To the editor:

If the Rev. Jimmy Cummings believes that lying, cheating, and stealing from the poor is not intentional wrongdoing, he needs to be replaced along with the Richard Greene, director of Four-County and his wife.

With all the hardships poor people are facing in the seven counties served by this agency, it is more than errors that allowed so much money to be misplaced. How many of us would love to vote in our own salary raises and those of our wives?

Every penny mishandled should be repaid, Mr. Greene and his wife should both be fired, and the directors need to be replaced by people who recognize wrongdoing when they see it. Certainly charges should be brought against all those who broke the law.

This is a small example of what goes on in Washington. Perhaps we can do nothing about the big picture, but in this case the citizens of these seven counties should demand restitution and justice. I hope every person who has been turned down for housing or weatherization or a place in Head Start will bombard the agency with their applications.

If all the funds misused are paid back and the salaries reduced that were illegally raised paid back, there should be a tidy sum to accomplish these requests.

Betty J. Thomas

Laurinburg