If It’s Tuesday . . .
I read about Tim Davis’s experience standing in line to vote last Wednesday with many like-minded folks (“Scene & Herd,” Nov. 10). I believe we may have determined why Kerry lost.
— Bill Stroupe, Cherryville, NC
Get A Clue, Tim!
Maybe Timothy C. Davis can take partial credit for the way the Presidential election unfolded. Since the election took place on Tuesday, not Wednesday as mentioned in the article, maybe he should have put the Playstation II controller down 24 hours earlier. Could this be the reason the lines were “manageable” in your neighborhood? Thanks for helping Bush win, though!
Another thing I found interesting was the Bobcats (the Charlotte Bobcats, not the Carolina Bobcats as you like to call them). For an expansion team, the team actually did very well even though they may have “pissed away their lead.” Funny how the second regular season game against the Magic, they won, no thanks to smart-ass, non-supporters such as yourself.
One last thing, in the last paragraph of your bitching and complaining column, you did a wonderful job of condensing the great movie Empire Records when rambling about the record store drama. How original. Did you think of that all by yourself? Obviously you didn’t think of the idea but you must have been the one that thought of stealing that idea. Isn’t there some kind of law against that?
Now, if I may take an idea from a movie but actually give credit for it: Your article was horrible. For those of us who took the time to read it, we are now dumber for doing so (Billy Madison).
— Matt Sims, Huntersville
Timothy Davis responds:
A hearty “thank you” to Mr. Sims (and Mr. Stroupe) for pointing out the typo in regards to my election day voting experiences. I did in fact place my vote on Tuesday, November 2, and not Wednesday as the article states.
As for the Charlotte Bobcats reference, I am indeed a huge Bobcats fan, and have listened to every game that I’m unable to get on my basic cable system. Lesson learned, however. I should learn from Mr. Sims and never question another’s authority or voice a dissenting opinion (we do live in a “red” state, after all).
As for Mr. Sims’ last remark, I have never seen the movie Empire Records, but was instead reporting on an original experience that I (and numerous others) had that seemed — to me, at least — interesting. Mr. Sims’ insinuations to the contrary are incorrect.
Not So Weird!
As a one-time resident of the Monte Sereno, CA area, I have to take issue with your November 10 “News of the Weird” item titled “More Scenes of the Surreal.” It talks about the city’s costly suit over a single tree being cut down and a fence that’s two feet too high. What Mr. Shepherd fails to mention is that Monte Sereno, CA, near San Jose, is one of the wealthiest communities in the country, with an average home price approaching $5 million. So its annual budget is hardly “modest”. It was primarily incorporated, and its zoning laws initiated, to protect the area from the rampant, and cancer-like growth of San Jose, where developers rarely respected the once beautiful Santa Clara Valley landscape, or the environment. One must also realize that in this semi-arid part of California, where trees can a very valuable commodity, cutting down one tree can create a mini-environmental disaster — especially if that tree happened to be a 500-year-old Ponderosa or Sequoia. The fence ordinance is there to keep the area from looking like the fenced developments of San Jose, that can have an uncomfortable resemblance to rat mazes. It’s also there to protect homeowner’s views of the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains, or Santa Clara Valley in the other direction. Since many of the homes are built on slopes, a couple feet of fence can erase a lot of scenery. And that could clearly upset a neighbor who probably paid upwards of $5 million for the view.
Although this case may seem odd to people around Charlotte (where there are plenty of trees and land) unlike the article says, cases like this are not “weird,” but actually quite common place in Monte Sereno and the other surrounding hillside communities of Los Gatos and Saratoga.
— Doug Foland, Mooreseville
This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2004.
