A recent column by Scott Bolejack brought back many delightful and exciting memories and invoked nostalgic thoughts of a time in the past. His observation of a local community's support for its high school football team recalled a December day 50 years ago when followers of a 1959 Smithfield High School team celebrated a day to remember.

In my opinion, this community has been remiss in not recognizing and paying tribute to a group of talented players who claimed for Smithfield High School its only state championship in any sport ever. On Saturday, Dec. 5, 1959, the Smithfield High School Red Devils defeated the Appalachian High School Blue Devils by a score of 20-0 to bring back to Smithfield the State AA Football Championship.

Fifty years ago -- when travel was not as easy -- this community filled three Greyhound buses and numerous vehicles with nearly 400 excited fans of all ages and rode three hours and 45 minutes anxious to see "our boys" bring home the trophy. And we were not disappointed. Coach Roy Brown, assistant coach Jack Temple and a roster of 28 players successfully did just that.

When these buses rolled back into Smithfield around 10 p.m., they were met by flashing lights and a throng of supporters not lucky enough to have traveled to Boone. The crowd welcomed home the triumphant team. At the request of local leaders, everyone piled out of those buses, and the band played on the steps of the courthouse as the crowd sang the Smithfield High School fight song.

I was lucky enough to be on one of those buses and to experience the exhilaration of that December day, and I would like to send out a congratulations and a "thanks for the memory" to the Smithfield High School 1959 State AA Football Champions.

We have not forgotten.

Betty Abell Walters

Smithfield

Charity needs volunteers

Recently children have been leaving Cleveland's Basic Needs clothing closet without getting clothes because the charity lacks the volunteers needed to get enough clothing on display.

This year alone, 315 schools, churches and agencies received enough gift certificates to provide 360,000 free clothing items to those in need in Garner, Angier, Fuquay-Varina and all of Johnston County. Back-to-school stripped the racks, and with Christmas coming, organizations will be giving out Basic Needs certificates for free clothing. Without your help, it will not be available.

Volunteers must handle more than 400,000 clothing items a year, because 70 percent of the donations will be dirty or torn or worn. There are boxes under most of the clothing racks with clothing jammed in them, waiting for help to get them on display. We have not been able to handle and ship excess clothing from the community to Haiti or Armenia for months because of the lack of volunteers.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland food pantry provides more than 120,000 meals a year to keep hunger away from its neighbors. It too lacks trained volunteers to hand out the food during the hours the charity is open.

Without adequate volunteers, appointment calls are missed, a food delivery to a widow is not made, food cannot be brought in from the Food Bank in Raleigh, and errors are made in handling the food distribution.

Many residents in Johnston County would benefit if they carried and used the prescription drug discount card freely distributed by 67 North Carolina counties and Basic Needs, but there are not enough volunteers to get it to all the residents who need it. The 7,000 local residents who use it monthly save $1.5 million per year. Without volunteers, it will remain a secret program, and our neighbors might not be able to afford their prescriptions.

The Cleveland Library has acquired 3.3 books for every resident of Cleveland -- 50,000 or more. But the books can't be checked out until volunteers are found to prepare them.

Cleveland's Basic Needs asked the community for $50,000 in support for the year and for enough volunteers to meet the challenge. Some donations arrived, and 300 volunteers showed up for an hour or so. Even without receiving the full level of support, the community charity was able to provide $5 million in benefits. Nothing was done in isolation. It all required the community's support. Thank you.

And now we ask again for your financial assistance and volunteer hours.

Ron Still

Basic Needs Ministry

So much for change

President Obama has relented and will send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan after months of "considering the situation."

His plan calls for pulling them out starting in 2011. Hmmm, 2011. Why is that significant? Oh yes, he and his party will be running for re-election about that time. What a better gift to the anti-war left than to bring troops home when you are running for office.

So much for transparency from this administration. The voters can't see the bills online as promised during the campaign. Massive spending bills are pushed through and amended under cover of night. The only transparency for the president and his party is the political nature of each and every decision they make. So much for hope and change.

Thomas C. Imler

Clayton