The athletic director at Wake Tech announced the hiring of a basketball and baseball coach as well as an adjunct instructor for a co-ed cheerleading squad for the college. Previously the college had hired a soccer and golf coach. I think the decision to field athletic teams is the single worst administration decision the college has ever made.

As a retired faculty member of the college for 24 years, I can recall many lean years when there was a shortage of funds for faculty and staff salaries, little or no money for labs and supplies and no funds to allow faculty to attend professional conferences and meetings. To think that the college will now have to spread its allocated resources to support sports programs is wrong. Now the college will be obligated for funds to pay coaches’ salaries, initial start-up costs for equipment, travel of teams, insurance, uniforms and cost related to facilities for practice and play. Who will they play? The North Carolina Community College system does not have an established or active inter-collegiate league among its institutions. Where will they play? Wake Tech is basically a commuter college with no dorms, no gyms, no athletic fields, no golf course and no soccer fields of its own.

The state and county currently find themselves in the middle of an emergency budget crisis that appears to have no end at this time. Therefore, funds coming from those sources to budget and operate the college will be significantly reduced and probably necessitates salary freezes and a reduction of employees. That alone makes it impossible for me to think of a justification for continuing down this path to establishing an athletic program.

Bob DeCatsye, Cary

Dad still waiting

April is Donate Life Month in North Carolina. This month is very important to me because my dad is waiting for a liver transplant. He has been waiting for a transplant since I was 7. I’m now a senior at Green Hope High Hope School. My dad is one of 100,000 people in the United States and over 3,000 in North Carolina waiting for a life-saving transplant. An average of 18 people die each day waiting for a transplant. Why don’t more people decide to become organ donors? Most people are now aware of organ donation but when it comes to making a decision to donate, they are sometimes confused by myths surrounding donation. One of those myths is that only famous people get organ transplants. I know many people locally have received lifesaving kidney, heart, liver and lung transplants. Another myth is that doctors won’t try to save my life if I’m an organ donor. If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ donation can only be considered after brain death has been declared by a physician.

Please consider becoming an organ donor by placing a heart on your license at the DMV or signing a donor registry at do natelifenc.org. You can save eight lives through organ donation and enhance more than 50 lives through tissue donation. I don’t want to have to explain to my 5-year-old brother that sometimes people die while waiting for a life-saving transplant.

Duke Bordeaux,, Cary

Plant hard to justify

The New Hill sewer plant article last week noted that the project is now estimated to cost $329 million. When Cary citizens voted for the Clean Water Bond in 2005, the total cost was estimated to be $193 million. Only $110 million of General Obligation bonds were authorized, but our share is now over $210 million. That $100 million increase in the price tag will be paid for by more expensive revenue bonds, cash and of course, more utility rate increases ranging upwards to 35 percent.

Council held a hearing about those rate increases April 15, but the most interesting discussion was about Cary only using 50-60 percent of its wastewater processing capacity. Cary’s involvement in this partnership stems more from the questionable environmental science behind Interbasin Transfer Certificates. The word “political” was used when discussing IBTs; not surprisingly, the same word is used by New Hill residents regarding the location decision. It is difficult to justify sending our sewage to the New Hill neighborhood when we apparently do not even need the additional capacity and there are less expensive means to meet ITB rules. And in this current economic environment, it is not fiscally prudent that Cary will spend $210 million to do so.

Janet Young, Cary