I have a question for Ms (Polly) Angelakis, (Carl) Sandburg Park superintendent.

Since the (park’s Front Lake) dam had never had even one new stone installed since it failed in 2022 due to federal bureaucracy (and drain pipe failure) and was to be completely torn down before new construction could begin, how would any additional time be needed to finally give us back our beautiful lake?  

We are tired of looking at “Sandburg Swamp” for over two years!    

If anything, (Tropical Storm) Helene likely helped demolish portions of the dam that would have otherwise been removed for reconstruction and sped the process — instead of lengthening it. 

Your (Angelakis’) further pushback on (the repair) timetable seems contrived.

The Sandburg (Front) Lake fiasco continues as yet another example of total government failure and waste of one of the few government resources in our area beloved by the taxpayer. 

I would hate to see the park suffer cuts under (President Donald) Trump, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens — maybe deservedly so.

Critic terms ‘Diabolical Donald’ a self-destructive narcissist 

 Traitor Trump is awfully sad — not to mention completely mad — isn’t he?  

Jesus Christ, please return ASAP to save us from your fake followers soiling the name of Christianity. We’ve had enough of their nonsensical bigotry and idiotic anti-science ideology.

As far as an adjudicated rapist and convicted felon like Putin’s puppet Donald Trump is concerned, that self-destructive Rapepublican narcissist is already a lame duck president even before taking office again.  

Partisan Republican politicians who live in constant conservative fear of their fascist, hate-filled, abusive father figure Orange Hitler are, without a doubt, some of the weakest wimps that America has to offer.

For instance, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson? (Yeah, not for long.)  

Thankfully, the endless opportunities manifesting themselves in this particular political crisis are apparent to us, the real Americans who do not make a mockery of Jesus of Nazareth’s name. Diabolical Donald is not a Christian, not even close! Trump is an Antichrist, and you all know it, too.

Deranged Donald is just another one of those so-called “Christian” conservatives who would be the first in line to unjustly execute Jesus should Christ ever return to Earth to admonish his fake followers.  

If you are under the incredibly ignorant impression that most Americans are now falling into line like fascists to worship Elon Musk’s moronic man crush on Don the con, you have another thing coming.

With all due respect to the late, great poet Gil Scott-Heron, the revolution will be televised after all. 

Probably not on Fox “News,” though, so maybe try watching something else instead for once in your brainwashed life. Perhaps a real news network? Or how about reading this esteemed publication instead of wasting time watching TV talking heads?

A big Blue Wave is now already on the way in 2026, thanks to dimwitted Donald Trump’s ongoing unparalleled incompetence and personal stupidity, nominating multiple unvetted sex offenders and substance abusers to his cabinet.

The GOP is called “The Rapepublican Party” these days for good reason, and the #1 cause of that widespread disrespect is deviant Donald Trump himself.

So I guess we can look forward to a time when your kid says, “Mommy, Daddy — why am I in this iron lung for the rest of my life?”

And you can tell them, “So you didn’t have to be in a classroom with a transgender classmate. Oh, and we wanted cheaper eggs.“

What is wrong with people?

LINDA FAICAO, Esq.

U.S. Presidential Scholar

Asheville

Paper ripped for story about club touting ‘landslide’ win

“Presidency in a landslide” …. please fact-check yourself. His margin was one of slimmest in modern politics!! I just picked up HVL edition of your paper for first AND LAST time. One biased page after another. BS. BS. BS!

DEBORAH MATTHEWS

Laurel Park

EDITOR’S NOTE: While Donald Trump’s recent victory over Kamala Harris for the U.S. presidency was not a “landslide,” the Daily Planet’s story to which Matthews is referring was about the Henderson County Republican Men’s Club’s Nov. 9 breakfast meeting, wherein the club celebrated what it termed a “landslide” election result — in that by winning not only the electoral vote and popular vote, the GOP also claimed control of the House of Representatives, giving it control of the government.

 Regarding the magnitude of Trump’s win, CNN political analyst Zachary B. Wolf pointed out — in a Nov. 9 commentary — the following:

 â€œIt’s a comeback for the ages for a president to go from a pariah, after trying to overturn one election, to president-elect after the next.”

However, as Wolf also correctly added:

“What Trump cannot claim is a landslide victory, although that’s how he will describe it.”

To that end, as reflected in the Daily Planet’s story, a “landslide” is how the HCRMC described the overall Trump’s impact of Trump’s win — and that is what the newspaper stated in both its headline and story.

Buncombe schools gender support guidelines? Yikes!

The story behind the creation and implementation of the Buncombe County Schools Gender Support Guidelines should alarm all who value transparency and accountability in government.

This policy, which directly impacts students, parents and teachers, appears to have bypassed the traditional approval process.

Parents and taxpayers were not afforded the opportunity to participate in discussions about this policy or its implications.

Even more troubling is the possibility that outside activist organizations influenced the policy’s creation without public oversight.

Such actions undermine trust in our schools and raise questions about whether our local government serves the community or private agendas.

It is unacceptable for the school board to remain silent on these matters. We must demand answers:

Who wrote this policy?

Why was it not subjected to public debate?

How will the board ensure future policies are developed transparently?

Does it violate provisions of the Parents Bill of Rights (SB49) and HB574 (Fairness in Women’s Sports Act)?

Taxpayers deserve a government that prioritizes the rights of families and students over activist-driven agendas.

I urge readers to contact their school board representatives and demand that the Gender Support Guidelines either be revoked or debated publicly at the next board meeting.

JIM FULTON

Arden

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Fulton is the founder and president of the First Tuesday Conservatives of Asheville.

Americans? They’re just as bad as CEO killer, Hitler

The security and surveillance technology the New York Police Department used to catch the (alleged) killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was right out of the Tom Cruise movie “Minority Report.”

America is becoming an Orwellian Big Brother police and surveillance state, exactly like the one in “Minority Report,” as well as like the one in George Orwell’s (1949) dystopian science-fiction novel “Nineteen Eight-Four.”

The fact that the police have this security and surveillance technoloy should be far more worrisome to Americans than the shooting of the health care CEO!!!

But Americans are just as bad!

Americans use their phones to be little Big Brothers and little Big Sisters — and the eyes and the ears of the Orwellian Big Brother police and surveillance state that America has devolved into.

In the same way that the Germans helped Hitler and the Nazis, Americans help Big Brother.

RICHARD D. POPE

Hendersonville

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a postscript to his letter to the editor, Pope added the following:

Today’s Americans are like the “good Germans” of Nazi Germany, as well as like the citizens in the dystopian science-fiction novels “Minority Report,” “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” “Brave New World” and “Farenheit 451.” 

And Americans are like the “Pod People” in the science-fiction movie classic from 1956 — “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”