RECORD FORUM

Looking After Our Own

To the editor:

After over six years of clearing countless hurdles, it was a great day in Harnett County when the state granted permission for Good Hope Hospital to reinstate inpa­tient mental health beds for our residents and surrounding areas.

I was overjoyed when the for­mer county board recognized that a crucial need in our county could become a reality and voted unani­mously to support and fund this project until it was able to stand of its own.

With recent detrimental chang­es in the state’s mental health sys­tem, communities must stand up and fill a void. Good Hope Behav­ioral Health, Harnett County, Ho­rizon Health, and Sandhills Center worked jointly to make inpatient mental health beds in Harnett County a reality. Being visionar­ies, the involved entities were the first in North Carolina to take on such an endeavor.

Prior to the county’s participa­tion, Harnett County ranked sev­enth in the eight-county local man­agement entity called Sandhills Center in funding mental health needs in our own county.

With Harnett County’s assis­tance, the mental health care in the county is now being comparably funded to other counties in our re­gion. Once the program is self-suf­ficient, which should be within three years, the county should con­tinue to fund mental health care in Harnett County whether it is with Good Hope Behavioral Health or other programs in the county.

I have been amazed how quickly Good Hope has gone through the accreditation process. Shortly it will have its rights to bill Medicaid and Medicare for its services and back­bill for services already provided. It will then be able to accept invol­untary commitments, which will certainly save local law enforce­ment agencies much time and mon­ey and achieve self-sufficiency.

I would like to express my grat­itude to Harnett County, Good Hope Behavioral Health, Horizon Health, and Sandhills Center for their support in allowing us to look after our own.
Gary A. House Dunn Mr. House represents District 2 on the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and serves on the Sandhills Center Board of Directors. 

Through My Eyes: Wasteful County Spending and LawsuitsGary A. Hous...

Through My Eyes: Wasteful County Spending and Lawsuits
Gary A. Hous...: Wasteful County Spending and Lawsuits Gary A. House Many of you have asked why Harnett County is spending so much money on a lawsuit that...

Wasteful County Spending and Lawsuits
Gary A. House

Many of you have asked why Harnett County is spending so much money on a lawsuit that it will not be likely to recover anything.  So far, the County has spent around $250,000 of your money claiming that former employee Randy Rogers and I, a commissioner, stole public documents and sabotaged a $42 million project.    The NC Attorney General  has looked at this case and found nothing to be stolen.  As far as the $42 million project, it was in my district and if you check the voting record, you will see that I voted for this project and promoted this project. Yet, the county continues to pursue these ludicrous claims.

The facts are that Randy Rogers is a whistle blower that no one other than me and Jim Burgin would listen to him.  I have endured two lawsuits that were brought by a rogue county manager without authority and a former fellow commissioner that were intended to make me resign.  Resignation is out of the question.  I will not turn my back on the taxpayers who have elected me and I will continue to fight wasteful spending and wrongdoing.

Why would such ridiculous lawsuits be brought against me?  I believe that the powers to be believed that I have knowledge of wrongdoing and exposure was unavoidable.  The lawsuits were intended to keep me quiet and to ruin my credibility.

I have proven to our current county manager that some of the information that is claimed to be stolen is currently being used by current employees.  Why does the current manager not put a stop to this frivolous lawsuit that he knows contains false information?  I have no idea other than he is being directed by someone that is in the background that will not reveal themselves at a public meeting.  Do county attorneys wield this much power? I certainly hope not.

I do know that I cannot obtain information from the county and I cannot get my questions answered.  So much for open government and no back room dealing.  I had the same issue with the former county manager.

Why does the county not pursue legal action against those who pushed for a lawsuit with false claims thus wasting the county's money and resources?

I wish that I could answer that question.  I do know that pressure is being put on me to sign statements that are not true.  I will not sign any statement that is not truthful to get myself out of a frivolous lawsuit brought against me by a body that I am 20% of.  How can I be a plaintiff and defendant in the same lawsuit?

No one will answer that question.  And yes, I know that sounds crazy because it is.

It appears that this lawsuit will continue and the county will continue to spend your money until I can convince a whistle-blower, Randy Rogers, to turn his back on the very issues he was attempting to blow the whistle on.  Mr. Rogers is his own man.  I do not have that power over him.  I know there is validity to his claims.  I believe the county knows it too.

Why they will not listen is beyond my ability to understand.

Equality in America

Equality in America
Gary A. House

When I was 11 or 12 years-old, I read every sports book that I could get my hands on.  I remember reading a book about Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  I was certainly aware how the Mr. Robinson helped transform the game of baseball into the game as we know it today.  Players of all races and ethnic groups are now welcome in the Major Leagues as it should be.

Today I went to see the movie "42" about Jackie Robinson's ordeal as the first black player in the major leagues.  Mr. Robinson must have been one of the strongest, most strong-willed persons ever put on earth.  He faced continuous hatred.  He constantly absorbed racial slurs.  While many a man would have broken under this pressure, Mr. Robinson stood tall.  Branch Rickey, owner of the Dodgers, gave Mr. Robinson the opportunity to change the game.  Mr. Rickey also gave Mr. Robinson the opportunity to start a change in race relations in America.  Mr. Rickey and Mr. Robinson deserve our praise for changing life in America.

It was fascinating watching Robinson's teammates grow to accept him not only as a player but as a human being.  Although most grew to accept him and even stand up for him, some did not.  There will always be that type of ignorance in the world.  We, in America, have made tremendous strides since the year 1947 when Mr. Robinson broke into the major leagues.

We cannot let a few that still harbor hatred and ignorance to affect the way we treat each other.  Skin color does not matter.  What matters is how we love our neighbors period.  What matters is that everyone be given an equal chance.

Please take the time to go see "42."  We owe it to Mr. Robinson and Mr. Rickey to know this story.

An Act of Terror

An Act of Terror

Gary A. House

I would never be able to be a marathon runner.  I have always preferred to run 90 feet at the time.

I have great respect and admiration for anyone who puts forth the training to develop the endurance and stamina to run non-stop for 26 ½ miles. 

The runners who recently participated in the Boston Marathon put in the time and effort to run, what was for many of them, the race of their lives.  It is beyond my ability to understand why someone would want to place a bomb(s) near the end of the race. 

This was an act of terror on American soil.  I have no idea who planned or implemented this destructive act.  I do believe that if he/she/they are American citizens, all of the rights of US citizenship should be stripped.  The affected families should receive justice for this atrocious crime.  If they are not American citizens, they should be, well, I will let you answer that one.

I cannot understand why anyone would want to hurt another human being in this manner.   These runners trained many grueling hours to be able to run this race.  Those who took the thrill away from these athletes are not worthy of being called human.

A Heart of Gold

By Gary A. House

I truly believe that we are all born with a heart of gold.  With proper spiritual nurturing and guidance, that golden heart grows over time.

I, like many others, have been following the medical journey of Harnett County’s 12 year-old Ellen Whittington’s battle with auto immune encephalitis for nine months on FaceBook.

One 11 year-old girl from Greensboro, Cienna Joyce, has also been following Ellen’s progress even though she has never met Ellen.

Cienna had a birthday not long ago.  During the planning stages of her birthday party, Cienna informed her parents, Kim and Sonya Joyce, that she wanted to have a birthday party but she wanted no gifts for herself.    She claimed that she had everything that she needed.  From that golden heart that has been growing for 11 years, she asked if the guests could bring donations to be sent to The Ellen Fund. She felt that she needed to help Ellen more than she needed gifts for herself.

While on a business trip, Brian Whittington, Ellen’s father, crossed paths with Mrs. Joyce and was told of Cienna’s request to help Ellen instead of having a traditional birthday party.  Mrs. Joyce then handed Mr. Whittington an envelope with a donation to The Ellen Fund.

I have never met the Joyce family but I believe that there is an abundance of spiritual nurturing and guidance in the Joyce household.  They are raising a daughter that is and is destined to be a great, compassionate human being.

The world would be a much better place if those hearts of gold with which we were born grew larger each year like Cienna’s golden heart.  I often talk about the inherent goodness of humankind and

Cienna’s actions prove my theory to be correct. 

For some unknown reason, it appears as if our hearts of gold often get smaller as we get older.  The causes may be more responsibility, less time, more self-centeredness, or social and economic environments.  Whatever the reason, we must teach our hearts to grow like Cienna’s has grown.

In Matthew 18:2-4, Jesus called a little child and had him stand among the disciples and said “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

We should take a good look at ourselves and be grateful for what we have.  We also need to be cognizant of the needs of others and open our hearts like Cienna did for Ellen.

Would not the world be a wonderful place if everyone walked around with golden hearts?

I would personally like to thank Cienna for helping me and others reprioritize our lives and making our hearts grow again.  May we all strive to have hearts of gold like Cienna.

Children Deserve Respect

By: Gary A. House

Over the years I have spent thousands of hours with the youth in our county coaching various youth league sports.  I have learned a lot about children and parents during that time.

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned is that each child is different.  They are motivated in different ways.  They react in different ways to the same stimuli.  You cannot put each child in the same mold and coach them the same way.

All children should be treated equal but some are far more sensitive than others.  A coach must be careful in how he presents himself at all times.  Our children always deserve to be treated with respect.  I realize that no coach is going to be perfect and mistakes will be made.  But it takes a man to realize when he has been too tough on a child or has not demonstrated good sportsmanship himself.

Yelling at children and being overbearing will incorrectly teach our children how to treat people who are weaker than they are.  It will resonate for years and get passed on for generations.  This coaching method is not acceptable in our community if we want to have a good quality of life here.

I witnessed this method from one of my son’s three football coaches this year.  It became worse as the season went along.  In the final game of the season, I witnessed increased yelling with an increased decibel level, constant ridiculing of players’ performances, and shaking a child by the facemask.  Toward the end of the game, a table on the sidelines was kicked over by the coach as he uttered some poorly chosen words.  

I played football throughout school, have coached on the recreation level, and am a frequent attendee at local high school football games.  I have never witnessed the level of actions I saw during my son’s last game.

I know my son puts forth everything he has on the field and I know most of the other players put forth the same effort even though their abilities may not all be the same.

Every player that puts on that uniform should be encouraged in a positive way.  They should not be ridiculed or yelled at.  They should be lifted up and be made to feel good about themselves.

As a coach, I have always tried to learn the child’s personality and encourage him/her in a way that he/she feels comfortable.  I strongly believe in this method.  I still have friendships with players I coached twenty-two years ago.  I never yelled at one of them and we won more than our fair share of games.

The most precious things we have in our lives are our kids.  We need to prepare them to be leaders of the next generation.  Lessons learned on the ball fields will be taken with them as they journey through life.

It is imperative that we provide our children with good role models. 

Our children are our future.  We have to put them in good hands.