en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/319271 Comments by speaker http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/091109-Convention-center-meeting#IDComment34042461 I will be very eager to see what Mr. Kreuger and his team determine. I would love to see a convention center here if the community can support it. The Civic Center that we currently have is nice, but much too small for a lot of the activities hosted there. I've been involved in a number of events that overflowed the civic center. We took one event to the Cabarras Arena, but it is in such a remote location we didn't get nearly as many people as we were hoping for. A convention center here in Salisbury, in close proximity to Charlotte and Greensboro, and right off the interstate should make for a great location for many community activities. My fingers are crossed! Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:29:53 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/091109-Convention-center-meeting#IDComment34042461 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33841189 As far as the books go, it doesn't really matter about the politics. This is about a world leader encouraging school children. Making it political just doesn't make sense. Whether you like him or not, obviously he is a successful man. A successful man who came up from poverty. How is it bad for a successful man to encourage children to work hard and stay in school? Just FYI, the entire speech was posted online at whitehouse.gov before he made it, complete with educational aids developed by teachers. He did not change it after the "uproar" started. How do you think the news media and NEA knew what was in the speech? My husband and I eat dinner with our children after helping them with homework as well. It's a pretty common practice. Doesn't change the fact that the speech was a good one. Keep politics out of it. The speech was a good thing. Honor the offices of your leaders. Do you read your bible? Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:36:21 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33841189 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33841176 Wow, how did this turn into a "bash the governor" forum? As a matter of fact, Bev Purdue gave many teachers their jobs back by insisting on funding those positions in the state budget. I'm a teacher that lost my job when we first learned the dire financial situation the state was in. When Ms. Purdue pushed for keeping public schools funded, I was given back a job. She's doing pretty good by the teachers in light of what she is facing. Thanks for asking. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:36:02 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33841176 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33792079 What the press does is out of my control. I refuse to wallow in the negative press on anyone, much less the President of the United States. I make my own choices about respecting others, and my children are taught to respect their government, even when I don't agree with all the decisions that are being made. Our government is an entity, not an individual. I don't understand your reference to your kitchen table. I've never had the distinct honor of having any president sitting at my kitchen table, but you can bet your boots that I would be thrilled if it happened, no matter which president it was! Wed, 9 Sep 2009 22:00:16 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33792079 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33790134 I usually just read comments, and have only commented on an article once before - to defend a man that I knew to be innocent from the outright slander that people were writing. NancySmith's responses to this article have me outraged enough to chime in on this debate. I'm sorry Nancy, but politics have no place in education. As a teacher, I'm very pleased that this president cared enough about our future to address children. That has so much more weight than whatever political maneuvering might be occuring in Washington on any given day. I'm sure many children will remember this speech for the rest of their lives, the same way we remember the moon landing. Let's hope and pray that the speech does what it was intended to do - inspire children to be good students and productive future citizens. Wed, 9 Sep 2009 21:51:59 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33790134 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33785539 When the leader of the free world wants to tell students to work hard and stay in school, why is there an objection? He was not pushing policies on unsuspecting children. He was encouraging them, showing them how he relates to their struggles, and showing them with his very presence what hard work and perseverence can do. To object to this message because of your political views seems very shallow and narrow-minded. Set aside your biases long enough for your children to receive a valuable message, and at the same time, show them that the office of President is one that deserves respect, even if you don't always agree with it. Some of your facts are also incorrect, but that isn't the issue here. Remember, there is more false and just plain wrong information on the internet than there is fact. Just because you saw it on the internet doesn't make it so. Regardless, as an American citizen, you have an unspoken obligation to respect the office of President, even if you don't respect the person in it. Wed, 9 Sep 2009 21:30:39 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/090909-Students-react-positively-to-Obama#IDComment33785539 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15069172 EXACTLY!!!! IF, the accusation is proven false, he still will not be able to return to his job as a teacher without sideways looks, snickered comments and whispers behind his back. Any future student with a grudge can make a similar false accuation, and then the comments will be something along the lines of "where there's smoke, there's fire" or certainty that because there's been two accusations it must be true. I sincerely hope he will come back, but if I were him I wouldn't. His family has been affected, his reputation ruined, and he's been publicly criticized and railed. This will follow him for as long as he lives in the community, even after being found innocent. Imagine for one minute the long term ramifications. Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:33:30 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15069172 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15068915 FYI Mikerty, quotation marks go on the outside of sentence punctuation. Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:24:31 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15068915 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15007551 THANK YOU!!! I wish everyone would remember that "innocent until found guilty" part. Sometimes charges have to be filed because of certain laws and/or politics of a situation. An arrest is not the same as a conviction. Let's leave the execution until the rest of due process has run its course, shall we? Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:46:06 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15007551 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15007372 Yeah, because the only person who knows any of the facts is the investigator. No one who is close to the situation or is otherwise associated with the case knows anything. Yeah. Where do you think the investigator finds out the facts of the case? Hmmm. Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:39:46 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment15007372 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment14997662 I'm incredibly frustrated because I DO know many of the details, and I DO know the situation, and based on those facts, I DO know Ricky Jelen is completely innocent. I am afraid of compromising the investigation, so I won't say more about the real story, but I do wish the comments about him being a predator or otherwise a bad guy would let up until the facts are released. Have any of you naysayers ever talked to a teenaged girl? Even the best ones will sometimes lie to your face if it is important enough to them. Our lax parenting skills and endowment of a sense of entitlement for every child have combined to create a society where students can (and will) say anything they want to manipulate a situation and can get away with it. There are surprisingly few consequences for those who make this kind of accusation falsely. The consequences seemed reserved solely for the innocent victim. Jelen is suffering from those consequences right now. I wonder if the girl now wishes she could take it back. Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:13:26 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment14997662 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment14904808 The Post article was very vague on details. Deliberately so, I would imagine. There is much more behind the story. When the facts are released I hope the lynch mob will want to go after the real villain. I'm not saying this because I think he's a nice guy. I'm saying this because I know more of the story. Reserve judgement until the facts come out. Then, good or bad, recognize what kind of person you are by your public reaction to this story with few details. And like CombatMedic said, come back here with your apologies. Mon, 9 Feb 2009 22:31:12 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment14904808 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment14894554 Sgt. Jelen is completely innocent. He is well known among the staff at West, as is his accuser. There's more to the story, and yes cds4eva, plenty of teenaged girls have nothing better to do than sit at home and make up stuff. All it takes is for one disgruntled student to make up a nefarious tale, and everyone wants to believe the "poor child." There is a reason that we are innocent until proven guilty in this country. It's because anyone can accuse anything. An accusation is not a fact, and this one is definitely a lie.The more times credence is given to any story without the benefit of facts, the more often malcontents will take advantage of the system to hurt others. The sad part of this story is that this fine man's reputation and career have been sullied by a spoiled child who wants her way. This is about poor parenting, not about anything he's done wrong. Shame on the girl who falsely accused a man and cost him much that was dear to him. Shame to those of you who blindly believe the accusation. Mon, 9 Feb 2009 18:30:51 +0000 http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/020809-ROTC-instructor-arrested#IDComment14894554