Put more money into the Raleigh police force. Problem solved. | Opinion

Crime downtown

Regarding “‘A bad feeling’: What the city is doing about downtown Raleigh,” (Nov. 16):

After reading recent articles about the state of downtown Raleigh, I ask where are the police ? I hear about hiring private security but what about our police force, that Raleigh citizens pay for?

Maybe if we invested in our police and had enough officers to cover the downtown area, maybe that would discourage the break-ins and encourage businesses to stay in downtown Raleigh.

Henry Jarrett, Raleigh

Sluggish action

As a native North Carolinian and a fourth-year medical student, I am deeply concerned by my home state’s sluggish action on climate change. Climate change is the largest threat to human health of our time and will strike Southerners first.

We are already experiencing this. Climate-change-related infections such as La Crosse Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus are increasing in our state. West Nile has been rising in the Raleigh area, with five new cases between August and September alone.

This issue needs public attention.

In addition, North Carolina’s carbon emissions increased 8.4% between 2020 and 2021. Many counties still use coal and natural gas.

I took care of a patient with a climate change-related viral infection. Many of these infections are unfamiliar and difficult to diagnose. Neither the health care system nor the public is ready.

More drastic action is needed to to improve our state’s climate emissions and brace our health care workforce for impact.

Jonathan Grubbs, Chapel Hill

A GOP checklist

A N.C. Republican checklist:

Run for office blaming the other guy for all problems real or imaginary. Check.

Encourage dissent between economic, cultural and racial classes. Check.

Once elected contrive districts to insure your party rules. Check.

Stack the top court with cronies. Check.

Disallow public input or review and hide deliberations on policy issues. Check.

We are “ruled, not represented.”

George Carter, Raleigh

UNC interference

Regarding “If Guskiewicz goes, good for him. But it could get bad for UNC-Chapel Hill,” (Nov. 19 Opinion):

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett is on target. I graduated in 1971 and fund two academic scholarships, one undergraduate in the College of Arts and Sciences and a graduate scholarship in the Gillings School of Global Public Health. I worry about political interference in higher education.

I urge others who are concerned to support The Coalition For Carolina and hopefully counteract the apparent heavy handed influence of our General Assembly’s Republican supermajority and its allies on the UNC System Board of Governors and the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.

Mark Rodin, Morrisville

Israel-Hamas war

There’s a reason that the war between Israel and Hamas has driven a wedge through the center of the American Jewish community. While we all are profoundly upset by the killing, some are moved primarily by the ineffable cruelty committed by Hamas against our extended family; others have prioritized the numerical nightmare of civilian deaths in Gaza, exemplifying that their democratic and universal values come first.

But both Judaism and democracy condemn the current carnage and unite us in our hope that America will find a way to help bring Israelis and Palestinians to a peace neither has yet known.

Rabbi Jonathan Gerard, Durham

Realize this truth

Amid the chaos around the globe, I remember international students I taught at a local university. Whether from China, India, Bangladesh, Europe, Africa or Iran, they were always empathetic and supportive. We were more alike than we were different.

The carnage caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict is beyond heartbreaking and almost beyond comprehension. Where are the world leaders to step up to mitigate this suffering? Where is the humanity within those who murder innocents? Again, we are more alike than we are different. Unless every soul on this planet realizes this truth, we are doomed.

Nancy Swisher, Raleigh

This story was originally published November 26, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Put more money into the Raleigh police force. Problem solved. | Opinion."