I have a few questions for all the overwrought folks who are so concerned about the progressive policies of President Barack Obama and the congressional Democrats. First, can any fair-minded person with even a passing acquaintance with basic economic facts deny that something is seriously amiss with the balance of wealth and income in the United States? How much more of the wealth of this country do you folks want to hand over to the super-rich? What will satisfy the raw greed of these people?

At present, one percent of the U.S. population owns about 35 percent of all the country's wealth -- stocks, bonds, cash, gold, silver, gems, real estate, businesses, industries, farms, etc. That leaves 65 percent of the wealth to be divided among the remaining 99 percent of us. But not so fast. The next wealthiest four percent of the population owns 25 percent of all the wealth. That leaves just 40 percent of the wealth to be divided among 95 percent of the population.

On behalf of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors and the Rocky Mount Town Council, we wanted to pause and express our collective sympathies to the families of Chief Posey Dillon and Firefighter Danny Altice, who lost their lives on July 26, 2010. Words cannot begin to express the loss to our community and the reminder it resounds as to the dangers that our law enforcement, fire and rescue responders, both volunteer and career, readily accept on a daily basis.

As a community, we have chosen to live here because we like it and believe in each other to make this an even better place. We cannot say "thank you" enough for what our emergency service personnel do for us and the risks that they so easily assume.