Treasures are for sharing

To the editor:

Once again, it is stewardship season and I’m reviewing how and why I choose to give.

·         I am comfortable and have more than I need.

·         I like celebrating this largely unearned but much appreciated blessing.

·         I’ll never have enough money to give but I do have talent and energy to give.

·         Others have needs that are more pressing than mine and giving can help them.

The gifts to churches and the taxes I pay go toward meeting the needs of our community, children, the poor and elderly.  So tithing and the off-the-top percent paid to these institutions is worthwhile.  I pray; “May these organizations use the funds honestly, wisely and carefully for the purposes they were given. And may we treat those we charge with this responsibility with respect and honor their service on our behalf.”

The remainder of my available treasures I give to charities that do not usually receive assistance from governments or churches.  My choices are natural resource conservation and animal welfare.  Why?  Because it was in my early relationship with nature that I understood that I was part of a greater whole and truly did not have to worry about my future when challenged by life’s upheavals.  Later, secure in that knowledge, and knowing through experience, that if I act in good faith, by spending the treasures I have been blessed with, I can help change things for the voiceless.

Penny Wallace

Waynesville

Don’t look to Romney to create jobs

To the editor:

Want to increase American jobs? If so, better not count on Mitt Romney. As CEO of Bain Capital, he invested in companies that closed down and shipped jobs overseas. Later, as governor of Massachusetts, he permitted state contractors to move work overseas, and vetoed legislation seeking to forbid this.

He also blocked a law that would have stopped a contractor from using state tax dollars to move work from the U.S. to India and Bangladesh. As a result, unemployed Massachusetts residents who called the state government for information on food stamps got connected to foreign nationals performing jobs that unemployed Americans could have had.

Following similar policies, under President George W. Bush, American jobs in the private sector steadily declined month-by-month from December 2007 until he left office. Under President Obama, however, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this trend has been reversed and U.S. private sector jobs have seen a slow but steady increase from January 2008 right up to the present.

At my mother's knee, I learned the saying "Actions Speak Louder Than Words." Romney's actions (like Bush's actions): send jobs overseas. Obama's actions: add jobs at home. The choice is clear. Be guided by a candidate's past actions, not his nice-sounding words.

Doug Wingeier

Waynesville

Safe driving rewarded

To the editor:

This past Saturday night, the Canton Police Department hosted two inter-agency checking stations in Haywood County. Drivers who were found to be driving safe, sober and buckled up were acknowledged by MADD and the N.C. Governor's Highway Safety Program with mints, band-aid kits for the car, and flexible Frisbees to say "thank you" for being safe over the Labor Day holiday.

For those who choose not to drive safely, the consequences are very different, and can include fees, fines, jail, lawyer bills and even prison.

Thanks again to all of those who made the decision to keep themselves and those around them safe during the holiday.

Ellen T. Pitt

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Western North Carolina