A special thank you:

A special thank you to all the firefighters, rescue and EMT teams, as well as the American Red Cross (Charles Macemore) who came the night of May 9 to the house fire of our residence at 1747 Mountain Grove Road, Hamptonville.

We cannot possibly express how much we appreciate everything that everyone tried to do and done that devastating night.

Thank you all so much.

Jason, Michelle and T.J. Holbrook

Hamptonville

Being kind to handicap:

I was so happy to see the new and unusual parking places for some of the handicap spots at Walmart. I would personally like to thank them for installing them.

For those unfamiliar, they spots seem to go the “wrong” way, and seemingly taking up way too many spaces. What the odd spaces are for, as stated on their signs, are: VANS. They are made for vans and other vehicles that transport wheelchairs and scooters for handicap people, so they can unload their wheelchairs and scooters safely and out of traffic. They have a larger than normal surrounding yellow safety warning lines to tell people not to park in front of or behind the van or other vehicle with a scooter lift. I have a scooter lift on the back of my vehicle, and I really appreciate those spots.

I have been saddened by the abuse of these spots by handicap people who do not have a wheelchair, or scooter. There are regular passenger cars parked there, more often than vehicles with lifts, or that carry chairs. I hope it is because they do not realize that they are abusing the space, as much as an able-bodied person would be abusing a regular handicap space if they parked in it. I have also seen people park on the yellow safety warning lines like it is an extra space, blocking in the vehicle parked there. I myself have had many people block me in like this, and one person literally drove over my lowered scooter lift, and then park on it, bending it up. This of course trapped me there.

We all need to work together. We have so many new disabled persons now, because of their valiant service to our country. If you see someone parked in a handicap space, who does not have a tag or hanging permit, call the police, or tell an employee. If someone who is disabled is mistakenly parking in a “wheelchair/scooter” vehicle spot, gently tell them what they are doing. They probably do not know. If you see someone parked on the “yellow warning safety” lines around a handicap space, tell an employee, or manager. Do this for your fellow citizens, and make life a little easier for them.

One last thing, the yellow lined areas are not for people to park their shopping carts. They are horrible to move if you are in a chair or a scooter.

Thank you all for working together to help other people.

Diana Bray

State Road