Other views

By Staff
City should equip another truck
Editor,
I don't understand the comment Mr. Knight made about Hartselle's fire department becoming an ambulance service.
I have been in the fire and rescue service for around 13 years now. And the cost of $1000 is cheap to equip a truck with life saving equipment.
The better you can equip your firemen, the better response and life saving ability they will have.
There is nothing worse than showing up at a wreck or fire at a home and needing first response equipment and not having it.
Three to 5 minutes can make a lot of difference. Equipping one more truck in station No.2 for a $1000 is worth that.
Most of you small county fire departments have even that. That is not making your fire department an ambulance service.
Most fireman don't want to be an ambulance service but would love to have more and better equipment to do the job that everyone in their nice warm homes safe from harm would like them to do.
I am a fire fighter and first responder and live in the city of Hartselle.
I'm not with your fine fire department but I know they are one of the best. So why not give them the equipment they need to save lives. $1000 is little to spent for a loved one's life.
Tony Evans
Hartselle
Charter should have local number
Editor:
On a recent Saturday afternoon, I had the unfortunate luck of my cable being turned off. I saw the Charter truck outside but I was about to leave for my grandson's basketball game so I did not have my TV on. When I came home later, I went to turn on my TV and found that my cable was off. I knew that my payment had been received so I knew I had not been cut off for that reason.
I tried to call the number in the phone book listed for Charter. Guess what? That number has been changed to an 800 number and you do not get to talk to anyone there either.
It is automated and when you push the number sign to report an outage, you get a recording telling you there is trouble all over the state but you still do not get to talk to anyone.
I called the mayor and he had no other number to reach anyone either. I figured I was going to have to do without cable until Tuesday because Monday was a holiday.
I called my daughter and luckily she knew someone who might could help. Not long after she had called her "special source," someone came out and turned my cable back on.
I just wonder how we can pay so much for cable and get such poor service. If you don't have the right source, how long do you have to go without cable and no one to call and talk about it? I think this needs to be checked into with Charter and I also think if someone has a franchise in this town, there needs to be a contact number to call.
Vida M. Ray
Hartselle
Immigration
problems no better
Editor,
While our military looks for phantom terrorists in Afghanistan, let's take a look at improvements that have been made to homeland security since the 9-11 attacks:
Have all suspicious immigrants of Middle Eastern decent been rounded up and deported as part of a general crackdown on illegal immigration?
No. The FBI is investigating cross burnings and racial profiling while the CIA looks for 80 year old Germans who fought for Hitler during WWII.
Have our borders been secured with a massive increase in the border patrol, ably assisted by the National Guard?
No. This would employ the Reserves full-time and stimulate our economy. They would spend their money at home.
Was an immediate moratorium imposed on all immigration?
No. Dereliction of duty at the highest levels of government has enabled easy access for unholy war assassins to enter this country.
Are airlines now safer than before?
No. The same incompetent security system that allowed 9-11 hijackings continues in place, manned by high school dropouts and even non-citizen immigrants who now enjoy civil service status and higher pay.
I had a problem with this in, of all places, Washington, D.C. I didn't know what they wanted me to do because they didn't speak a word of English.
Has foreign aid been withheld from countries believed to be aiding our enemies?
No. President Bush recently announced he was going to increase aid by 50 percent, but only to countries that promise to be our friend. Does money really buy friendship?
The U.S. immigrant population is now 31 million, but the number of illegal aliens here is around 10 million.
The Democrats support this because they want to keep large immigrant neighborhoods speaking a foreign language so they can more easily be instructed how to vote.
The public school lobby supports it because it wants to maintain the jobs of its foreign language bureaucracy.
Republican businessmen are content with this system because it provides a steady stream of cheap labor.
I hope all immigrants realize that they can not become Americans unless they speak English.
Phil McCutcheon
Hartselle