Letters to the editor

Posted: August 29, 2009 at 4:33 a.m.

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$115 million for these kids?

If you have a student that goes to Fayetteville High School, do you know what they are doing at lunchtime or where they are going?

School has been in session two days. Yesterday, Aug. 19, the first day of school, I was at a fast-food restaurant on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for lunch. I witnessed the most disturbing activities. A few minutes past noon the restaurants and businesses were "swarmed" with students from the high school for lunch.

I was sitting in my car eating my lunch and saw a huge mass of students converge on the Sonic and immediately start disrespecting the property, the employees, and the customers. Boys were taking their shirts off as soon as they arrived at the picnic tables of the Sonic and then begin physically fighting with each other. The students were lounging and sitting on top of the picnic tables whether they were ordering food or not. They were smoking cigarettes (I doubt any of them are 18 years old), and profanity was flowing from these young people's mouths like it is their main language.

I'm sure most of the businesses appreciate what business the students bring them, but they can't possibly appreciate the business they run off by their activities.

When the fighting began I assumed the manager called the police because they arrived a few minutes later and then the resource officer for the school arrived after the police arrived. The students were talked to but nothing else was done. I would say that the whole incident reminded me of zoo gates being opened and letting the animals run free and destroying everything in sight or a prison being taken over by prisoners.

To parents of Fayetteville High School students - I would suggest you take your lunch at one of the restaurants by the high school some weekday and see for yourself what goes on with the students who choose to walk to a restaurant and what activities they are involved in. You may be shocked, but then again, you may not be.

Margaret Thomas/Fayetteville

Anything goes

I oppose the rezoning of the sale barn property in southeast Fayetteville.I know that the Bartholomew family has run a respected business for decades. I know they have paid their fair share of taxes. They also "grandfathered" into the present zoning, and they have benefited from police and fire protection, street maintenance, water and sewer services. I feel no obligation to change the zoning to allow their business deal to go through.

In fact, signing a contract contingent on city government making such a change does not seem to me to be sound business practice. It seems to be Orwellian to not speak of the business proposal on the table now, so let's speak of what else the proposed rezoning would allow. Unless I am mistaken, Downtown General would allow nightclubs, liquor stores, tattoo parlors, adult video and bookstores.

If we are serious about sustainability, we need to consider that although the cattle business seems to be centralized now, a change toward more locally grown foodstuffs might rejuvenate the local market for cattle.

It is time to stop asking "How far?" when business interests say "Jump!"

Rick Belt/Fayetteville

Opinion, Pages 4 on 08/29/2009

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