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OpEd
Misunderstandings
came from Vietnam
We do not think of the
Vietnam War in terms that we
now look at the Gulf War, the
war in Iraq, nor do we view it
the same as we do the Korean
or World Wars. Our thoughts
however continue to think in
terms of a war we lost and how
many men and women were
killed and imprisoned.
The first American was
killed in Vietnam in 1945 but
until the 1950 s our lives were
hardly touched by the happen
ings in Vietnam. Our society
was in an uproar with the seg
regation issue and the boycotts
and school busing took over
the evening news.
Nightly we heard about the
young men who escaped to
Canada to avoid the draft and
the draft card burnings became
daily events. The hippies were
for love and peace and made
sure their parents and the
politicians understood they
were not going to war. So, the
finest of American men and
women were pressed into serv
ing our country, thus entering a
combat situation during the
strongest tension era in
American history.
Mitch Albom in his book
"The Five People You Meet in
Heaven,” wrote, “Young men
go to war. Sometimes because
they have to. Sometimes
because they want to. Always,
they feel they are supposed to.
This comes from the sad, lay
ered stories of life, which over
the centuries have seen
courage confused with picking
up arms, and cowardice con
fused with laying them down.”
As a teenager in the 'sos I
was one of those who thought
the draft dodgers were cow
ards. My friends and family
Ethics & Reliqion
Pro-marriage groups lobbied Bush
Three different groups com
peted behind the scenes to per
suade President Bush to take
different stands on marriage in
his State of the Union.
Ironically, none came away sat
isfied but all were pleased to
some degree.
Appetites were whetted by
a page 1 Jan. 14 New York
Times story that began:
"Administration officials
say they are planning an exten
sive election-year initiative to
promote marriage, especially
among low-income couples,
and they are weighing whether
President Bush should promote
the plan next week in his State
of the Union address.
"For months, administration
officials have worked with con
servative groups on the propos
al, which would provide at
least $1.5 billion for training to
help couples develop interper
sonal skills that sustain
'healthy marriages.'"
A network of marriage edu
cators, scholars, activists and
leaders at the Department of
Health and Human Services
knew instantly that what was
described was their favorite
Bush proposal, a "Healthy
Marriage Initiative." It is a
S3OO million a year plan
tucked into Welfare Reform
that would pay for "public
advertising campaigns on the
value of marriage; education in
high schools" on relationship
skills; marriage education and
skill training as conflict resolu
tion and financial management
"for non-married pregnant
women and non-married
expectant fathers;" pre-marital
education and marriage skills
training for engaged couples;
marriage enrichment for
already married couples;
divorce reduction programs
and "marriage mentoring pro
grams which used married cou
ples as role models."
However, contrary to what
the Times believed, this is old
news. The President first pro
posed this law two years ago.
The House and the Senate
Finance Committee passed the
bill.
* i
f - «•’> Julianne
' r Boling
x
members were going away and
many not returning or if they
did they came home crippled
or in a burial box. We were a
generation of misunderstand
ings I suppose, one that is hard
to understand even today. Our
parents' generation had suf
fered and returned from World
War II and draft card burning
in our generation was a sign of
cowardice.
Many people make tremen
dous sacrifices during war
times. Mothers and wives are
asked to release their children,
husbands and fathers over to
the fighting forces and hope
each day for their safety.
Families rapidly learn that sac
rifices are a part of life.
Perhaps the later wars were
shorter and the destruction
quicker, but sacrifices of lives
and time remain as difficult
today as in past wars.
We all make sacrifices,
some little, some big. Some
sacrifices go unnoticed and are
forgotten with time. A single
mother sacrifices to care for her
children. A daughter moves
home to care for an ailing rela
tive. A man goes to war, a fami
ly is left at home. Sacrifices all.
Albom wrote: “Sometimes
when you sacrifice something
precious, you’re not really los
ing it. You are just passing it
along to someone else.”
Cumming resident
Julianne Boling’s column
appears each Sunday.
Mike
McManus >
However, it is stalled.
Senate Democrats are resisting
giving Bush "another victory"
in an election year. Activists
hoped Bush would argue for its
passage.
Another cluster of conser
vative Christians such as
Concerned Women for
America and Family Research
Council (FRC), hoped the
President would clearly sup
port a proposed Constitutional
Amendment that would limit
marriage to "the union of a
man and a woman," prohibiting
same-sex marriage such as that
ordered in November by the
Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court of the state's
Legislature within 180 days.
FRC President Tony
Perkins argues that if
Massachusetts begins issuing
same sex "marriage" licenses
in May, "they will rapidly
spread around the country, as
homosexuals travel to
Massachusetts to marry and
then return to their home states
and challenge state laws
against" gay marriage. Recent
U.S. Supreme Court cases sug
gest it would overturn those
laws.
Just before he delivered
the State of the Union, lead
ers of 100 million evangeli
cals and Catholics wrote the
President in support of a third
idea. "We call on you to join
us in setting an important
national goal to slash
America's divorce rate in half
over the next decade," wrote
Ted Haggard, president of the
National Association of
Evangelicals and Richard
Land, president of the Ethics
and Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern
Baptist Convention.
They applauded his
"Healthy Marriage Initiative,"
v
LETTERS from 10A
Residents should support
proposed law at hearing
I am very happy to live here in Forsyth
County and I have concerns about the dra
matic loss of tree canopy since the popula
tion boom in the early 19905. A new tree
ordinance prepared this past summer is
going before our board of commissioners
for its second public hearing on Jan. 26 at 5
p.m. This improved ordinance is a good
step in providing our county with higher
property values, and is a measure that will
help ensure our cunent high quality of life.
Besides the loss of the genuine beauty,
continued heavy tree loss will have a nega
tive impact on our residents, with increased
personal and property risk due to flooding
from the next big storm.
If the county continues to develop, with
out planting trees that slow and absorb
storm-water, it will only increase taxpayer
costs, due to erosion and flooding caused
by lack of trees surrounding the new houses
and other projects. More alarming, is the
removal of mature trees which speeds up all
of the problems; loss of natural beauty, pol
lution entering waterways, and again,
increased risks associated with flooding.
Trees do their important work for free, and
taxpayers will benefit from this improved
tree protection policy.
I encourage citizens to come to the pub
lic hearing to speak in support of this
improved tree ordinance this Monday, Jan.
26, at 5 p.m., or at least call your commis
sioner and let them know much we value
our beautiful tree canopy in Forsyth County.
Thank you for the opportunity to
express my concerns and for your efforts to
make the community aware of such an issue
that will go before our local government
and board of commissioners for important
policy decisions.
Pat Plant
Cumming.
People finally speaking
against being bulldozed
As a long time resident of Forsyth
County, almost 30 years, I have watched
passively the loss of so much of our beauti
ful forests and fields. We have a community
blessed with natural beauty of lakes, rivers,
streams, and hills. I have felt very fortunate
to have had the good fortune of living in a
place where natural beauty appears around
every bend in the road. There are very few
places as beautiful as this place I call home.
and argued. "We believe that
the disintegration of marriage
is the central domestic problem
of our time. Half of new mar
riages are failing and marriage
rates have plunged."
They noted "Catholics and
Protestants in 183 cities created
Community Marriage Policies
with the conscious goal of
pushing down divorce rates"
with such initiatives as thor
ough marriage preparation of
four to six months that includes
taking a premarital inventory
and discussing issues it raises
with trained mentor couples,
enriching existing marriages
with an annual retreat and
training couples whose own
marriages had once nearly
failed to come alongside those
in current crisis.
Haggard and Land cited an
independent study providing
evidence that divorce rates are
declining in many cities.
(Disclosure: I am president of
Marriage Savers that helped
create this initiative.)
Cardinal William Keeler of
Baltimore, past president of
Catholic bishops, sent a sepa
rate letter to Bush supporting
the divorce reduction goal.
In his State of the Union,
Bush did back a 1996 federal
law defining marriage as "the
union of a man and a woman,"
noting that "activist judges
have begun redefining mar
riage by court order... if judges
insist on forcing their arbitrary
will upon the people, the only
alternative ... would be the con
stitutional process."
Perkins was disappointed
Bush did not explicitly endorse
the amendment and is awaiting
the Massachusetts outcome.
Nor did the President mention
the Healthy Marriage Initiative
or slashing divorce rates. But
all three groups were pleased
that a President declared, "Our
nation must defend the sanctity
of marriage."
And for the first time,
Catholic and evangelical lead
ers set a goal to slash divorce
rates in half by 2014.
Mike McManus is a nation
ally syndicated columnist.
I
Recently, I have seen that there is the
beginning of ground swell of support to
protect what is uniquely ours, the natural
beauty of Forsyth County. I have been
encouraged to meet and talk with people
who care about the environment. I have met
people who are unwilling to sit quietly and
see our county become a Gwinnett, with
non-stop sprawl. But most importantly, I
have met county commissioners who actu
ally support tree ordinances and green space
initiatives.
Protecting the environment is not anti
growth or anti-development. Rather protect
ing the environment is about preserving air
and water quality. Protecting the environ
ment is about protecting our streams from
silt which destroys our fish and costs us
millions in taxes to restore streams, rivers,
and for waste water treatment. Protecting
our tree canopy and greenspace means that
we support smart growth. In the end, smart
growth means that we all benefit from
increased home values and less tax burdens.
We can have growth, we can have develop
ment, and we can protect what is uniquely
ours, a beautiful county.
I applaud those who are working so
hard to protect our community. Finally
there are voices willing to speak out,
unwilling to be bulldozed. I encourage the
Forsyth County Commission to vote to
approve the tree ordinance this month. I
hope that as we move forward, we begin to
realize that the protection of our natural
resources makes both ecologic and eco
nomic good sense.
Dennis Whittle
Cumming
Taxpayers deserved
notification on towers
At the Jan. 12, 2004 Board of
Commissioner's meeting, site approval was
given for placement of communication tow
ers for the new "emergency communication
systems".
Adjacent property owners of these sites
were never officially notified by the county
by mail or signage, the usual requirements
of the rezoning process. Residents only
learned of the proposed sites at the Jan. 12
commissioners meeting. Taxpayers have a
process they must go through if they want
to build on their property, but the county is
not held to the same standards as the tax
payer who funds them. That process must
be changed.
What is called into question is the
process. The process for notification of
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LENDER
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, January 25,2004
adjacent property owners when using coun
ty owned land.
We as taxpayers deserved notification
and input. We must demand that the rights
of the county are not greater than the rights
of its citizens.
Allen and Bettina Hammond
Cumming
Innocent life snuffed
I
every few seconds
An innocent life is snuffed out every few
seconds in America’s animal shelters. Some
are sick, injured or have behavior problems.
Most were simply unwanted, and had the
potential to be loving pets. All deserved to
live full lives as cherished companions.
Although animals suffer the most from
this tragic state of affairs, humans pay a cost
as well. Forsyth alone spends half a million
dollars annually for animal control, over
SIOO for every animal handled. Over 3,300
animals lost their lives in our county facility
in 2003.
Spaying and neutering is a far more eco
nomical and humane method of dealing
with pet overpopulation. Spay/neuter works
because it prevents the births of unwanted
litters, and it eliminates the risk of serious
health and behavior problems which
often lead people to give up their pets.
We call on every humane citizen to take
part in the Doris Day Animal Foundations’
10th annual Spay Day USA in February. ,To
volunteer or have an animal altered, call
(888) PETS-911, or visit www.spayusa.org
or www.projectspayneuter.com. Together,
we can ensure that all companion animals
are happy, health and in loving homes.
Project Spay/Neuter will celebrate Spay
Day USA 2004 with a Feral Cat Campaign.
Thanks to a grant from the Atlanta Falcons
Community Quarterbacks Award, we will
be able to spay or neuter feral cats for only
sls during February.
Feral cats are homeless cats that have
reverted to a wild state. Sterilizing ferals has
been shown to have a major impact on the
number of cats and kittens killed in our
shelters and pounds. Feral cats cannot be
picked up and handled like pet cats. They
must be trapped. We have traps and trap
ping instructions available. Please visit
www.projectspayneuter.com for more infor
mation on our Spay Day Feral Cat
Campaign, or www.alleycat.org for more
information on feral cats.
Tracy W. Land, DVM
Project Spay/Neuter Inc.
Cumming
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