Don't bail
'em out
EDITOR:
So those poor folks down at Shell Island want to be bailed out? Sorry.
Every long-term local would gladly have told them anyone who purchased
there was less than wise. In fact, there are more than a few single-family
units down there whose owners were told and chose not to listen. First,
one just need look at the structure to question the investment.... The
major erosion that is taking place is not to be trifled with.... There
is this neat stuff called federal flood insurance the area did not qualify
for.... The Morning Star article portrays a lawyer from Clinton who
bought his second unit without looking at it. Neither he nor anyone
else there can elicit sympathy. The solution is to leave the structure
as a fishing reef and take action on the unconscionable real estate
salesmen and lending institutions.... ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach
01/31/1996
End speed
limits
EDITOR:
Some months ago you ran an article on fatigue causing traffic accidents.
Nowhere is this problem worse than the late-night desolate stretch of
I-40 between Raleigh and Wilmington. When this boring highway is deserted,
one should be able to make extraordinary time, but Gov. Hunt's Gestapo
is usually lying in wait to fatten the coffers in Pender, Duplin and
Sampson counties. The few of us out there crawl home in modern vehicles
whose ride at 65 is a virtual lullaby. Now the legislature is doing
something about it, and you whine ``speed kills.'' There are those of
us who can drive safely at 80-plus miles an hour while others should
not be allowed on the interstate. Most of the latter currently reside
in the passing (left) lane, impeding the orderly flow of traffic....
Speed limits for passenger vehicles should be eliminated.... ALBERT
STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 02/17/1996
Privatize
EDITOR:
The column by Peter Barnes (```Privatizing' Social Security a bad deal
for most Americans,'' April 28) did not deserve the space. It has been
common knowledge that the Social Security system is in shambles. Had
the system been privatized at its inception, that would not be the case.
Most successful Baby Boomers are resigned to the fact they will never
benefit from Social Security. Need testing is an immediate solution
that should carry over to a private system. If the upper class were
simply allowed to receive its contributions back, those who need help
could receive the investment income from those dollars. Privatization
would not give contributors control of their investment, leading to
cold-calling by investment counselors. It would get the funds out of
government's clutches and into the hands of responsible money managers
whose employment would be based on performance. Distribution costs cited
are already borne by investment advisors and are not a consideration.
How much better off would the Social Security coffers be if our payments
returned the average 13.5 percent the Standard & Poors 500 earned over
the last 25 years? ... ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 05/06/1996
Raise Muni
rates, evict old goats
EDITOR:
Recent articles on Wilmington's Municipal Golf Course show a complete
ignorance of both the sport, the course and area golf. The Muni is in
outstanding shape, considering what it used to be. However, its environment
is not conducive to the sport, mainly because of slow old people who
do not know etiquette and management that cares not to enforce it. Comparing
Asheville's fees to Wilmington's was pointless and the rate quoted misleading.
As a county resident, my Muni greens fee with cart is $19. The rate
at legitimate area courses that treat their clientele like customers
instead of cattle ranges from $20 to $29. Raise Muni's rates and most
of the local, transient golfers will disappear. Of course, that is probably
the goal of the old goats who make 18 holes there a marathon. My guess
is, most of them are ``members.'' ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach
06/03/1996
Paved paradise
EDITOR:
Has anyone noticed the first leg of Smith Creek Parkway helping our
traffic problems? Now another shopping center is proposed, with Smith
Creek and the widening of Eastwood Road as justification for yet more
traffic. Apparently, landscaping greedheads cannot see that paradise
is paved and we have all the parking lots we need. College Road, Market
Street and Oleander Drive are eyesores for this community to be ashamed
of. How much productive time and irreplaceable fossil fuels are wasted
in traffic jams on those roads alone? Enough was enough 10 years ago.
I used to spend time in downtown Wilmington. People from downtown used
to come to the beach. Traffic is an excellent reason not to move a family
or a business here. It is also a good cause for both to leave. ALBERT
STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 07/30/1996
Try another
town
EDITOR:
So 30 women, many single mothers, are out of work because a nudie bar
got shut down. Ladies, you can find work 40 miles up U.S. 17 North or
70 miles south. Or is Wilmington the bush league of strippers, and you
can't make it in Jacksonville and Myrtle Beach? In those high-class
locales, maybe the children you need to support with your bodies won't
find out how you earn a living or, worse, have their classmates find
out. At the same time, this community can keep the tourists and military
who patronize you where they belong. ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach
09/04/1996
Sandbag
decision the right one
EDITOR:
Three cheers to the Coastal Resources Commission for not caving in to
the owners of units at the Shell Island Resort. It will make a great
fishing reef. And shame on the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen,
the New Hanover County Commissioners and Gov. Jim Hunt for ignoring
the standards designed to save our coast from the devastation found
both up North and in Florida. Rather than continuing to whine, the Shell
Island homeowners association should take action against the developers,
Realtors and lending institutions that . . . put one over on them. And
the Morning Star ought to be following the money trail that had to have
led to the map ``mistakes.'' . . . ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach
10/02/1996
Signs help
EDITOR:
(The author of ``Billboards hurt us,'' Oct. 30) obviously wasn't affected
by the hurricane since he still has time to jerk his knee over billboards.
Granted, some billboards are hideous. . . . Others are works of art
and some are funny. Where would South of the Border be without them?
Paul's Place credited them for its survival. Many in this community
consider Paul's Place an institution. . . . The newest board is a landmark
to River Landing, a great new golf course. Prior to its construction,
I missed the exit more than once. No one would want to see outdoor advertising
obstructing the vista of the Northeast Cape Fear River, but the rest
of I-40 is a far cry from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Does (the writer)
have a pine tree fetish or something? ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach
11/04/1996
New Prohibition
EDITOR:
(A Jan. 9 column by Joseph Califano) attacking the political process
states that the electorates of California and Arizona were duped into
permitting the medical use of previously illegal recreational drugs.
The next day, a short article blamed drug addiction for some 300,000
felony convictions. Republicans started the war on drugs, and for some
reason our non-inhaling baby boomer now wants to continue it. Could
that be for the same reason bootleggers supported Prohibition? Drugs
are here to stay. It is high time the government ran the dealers out
of business by legalizing the trade. Let's get North Carolina farmers
out of hog production and openly into marijuana, coca and poppies. .
. . Add up the costs of property loss, prison expense, wasted police
efforts and lost taxes on illegal drug sales. There is only one obvious
solution to anyone in authority who does not benefit financially from
the current system. ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 01/24/1997
Public smoking
is a right
EDITOR:
The appellate court has the good sense to stop the Health Board Nazis
in their tracks, and what does the Red Star do? Back the Nazis with
a call to spend our tax dollars opposing a decision for individual rights.
Smokers and non-smokers alike should applaud the court. . . . If these
power-drunk, nickel-and-dime bureaucrats are not stopped now, there
is no telling what they will try next. Since the tobacco industry is
no longer of importance to North Carolina and Wilmington, let's tell
them not to use our port. That ought to fix them. ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville
Beach 03/28/1997
Sea wall
needed
EDITOR:
So the current owners of the Holiday Inn SunSpree want to replace the
Shell Island sea wall with a viable structure? No way! Without the resort/wall
as is, sand bags and steel won't do much to help the north end's future
fishing reef. Anyone who purchased land north of the sea wall most surely
would have been assured by . . . the . . . land-rapers that the wall
would be there forever. Otherwise people would have been fools to buy
up there. While Fran obliterated the wall, every northeaster for the
last 15-plus years has tried to reopen the channel and let Shell Island
live up to its name. Obviously the rents from the tourists offset having
to reconstruct the oceanfront rooms annually. That company has a civic
responsibility to save the Shell Island community or sell it to yet
another one who will. ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 05/13/1997
Fix up Muni
EDITOR:
Does every Morning Star article contain as much misinformation as the
latest series on the city golf course? The average reader would get
the impression the Muni is a bargain and a Donald Ross ``jewel,'' when
neither is true. It should be the goal of golfers, management and government
to restore Muni to a legitimate golf environment. Most Ross courses
are private or expensive. Out-of-state visitors would gladly pay four
times the local rate - other North Carolinians double - if the course
were right. One might ask why this has not been done and why the City
Council has to be involved. ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 06/29/1997
Bad precedent
EDITOR So
Judge X has upheld the . . . land sale at the Shell Island Fishing Reef?
He ought to be removed from the bench, or at the very least transferred
to Horry County. The ruling allows Realtors to officially sink to the
level of used car dealers. . . . Honorable members of the professions
involved here should deal with their own. This is a travesty for every
permanent resident of the community. ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach
09/19/1997
Erosion
no secret
EDITOR:
Another Shell Island owner is whining about his predicament while claiming
to have read every article on the subject. A well-informed individual
would never have purchased there. The erosion problem on that end of
the beach has been documented since my arrival in 1982. The troubling
part of the letter is the admission of the owner's intent to walk out
on the cleanup of debacle. Shouldn't they be responsible for it? If
the resort goes, how many of them will default on the troubling SBA
loan? . . . . And let's have an explanation of the difference between
an inland migration barrier and a seawall. If investors were told the
inlet had been there and never moved one way or another, that was a
lie, and the developers should be responsible. . . . ALBERT STEVENS
Wrightsville Beach 12/20/1997
Concentrate
on worst drunks
EDITOR:
How many lives were negatively affected by Booze It and Lose It road
blocks during the holidays? What effect did they have on (a driver accused
of killing) Tara Dooley? How many more times are innocents going to
die before the focus shifts from the social drinker to the problem alcoholic?
The accounts of the perpetrator's family's futile attempt to get him
off the road show just how much we can count on law enforcement. Joe
McQueen's defense of his department sounds like grounds for dismissal.
Awareness programs have more than worked on social drinkers. Law-abiding
citizens are afraid to go to a restaurant or social gathering because
of this Big Brother mentality. Legitimate businesses suffer because
of police harassment. People are hauled off to jail and have their licenses
taken for 30 days without due process. Most become afraid to drink anything,
then drive, even though it is not illegal and none of them are the potential
killers enforcement is supposedly aimed at. When are the media or politicians
going to have the guts to move on this fascist, ineffective behavior?
ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 02/09/1998
Rage on
roads
EDITOR:
When some bureaucrat accused lack of enforcement for Wilmington having
the state's second-worst accident rate . . . police management accepted
the blame and your editorial department is stupid enough to applaud
a doubling of tickets in December. Crime statistics show that the Wilmington
police have their hands full in a difficult and largely thankless job.
Would we rather have police write traffic tickets or deal with the armed
robberies that are 70 percent higher than a year ago? One would guess
that the two most frequent traffic violations are speeding and running
red lights. The only reason to speed is to avoid this town's infamous
traffic lights. If obeying the speed limit provided orderly flow, very
few of us would speed, tailgate or change lanes without signaling. Delays
in lights cause impatience, impatience leads to carelessness with accidents
and, more frequently, anger is the result. Confrontations here are rampant.
How could anything be run so poorly? . . . ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville
Beach 03/12/1998
We deserve
high air fares
EDITOR:
Communist alert! The call for re-regulation of the airline industry
was the largest load of tripe issued by the Red Star in the 16 years
I have suffered with your so-called newspaper. Under deregulation, one
of the most elementary economic principles was violated ... When the
supply of airline seats went down, so did prices. What would have happened
under a regulated industry? Obviously, with fewer seats, fares would
have to go up. It was the only logical result. Also under deregulation,
Piedmont offered ... fares all over the South that were incredible.
There have also been outstanding offers from Wilmington to Atlanta on
Eastern and Wilmington to Chicago on United. Of course, both airlines
could not fill seats and left our pitiful little airport. Given the
history of airlines here, no one is coming into Wilmington any time
soon. Who is to blame? Industries that failed to support the new airlines
with a percentage of their business traffic and travel professionals
who did not route enough customers to the new airlines? Maybe. It could
also be that our little town just cannot support many airlines. That
is no reason to whine. Pay the fare or drive to Raleigh and Myrtle Beach.
ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville Beach 07/04/1998
Use sales
tax
EDITOR:
Thank you for Sunday's piece on the senatorial candidates' views on
money issues. Unfortunately, both major parties' representatives are
opposed to a national sales tax, calling the concept "regressive." If
a poor family buys a $50,000 house while a rich person buys a $5 million
estate and each pays 10 percent tax, how is that regressive? The same
applies to all goods and services. Exempt basic food and clothing purchases,
plus provide deductions for standard large purchases like housing and
transportation, and those with less should benefit. The great unknown
of the cash-based hidden economy would then have to support our government,
providing who knows how much additional revenue. Most important, the
cost of collection would be reduced drastically and those lovely souls
at the IRS could try to exist in the real world ... ALBERT STEVENS Wrightsville
Beach 10/02/1998
Don't raise
tax
EDITOR:
(In response to an editorial supporting higher cigarette taxes): Despite
what you carpetbaggers might think, everyone who lives in this state
has benefited in some way from production of the Golden Leaf. The proposed
tax will neither save lives or money. One of the benefits of visiting
our state is the ability to purchase cigarettes at a decent price. Countless
businesses along interstate highways tout this. ... Despite all sorts
of "statistics" on price elasticity of cigarettes, I have noticed no
decline in their popularity amongst our youth; at least the ones I care
to associate with. Most of these would be described as "the best and
brightest" too. Maybe the unwashed poor have quit smoking the way they
ceased drinking and drugs. The figures contrived by the N.C. health
director and quoted on your editorial page are plucked out of thin air,
knowing the tobacco industry will not bother to defend itself. Legitimate,
unbiased physicians have told me that that tobacco abuse contributes
to savings in both health care and Social Security benefits. Their arguments
make sense too. Albert Stevens Wrightsville Beach 04/30/2005
