I read with interest in the paper Mayor David Combs’ comment about the city filing suit against the state of North Carolina “to protect the city’s interest.”

The people in the Oak Level community from the old set let the city know they were not interested in being annexed into the city.

It is my opinion that this was a bad business decision on the part of the city if in fact they invested $1.5 million in this failed annexation attempt.

The people in the Oak Level community do not want to be a part of the city of Rocky Mount and they will not gain anything from it.

I don’t see as a citizen of the city of Rocky Mount why they should be forcibly annexed.

They don’t want their fire or police protection; they already have both.

They don’t need to the city’s utilities.

The police officers that the mayor allegedly has hired could be placed in the Battleboro community and maybe some of the rampant theft could be prevented.