Newspaper Page Text
OpEd
Children are smart;
treat them that way
I do not like the term
"dumbing down.” It says to the
reader that we are not intelli
gent, cannot be taught to
achieve high standards, and
cannot be expected to do supe
rior work.
Last week the headline
read, "History: A thing of the
past?” The smaller caption
read: “Dumbing down lessons
won’t improve schools.” Do
these captions catch your
attention? They did mine!
Sweeping changes are
being made to the curriculum
in Georgia’s schools, but it
seems that some teachers are
in disagreement on how to
change curriculum and raise
the test scores of students at
the same time. Some adminis
trators are accepting State
School Superintendent Kathy
Cox’ s view that with these
changes we will eventually be
reaching and exceeding the
scores in other southeastern
states.
OK! But "dumbing down”?
Why would a curriculum in
history be changed to avoid
teaching high school students
about the most devastating war
in American history, the Civil
War? Why would the facts of
Sherman’s march through
Georgia and the burning of
Atlanta not be included in high
school history classes?
How can a student learn
about history by watching the
sitcom “All in the Family”
with the bigoted remarks of
Archie Bunker? How will
writing an essay about dating
in the Jazz Age teach our stu
dents history?
If we are going to “dumb
down" as the latest slang
words for "just getting by”
would indicate, why not do it
Ethics & Religion
Retribution for funds diversion call?
The leading conservative in
the Presbyterian Church (USA)
may be stripped of his ordina
tion in a vote this weekend by
the Western North Carolina
Presbytery because he dared
suggest that churches withhold
their funds from denomination
al headquarters.
The Rev. Parker
Williamson, executive director
of the Presbyterian Lay
Committee (PLC), edits its
newspaper, "The Layman" that
reaches 450,000 homes. Last
November it issued a
"Declaration of Conscience"
that described a "spiritual
schism" in the denomination:
"We are two faiths within one
denomination..."
"It is unconscionable to
remain passive while some
groups train their followers to
subvert the Constitution and
denominational officials under
mine it by their refusal to
require compliance."
Therefore. PLC urged
Presbyterians, to consider
prayerfully diverting contribu
tions from the national church
to ministries "at home and
abroad that are demonstrably
faithful to the gospel."
Why? "We believe that God
has called us individually to be
faithful stewards of all that he
has entrusted to u5....t0 ensure
that offerings are consistently
used to glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ and to carry out his
Great Commission.
"We no longer believe that
either the General Assembly
per-capita budget or the unre
stricted mission budget of the
PCUSA is worthy of support."
Speaking at the National
Presbyterian Church this month,
Williamson was more blunt:
"There are those occupying
positions of controlling author
ity in this denomination who
do not believe in the Gospel."
Some examples:
PCUSA leaders invited the
Rev. Dirk Ficca to speak at a
Peacemaker event where he
asked, "What's the big deal
about Jesus?" He asserted to
promote peace, Christians need
to make room for other faiths
»
W* Julianne
* Boling
■ •
in other subjects as well? Why
not leave out reading, using a
dictionary, finding information
in the library, or why not elim
inate math since we have com
puters and calculators?
How frivolous can we get
when it comes to educating
our next generation. Scores
tell us how we are doing in
classrooms but do they indeed
tell us the knowledge and
know how that can be learned
from being a part of a class
room where innovative and
imaginative teaching is the
norm and not the exception?
Before drastic changes are
made in curriculum there will
be a lot of discussions about
how to improve the test scores
and still acquaint students with
knowledge that is needed in an
ever-changing world.
Students today are bright,
quick to learn, and have more
information at their fingertips
than any other generation.
They have access to more
books, more experiences, and
more learning activities than
past generations. With the ease
with which they can acquire
information from the Internet
and through classroom experi
ences why should we even
consider “dumbing down” any
curriculum?
Children are smart! Treat
them that way. Don’t expect
less and less from them.
Cumming resident Julianne
Boling’s column appears each
Sunday.
MIL,
Mike
as legitimate paths to God. An
Advisory Committee on Social
Witness Policy envisioned a
banquet at which Jesus sits
with Buddha, Mohammad and
Gaia, the earth mother.
Seminary Professor Deloris
Williams argued, "We don’t
need any bloody crosses."
Seminary Professor Douglas
Ottati denied the bodily
Resurrection: "Jesus lived on in
the minds of the disciples," he
said. What do they and their
students preach on Easter?
The denomination fought
for partial birth abortion,
killing a child whose body
emerges from the womb
though Congress passed and
the President signed a law call
ing it medically unnecessary
and morally wrong.
A "committed relationship"
not marriage is the cornerstone
of family life, said a key com
mittee report last year: "It is in
committed relationships that
sexual intimacy is best
expressed." That elevated
cohabitation and gay marriage
to a par with marriage.
The Presbyterian Lay
Committee persuaded the 2003
General Assembly to shelve
that idea. In fact, PLC has been
more successful than any other
orthodox caucus in fighting
similar battles among
Episcopalians, United
Methodists and the United
Church of Christ.
For example, in 1996 PLC
persuaded the denomination to
put into its Constitution that
clergy should remain chaste if
unmarried or faithful within
marriage.
Gay activists persuaded the
church's General Assembly to
remove the phrase, but that had
to be ratified by a majority of
regional presbyteries. Instead,
the PLC persuaded presbyter
ies to vote it down by a 2-1
LETTERS from 10A
falling! The trees are falling!"
Don Burgess
Cumming
Tree ordinance sounds
like Communist idea
I am very concerned about this new
tree ordinance and the effect it will have
on several different fronts. This is not
the right thing to do or the right way to
provide incentives for property owners
or home owners if the objective is to
plant trees. Implementing a successful
tree conservation program could be
accomplished without expanding gov
ernment agencies by simply providing
property owners tax break incentives for
planting trees vs. imposing fines tor not
planting trees.
I do not believe it is governments'
function to create more and more leg
islative hurdles or laws restricting the
public of its property right year after
year. Intrusive and excessive govern
mental rules and regulations is not what
this country was founded on.
This Tree Ordinance as proposed
sounds more like something we would
expect from a more socialist communist
country vs. the land of the free.
This Tree Ordinance is just another
example of government strangling the
free enterprise system that has worked
very well without government help. This
current Board of Commissioners has
imposed numerous questionable rules
and regulations negatively affecting
individual property owners rights that
appear to be illegal and an attack on the
basic principle of private property
rights.
This ordinance needs to be defeated
as it is not morally the correct way or the
most prudent way to create visual beauty
and protect the trees.
Billy G. Coley
Cumming
Current ordinance
should be scrapped
Yet again I am amazed at why our
commissioners continue to infringe on
the rights of property owners. It is not
the objective of should we save our trees
as I don't know of anyone who would
favor their destruction. The controversy
(as usual) lies within the details of the
ordinance. When the details are accu
rately presented to the silent majority,
don't be surprised of their reaction.
margin in 1997. The gay lobby
again convinced the 2000
General Assembly to yank the
Constitution's chastity/fidelity
plank, but Presbyteries voted
no by a huge 3-1 margin.
However, in defiance of the
Constitution there have been
numerous gay ordinations. Yet
Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Stated
Clerk, or chief executive of
PCUSA, who took an oath to
"preserve and defend" the
Constitution has declared it is
not his responsibility to enforce
church law.
This leadership has led to a
massive hemorrhaging of
church members, a decline
from 4.2 million members in
1965 to 2.4 million in 2002.
On the other hand, 1,300
Presbyterian churches with
450,000 members have created
a "Confessing Church
Movement" within the denomi
nation declaring "Jesus Christ
is Lord, the only Savior of
humankind; that Scripture is
God's Holy Word to be revered
and obeyed; and that God calls
us to a holy life that includes
lifting up the sanctity of mar
riage between a man and
woman."
What the Western N.C.
Presbytery found "deeply trou
bling" was "The Layman's"
assertion that budget of the
denomination is not "worthy of
support," which it found incon
sistent "with this presbytery's
involvement in mission with
the larger church."
It also objected to the news
paper's "tone" which "furthers
hostility, suspicion and divi
sion," though it cited no errors.
PLC Board Members will
argue that the presbytery is
retaliating against Williamson
for "our Declaration of
Conscience." They will cite
cases before the highest
Presbyterian court that "a
church may neither be com
pelled to pay nor punished for
failure to pay" contributions.
Some conservatives are
calling for a "gracious separa
tion" from PCUSA.
Mike McManus is a nation
ally syndicated columnist.
It is not the function of government
to continually infringe on the rights of
property owners. I have noticed it's the
same minority group and individuals
dominated from the southern area of the
county who believe it's their right to tell
others how to manage their property.
Governmental intrusions that lead to
frivolous lawsuits does not bode well to
those of us who understand the inherent
responsibility of an elected official. The
commissioners are in office to represent
“all” of the citizens and have a fiduciary
responsibility to manage the county
resources in a responsible and equitable
manner.
Having a Tree Czar with the power
to selectively enforce a controversial
ordinance and possess the power to fine
not only developers but the general pub
lic is a travesty. If the objective is to
stop growth then just say what you
mean. But again, it’s much easier to
legislatively take than it is to simply
purchase what you want in the open
market.
The role of the county arborist
should be a service function offering
“advice” to the citizens of this county.
Not a legislative hammer role, where he
dictates what type of tree and size a cit
izen can put in his yard. If a citizen
wants to put an orange tree on his prop
erty, he should have the right to do so.
Besides, this county does not have the
staffing to police all of the trees and
enforce the ordinance. Before we start
enforcing frivolous laws, it only make
fiscal sense to have the appropriate
staffing that justifies the requirement
both legally and financially.
No homeowner should be fined by
the Tree Czar potentially SB,OOO (S4OO
times 20 trees/units) if they so choose to
not have certain types of trees in their
one acre lawn. The tree ordinance as it
now stands should be scrapped. Allow
the citizens of this county the opportuni
ty to hear all of the facts and judge what
the financial impact it will have on the
average homeowner.
Roger Markle
Cumming
Supporters don’t see
property rights effect
In the Jan. 25 letters column, there
seemed to be a coordinated effort by
supporters of the proposed new tree
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LENDER
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, February 1,2004
ordinance to praise its merits. Much ver
biage was spent praising the benefits of
saving the trees of Forsyth County and
telling how we are at great risk of flood
ing with the next storm. A rosy picture is
painted of how beautiful the county will
look, how clear the streams will be, and
how lovely everything will be if we just
pass this new tree ordinance.
All references to the new ordinance
imply that is purpose is to simply pro
tect the trees of our county and that it
will only apply to developers. This is
very misleading. It will apply to anyone
who gets a building permit.
I find it very troubling that all of
these letter writers fail to mention that
anyone subject to this new ordinance
will be required to plant trees if they
don’t have any to save. They failed to
mention that if you are unable to plant
enough trees to satisfy the new ordi
nance, you might be required to pay to a
county tree fund S4OO for every tree you
can’t plant. They failed to mention that
your bill could come to SB,OOO/acre if
you are unfortunate enough to have cho
sen to build on pastureland with no
trees. They fail to tell you that this ordi
nance creates a whole new county
bureaucracy for inspection, approval
and compliance at a time when our
county government is unable to ade
quately fund current needs.
But what I find most troubling with
all of these letters is that none seem
concerned with the taking away of prop
erty owner’s rights that this ordinance
proposes. The Pollyanna attitude present
in these letters is both misleading and
irresponsible by failing to inform people
of the total effect of this ordinance.
Property owners wake up. This
ordinance is not just about saving trees
and protecting streams. It is about giv
ing up your ability to control and use
your property as you determine best for
you. And if you think it will end here,
pay attention to the warning by Teddy
Dumont. “This ... ordinance is only a
stepping stone ... By passing and contin
uing to improve the tree ordinance, we
will all benefit.”
If you want to protect your property
rights from this latest government grab,
let your commissioners know how inva
sive this ordinance really is and ask
them to vote against its adoption.
Bobby Thomas, chairman
Citizens for Property Rights
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