough to not care about what is happening to the middle class.
Julia Latimer Hicks
© Copyright by Village Publishing
Top of Page Comment
on This Article
The
Village News office is located at 4607 West Hundred Road Chester
Mailing address is PO Box 2397 Chester, VA 23831
Phone: 751-0421 Fax: 751-9155
Office hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday - Friday call ahead for
other hours.
Statement
of Journalistic Ethics
|
|
|
| Letters to the Editor: August 27, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: August 20, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: August 13, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: August 6, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: July 30, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: July 23, 2008 |
| Letters: July 16, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: July 9, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: July 2, 2008 |
| Letters to the Editor: June 25, 2008 |
Village News:
Read right 'round the world.
|
|
