Will Byerly Slay Goliath?

Will Byerly Slay Goliath?

Gary A. House

Representative David Lewis has become, at least in his own eyes, a Goliath in the State Legislature.  He has outgrown his britches.

Representative Lewis has become greater than the people who have supported him, the people who have believed in him, and the people who have voted him into office.

He has made many trips to Harnett County’s planning department on behalf of one developer.  He has made many calls to the planning department for the same reason.  There is a stack of emails to the planning department attempting to get the rules changed for this developer.  Representative Lewis even went as far to try re-write the County’s ordinance to benefit this developer. 

If Representative Lewis worked as hard for the benefit of the residents of North Carolina and Harnett County as he does for this one developer, we would see much progress in our great state and county.

While Representative Lewis is meddling in the affairs of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and the Harnett County School Board, while he is too concerned about passing a bill where a child can shoot a BB gun unsupervised, while the General Assembly is passing a bill so Clay County can drop a live opossum on New Year’s Eve (which by the way is cruelty to animals), our teachers, students and school system are getting a raw deal.

Teachers have been neglected for years.  Teaching assistants have been thrown out on the street.  Students do not have enough textbooks.  Our school system is suffering.

New teachers are receiving increased pay which is a good thing but it is also a slap in the face to our veteran teachers.  Our seasoned teachers were promised their tenure and they earned their tenure.  They have earned their longevity pay.  They have earned the right to have regularly increases in pay or, at least, cost of living adjustments.

Our teachers have become discontented with the lack of respect they have been shown.  There is no excuse for it.

I have seen my daughter’s class not have textbooks.  I have seen her not be able to bring a textbook home because there were not enough for all students.

Perhaps if Representative Lewis would spend more time addressing serious issues like fighting for the $8 million dollars in lottery funds that were supposed to come to the Harnett County school system over the last few years but were diverted to other State uses, our school system would not be so stressed.  Our teachers would we happier, the students would be learning more, and the overcrowding would be on its way to being reduced.

There is no justified reason that our veteran teachers should give up their tenure to receive an 11% pay increase.  And to use expected increases in lottery sales to pay for the raises is absurd.  What is next?---having casino on every corner so we can fund the needs of our school system?

A true Giant would be fighting for our teachers, our children, and our school system instead of wasting valuable time on such petty things as BB guns and opossum dropping.

When it comes to education, I know Susan Byerly, who is a retired educator and principal, will be a Giant in fighting these battles and standing up for the people of Harnett County.

So I guess the question remains.  Will the Giant Byerly slay the Goliath Lewis with all of his political action committee money and special interest money or will dollars win out over common sense again?