Letters: I deliver your paper every day. Thank you for your loyalty.

I starting delivering papers in 1996. I have had many customers over the years. Some of you, I know by name. Some by the curve of your driveway, the distinctive shape of your mailbox or the bumper stickers on your cars. Some of you I sit next to at church, discuss the weather at the coffee shop or share pleasantries while you walk your faithful dog long before the sunrise. Many of you, all I know, is that you read the Wall Street Journal or that you have been a loyal N&O customer for many years. Although I may not know you personally, I do feel a sense of kinship as I drive by your homes night after night, year after year. I find comfort in the traditional holiday decorations that adorn your homes or observing the seasons of your landscapes as your daffodils change to roses, leaf covered sidewalks make way for shrubbery sprinkled with snowflakes.

I can tell when the kids are home from college— driveways full of cars, windows warmed by light. I have discovered who likes their paper by 4:30 a.m., who needs it tossed on the porch and who has a special table outside their door just waiting for the news. Through cards and letters I have learned whose breakfast is just not complete without their morning headlines or how much they enjoy the the crinkle of the newspaper as they turn the page to complete the puzzle or check on a score.

I have been doing this a long time. It makes me giggle that even at my advanced age many of you refer to me as the paper girl! Thank you for being such loyal, kind and thoughtful customers.

Paula Malek

Hillsborough

Regulate the scooters

Since the launch of Bird electric scooters, our downtown streets and sidewalks have been filled with riders who show little concern for their safety or others. It is common to see these scooters in use with no helmet or on sidewalks. Furthermore, riders regularly violate major traffic laws. I have observed four people run red lights, and three people drive the wrong direction down a one-way street in last few weeks.

Instead of working with the city to launch scooters in Raleigh, which would have allowed time to prepare from an education and enforcement perspective, Bird irresponsibly distributed the scooters with no warning. This was a deliberate effort to establish a fan base, before the city could make any decisions on the rules involved. The launch video for Bird even shows a user riding around on sidewalks with no helmet. Scooter companies that launch in the manner that Bird did, should be held financially accountable, because they created the problem with their irresponsible marketing strategy.

Riders of these scooters need to follow traffic laws and those who do not should be held accountable.

City Council needs to take action with the riders and scooter companies.

Dorian Black

Raleigh

Not in California

Regarding Ned Barnett’s “NC sheriffs are rejecting a crackdown on immigrants,” (Nov. 10), note that Wake County is not in California. Our county is cooperative with the federal government.

1483 illegal immigrants deported is a good thing for your side and our side. If the new sheriff does not support all federal programs then he should be impeached. If the local American Civil Liberties Union supports treasonous action, then it should be run out of town.

Robert H Probert

Raleigh

Turkey pardons

While President Trump is pardoning two turkeys for Thanksgiving, every one of us can exercise that same presidential power by choosing a non-violent Thanksgiving observance.

And here are some other good reasons:

• You can brag about pardoning a turkey - like Trump (or not).
• Your sensible vegetarian kid won’t have to boycott the family dinner.
  
  
• Plant-based holiday roasts don’t have to carry government warning labels.
  
  
• You won’t have to call Poultry Hotline to keep your family out of the hospital.
  
  
• Your body will appreciate a holiday from the fat, cholesterol, and hormones.
  
  
• You won’t sweat the environment and food resources devastation guilt trip.
  
  
• You won’t spend a sleepless night wondering how the turkey lived and died.
  
  

Seriously, this Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health, and happiness with a life-affirming, cruelty-free feast of plant-based holiday roast, vegetables, fruits, and grains.

Our own dinner will feature a store-bought, plant-based holiday roast, mashed potatoes, stuffed squash, candied yams, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. An internet search on “vegetarian Thanksgiving” is getting us more recipes than we could possibly use.

Rudy Shultz

Raleigh