Letters to the editor

Byron Godfrey has passed away. His service will be Saturday, Dec. 17, at First Baptist Church, High Point. This is a significant event, not because Byron was so exceptional but because he was so each of us.

Byron was your neighbor down the street. He played Sudoku and did crossword puzzles. He followed the Atlanta Braves. He had a favorite recliner. He followed the local news. Regularly had meals with friends.

Byron also delivered Meals on Wheels, volunteered at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point Medical Center, drove friends and church members to doctor’s appointments and shopping. He walked his faith every day. Every single day.

Byron Godfrey was what some of us are and all of us could be. So ordinary. So extraordinary.

Bill Brooks

Cary

Editor’s note: The writer is Byron Godfrey’s brother-in-law.

City should pay PERCO more

To the editor:

Come on, city of High Point, pay PERCO what the property is worth (“City seeks hearing on condemnation,” Dec. 10). He has been in business in High Point for over 70 years and paid his share of city taxes and employed several hundred people. It is wrong to take his property by eminent domain. Look at what you paid a local dentist for his smaller lot.

Do the right thing here!

Jerry Groce

High Point

Sometimes we lose

To the editor:

Experts say that learning how to lose sometimes is critical. It’s important to learn as a child, and definitely imperative to know, believe and understand as an adult. As citizens of this country, it’s extremely important that ALL of us obey the rules. History shows us repeatedly how awful things can go when some of us fail to follow the law. As a country, it is quite vital that we work hard to keep ourselves safe by supporting law and order. The rules are not supposed to be an optional endeavor. The rules must apply to each and every one of us, each and every time. Sadly, we find much too often that this is not the case, at all. Too many “regular” citizens find themselves locked up in an unjust system, locked out of housing and job markets, and deprived of rightful generational wealth. Results from the recent elections tell us that voters are no longer in support of politicians who break the rules, lie about it and refuse to accept the fact that they are indeed a loser. Sometimes we find ourselves on the side that did not win. Sometimes we have to face the fact that we are no longer holding the winning hand. Sometimes we just lose. Now, with losing, one must learn how to accept it and get back in the game. Citizens of this country have fought long and hard for our American dream. We can not let the dream die because we don’t all agree right now. It’s essential that we all try hard to love and understand one another. We live in scary and dangerous times. It is not too late to work together as a country for the safety, security and sanity of our children, grandchildren and humanity. Learning to lose sometimes makes us stronger for the win. It grows our future with liberty and justice for all. Happy Holidays.

Donna Pinckney

High Point

Time for big changes

To the editor:

The city of High Point has been fined $72,000 by the state for 24 instances of failing to properly manage one of the two city waste treatment facilities, failing to apply for a permit to operate it and for violating air quality standards.

Could this be one of the reasons the City Council gave the last city manager a golden parachute less than a year after boasting he was the highest paid city manager in the area? I don’t know, and the council will not acknowledge the reasons he left. No matter.

Unfortunately, this fine can be added to the fee the city had to pay in April 2018 for mismanaging a federal grant for lead paint removal.

I hope taxpayers will remember this when the mayor and members of the council run for election next year. Can we PLEASE FIND SOMEONE, ANYONE, to do their job the right way without costing taxpayers more of their hard-earned money? I am not sure we can afford to have the same group of people running the city. It’s time to SWEEP ALL THE BUMS OUT AND START FRESH.

Ken Orms

High Point

Why is HPHA billing me?

To the editor:

My name is Delia Morales and I was a resident of Elm Towers. I moved due to a family emergency. I couldn’t take any of my belongings and left a friend of my son-in-law to clean and empty out our apartment and turn in our keys to management. My plane ride was for Oct. 8, which was on a Saturday.

Until Nov. 26 no one at High Point Housing Authority ever returned my call until I informed them that I had my plane tickets, my change of address and my case at the Department of Social Services terminated that I have in my possession as proof I no longer was a resident of North Carolina.

Only when I called the receptionist at the front desk and demanded to speak to someone was I was transferred to a woman who sent me an intent to vacate through email, which I signed. She responded with Thank You that she received the document. So how can I receive a rent bill for $1,500 and something if I have proof I’ve been in NYC?

Also what fees do I owe? I am not in that apartment. How can I accrue legal fees? Again I’m not in the state.

Delia Morales

New York City

Help change lives

To the editor:

As a community relations manager for Piedmont Natural Gas, I often am thinking about the residents of the towns and cities that Piedmont serves. That includes thinking about how we can aid and protect the most vulnerable in our communities. For many of us, the holiday season is in full swing, but it’s also a time when many of our friends and neighbors may be struggling financially.

One way we can help lift those people up is through Piedmont’s Share the Warmth program. For no more than $12 a year, Piedmont customers can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors in need. Once enrolled in Share the Warmth, your monthly natural gas bill is rounded up to the next dollar, and 100% of that difference is donated to approved local assistance agencies to help those in your community who are having difficulty paying their energy bills.

Recipients do not need to be Piedmont customers or even use natural gas to receive Share the Warmth funds; the program truly is about helping those in our community who may need aid, regardless of the energy source used in their homes.

Since 2003, Piedmont and round-up customers have contributed more than $4.7 million to the Share the Warmth fund. That’s 4.7 million ways to help someone less fortunate sleep easier in a warm house with paid energy bills during the winter season and year-round.

Piedmont also accepts direct donations from non-customers who want to help or from customers who’d like to contribute more than their round-up amount. More information on the program and how to enroll or contribute is available at piedmontng.com/sharethewarmth.

As you may be reflecting on your blessings and thinking of ways to share the giving spirit with your friends and loved ones this holiday season, please consider rounding up to Share the Warmth. Your small change can make a big difference to someone fighting to make ends meet and truly give them something to be thankful for.

Keith Napier, community relations manager

Piedmont Natural Gas

It’s about Him, not me

To the editor:

Wh have so many of us forgotten where the time of Christmas came from, and why do we still have it? From the beginning God knew we would be where we are today. You see, God created man and woman. He gave them a choice of good and evil in eating fruit from one tree that was forbidden. They both thought they knew better. They disobeyed and ate of that tree. That’s sin, doing what was not right to do. God knew now we needed a savior, someone to save us from our separation from God, so He sent His only son to die on a cross, of which he did not deserve. He rose from the dead to be with His father in Heaven. By accepting this truth and living because of it we are forgiven the sin we do (doing what is in error of Jesus’ teaching). Now we will be reunited with God in Heaven forever. So let’s all take time to see what this time of year is all about called Christmas. We can deny it didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t. It is about Him, not me.

Louis Thidodeaux

High Point

Country has become cesspool

To the editor:

I once loved this great nation. I served in the Armed Forces for 26 years because I loved it. However, after observing what this country has become, I can no longer say that I love America. When we have a government that actively works to make our lives worse and works to oppress us, I must acknowledge that I can no longer love what America has become. We have the alphabet agenda working to indoctrinate our children into believing that they are something they are not, with the full support of the government. Our young men are no longer men. They have been feminized to the point where we now have metrosexuals walking around with purses and their hair in buns. We have a government that moves hell and earth to get a Black lesbian out of a Russian prison but will let a straight white man rot there. We have Christians vilified for their beliefs but allow Satanist clubs in our school. The left will label me as racist, homophobe, and many other things. I don’t care. As for me, I’ll wait out the rest of my time and remember fondly the wonderful country I grew up in, instead of the liberal cesspool it has become.

Mike Robertson

Thomasville