It is nice to heartily agree with Steve Bouser’s June 8 column on the subject of annexation.

Having moved here from New Jersey 18 years ago, I know all too well the pitfalls of antiquated annexation laws where major urban areas are in decay while surrounding affluent subdivisions continue to fail to do their fair share in supporting their greater community.

New Jersey has some 540-plus municipalities, some only one square mile in area (Red Bank, N.J., is a prime example), but each with its own municipal complex (police, fire, garbage collection, etc. with a corresponding bloated municipal bureaucracy and horrible inflated taxes). If they had annexation laws similar to North Carolina, I feel it would have in many cases prevented the decay so prevalent in New Jersey’s major urban communities.

I have been a resident of Pinewild for 11 years. And, while no one wants higher taxes, I realize that we, more fortunate than many others, have certain responsibilities to the greater area where we reside, which in my opinion can best be fulfilled by being annexed by Pinehurst.

Paul Morton Jr.