12/28 Letters: We need to stop this rail project.
Go Triangle, the nebulous entity pushing rail service between UNC Chapel Hill. Duke, and N. C. Central University, has upped the ante again. What started out as a regional network to points in Orange, Durham and Wake Counties, including RDU International Airport, morphed into a Duke-UNC-NCCU connector after Wake County dropped out. Now the cost has increased again, with the proposal that tunnels be dug to accommodate the line.
The current estimate, tunnels not included, is reported to be nearly 3 billion dollars. The Feds will kick in $1.23 billion and the State $190 million, leaving only $988 million plus the interest on the debt for Durham and Orange County taxpayers to cover. UNC, Duke, and NCCU, all tax exempt institutions, will receive what benefits the project might bring at the cost of a little real estate.
The promoters of this boondoggle put elected officials on the board of directors. The thought that serving might be a conflict of interest seems not to have been an issue.
This rogue project needs to be stopped in its tracks.
Robert L. Porreca
Hillsborough
Right move
Sixteen years in Vietnam, 17 years in Afghanistan, 13-plus years in Iraq not counting Yemen, Syria and elsewhere. What have they in common? Undeclared wars with no strategic interest and no clear objectives. The result of the powerful influence of the same military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about.
Military generals, by their training, have never seen a war that they couldn’t justify. Common sense says that our troops don’t need to be sacrificed in such a manner, and President Trump is finally moving to rectify this deplorable situation. We must note how unanimously the Establishment has fallen into line with this liberal foreign and military policy of interventionism: big business, both parties and the U.S. State Department.
Let’s stop worrying about the Iranians, Chinese or Russians. Hats off to Trump while he holds out. Build that wall, protect our own borders and stop serving the wishes of the globalists. We were endowed with a free and sovereign nation. Let’s keep it that way.
Mike Armstrong
Rocky Mount
Impeachable offense
While I have believed from day one that Donald Trump is mean, nasty and foolish, those are not impeachable offenses, and Democrats who have cried impeachment without cause have been blatantly political.
However, at the request of Turkey’s dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump has now decided to give renewed life to ISIS by withdrawing our forces from Syria. That gives aid and comfort to ISIS. It also gives aid and comfort to Russia and Iran, enemies of America, who have both applauded this dangerous decision. Having given aid and comfort to the enemy, which is included in the definition of treason, the President has now indeed committed an impeachable offense.
Carole R Katz
Cary
Missed paychecks
I’m so disappointed in the government shutdown. It’s unconscionable to deprive working people of their paychecks during the holiday season. This is a problem for people who live paycheck to paycheck.
I wish that Congress could work with the president to avoid this, and I hope that they can persuade him to end the stalemate on Thursday. Not to do so is unfair to our fellow North Carolinians who work in government departments affected by the shutdown.
Stephanie Brown
Durham
Switching platforms
Regarding Phillip Jones letter to the editor on Dec. 21: No one thinks he is stupid, but he does seem to be firmly ensconced in his right-wing silo. No one disputes the fact that southern Democrats were the party of slavery and Jim Crow, but that is a moot point. The national Democratic Party evolved into the party that has championed civil rights. Many southern Democrats became Republicans for that very reason. Jesse Helms is a (in)famous example.
Rhonda Crutchfield
Raleigh
Not either/or
Ted Van Dyk’s editorial, “Let’s rebuild NC’s rail system,” has two major flaws. First, it envisions as a positive a future in which Kinston and Goldsboro are bedroom communities of Raleigh. Lord help us! The attraction of Kinston and Goldsboro now is exactly that they do not look like north Raleigh. Second, it falls into the familiar trap of seeing rail as good and highways as bad. In reality, both cause sprawl. Van Dyk even says this explicitly: “New development around the stations is sure to follow.” If we build the rail, the highways (and houses, and plethora of stores and restaurants) will follow. God help wildlife in North Carolina. It’s unfortunate that the personal prosperity of so many of us is enhanced by a sheer increase in number of people.
Alice Ramage
Durham