Sound Off highlights anonymous, brief takes on the news offered via telephone by Daily News readers.

Next time, send someone to take a picture of curb-high water and people on the south sidewalk getting wet when cars and trucks speed east on Water Street.

I was in Washington months ago with all the cyclists, and I really do have a concern. I have put off letting anyone know about it, but this needs to be taken care of. At night, we were most nervous and upset when there were groups of young people going in and out, all around our tents. You really need a policeman walking or on a bike where you have special events. I don’t know that I will come again because I couldn’t sleep all night for the activity up and down the waterfront. This will affect people coming to Washington. It’s really something that needs to be addressed. And I understand citizens have voiced that concern. So, from an out-of-town person, this is my thought about it.

I would like for our city and county leaders to do what they’re hired to do and politic the state to get U.S. Highway 17 and U.S. Highway 264 paved.

Why is it that I have to drive 30 mph in work zone for work in the road, yet I can meet a state truck running the same zone I am at 50 mph?

I think it’s a shame that John Edwards was found not guilty and acquitted on the other stuff. It leaves the door open for all these politicians with their campaign funds, some of them in the millions of dollars, to use it for their personal use and not have to pay taxes on it. It should be treated as income, like the rest of us citizens.  It’s just going to allow the rich to play with the money that is donated to them and get by with it.

Mr. Mercer with the Washington City Council needs to quit being a hypocrite. I receive no services from the City of Washington, but yet because I live outside the city limits, I have to pay a higher rate for my electric utilities to subsidize those who live in the city.

Mayor Jennings, please raise my city taxes so the poor county residents who live on the river and down at the country club can afford to come play sports in town.

I don’t like Walter Williams. He uses statistics the same way a drunk uses a lamppost, to prop himself up, and not for illumination. That being said, I don’t think his column should be removed. The righties might as well be misinformed by him as anyone.

I  just want to make it known that other customers were affected by the fire at Spence Packing other than Bill’s Hot Dogs.

I would just like to say after reading about the meeting of the City Council, I wonder where you draw the line? Perhaps all the parks should have a gate where you show an ID proving you live in the city to swing in the park. It sounds like it’s gone way too far.

Why are we handing over our tax money to the job creators? Look at all the great jobs we’re getting. Oh yeah, that’s right, our jobs are going to China and India while the corporations sit on $2 trillion in cash. Let’s take all that money and invest in our infrastructure and stand up for the middle class instead.

The Festival Park is a wonderful place to go and visit, and I think it’s fantastic that the city was able to obtain almost a $300,000 grant for that. They also put in $300,000 themselves. What was missing in the article was the cost of that property from Evans Seafood. That needed to be included which was at the taxpayers’ expense and when the city council voted on buying that property, it also agreed to sell that property to recur those expenses and it has not. The Festival Park is wonderful, but it was very expensive to the city taxpayers. Editor’s note: Details about the former Evans Seafood property issue, possible development of that property and their relationship to the green space between the North Carolina Estuarium and former Maola building have been reported on thoroughly by the Washington Daily News. The most recent story about Festival Park focused on its dedication June 15.

I would like to know what happened to our Dairy Queen that we used to have in Washington. Now, I have to go to Greenville if I want to go to a Dairy Queen. Just like everything else, I have to go to Greenville for what Washington doesn’t have and never will have.

Just want to say the high price of drugs from the pharmaceutical companies are not always because of them. Sometimes, the pharmacies and drug stores are marking these drugs up anywhere from 500 to 1,000 percent. It’s not just the pharmaceutical companies, it is the drug stores and the local pharmacies that are making these high prices, too.

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