Port Security Is OK
As chairman of the North Carolina State Ports Authority’s Board of Directors, I appreciate the basic premise of Tara Servatius’s Nov. 17 article (“From Al Qaeda With Love”): that port security is both relevant and important to everyone in the state.
I would like to clarify a couple of issues. First, the security measures used by the Federal agencies responsible for the security of incoming cargo are significantly more sophisticated than the article indicated. Second, while it is certainly true that ships calling at our ports have called at several others on the way, new international security requirements those ports must meet — as well as the tight fit of containers inside a ship and the ships’ own security procedures — make it very unlikely that a container would be tampered with in any meaningful way en route. But if anything is out of order when the container arrives in port — including documentation not matching or a damaged, missing or altered seal on a container — it is handled in port, as described in the extensive interview our security director gave to Creative Loafing. That container would never get anywhere near Charlotte until it was checked, cleared and released by the responsible Federal agencies.
Security improvement is never a finished product — we can always do better, and we will continue to look for ways to improve. Thanks again for your support of our efforts to make our Ports facilities safer.
— Carl J. Stewart, Jr., Gastonia
Tara Servatius replies: Unfortunately, the “security measures used by the Federal agencies” referred to by Mr. Stewart rely primarily upon intelligence screening of the companies shipping the containers, not the technological screening of the containers themselves, as my column pointed out. Last year, the five-person customs team in Singapore managed to verify the shipping records on only two-thirds of the 400,000 containers shipped to this country. They could not verify what was actually inside the containers, as they do not have the necessary equipment. In reference to the stops made before cargo reaches the US, I should have specified in my column that the “more than a dozen intermediate points” referred to stops between the supposedly “government approved” Asian shipper and the US port — which would create more opportunities for tampering — not just between the Asian port and the US port.
Voice of Reason
Thank you for such an extraordinary editorial (“I Am A Christian Too,” by John Sugg, Nov. 24). Quite frankly, I start to cringe when I hear someone proclaim themselves to be a Christian. I was under the impression (and belief) that Jesus taught tolerance; a word and concept that appears to have completely vanished with the Christian right; I find this incredibly alarming and frightening. Our population and country are too diverse to not embrace tolerance. I also don’t understand why more churches and religious spokespeople don’t speak up to voice a more moderate tone. I don’t expect everyone to completely agree on the issues of gay marriage and abortion (to name just a couple of “easy” topics), but I have to believe that we can have a discussion and arrive someplace in the middle.
In any case, thank you again for your voice of reason. I look forward to reading John Sugg’s thoughts more often.
— Bruce McKay, Charlotte
Go Noncommercial
The reader who wrote CL claiming that “the best morning show in Charlotte is on Rock 92.3 in Greensboro” (NB: Rock 92.3 actually comes out of Asheboro) hasn’t listened to THE best morning shows in Charlotte. One is not required to listen to a rock or country station in the morning. All this fellow needs to do is escort his tuner into noncommercial territory below 92 mhz. There he will discover news and commentary on “Morning Edition” on WFAE, classical music on WDAV, eclectic music on WNCW and WSGE, and contemporary Christian music on WRCM — all presented in an intelligent fashion, with no shock jocks or any other juvenile antics.
Noncommercial radio is THE true alternative to the boring cookie cutter formats of commercial radio. There’s only one reason why this fellow wouldn’t prefer noncommercial radio to commercial radio: because he’s never listened to noncommercial radio in the first place!
— Stephen V. Gilmore, Charlotte
It’s Still About Race
I’ll tell you why Bill James has suddenly been cast into the limelight (“Above the Fold,” by Tara Servatius, Dec. 8). Race. It has been the most heated issue in this country since the Civil War and will no doubt remain that way for the foreseeable future. Jim Crow just ended 40 years ago and slavery 140 years ago. That ain’t long. Black people want white people to acknowledge their ancestors’ wrongdoings and try to make it right. White people say “It wasn’t me,” “It’s not my fault,” or the ever popular “Get over it.” Plenty of legal progress has been made but it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans without progress of the mind. I think Tom Brokaw captured it adequately when he said “When I was just starting out I saw race as an issue that would be resolved in my lifetime. I no longer feel that way.”
— George Thompson, Charlotte
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2004.
