I want to applaud, commend and give my heartfelt admiration to the four Bladen County commissioners in standing who and doing their job in defending the taxpayers. They are Charles Ray Peterson, Daniel Dowless, Ashley Trivette and David Gooden. They showed integrity, leadership, fiscal responsibility and respect for the taxpayers by voting against a nearly $1,500 photo shoot of themselves (and their ego).

As far as the other commissioners, who should remain nameless, they should be ashamed of themselves for wasting taxpayers’ money on such meaningless projects when so many other areas need to be addressed. Many of them just attended a Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting to stress the importance of education, jobs, health care and people’s rights. What hypocrites.

Our schools, children’s health and health care rank near the bottom of all counties in North Carolina. Our children and others must leave Bladen to get jobs and they complain about people’s rights. The last meeting it was even mentioned about staff cuts in our schools and other areas — and the top decision was for a photo of themselves.

Just a few statistics on ways $1,500 can better be spent:

— A hungry school child can be fed for one year with $1,500.

— A family of four can be fed for $600 per month.

— Soup kitchens can feed the hungry for $2.50 per meal.

— Housing for a homeless person is $600 per month.

— Enough supplies for a teacher for one year for the entire class.

— Average college student book costs for one year are $1,200.

I’m also angry at myself for believing and even supporting some of these commissioners in the past. I thought they would be for the taxpayers, but I see they are for themselves and seem to be controlled by other things besides worrying about the people of Bladen County.

I’m not a political watchdog and I feel I am a rational person, but some things are just not right when so many people in the county are suffering. If someone can explain and defend how a photo is more important than a hungry child’s life, I will be happy to retract and apologize to the “Flaming 5.” But until then, I want to show my support to the “Fabulous 4.”

Larry Yoder

Elizabethtown