Referring to your Friday column on council pay "raises."

In November 2009, vote W. Terry Smith for mayor!

It is what I've been trying to say for several years now. Corruption is rampant in the Tarboro town government.

David Smoot said of the newcomers on Town Council several months ago that they hadn't finished receiving their training yet. The reason he gave for their "outspoken" behavior. Well, now I suspect the training has been completed.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Remember?

Now we can understand why Robersonville started to sign petitions to recall their entire town government. It is time for the entire Tarboro town charter to be rewritten. It was written "plantation style" in the beginning, to control the freed slaves. Corrupted, it is now used to exploit the entire town population.

It is all madness. What surprises me most is that all the "Movers and Shakers," except the editor of The Daily Southemer, in this town, just sit back and let it all happen.

It is the reason M.A. Ray Center is so desolate today. In the not so distant past, (Town Manager) Sam (Noble) has even threatened to close it, in order "to save the town some money." Never mind how much it hurts the community.

Look out, citizens. He might be firing some more town employees so he can keep his "raise." And that is like Rocky Mount ?

Come November 2009 there will be another local election. As I have asked before, who needs ElectriCities? Impeachment ? You bet! Concerned Citizens have been waiting for a reply to a petition to Town Council and the town manager for two years and four months.

Richard H. Parker Jr.

Tarboro