Opinion
16 Tryon Daily Bulletin / The World’s Smallest Daily Newspaper
16
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Tryon Daily Bulletin / The World’s Smallest Daily Newspaper
Ours
Yours
Half mile restriction on groups home too limiting Columbus council leaders followed the call of Holly Hills’ residents and approved a restriction prohibiting group homes from locating less than a half a mile from any other group home within city limits. Unfortunately the needs of another segment of Columbus residents, and potential residents, did not ring as loudly. Those who live in Holly Hills said they were concerned that another group home locating in their neighborhood would jeopardize their property values and add to traffic problems. Yet, they also admit they have had no problems with the individuals living in the group home that has been in their community for about a decade. This means no loud disturbances in the middle of the night, no loitering and no violent acts. Group homes serve our communities by helping individuals with disabilities enjoy a better quality of life and contribute to society. Supervisors within the homes ensure these individuals have groceries, take their medication if needed, have help fixing leaks or keeping the grass mowed. Wouldn’t you prefer to have neighbors who live in such a supportive environment? It’s those of us trying to make it through life without help who often don’t get around to cutting the grass, replacing shingles on the roof or tearing down a decrepit shed. Depending on how the half mile restriction is calculated, the resolution could prohibit organizations from taking advantage of the benefits a town like Columbus would afford. Within the town limits of Columbus there are homes available that would allow for residents of the group home to be within walking distance of shops and restaurants; places they might even be able to find employment. We understand that no one neighborhood would want to see a majority of homes taken up by group homes, but we feel the half-mile restriction – the maximum distance the state allows a city to enforce – is a detriment to the community rather than a benefit. What neighborhoods could now miss out on are the sale of nearby homes that possibly have been vacant for some time and the addition of neighbors who could make quality contributions to their community. - Tryon Daily Bulletin, editorial staff
The Tryon Daily Bulletin The World’s Smallest Daily Newspaper Betty Ramsey, Publisher Editor Designer Reporter
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Samantha Hurst Gwen Ring Leah Justice
Welcome to the recovery
To the editor: Who says we haven’t gone over the “cliff” already? There’s the fiscal cliff, the poverty cliff, the jobs cliff and your personal cliff. You pick the one to discuss and it’s already happened right before your TV bloodshot eyes while the mouthpieces in the mainstream media and the White House spin a happy tune on what they see through rose colored glasses. Folks, believe me, we are in a recesLetter sion and it’s going to to the get worse before it gets Editor better. In June, a total of 142,415,000 people were employed in the U.S, according to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), including 19,938,000 who were employed by federal, state and local governments. By November, according to data BLS recently released, the total number of people employed had climbed to 143,262,000, an overall increase of 847,000 in the six months since June. In the same five-month period since June, the number of people employed by government increased by 621,000 to 20,559,000. These 621,000 new government jobs created in the last five months equal 73.3 percent of the 847,000 new jobs created overall. I thought last month’s delayed
food stamp data was bad. However the just reported food stamp number for September was a doozy, with 607,544 new Americans becoming eligible for food stamps, as a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty at least according to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The monthly increase was the highest since May 2011, and with August’s 421K new impoverished America, over 1 million Americans made the EBT card their new best friend. It is unclear just which atmospheric phenomenon will get the blame for this unprecedented surge in poverty, which comes at a time when the pre-election economic data euphoria was adamant that the U.S. economy was on an escape velocity to utopia. Instead what we do know is that in August and September, over three times as many food stamp recipients were added to the economy as jobs (324,000). We also know that with the imminent impact of Sandy, which will send food stamp recipients soaring, it is now looking quite possible that the US may end 2012 with just over a mindboggling 50 million Americans living in absolute poverty and collecting the $134.29 average monthly benefit per person, instead of working. Welcome to the recovery indeed. - Karl Kachadoorian, Tryon
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