Hunter Biden. Three million dollars of income. Federal taxes willfully evaded.

Caught, pled guilty, no jail time.

Where is the justice for the common American taxpayer? 

I would ask the IRS if we current taxpayers willfully evade paying federal taxes can we simply plead guilty, say “oops” and walk away? 

Or is there a clause in the tax code or federal law that applies only to the sons of sitting presidents? 

Where is the rule of justice, does our government of laws rather than of men not apply when a celebrity of sorts is concerned?  

What happened to “Of the people, By the people, For the people” Has that concept gone the way of the “”new’ American standard? 

Or have we as citizens and taxpayers fallen in line like lemmings  and are we following others and jumping off the cliff of honesty, fairness and justice for all? 

There is a legend about the famous Daniel Webster. Supposedly, if one visits his grave on a particular day and time, his voice can be heard asking the question, ”What is the state of the Republic?” 

Couple thankful for help from N.C. swift water rescue teams

My wife Naomi and I are from Vermont.  We very recently — for almost two weeks — visited your fine state and its western region around Burnsville and Penland.  

During the time of our stay heavy rains caused flash flooding back in Vermont, greatly impacting a number of communities in our state, most noticeably our capital, Montpelier.  

We were personally lucky in that our own town of Brattleboro did not receive widespread damage.

While in North Carolina, we kept up with the news back home. I happened to notice one day that Vermont had mutual aid agreements with several other states, including nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut, but also Michigan and North Carolina.  

In subsequent days more close reading disclosed that your state had sent several swift water rescue teams to help out with aiding and even saving people on the swollen streams up north.

That indeed made us thankful.  Additionally, the “swift water” aspect was of direct interest to me.  After initially cutting my teeth on whitewater streams in New England, I participated in a number of March trips to Western North Carolina in the 1980s and 1990s for the specific purpose of boating some of your challenging rivers.  The French Broad, the Nantahala and even the Pigeon were among your rivers that we took on and greatly improved our skills by so doing.  One especially memorable day was spent on your state’s portion of the Nolichucky.  

Thus, I can appreciate just how skilled your swift water rescue teams must be since the above rivers and others are in your back yards.

We have no idea how to get our heartfelt thanks to the right people in North Carolina among those rescue teams, but hopefully word will be passed on to them. And perhaps, someday, we can return the favor.