Well, the lottery passed! It doesn’t matter who went slinking back into town. There’s a lot of slinky and slimy in both parties.

Many years ago, liquor-by-the-drink was the big issue. When it passed, people didn’t drink more than they should. They just drank from a glass instead of a bottle. If you don’t like the lottery, don’t play it. Why will the lottery affect the poor? It won’t — they know the way to Virginia and South Carolina.

Harris Blake said many months ago that if the lottery did pass, he would make sure the money went for education. I hope he will be instrumental in setting up a system to safeguard this money for education. Many states did not do that and in later years found the money going elsewhere. So North Carolina must do this right from the beginning.

Make sure to keep the funding for education in place and add the lottery proceeds to this fund. When the lottery starts paying off, let’s see more schools built, facility repairs made, more teachers and assistants hired, and reduction in classroom sizes. We will see a vast improvement in all the schools in the state. If we do not see this happening, then somebody isn’t safeguarding the education money. I repeat, set this up right so that nobody can use the amount earmarked for schools for anything else. Good luck, Senator Blake.

Patricia Black

Southern Pines