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Observations
By Gaye Hoots
Last week I went to Pamlico County courthouse for early voting and waited about thirty minutes. The ballot sheet had to be marked with a pen and then fed into a machine when complete. The crowd was mostly those my age and the county must be Republican as most county positions had no opponents from other parties. Voting earned me a ham biscuit from Bojangles and a large drink that I dropped on the carpet at home.
My next stop was the library where I checked out “Hillbilly Elegy” as I had seen the movie and true to form the book was better. When I signed up for the book there was a list of thirty ahead of me. I posted my thoughts on the book on Facebook, not as a political statement, but due to the comments it received, I deleted it. I am not affiliated with either political party and never have been. I encouraged people to vote that I knew would not vote the same as me.
Along with this book, I checked out four by Lee Child about a man called Reacher. A sort of military special forces avenging angel. My seven-year-old grandchild pointed at these and said, “I looked these up on Pinterest and they are not the kind of books you should be reading.” I replied, “I would not recommend them for a child, but I like them.” You never know who is watching you.
Whichever candidate wins needs our support and prayers. My family has supported and fought for our country since before the Revolutionary War. The Hoots land in Yadkin County was a land grant to Jacob Hoots, formerly Hutts, for his service in that war. Five of my uncles fought in WW11, and one, a glider pilot, died in Normandy. My brother was the only one of my generation to serve in Vietnam, my grandson is in the Navy and his wife is in the Air Force.
Last week Gene Hoots, my only cousin on the Hoots side, and his daughter went to Normandy and viewed the site where my mom’s brother died. I obtained his dog tag number from my cousin who is his namesake and Gene got the information he needed to do this. I was born on this uncle’s birthday the year following his death and Faye’s grandson is named for him also. Our family and many others have blood, sweat, tears, and prayers invested in the well-being of our country.
While Gene was in France, my two youngest cousins were also in Europe, Brian Fulk was in the UK, and his sister; and her husband were in Italy and other countries. I enjoyed the photos she posted on Facebook and think I might like to travel too, but presently my focus is on family, and we are hoping to get baby Mia home before the end of the month. We are grateful for the help we have received with this. This is the biggest challenge my faith has faced, but we are praying for daily miracles.
We emphasize our country’s leaders, but I believe our real strength is our faith, our family bonds, our friendships, and our willingness to do for ourselves and to help others. That has been evidenced by the outpouring of volunteer help, donations, use of privately owned equipment, and hands-on help during the crisis in our state and others caused by Helene. The government has also played a great part in the rescue but there is no substitute for individual initiative, and I believe this is our saving grace.
We are independent and take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities and we pass this on to our children and grandchildren. We know how to survive if computers shut down. The country could probably manage but the cities would be in dire straits. When we lose the ability to grow and prepare our food, hunt, fish, cook over fires, build shelter, and trade these skills with our neighbors or donate to those unable to do so then we are in trouble.
We should not depend on the government or our leaders to care for us or set the moral tone for us. We comprise the government, our taxes support it, not vice versa. We are the military, the police force, and the educational system. We should exhibit the morals we want to see in others. The more dependent we are on the government the weaker we become.
The scariest thing for me is the debt that both parties put on a national credit card—the national debt. Neither party knows how to change this, and probably neither party has the desire to. Every program we vote for has a price tag, and we, the taxpayers, not the wealthy, will bear that burden, which is bequeathed to our children.
 
Davie Military
By Marie Craig
Veterans’ Day is Nov. 11 each year to honor the men and women who have served or are serving in the military. This annual date was chosen to coincide with the last day of World War One. It’s a time to express appreciation for those who have served to protect our country.
If you want to learn more about our county’s participation, there are several books you could study. Some of these are for sale at Davie County Public Library History Room, and others can be ordered online. There are also books to check out at the library.
The Miller sisters, Mary Alice Hasty and Hazel Winfree, compiled information about men serving in the Civil War. This book, THE CIVIL WAR ROSTER OF DAVIE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA can be ordered from https://mcfarlandbooks.com. Their five-year research resulted in 1,147 biographies which are included in this book. Davie burial information is listed. Their hard work found fifty-five Civil War deaths that were not previously included on our Veterans’ Memorial downtown but were added later.
Six hundred seventy men and three women from our county served in World War One. These are profiled in the book DAVIE COUNTY IN WORLD WAR ONE. Biographies and data are included in this book which is available at the history room or online at www.lulu.com. Eighteen names of war dead were already on the downtown monument, but the author found eleven more men who died in the war who were included later.
DAVIE COUNTY VETERANS’ MEMORIAL, a book that includes biographies of men dying in war not already included in other books, profiles these men. Other features of the book are transcripts of talks given by Colonel Thomas W. Ferebee and other leaders at the dedication of the war memorial. This includes deaths in World War Two, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Beirut bombing. The book can be bought at the history room or ordered at www.lulu.com.
Fifteen men from Davie County served in the Spanish-American War and the resulting war in the Philippines. They are featured in the book DAVIE COUNTY IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. This can be ordered from www.lulu.com.
The book A SALUTE TO OUR VETERANS which was compiled by Cooleemee Historical Association can be studied in the history room at the library.
DAVIE COUNTY MAVERICKS by Marcia D. Phillips has a chapter about Thomas Ferebee. It can be bought at the history room.
There are interviews with our veterans on YouTube. Search for “Interviews with Davie County World War Two Veterans.”
The subscription online site, Fold3, contains information about military personnel. There are many, many Websites with military data in general and about specific persons.
Let’s remember our heroes.

Noise
By Julie Terry Cartner
I stopped to fill my car with gas the other day. After I put in my phone number and tapped my credit card, I removed the nozzle and inserted it into my tank, then started the gas flow. Immediately, I was assaulted by advertisements emanating from the gas pump, loudly enough that I startled, and I was glad that I had notched the nozzle and wasn’t actually holding anything. I could picture how the hose would have gone flying through the air spewing noxious and flammable gas throughout all the surrounding area.
Another day I walked by a soda machine, literally just walked by it, and it started talking to me, suggesting that I might be hot and tired, and a soda would sure taste good. Other uninvited assaults on my ears tell me who to trust, who to vote for or what to believe in.
Wherever we go, whether it be a doctor’s office, the grocery store, an elevator, a dentist office, a convenience store, or a restaurant, we are blasted by unrequested, and often unwanted, sound.
And it made me think, when did we become a society that needs to be inundated with noise wherever we go?
Picture the last time you went out to eat. How many televisions were blaring out news or entertainment? At the very least, there was piped in music, often at a level that made conversation more work than it should be. How many houses do you go to where the television is on, even if nobody is in the room where it’s playing?
And then there’s the content, especially in the last couple of months. Advertisement after advertisement telling us what to think, who to trust, and who to believe, often spilling half-truths or less.
Back in 1955, idiot box was coined as a nickname for television. Two reasons for this are equally concerning. First, a television is “a non-interactive device that dulls the mind…” and “it promotes a sedentary lifestyle and diminishes the imaginative power of the minds of those who watch it continMultiple research studies from respectable organizations such as Vanderbilt University, use the term illusory truth. The research indicates that even hearing a statement twice makes an adult think it is true. More repetitions lead to an even higher acceptance as truth.
I remember as a teenager watching the movie Animal Farm and being horrified at the animals, who had used their brains to take over their poorly run farm, but then were brainwashed by the pigs with propaganda which constantly ran on the barn’s television. The message was clear, even to an immature teenager.
So, in addition to the unwanted noise, we are also being attacked by uninvited advice.
Please don’t misunderstand. I like television in small doses. I love music of many genres, whether it comes from a recorded or live source. However, I want this to be my choice rather than something that is forced on me wherever I go. One key for me is quality over quantity. Another is choosing individually what, when and where to watch or listen. And a third key is purpose or intention. I chose to watch television shows as a form of entertainment and would no more believe that the FBI or the CSI can solve every case in less than an hour, than I would that a doctor can do the same for his or her patients.
When we’re continually bombarded by the electronic noises of televisions and other streaming devices, when do we have the silence, we need to think and to draw our own conclusions? When do we have the time to have honest conversations, discussions, and yes, even debates? Try this: try to watch a television show or sporting event, or sing along with the radio while, at the same time, composing a speech or discussing with someone something you feel strongly about. You will not be successful. Sometimes we need silence. Sometimes we need the noise to go away.