In remembrance

During Memorial Day weekend, more than ever, we should remember those who have died for us and our way of life.

We should also think of those fighting terrorism in Afghanistan , Iraq , South America, the Philippines and other far-flung places.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by Gen. John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on May 30 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate Soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery .

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all Northern states.

The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday was changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died in any war.

It is now celebrated in almost every state on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 to ensure a three-day weekend for federal  holidays.)

Several Southern states have an additional separate day for honoring their Confederate war dead: Jan. 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson’s birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Monica Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppyred

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

She conceived of the idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day honoring those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to friends and co-workers with the money benefiting servicemen in need.

Later, a Madam Guerin from France visiting the United States learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael. When she returned to France , she made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women.

This spread to other  countries. In 1921, the Franco-American and Children’s League sold poppies to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium . The League disbanded a year later and Madam Geurin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day 1922 the VFW became the first veterans organization to sell poppies nationally.

Two years later its “Buddy” Poppy program sold artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948, the U.S. Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3¢ postage stamp with her likeness.

To remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, a “National Movement of Remembrance” resolution was passed in December 2000 asking all Americans at 3 p.m. local time “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a memorial of remembrance and respect, pausing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.’”

Please do.

Letters to the Editor

Morehead City, N.C.

May 25, 2007

TO THE EDITOR:

For our students to succeed, we must nurture not only their intellectual development, but their physical, emotional and social health as well.  We have to engage them with literacies beyond the traditional 3Rs in contexts beyond the traditional four walls.

Both the National Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the North Carolina State Board of Education endorse missions and goals to prepare “Future-Ready Students for the 21st Century.” In both sets of guidelines, digital technologies continue to be the pervasive work tools of the future. 

Students and staff in our schools routinely use computers in a variety of contexts to support teaching, learning and school administration.

We teach the North Carolina Standard Course of Study Computer Skills Curriculum. Since 1995, we have been regarded as a state leader in efforts to integrate technology into all areas of the curriculum.

Because we are neither a low wealth county nor a small school system, our primary source for funding school technology is local money. Over the eight years that we have been trying to keep our computer inventory refreshed, local support has waxed to as much as $600K (2000 and 2001) per year and has waned to zero dollars (2002).

As a result of inconsistent funding, 42% (or 1,243) of our computers are 7 years or older. Besides being unreliable and high maintenance, these computers are inadequate for handling up to 85% of the objectives in the Computer Skills Curriculum.

Students and teachers generally forego the older computers except for low-level applications.

At Budget Onestop, I have assembled local artifacts (newsstories, editorials, movie clips, data, blog entries, projects, etc.) that support the technology portion of the 2007-2008 local capital request.

I ask you to peruse this informative resource at http://www.carteretcountyschools.org/techmedia/onestop.htm.

More and more, our students will compete with students beyond regional and national borders. As we steer a very successful school system toward the globally connected future, we must ensure assets and opportunities that best prepare our students for international competition. 

I encourage continued support for the Carteret County Public School System — especially in the area of educational technology.

JOSEPH R. POLETTI

Director of Technology and Media

Carteret County Public School  System

Newport, N.C.

May 23, 2007

TO THE EDITOR:

Give-me, give-me, the school board is worse than a child, when it comes to what it asks for. First it’s a $50 and $20 million school bond. Then more money to build an auditorium for another school that has gone without for so long and should have been built years ago. But they spent that money on something else like another stupid study.

Take all the tax money the county raises and let the other government services do without for one year, then maybe the school board will shut their traps. I get so tired of hearing “The commissioners won’t fund this, and this and this and we can’t operate without this too.” They sound like a 5-year-old who wants everything now!  

I’ve been paying taxes here since 1974, and I have NO kids in the schools or have ever had any. I don’t have a lot of patience for crybabies, give-me, give-me, all the time.

If you want better schools, give 10% of your wages each week to the school and take it as a tax write-off and leave the rest of us out of your dog fight.

Next the school board will want extra money to fund illegal kids’ food program. Don’t even get me started on that one.  I think it should be “open season” at the border 24/7 to stop that crap too.

Enough all ready. Gas prices will get you if the school board doesn’t take it first. Then how do you drive your kids to school? How about the kids from Havelock who are in Newport schools, over crowding it?

My dad always told me “Never live above your means, have what you have and be happy to have it!”

BILL SHORE