Back Talk 

Keep the heat on
I see that the Indy has published another article on the Rules Review Commission ("Special interests still rule on RRC," Aug. 24). I look forward to reading it. I was outraged at what I read in your first article ("Growth Rules," July 6) and wrote a letter to both my state representative and senator. The letters of course did not do much, but if enough pressure is kept up over a long enough time, citizens may be thrown a crumb of representation on this board. One interesting item I found was when you go on the N.C. Web site and look for boards and commissions, there is only an Adobe link to a list of them. There is not any information on members, meetings, agendas, compensation. Please keep this issue going.
Peter Childers
Raleigh

Wrong school for Dix
I was surprised to learn that all of the alternative plans for the Dix property include a school campus ("Planners muscle up," Aug. 24). There had been no public clamor for a school on the site, nor would it bring in money for the state. How then did it get in both plans? It further appears that this campus is already slated to be given to Raleigh Charter High School, which wants to expand from its current leased space.

But why should North Carolina taxpayers' money or land be given to Raleigh Charter High School? It calls itself a public school but is actually a taxpayer-financed elite segregation academy: 93 percent of its students are white, and none are eligible for free or reduced lunch, according to www.publicschoolreview.com, a Web site that profiles schools nationwide. This school of privilege siphons off students, teachers and resources from the real public schools, which have a mandate to serve everybody.

Evidently some influential parents have inserted this giveaway into the Dix plans, to move Raleigh Charter to the most coveted real estate in town. For shame!
Matthew Brown
Raleigh

Independent investigation
The federal response to Hurricane Katrina is a national scandal ("The disaster that shouldn't have been," Sept. 7). Our nation was better prepared and responded better after 9/11.

Four years after 9/11, it is clear the Bush administration has made us less safe.

We need an independent commission modeled on the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong at FEMA and other agencies. Congress should support Senator Clinton's legislation calling for an independent commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission.

We can't let one political party--especially the one running the government--control the investigation of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

The investigation must be independent from the politicians and have its own investigators, budget and subpoena authority.
Dean Hoskins
Durham