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OPINIONS
Voice of the people
Bates hospital needs real change
As a former employee of the Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital who was injured enough to now draw disability payments, I truly feel for the situation the workers are in. I was hurt in 2001. This overcrowding problem did not start last week. The folks who work out there have been dealing with the state's lies for years.
In 2001, there was a big to-do that if things did not get cleaned up the hospital would be shut down. Scare tactics to get the employees to quit complaining. Even at $6.03 per hour, I needed that job, even though I had to work two doubles a week to make any money. So after a 56-hour work week with some of the most mentally unstable patients, just turn around, come in and do it again tomorrow.
Someone please look at the turnover rate for employees and at the same time look at the warriors who have stayed because they believe the patients deserve decent conditions and humane treatment. It is time to stop making this a drop-button issue and make some real changes at the Bates motel on Norway Avenue. Most people have no idea the stories that could be told.
Brian Johnson
Proctorville, Ohio
Police do nothing to drunken driver
On Aug. 2, my mother and I were heading east on Virginia Avenue when another motorist crossed the double yellow to hit us almost head-on. Thanks to my mother's quick reaction, the collision was left of center with damage on the passenger side. The other driver, noticeably under the influence, was driving with a suspended license.
So how did this turn out? My mother and I visited the emergency room with bumps and bruises, and the other driver got a police escort home with a couple of citations.
The officer did visit my mother and me in the hospital to get our story. Once confronted with the outcome of the other driver, we were shocked that there would be no arrests. We were told that there was not just cause to investigate her obvious state. The officer stated he had tried this before and knew the outcome, so no need for a tox screen; the prosecutor would have no case.
How about driving with a suspended license? No charge for this, either. Has it come to this? We protect the ones who break the law and let the innocent people suffer the consequences. If this is how our society is turning, it will be complete anarchy -- no retribution for the people who do not follow the laws -- so why bother?
Again, my mom and I were lucky. The next accident that the drunken driver causes may not. God help the city of Huntington.
Michele Simpkins
Garner, N.C.
Listen to what Obama is saying
Did I hear Obama right? He said, "We need to end the age of oil in our time!" Oil is our enemy. Is this man a nut?
I'm a Democrat, and to me, he is an embarrassment. He says that America is the greatest nation on earth, but in the next breath he wants to change it. If it is the greatest, why should we change it?
It scares me to think that this nut could be our next president. People should start listening more closely to what this man is saying and stop being mesmerized by his smile.
John Carter
Lesage
