Sound Off highlights anonymous, brief takes on the news offered via telephone by Daily News readers.

To the grandparent who complained about their grandson’s declining study habits since he started playing school baseball. You are quick to blame educators for his falling grades. This appears to be a parenting problem, not an educator’s problem. Seems to me that if he can’t handle sports and academics, then his parents need to take him off the team until his grades improve. Yes, there are flaws in the school system, but the parents need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for themselves.

To the person who took the wiper blades off my blue Ford truck: It would have been better if you would have asked me. I would have bought you new wiper blades because it is going to cost me a whole lot more to fix it, and the battery in the back that you took was a new battery.

If the citizens of Beaufort County can’t believe anything Tom Thompson tells us about past job placements — 45 jobs reported as 89 jobs — how in the heck are we going to believe anything he tells us about the future?

Kudos to Carla Mills who sang “Ava Maria.” It was beautiful, and she sang it in Latin.

To the grandparent who complained about their grandson playing baseball: It is the parents’ responsibility to make sure he can handle academics and athletics. If he can’t, the parents need to pull him out of athletics. Not all children can handle academics and athletics. Don’t blame it on the school. What are parents for?

Thanks to the Ross family for the beautiful poem, “Rainbow Bridge,” and the picture of their beloved Buffy in Saturday’s Washington Daily News. I, too, recently lost a special pet that could have passed for Buffy’s brother, and I miss him dearly.

Robert Cayton needs to worry about things at home instead of the whole state of North Carolina, which he can’t do anything about.

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