County commissioners bailed out the hospital because they spent too much. The city bailed out the Turnage Theater because too much was spent. The city built a new fire station, and it is now preparing to build a new police station while funding downtown and waterfront development. People moving out of the city won’t have to pay for the new expenditures.

In response to a comment made on April 10 in Sound Off: Government workers should definitely play by the same rules as widget-makers. However, some of the local and state government workers have to pay their own gas and don’t have traditional desk jobs. Some people are not paying up to $160 out of their own pocket to get fair, honest and safe services in this community. But there are some state workers who don’t do anything.

As a former Historic Preservation Commission member for many years, there were often times I wanted to personally vote for an item and let my personal feelings get in the way. I did not do so because I was supposed to uphold the guidelines, and that is what every member of HPC should do č follow the guidelines.

Paul Spruill will be mighty hard to replace. That is a huge loss for our county government.╩

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