Carolina country boy

Our son, Thomas Wade Graham, is a 4-year-old boy who spends a lot of his time playing around both of his grandparents’ farms. The farm nearest to his house is the Talton Farm, a hay farm with some produce. His Papa’s farm is all produce, mostly sweet corn and peas. Both are in the Pikeville-Princeton area. He loves when he is able to ride tractors or golf carts to help with whatever task is at hand. He and his sister Paislee also love spending time with cousins at the community pool. He is in the Pre-K program at the Princeton Church of God.

Wade and Malissa Graham, Princeton, Tri-County EMC

Hooray for wind energy

Unlike David Beerbower [“Viewpoint,” November 2015], I heartily applaud whoever has seen fit to contract with Iberdrola Renewables to construct a wind energy farm in northeastern North Carolina [“More Power to You,” September 2015]. I don’t care if tax rebates and credits are brought to bear, and I am a property owner and taxpayer.

It is no longer true that coal-fired power plants can produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of wind. Not according to my reading. It is as plain as day that Mr. Beerbower and others are happily but ignorantly repeating deliberate lies quite possibly planted by the coal industry. You do not want to be on the same side of history as these people.

Fossil-fuel executive Charles Koch thinks that subsidies for renewable energy production are no longer necessary. He seems to think wind and solar are in fact competitive with fossil fuels.

If, like me and Wallace Stevens, to you “the most beautiful thing on Earth is, of course, the Earth itself” — and if you believe current generations of human beings should do everything in their power to pass down to future generations a livable planet — please do all you can to wean North Carolina off fossil fuels as soon as it is humanly possible.

Wally Emerson, Scaly Mountain, Haywood EMC

Hooray for Carolina Country

I just had to write and tell you how wonderful your September issue was. I always look forward to Carolina Country, but September’s issue provided so many exceptional articles. Without slighting those not mentioned, I want to comment especially on “Jacob’s Log” (which I always enjoy), the article on the Greene Early College and Aiven Aguilar’s personal story, and the amazing article on Jimmy Courson in “Model Man.” All were poignant and moving stories. I am not a fulltime resident of Brunswick County (yet), but each time I read your magazine I am touched by so many of the issues and people you cover that it makes me realize how much I look forward to my time there.

Julia McClure, Brielle, N.J., and Sunset Beach, N.C., Brunswick EMC