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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 12. 2007
Letters to the Editor
A
Dear Editor:
I sit down to write about one
of the true treasures that we
have in Pickens County. I am
not speaking of the marble or
the beauty of the mountains nor
the glowing faces of the little
children. No, I am speaking of
my friend, Ann Parks.
I have just finished reading
her account of her trip to
Niagara Falls and she made me
feel as if I could close my eyes
and see all of the beauty that
surrounded her there. I travel
vicariously through Ann and her
exploits so graphically
described each week. Her col
umn is the first thing that I read
when the paper comes in the
mail.
Ann’s brother, Tom Quinton,
was a dear, sweet man who was
the principal of Jasper
Elementary when my boys
attended there. They still talk
about Mr Quinton and how
much he cared about them. He
could scare the daylights out of
the ones who ended up in his
office and then start talking
about something else and there
fore teach them lessons which
did not come out of a book. If
you didn't know Mr Quinton,
you missed a treat. He, like Ann,
was a great storyteller and citi
zen. He died doing what he
loved most among the students
at Jasper Elementary School. As
talented and good as the admin
istrations have been since
“Tom”, no one has touched his
charisma and love of children.
He was one of the first Happy
Ramblers and Ann carries on the
tradition along with the others in
her group. I did not have the
privilege of knowing the parents
of Ann and Tom, as well as the
other siblings; but they must
have been very special, God
fearing folks to have raised chil
dren such as these.
Ann truly loves God, is
devoted to her family and to the
people of Pickens County.
Should you get the chance to
talk with her at length, you will
realize what I mean. She is one
in a million and will be embar
rassed when she reads this letter.
She doesn’t want anybody to
think that she is at all special.
That is one of the things that
makes her stand out. I worked
with her for years, and if asked
how she was that day, she was
always “wonderfully divine.”
Each child was a “sweet angel”
and she meant every word of it.
I consider myself blessed to be
counted among her friends.
Keep up the good work Ann!
By the way, when does the bus
leave for the next destination?
Margaret Goode
Dear Editor:
My letter is in response to the
comments made at the recent
meeting of the North Georgia
Progressives. The topic for the
meeting centered around Social
Security and its many problems.
Of course, a Progressive’s solu
tion to anything always involves
someone else’s money. One out
spoken participant suggested
that the blame for the problems
with Social Security should be
placed on the consumers who
indulge themselves in unneces
sary and expensive things. This
person also stated, “We have
allowed ourselves to be a selfish
nation. We’ve got to change our
standard of living.”
Calling our nation “selfish”
is absurd and offensive.
Remember the overwhelming
response to the Katrina victims?
And then there is the ongoing
generosity to charities and reli
gious social problems all over
the world. How I spend my hard
earned money is none of your
concern, Mr. Progressive, and
neither is my standard of living.
Please mind your own business.
Angela Ervin
Dear Editor:
My wife and I retired and
built a home in Bent Tree about
10 years ago.
We discovered your newspa
per and have thoroughly
enjoyed it. We found the news
reported and the newspaper’s
reporting to be relevant, fair and
unbiased. However, I am notic
ing a recent change in reporting.
I am writing concerning the
front page article headline titled
“Bent Tree builder wins civil
suit.”
I feel that I am qualified to
write you on this subject as I am
a two-time past president of the
Bent Tree Board of Directors
and a past chairman of the
Architectural Committee.
More than once you have
referred to Mr. D.B. Edwards
and Mr. Robert William Kitsell
as Bent Tree builders. This ref
erence disturbs me and other
members of the Board.
Disregarding the merits of their
cases and the indictments, both
of these builders have built
homes in other locations in the
county and in other Georgia
counties. Your labeling these
builders as Bent Tree builders
implies that they are sanctioned
and approved by Bent Tree.
They are not and we do not. We
do not have a list of approved
builders. We do track builder’s
performance as measured by
comment and complaints. These
files are available to the proper
ty owner building and builders.
A property owner who wants to
build in Bent Tree picks out his
or her own builder and then
must review plans. These plans
must be approved by our
Architectural Committee and
then satisfy the various stages of
county inspection.
There is a difference in a
headline that trumpets “Bent
Tree builder” and one indicates
a builder who built Mrs.
Vaughan’s home in Bent Tree.
Respectfully,
Bill Bapst
Dear Editor:
It is with enormous pleasure
and humility I write to thank so
many people who helped bring
the concert of the U.S. Army
Grand Forces Concert Band and
the uplink with PFC. Ben Gable
in Iraq.
Appalachian Technical
College rented all four rooms
with the understanding it was to
be an educational (especially for
high school bands) and cultural
events. We enjoyed wholeheart
ed and very competent support
by Colleen and Greg at the col
lege.
Ellijay Telephone Co., ETC,
displayed not only technical
expertise in providing the uplink
along with going on the world
wide Internet, but they went the
extra mile in printing posters,
advertising and doing every
thing possible to honor our
troops. Russell Hood supervised
the entire effort and, when I
heaped praise on him and ETC,
he commented it was a pleasure
to work with a world-class facil
ity such as Appalachian
Technical College.
The Gable family and Ben’s
fiancee, Heather Clayton, pro
vided all the necessary prepara
tion we requested. Their partici
pation to include the extended
family added immeasurably to
the reaching out to Ben and on
behalf of his fellow soldiers.
Major Steiger, commander and
conductor of the band, com
mented this was the first time in
his 20 years he had seen the
level of technical expertise
involved in the uplink and he
was duly impressed.
The Party Store cooperated
fully and gave us some consid
eration in renting additional
chairs.
The Chamber of Commerce
further honored the soldiers with
a reception after the concert.
Thanks to the Pickens
Progress, especially Jeff
Warren, for their expert cover
age of the events.
The Pickens County
Republican Party was proud to
sponsor this event. It was not a
fundraiser or intended to be
political. We have many fine
men and women protecting us
and we are truly grateful!
Lurline Argo
Dear Editor:
I would like to first begin by
saying that I applaud the
Pickens County Board of
Education on their most recent
decision to enhance the dress
code for our students. Good on
you, stay the course, and keep
the core objectives in clear
focus! Leadership is not easy,
nor is it a position of gaining
popularity by any stretch.
That said, I think its fitting
that I make an attempt to shed
light on what I see as the big
picture with regard to dress
codes, especially within our
schools, which I think many
have forgotten is an institution
of learning, although not at the
collegiate level.
Let’s start with some basics:
our children go to school to
learn, or at least that’s why
they’re supposed to be going,
however I’m compelled to
believe that there are a number
of parents who might feel differ
ently. Whatever the case, the
degree of learning as it occurs is
influenced by several core exter
nal factors, which I’m going to
list in what I see as their priori
ty:
(1) Quality of educational
instruction and presentations.
This being the focus of obtain
ing the highest quality of teach
ers we can find. Teachers who
“care” about the future of our
nation’s academics, and how our
youth can mature into healthy,
productive, and contributing cit
izens that will lend to our social
solutions rather than merely
joining the ranks of becoming
another problem or burden on
society. This is an area I hope
that most educators are skillful
ly aware, thus recognize not
only all potential in our youth,
but to work diligently to take
whatever measures to help our
youth realize their potential, to
include methods by which it can
be reached.
(2) Quality of the material
used in which to achieve the
before mentioned. Here I
believe we have some input,
however, this is where we as
concerned citizens place our
trust in those who develop and
implement the very curriculums
used in our children’s courses of
instruction. This too said, I
believe our school and the lead
ership must exercise their
authority to enhance these mate
rials when they feel our students
can gain more in the way of an
education. What I’m saying here
is that we should not rest solely
and completely trusting “big
government,” but that our state
and local leadership has the best
interest for our students and cap
italize on areas of new learning
opportunities.
(3) Safety. Now this is rapid
ly becoming an ever increasing
area of concern throughout our
nation’s schools. Back in my
day, I’d bet my parents had this
to say about safety at my school;
“What dumb wildly unsafe thing
can our son possibly do today
on the playground?” However,
safety today carries an entirely
new meaning and stimulates a
whole new arena of concerns.
Whatever the case, the property
and the environment in which
our children attend school and
all affiliated and endorsed
events need to be as safe as pos
sible. Trying to capture some,
but not all here are a few issues
that I see fall into this category;
condition of the building, class
rooms, school grounds in gener
al, traffic management, trans
portations, sporting and off cam
pus activities, food service, san
itation and minor medical treat
ment and assessment. Also,
immediate address and if
required the removal of students
whose behavior is such as to dis
play verbal or physical intimida
tions or attacks towards any stu
dent of faculty member, and the
list could go on and on, but
nonetheless we as citizens
should demand that our schools
have absolutely zero tolerance
of possessions of firearms,
weapons, pornography, alcohol
or drugs on the grounds where
our students go to obtain an edu
cation.
(4) An environment which is
conducive to learning. Now for
this to even begin to be per
ceived as an area of concern or
an area that fits into the catego
ry of core external impact fac
tors for learning, one need go
back to the beginning. All this is
to assume we all share the com
mon goal as to why our children
attend school....it’s to learn!
The primary and principle rea
sons are not just because the
federal or state so they must go,
nor is the school designed solely
to be a social club where our
children can go to feel cool or
popular. Nor is the school a
mere young adult day-care cen
ter to keep them from getting
due to their lack of any sense of
moral judgment or a value sys
tem which would have them do
otherwise. And most certainly
our schools are not a place
where the focus of the day is
what do I wear in order to
express how I feel or how I
desire others to perceive me.
A conducive learning envi
ronment, assuming the first
three above are being satisfied,
is one with the least distracters,
thus fosters the focus on the
learning objectives. What are
some of those one might ask?
Take climate control for
instance. Proper heating and
cooling can impact the learning
environment. Heck, I can vivid
ly recall going to school and
depending on which way a
breeze might have been blowing
dictated on which windows in
the classroom, and which doors
at the end of the halls were to be
propped open to get some air
moving. Yes, I mean propped
open with wooden sticks on the
windows, and a big rock to hold
the doors open. Back in those
days the only intruder we were
concerned about was maybe an
old stray dog wondering in for
hopes to snatch somebody’s
lunch bag. So climate control is
but one factor that can lend to a
conducive or non-conducive
learning environment. Other
distracters are; class size, i.e.
teacher to student ratio, lighting,
material condition of learning
aids, books, and practical learn
ing equipment (lab, science and
vocational). Even the hours and
design of the daily schedule has
an impact on the manner in
which learning takes place.
Some more recent distracters
are cell phones, iPods, and yes
the manner in which we dress.
The manner of how one dons
attire is a huge subject alone
which would require pages of
thoughts and ideas, but in the
spirit of keeping focused on how
a dress code can lead to a more
positive and learning conducive
environment, I" 11 try to keep
stay with what the most pressing
cause of this debate could be.
Let’s first begin with some
facts. There is very recent suffi
cient data that goes beyond
merely suggesting, but rather
clearly supports the notion that
students who attend schools
with uniforms achieve much
higher learning. And that’s what
we’re supposed to be all about,
right? Making sure our youth
stand a much greater chance of
getting the most bang for our
buck in the way of learning. I
mean, surely we all as parents
want what’s best for our chil
dren in a long range goals, and
not just in the short term, hoping
to make them happy for what
makes them feel good today.
Why should any young adult
begin to even have to worry
about whether or not they are
wearing what’s cool and in
style? Just because some hip-
hop or popular MTV star choos
es to dress like a dirt-bag in
order to cash in on their celebri
ty public relations scheme,
doesn’t mean our youth need
areas of encouragement as they
attempt to emulate these worth
less and useless dress habits.
No, I’m not advocating we need
to start wearing uniforms how
ever, the bottom line is once the
school embraces the thought
process of greater tolerance of
individuality a “young adult,”
then comes a natural follow by
which standards are compro
mised then lowered contributing
to a decline in the overall quali
ty of education.
But by far the greatest impact
on the degree and quality of
learning that takes place is the
influence that begins at home,
and that’s the influence that
comes from the parents, or who
ever is the legal guardian
responsible for the proper care
and upbringing of a youth.
Values and attitudes cannot be
taught, but rather they are
caught. If our children see that
the manner of our child’s desires
to wear what’s in style today is a
big priority of concern of the
parent, rather than the true
basics of why they’re going to
school in the first place, then
they too will make that they’re
sole focus.
Our nation needs youth today
who can realize and reach their
potential. And this path is not,
and has not ever been easy.
Showing our youth, rather than
telling them that they can be bet
ter than what main-stream
American society is trying to get
them to be, will pay huge divi
dends in the long run, dividends
not only for our children, but for
the prosperity of our community
and our nation as a whole.
We should be proud of our
Board of Education who has the
long range big picture in mind.
We are privileged to have a
group of insightful adults who
understand the severity of their
positional responsibility, and
will not buckle under the influ
ences of main-stream pressure,
but rather do what they know to
be right for the best in the way
of achieving the highest quality
of education our tax dollars can
provide. We are blessed to have
members of the Board of
Education who are willing to
make tough decisions though
knowing full well it may not be
popular to many.
I for one, do not begin to
think that our Board of
Education members are looking
with any intent to have our
youth dress a particular way to
suite some personal agenda, but
do so in mind knowing that
there are standards by which we
should abide by, and that there is
proper and improper ways to
cloth ourselves, especially when
entering the doors of an institu
tion of learning.
Dress codes aren’t the real
issues here. Rather, do we as
parents put the sole main focus
on keeping the quality of educa
tion as number one? We as a
people could long debate this
subject, and I’m sure with many
emotional and passionate plat
forms, but lest we focus on the
issue that our children are young
adults, and they are far more
influenced by main-stream
media than we ever were.
Shouldn’t we focus on teaching
our children that the true reason
for going to school is to increase
those opportunities of realizing
and reaching potentials only
accessible through proper and
quality education? And that
there will always be certain
measures we might not fully
understand, but must trust it’s
for the good of a much larger
purpose than self.
No matter the stance, I’m
sure we as parents all want what
we feel is best for our children,
and I’m fairly confident we’ll
never completely agree on this
issue of dress code, but for a
moment why don’t we all agree
that no matter what we feel or
think, when the outcome stands
a greater chance of helping our
youth become more than they
think they can. An outcome that
stands a much better chance of
helping our children achieve
careers and goals maybe we
only dreamed of.
In closing I extend a sincere
thanks to the members of the
Pickens County Board of
Education. Thanks for your
strength and courage, and keep
ing the quality of education as
your focus for our youth, the
future leaders of our Mountain
City.
Jerry F. Daniels
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expressed in letters and signed
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and do not necessarily represent
the views held by the Progress.
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