With apologies to Keith Olberman of MSNBC, here are my nominations for the worse, worser and worsest people in Wake County. All of them for saying in The News & Observer that they don’t want to pay taxes for schools.

Worse: Carridene Narron, 83, of Raleigh, a retired title examiner at the state Division of Motor Vehicles.

“I’ve had enough taxin’,” she said. “It’s getting to be ridiculous.” The N&O says Ms. Narron is “a retirement home resident who lives on Social Security and a modest state pension.” And “she suggests an alternative: a new school tax on newcomers.”

OK, Ms. Narron. And, by the way, some people are tired of paying taxes for Social Security and state pensions. Maybe they’d like older folks like you to just shift for yourselves.

Worser: Raleigh resident Luther Moore.

“Moore said he thinks it is unfair to make people without school-age children pay for enrollment growth. ‘They’re taxing us enough as it is,” said Moore, 50. ‘I don’t have kids. Why should we have to pay?’”

Moore, by the way, was “interviewed while waiting for a commuter bus to his job at Duke Hospital in Durham.”

OK, Mr. Moore. Some people are tired of paying taxes to subsidize people like you who ride buses for cheap fares. Maybe you should start paying the full freight.

Worsest: Bob Williamson, 46, of Wake Forest, who owns a commercial real-estate company.

“In this day and age of pay as you go, why don’t they let parents who are utilizing the system come up with the difference?

“The last thing I want to do is put more money into education, because I don’t want to pay for something I never use. If you want to pay more for schools, play the lottery.”

OK, Mr. Williamson. Maybe the rest of us are tired of paying for roads, water, sewer, police, fire protection and other services that help your commercial real estate business. Maybe the government should start making you pay all those services out of your commissions.

All three of you prove one thing conclusively: We have an education problem in Wake County. And not just with kids.

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