Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 5A
Everyone who doesn’t agree
with you is not a bigot
Last week I did a piece
on the First Amendment
which shared an
unpopular view
among conser
vatives regard
ing flag burning.
This week, I will
offer an unpop
ular view on the
First Amend
ment among lib
erals.
No, this isn’t
a trigger warn
ing — it’s an
attempt at being
fair and treating both sides
as equal offenders of the
First Amendment.
Apparently Chip and
Joanna Gaines of the tele
vision show “Fixer Upper”
are coming under fire from
the left for being “anti
gay,” which some online
magazines, such as Radar
Online, is calling a “scan
dal.”
No, the Gaines never
actually spoke about the
issue of homosexuality,
but rather attend a church
that holds traditional
Biblical views regarding
homosexuality where the
pastor declared that mar
riage is “between one man
and one woman.”
BuzzFeed quickly
took to the internet and
demanded that the Gaines
make a statement about
their views on same-sex
marriage.
Why? They did not
make a name for them
selves based on political
commentary, but rather
based on renovating hous
es.
What does renovating
houses have to do with
same-sex marriage and
politics? Til answer that
for you: It has absolute
ly nothing to do
with same-sex
marriage and
politics.
In fact, I can
not believe
anyone is even
looking at this as
news.
Society has
become so
backwards that
we believe
that absolutely
everyone and
everything must become
politicized, and I have
officially grown up in a
generation where rational
thinking has flown out of
the window and millenni-
als as a whole believe that
one must agree with their
worldviews or they must
be a homophobe, xeno-
phobe, racist, or whatever
other title they wish to
slap onto someone who is
somehow bigoted.
Sorry to burst your bub
bles, millennials (and those
of you who helped raised
us to become adulted cry
babies with the emotional
maturity of a two year-
old), but not everything is
about you, the views you
hold, the emotions you
feel, or anything else that
you think revolves around
your narcissistic personal
ity disorder.
People disagree, and
that is okay.
In fact, that is what
makes us unique individ
uals.
It is OK to believe what
you believe, whether it
be in traditional Chris
tian values, or that burn
ing flags is an appropriate
form of protest, so long as
you are not infringing on
anyone else’s right to life,
liberty or property.
I commend the Gaines
family for refusing to
make a statement, as they
have the right to stay out
of the political realm of
society if they wish to do
so.
We should respect that.
Also, even if one does
believe in the tradition
al definition of marriage
does not mean that the said
individual is somehow
homophobic, but rather
that they do not believe
that marriage is something
that should be defined and
ruled by government.
This is where both liber
als and conservatives fal
ter and get it wrong.
Conservatives believe
that government should
enforce their beliefs of
traditional marriage, while
liberals believe that gov
ernment should mandate
that anyone who offers
services in the wedding
ceremony participate in
every type of marriage.
This is not Liberty, peo
ple—it is the use of gov
ernment force in order to
oppress another group that
does not agree with you.
Once we have regained
our sanity, let's open the
discussion of getting gov
ernment out of marriage
completely instead of try
ing to use it as a way to
rule over those with whom
we disagree.
Jessica Swords is an
opinion columnist for the
Barrow News-Journal.
She can be reached at jls-
wordsl998@aol. com.
Three holes in our stockings
Georgia Power and the Southern
Company in partnership with the
Georgia Public Service Commission
(GPSC) may have a gift for us.
It’s isn’t the type of gift we want
this Christmas.
Several months ago I wrote about
the cost over-runs for Georgia Pow
er’s Plant Vogtle and Georgia Power’s
request that Georgia customers help
pay hundreds of millions of dollars
for a study to determine the feasibil
ity of a new nuclear plant South of
Columbus.
Shortly after that the subject dropped out
of the news.
This past Sunday the Atlanta Journal
Constitution’s Matt Kempner shed new light
on the subject and it’s not anything we
want to see in our stockings on Christmas
morning.
If the current deal that is being worked on
goes through and is accepted by the Georgia
Public Service Commission and Georgia
Power, we have been hooked again.
You might want to remember that the next
time a member of the GPSC is on the voting
ballot.
According to Kempner. “State politicians
are likely to deliver Georgia consumers a
lump of uranium instead of coal this Christ
mas season.”There hasn’t been an official
vote yet but according to Kempner things are
not looking good for the consumer.
Kempner is of the opinion Georgia con
sumers are going to be stuck with nearly “...
all of Georgia Power’s massive cost overruns
in the on-going nuclear expansion of Plant
Vogtle.”
If this occurs, the cost to the consumer will
be even more than the GPSC staff initially
suggested for the public to pay.
Projected cost over-runs of around $2
billion have been bounced around. Georgia
Power will pay a small portion of that as
compared to the state’s consumers.
That hardly seems fair for a company that
generated $2.4 billion in profits last year. It’s
good to know the GPSC members, one of
whom is from Jackson County, are looking
after we the people. Merry Christmas to all!
While we are still on the dark side of the
moon — remember Army Sergeant Bowe
Bergdahl? Bergdahl was captured by the
Taliban in Afghanistan after deserting his
compound while assigned to an Infantry
combat unit.
He was freed in a prisoner swap autho
rized by Obama in 2014. The
U.S. released five Islamic pris
oners from Guantanamo Bay
prison in exchange.
A military court martial for
Bergdahl is scheduled for April
2017. The deserter’s attorney
has asked Obama to pardon
Bergdahl in December prior
to his exiting the White House.
The media would have you
believe the U.S. Sergeant was
held under brutal conditions,
“...including locking him in
a cage and in darkness for lengthy periods.”
Bergdahl looked pretty healthy at the pris
oner exchange and doesn’t seem to be lack
ing now when you see current photographs.
As to the brutal conditions, being locked
in a cage or in darkness for long periods of
time, is considered a cakewalk when you
read what American prisoners of war went
through in World War U. Korea and Vietnam.
Bergdahl deserves prison time for desert
ing his post. A pardon would just add another
hole in the sock and would only add to
Obama’s failing legacy. The third hole in
the stocking comes with a local question.
How could the City of Winder and Geor
gia Department of Transportation spend as
much money on improving the intersection
at North Broad and East Broad as they did
only to have downtown traffic being worse
than it’s ever been?
Winder has been talking about its traffic
problems since before 1988. We are pretty
good about building parks and re-arranging
parks but we don’t manage traffic very well.
How can one small town have so much
gridlock? The no-left turn signs at Broad
and Candler and Broad and Athens have not
been very effective. In fact, I‘ve counted at
least nine occasions when law enforcement
vehicles have made left hand turns at those
intersections.
Traffic is about to get worse. CSX railroad
plans to force the closing of the road crossing
at Russelltown and Athens Street will soon
no longer be a state highway, meaning that
Winder will be responsible for the upkeep
and management of Athens Street from
downtown to its city limits.
Woe be unto those of us that must contin
ue to drive through the valley of the shadow!
Jimmy Terrell is a retired law enforcement
official. He can be reached at ejterrell@
gmail.com.
jimmy
terrell
Dear Editor,
Words aren’t sufficient
to express the gratitude for
our community partners
in the success of our first
annual Fill the Bowl lunch
fundraiser held Nov. 8 at
both high school cafeterias
benefitting Food 2 Kids
Barrow.
We appreciate the
expanded community
awareness about our Food
2 Kids program by our
community partners as
they talked to friends, sold
tickets, collected and made
personal donations, and
publicized this first time
event.
It was wonderful to work
in this true community
effort to make a difference
in the lives of Barrow chil
dren, who struggle with
food insecurity at home on
the weekends.
All donations and
expenses for the Fill the
Headmaster’s
Corner
Steve Cummings
OPEN HOUSE - On Friday,
December 9, we will host two
Open House sessions at ACS
at 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. We
would love to have you join
us.
When people ask me what is
unique about ACS, I tell them
it is the way we love people.
We are proud of our rigorous
academic program, our 100%
college acceptance rate, and
our successful extracurricular
activities, but if we are doing
an excellent job and not shar
ing the love of Christ, then we
are not fulfilling our mission.
If you are considering a pri
vate education, we hope you
will compare ACS to other
schools. When you do, you
will find that we offer the best
value in private education in
Northeast Georgia.
ATHENS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
“Affordable Quality Education Since 1970”
K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586
www.athenschristian.com
Letter to the Editor
Thankful for partners in ‘Fill the Bowl’ fundraiser
Bowl events have now
been processed, and we
netted enough to provide
sponsorships for 13 stu
dents being served by
Food 2 Kids Barrow this
school year.
It takes $275.00 to
sponsor one student for
an entire school year, and
Barrow County’s currently
serving 215 students with
80 identified students on
a waiting list. Childhood
hunger is a very real prob
lem in our neighborhoods.
Also, the accompanying
Fill the Bowl-Food 2 Kids
Barrow campaign provid
ed an additional 17 spon
sorships through meetings,
public speaking, church
bulletins, social media,
radio, and newspaper. All
together 30 sponsorships
were gained for students
we’re currently serving
this school year. This was
a good beginning for what
will be an annual fall event
on a BCSS teacher work
day, and we look forward
to hosting it again next
year. A big thank you goes
to the BCSS Food and
Nutrition Department and
Cafeteria Managers, who
planned, hosted, prepared
and served the delicious
soup & cornbread lunches
for “Fill the Bowl.”
We would also like
to take this opportunity
to thank our community
partners who helped spon
sor this event by selling
tickets, publicizing, and/
or donating items for “Fill
the Bowl-2016.” They
are the Winder Police
Department. Winder Fire
Department, Hill’s Ace
Hardware. Bethlehem
See Letter on Page 6A
December 7, 2016 ~ Crossword Puzzle
Brought to you courtesy of: Akins Ford, Winder, Ga.
Across
1. Threadbare clothing
5. Become friendlier
9. Amorphous mass
13. Various forms of the same
speech sounds
16. lamp
17. Mediterranean plants with
large edible flower heads (2
wds)
19. Mac
20. A.T.M. need
21. Drill bits
22. Kuwaiti, e.g.
24. Throughout (music)
27. Ed.’s request (acronym)
28. Arctic
30. Toni Morrison’s “ Baby”
31. Big East team
32. E or G, e.g.
34. Surface of a ship’s hull above
water
37. Container with historical
records for future discovery
(2 wds)
39. Afflicted with oxygen-deficient
blood
41. “ say!” (contraction)
42. Norse god of mischief
43. DeLuise, actor
45. Dead, as an engine
49. Arthur Godfrey played it
50. Innocent
53. Doctor Who villainess, with
“the”
54. Yogi’s sidekick
56. Cal. col.
58. “Concentration” pronoun
59. Tried by military law (2 wds)
63. The “A” of ABM
64. At some time later
65. Gift on “The Bachelor”
66. New newts
67. Blanched
Down
1. Hodgepodge
2. Attraction
3. Worldwide
4. Blubber
5. Massenet opera
6. Stinger
7. Amazon, e.g.
8. Chinese dynasty from A.D.
386-556
9. Write a shared online journal
10. Along an inland body of water
11. Pigged out
12. Hounds
14. Dash
15. Cicatrix
18. Cast
23. Very brief bathing suit
25. One who accepts charges
26. Support, with “up”
29. Audition tape
31. Means of support
33. “Absolutely!”
35. Telekinesis, e.g.
36. Brood sullenly
37. Prepared foods intended to be
eaten elsewhere
38. Formally surrender
39. Train’s lounge area (2 wds)
40. Lennon’s second wife (2 wds)
44. Cautioned against doing
(contraction)
46. Spanish dish
47. Sick
48. Mottle-colored t-shirt
50. Bunk
51. “Where the heart is”
52. Entices
55. Cheese on crackers
57. cross
60. “ Maria”
61. Call, as a game
62. Drink from a dish