Disgusted with shop's service
Regarding "State seizes Country Cubby for nonpayment of sales taxes," published in the Oct. 27 issue of The Daily Star, we bought a stove last year. When they finally delivered the stove and pellets, we were relieved. We were afraid they had taken our money. We came home on Oct. 30, 2008, and our stove wasn't running. I called the next morning and asked them to look at it. No one came or called. Then the fan stopped working.
I called them and complained weekly, then every other day. Still no return calls or visits.
Finally, in February, I called, very irate, and would not hang up till someone listened. I was told they would send Jason, the service guy, the next day. From February to April, we have had three fans, and the last time Jason came, he installed another fan on the other side. That fan is so loud, you can barely hear the person next to you while sitting in our living room. Today, our stove still doesn't work properly. We finally gave up calling in April after the last service call.
The stove still needs repairs and we're frustrated. We're very disgusted with the stove and Country Cubby's lack of business ethics. If we could afford to replace it we would.
My neighbor had the same experience. No one answered her calls or came out.
We tried to contact the manufacturer of the stove and never received any responses. We talked to the Better Business Bureau, but nothing ever came of that.
To those of you still waiting, try to recover your money from Small Claims Court. We learned the hard way and now the warranty is up. We have a $4,000 piece of junk sitting in our living room. Good luck to all of you!
Pat and Tim Grow
Sidney
Afghan war may last 100 years
We must look ahead. If Dr. David Kilcullen had his way, we have a 100-year war to look forward to. If you wonder who this man is, whether he has the credentials to offer the U.S. this outlook, look at his pedigree: He was the top adviser to General David Petraeus and current aide to General Stanley McChrystal. He ought to know, yes?
As Dr. Kilcullen testified recently before the Senate, he believes Afghanistan and Pakistan will require two more years of "significant combat" _ plus 10 more years of "nation building" at an additional cost of $2 billion a month _ $80 billion a year for Afghanistan alone.
As Kilcullen wrote in his recent book, "The Accidental Guerrilla, he looks ahead to a case for a "Long War" of 50 or possibly 100 years duration. By this time, of course, Osama bin Laden will have long been in his grave, smiling that he has defeated the West by putting us in the position of his most impoverished, desperate Arab terrorists.
And to think it was we who made it possible for al-Qaida, with U.S. resources, to grow into what it is today: the tail that wagged the U.S. dog and made us spend ourselves into poverty, losing our soul along the way.
Does anybody remember how we supported bin Laden and his crew because they offered to help us rout the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan? We engineered our own destruction.
Hilda Wilcox
Cooperstown
Health care system is best in world
We are about to lose the greatest health care system in the world. Americans have the highest survival rate for first-class killers such as prostate and breast cancer. Waiting time for knee replacement or a heart valve is less than half the time it is for our European betters, if they can obtain it at all. We have access to more specialists than citizens of any other country.
While there are an unfortunate few that cannot afford health care insurance, most are satisfied with their current plan and doctors. Too bad for them.
While this is a terrible loss in and of itself, we are about to lose something even more valuable _ our right to be left alone. The mandate for individuals to purchase insurance is an over-reach of the nth degree and tyrannical in the extreme. I will be punished for doing nothing! Should I decide I don't want coverage and refuse to purchase any, I face a penalty from Big Brother. Oh brother! Will jack-booted government thugs be coming for me in the middle of the night?
While we are about to give up a huge part of what makes America great, the debate has been reduced to how we pay for it. May I opt out?
Al Gascon
Bainbridge
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