To the editor:

These are strange days indeed in Polk County.

The county spends approximately 25 percent of the annual average cost of running an animal shelter compared with other equivalent sized North Carolina counties. When the Foothills Humane Society requests an increase of $14,580 for funding, the Polk County Board of Commissioners (BOC) rejects it.

When the Polk County department of social services requests filling a vacant child welfare staff position, the Polk County BOC rejects it. When the planning board presents a Unified Development Ordinance after several years of workshops and hearings, the Polk County BOC rejects it.

What is a concerned citizen to do?

When you come in contact with a stray animal that needs help, drop the animal off at your local county commissioners home.

When you discover a social services issue that needs dealing with, leave the issue at your local county commissioners home.

When you want to build that asphalt plant/landfill/strip mine, build it next to your local county commissioners home.

Strange days demand strange ways.

– Jay Goree, Columbus