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Opinion
Case for reform
In the spirit of keeping things simple, the case for reforming North Carolina’s medical-assistance programs can be expressed in four numbers: 12, 15, 17, and 48. These are all national rankings. North Carolina ranks 12th in the nation in state mental health spending per capita. North Carolina ranks 15th in Medicaid payments per child or working-aged adult enrolled in the program. North Carolina ranks 17th in state and local taxes as a perce...
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Ramsey’s redemption
“And along came Charles Ramsey…” was the closure for last week’s column - an obvious prelude to this week’s Tuesday Talk. I decided to wait another week before getting into the heart of Charles Ramsey – a vital organ that I feel highly qualified to say is in the right place. I also wanted to see if any of his additional skeletons were going to be unearthed, so I could crush them to powder. R&B legend Stevie Wonder sang it best about skele...
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Taxes and targets
We’ve all heard the phrase, “elections have consequences.” Recent news about the IRS singling out conservative groups for extra scrutiny is a “consequence” I never hoped to see. When I first learned the IRS had targeted conservative groups during the most recent election, I was outraged by the reports indicating a nonpartisan government agency was actually engaging in political activities and using taxpayer-funded resources. Perhaps the mos...
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Letter: Fix school lunch
To the editor: My name is Shaunee’ McLaurin. I am in the 10th grade at Scotland High School. I am writing this letter to complain about the cafeteria food. I am on the last lunch period, which is D lunch and the cafeteria is always running out of food. Half of the food is not good anyway, so I usually just get chicken nuggets or nachos when they have them. About every teenager eats chicken nuggets, so they should cook a lot, but they neve...
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Martial arts school looks to continue winning
Morrison’s Martial Arts Academy is preparing for its upcoming home meet while celebrating awards earned in Myrtle Beach in April. The Karate World Of Mullins Beach Battle Martial Arts Tournament was held on April 27 and Team Phoenix collected multiple awards. Results Tavon Farmer: first in boy’s intermediate (green, blue and purple) belt division in both forms and sparring. Jaivon Williams: first boy’s intermediate belt division in sp...
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Letter:Bad habits
To the editor: Among the statistics of obesity, diabetes and heart disease now are innocent children. It is sad to see young children being diagnose with diabetes and early signs of heart disease when not too long ago it was unheard of. Now it has gone to the big screen. If you watch the news about how higher up people, and now major weight loss shows, the are “taking on childhood obesity”, and they do this by helping the children start hea...
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Three mothers
Happy Mother’s Day to three mothers whose lives were forever altered over the past 10 years as it relates to their daughters: Barbara Knight had and continues to have a strained relationship with Michelle Knight, Louwanna Miller essentially died of a broken heart over her daughter Amanda Berry, and Nancy Ruiz has done the ultimate, which is forgive a monster who stole her daughter. After 10 excruciating years of wondering, praying, and hopi...
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Name chief now
I was born and raised in Laurinburg, only leaving for three years to serve my country in the US Army. When I returned home I was hired by the city of Laurinburg as a police officer and spent the next 37 and a half years on the department rising to the rank of chief of police. I have reservations about getting involved in what is being done to the Laurinburg Police Department at this time. However, my sincere concern mandates that I not re...
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Family flexibility
As I travel throughout North Carolina’s communities, I hear regularly from families who are struggling to balance the ever-increasing demands of work with the desire to care for and be with their family. This got me thinking about the reasons folks start their own business, and I believe one of the biggest motivating factors is the desire to have some control over their own lives. Part of the vision that my House Republican colleagues and I...
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Case for spending
Fiscal conservatism comes naturally to me. After all, my middle name is McDonald. But I am also persuaded by empirical evidence that fiscal conservatism is the best policy for promoting economic growth. North Carolina governments can improve our state’s competitiveness by limiting spending, finding ways to deliver core services more efficiently, and using the resulting fiscal capacity to reduce the state’s marginal tax rates on work, saving...
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What a week
What an amazing week we had last week for Scotland County. Our local winner for our YEA! program, Emily Sheppard, finished up her competition in Rochester, NY. While there, she presented her company, “Forget Me Knots”, which makes non-tangling headphones. While in New York, Emily met the owner of the Red Wings ball team and they want Emily’s headphones in their team store. Emily is a junior at Marlboro Academy and has been attending YEA! over...
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Letter: Thanking Fran Asher
To the editor: Driving carefully along one of Scotland County’s roads, which she did so often looking for stray animals, Fran Asher spotted something black and white in a ditch. It was a pregnant female beagle-terrier mix. Once again she took an animal home to nurse it back to health. There was no collar with an i.d., so Fran named her “Peanut.” Her puppies did not survive…and Peanut barely so. Now healthy, Peanut was selected by my wife’...
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Our View: Life of the party
When Kenton Spencer tried to explain why Scotland County no longer has a recognized Democratic Party organization in North Carolina, he got a lot of quizzing at last week’s meeting of the Scotland County Democratic Women. But the most pertinent question was posed by former state Sen. Bill Purcell, who wondered aloud who was responsible for the sorry state of the local party organization. Spencer, who is at the end of his two-year term as ...
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School of life
I don’t remember who spoke at my college commencement ceremony, but I’ve realized that the best speakers are the ones who don’t say much at all. To even have a hint of envy is sinful, but I’ll admit that when it comes to graduation speakers, I look upon the Ohio State Buckeyes’ Class of 2013 with a few shades of green in my eyes. I say this because they, unlike me, will forever have the memory of their commencement speaker etched in their p...
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Law hurts, not helps
Among the many justifications used to try to popularize the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the first and foremost claim was that the measure would be a job creator. At the White House Health Summit in 2010, Nancy Pelosi asserted, “In its life, this bill will create 4 million jobs— 400,000 jobs almost immediately.” The fact of the matter is, President Obama’s health care law doesn’t create jobs, it kills them. As the darkening c...
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