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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 30. 2010
Letters to the Editor
v J
Dear Editor:
I saw her again the other day.
I was working as a volunteer at
CARES in Jasper. I smiled at her
in greeting and said hello. I did
not remember her but she said,
“Didn’t I see you at the therapy
center having therapy?”
“Why yes you did, how are you
doing?” “I am doing good,” she
smiled. “I am finally through,” I
told her, “but I still have to work
my hand to make a fist.” She
made a perfect fist with her hand
and I kept thinking now I re
member her. She had fell and
broke her wrist and was in the
same therapy as me while I was
trying to get over a broke shoul
der as well as my wrist.
I had only seen her once but
she reminded me so much of a
loved one gone on to Heaven. I
did not tell her this but my heart
caught as she smiled at me and I
knew suddenly .... the hair style
she wore with her dark hair
pulled back in a bun, the way her
eyes lit up when she talked, was
the same. My mother has been
gone for 22 years, yet here this
woman is reminding me of her
and how much I miss her.
I wonder in this big world of
ours if maybe, just maybe, there
are people sent our way that are
kindred spirits and the smile, the
greeting mean so much to help us
on our way. I don’t know her
name or don’t know if I will ever
meet her again, but if I do I will
tell her to keep smiling that beau
tiful smile and that seeing her
again means more to me than she
will ever know.
L. Annalene Reece
Dear Editor:
A pundit once described
Washington D.C. as a place that
combined “northern charm and
southern efficiency”. With apolo
gies for quoting this backhanded
slap at my adopted home, these
days, that particular city has
turned inefficiency and ineffec
tiveness into an art form.
A good example: if you have
ever used the online delivery
tracking systems offered by UPS
or FedEx (the “private sector”),
you probably found, as I have,
that they work pretty well. It’s re
assuring to know that in spite of
a bazillion packages floating
around out there in space, they
can tell me exactly where mine is
in the system, and when it is pro
jected to show up at my door.
Try that with the US Postal
Service. In about a dozen at
tempts, the standard response
that I’ve gotten is that it’s some
where between here and there,
and that it should show up in the
near future. Combine this with
the fact that they are now asking
for another $4 billion or so of the
taxpayers’ money to keep pro
viding this stellar service for an
other year.
I can’t wait until Obamacare
kicks in fully; “Mr, Smith, the
cancer clinic will call you to
schedule an appointment some
time in the future.”
Mark Buchheim
Pickens County TEA Party
Dear Editor:
A Democrat is someone who
sits around thinking up ways to
spend other people’s money!
Dan Darrington
Dear Editor:
There have been several argu
ments “for” and “against” the
sole commissioner form of gov
ernment we have in Pickens
County. Several decades ago a
very well respected person here
in Georgia had an expression, “If
it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I think that expression applies
to the sole commissioner form of
government we have now. Not
all decisions made by a sole
commissioner will please every
one, but his duty is to represent
the whole county.
With a multi-commissioner
form or government, we do not
know how well it would repre
sent us. We are being asked to
compare actual decisions of the
past with promises of the future.
Politicians like to sell “change”,
but how well would “change”
represent us? How much free
dom of choice could we give up?
How much would a multi-com
missioner form of government
actually cost?
A sole commissioner form of
government has served us rea
sonably well - let’s keep it!
Martin J. Keller
Dear Editor:
The proposed multi-commis
sioner structure for Pickens
County governance is wrong
headed and will not serve our
long-term interests. The major
problem facing our country
today is out-of-control govern
ment spending. The proposed
change takes us in the wrong di
rection. After attending the dis
cussion of this issue at a library
meeting last week, I learned no
rationale for moving away from
our one-commissioner model.
The cost estimate for such a
change appears grossly underes
timated. I came away from the li
brary meeting with the belief
some of the proponents for the
change may be seeking employ
ment opportunities for them
selves.
Laurence Peterson
Dear Editor:
Stop and ask before you go
too far.
Thirty years ago I was driving
down a rural country road in
Maine with my grandfather. We
were looking for the local well
driller. After a while my grandfa
ther said, “My father used to say
- if you don’t know where you
are going, stop and ask before
you’ve gone too far.” At that
point he asked me to pull into the
driveway of a home so we could
verify our directions. I draw a
parallel to this story and the
question before us today.
We find ourselves at a fork in
the road having to make a deci
sion - should we change direc
tion and go from a sole
commissioner to a multi-com
missioner form of governance? If
we take the fork to the right we
stay with our time tested, trusted,
even-handed and efficient sole
commissioner form of gover
nance. If we take the fork to the
left, the only thing for certain is
more government and higher
taxes. For me the choice is clear
-I’m taking the right fork and
I’m voting NO to the multi-com
mission.
Clayton Preble
Forward Pickens
Dear Editor:
We hear a lot about the “free
market” from “conservatives”
and how it will make things nice
for us. Still waiting.
“Free market,” “capitalism,”
frequently even “corporation”
are phony labels. They refer to
egocentric people who lack em
pathy doing destructive things in
order to accumulate money. The
oxymoron “free market” is not
some natural order, but a con
struction of those with the power
to shape it for their own ends, to
wit, the accumulation of wealth
for the already rich, and devil
take the consequences. Playtime
in hell for the middle class and
poor intensified during the recent
stretch of Republican “free” mar
ket dedication. How is your per
sonal economy doing as we try to
dig out of the deep “free market”
hole?
What if we had a...Real Mar
ket, constructed by We the Peo
ple? It would have quite a
different effect. A Real Market
would require livable compensa
tion for work delivered, empow
ered by unions, a much higher
minimum wage, tariffs and labor
representation on corporate
boards. The sociopaths who run
many corporations wouldn’t be
allowed to destroy lives by sim
ply hiring labor overseas for one-
tenth the pay (tariffs help prevent
this) or by allowing dangerous
working conditions. You want a
thriving economy? Pay workers
more, and they'll have more to
spend. Business tax cuts don't
create jobs, because the middle
class and poor currently have
very little money to buy the stuff
from the businesses.
A Real Market would prohibit
the collateral damage of environ
mental destruction that threatens
our lives. The costs and pain of
dealing with the consequences of
global warming, dead coral reefs
and paved forests (food webs
begin in these places), cutting the
tops off of mountains and drunp
ing the refuse in local streams
and sheer ugliness, ad nauseum,
fall primarily on the poor and
middle class, because they are
least able to buy stuff to make the
consequences better individually.
How many of you can afford to
just move away to someplace
better, or buy expensive medical
care, or even some leisure to
relax? You have to buy gas to go
somewhere.
In grown-up world, we aren’t
allowed to do destructive things
to others. We should live that
principle and vote it.
Andy Kippenhan
Dear Editor:
Behold! The Party of NO has
sent forth a “Pledge” of what
they intend to do if they’re re
turned to power! Well...sort of.
It turns out to say the same things
they said they'd do when they
were in power before. Not every
one in the GOP is happy about
this, since just saying NO to
everything was working so well
- keeping the economy from re
covering, at least through the
election.
Anyway.. .the plan?
Make permanent the tax
breaks for the top income brack
ets (the tax rates for income over
$250,000 for couples). They al
ready get the same break as
everyone else on income under
$250,000, but they want much
more, so bigger deficits don’t
matter in this case. (BACK to the
deficits of the era of Republican
control.)
Add in more tax breaks for
“small businesses”...sort of -
after voting against the Democ
rats’ proposed tax breaks for
small businesses. It turns out that
the Republican definition of
“small business” means “small
number of owners” (S-corps,
partnerships, etc.), not small size
of business - so it includes major
businesses with billions in rev
enue. But they get to use the
word “small” (over and over and
over...) which soimds like mom-
and-pop, even as they make sure
that mom-and-pop get.. .well, no
help.
STOP all rules that business
don’t like. (Back to the anything-
goes casino days that gave us the
worst economic crisis since the
Great Depression.)
STOP all efforts to restore the
economy by spending money -
except with tax breaks. It’ll take
care of itself if we just sit back
and wait. And give more tax
breaks. (Back to trickle-down,
remember?)
CUT government by...well,
they’ll get back to you on the
specifics. After they’re back in
power.
REPEAL healthcare reform.
And they’ll “protect the doctor-
patient relationship” by...er,
they’ll get back to you on that.
“We have a plan,” they say, to be
revealed...after they’re back in
power. (Back to the complete
dominance of the health insur
ance companies over our health
care.)
Reform Congress! Take it
back to the way they ran it when
they were in power. Uh, wait....
the jury will ignore that state
ment.
National Security! They’ll
do... what... Obama... is... al
ready. . .doing. Never mind.
But the “Pledge” is padded
out with these great full-page
color photos of the Statue of Lib
erty and Mount Rushmore and...
never mind.
G. David Robinson
Dear Editor:
If you think that Nathan Deal
as candidate for governor for the
Republican Party is a disaster
and Bames is even worse, ask the
Republican Party executives to
have Deal withdraw his candi
dacy so Karen Handel can be our
Republican choice in November.
There is a deadline to do this and
it will soon expire. Think about
it: 4 years of either Deal or
Bames as the governor of Geor
gia - scary!
Georgia Republican Party, PO
Box 550008, Atlanta. Ga. 30355;
404-257-5559; www.gagop.org;
fax, 404-257-0779; Sue P. Ever
hart, chairman. Talk to them.
Leland Rogers
Concerned Citizen
Dear Editor:
I’d like to express my extreme
admiration for the Pickens
County Sheriff’s Department and
especially Sheriff Donald E.
Craig for the outstanding job
they are doing for the residents
of Pickens County. I’m a “new
comer” to Pickens, having lived
here only 3 1/2 years now, and I
felt it important to remind those
of you who have been here
awhile or possibly a lifetime of
how fortunate this community is
to have these folks keeping our
county safe and accountable.
The reason I’ve taken time to
write my first letter to the editor
is because this is the first time
I’ve felt so passionate about a
subject!
i’m a Florida “transplant”
who worked in state government
in Tallahassee for many years.
My duties as a state monitor
(monitoring federal funds passed
down to the state) and then sub
sequently as a child labor inves
tigator gave me a new
understanding of the word en
forcement. When monitoring
(auditing) for fiscal, procurement
or programmatic inconsistencies,
my reports would reflect “Find
ings” and “Corrective Actions
Required”. I only provide this in
formation to say that I have
never seen this done in a sheriff’s
department within the State of
Florida; however, I have now
been fortunate enough to meet
and get to know our sheriff,
many of his deputies and also the
amazing staff of the Pickens
County Sheriff’s Department.
And have, for the first time in my
adult life, seen the same attitude
taken. That being, not only en
forcement, but of assistance in
corrective actions to be taken - in
a word - heart.
Having lived almost 50 years
in Florida, I’m very proud to say
that I now plan to remain in Pick
ens County and make it my
home for so many reasons. But
knowing that I didn’t have to “be
somebody” or have lived here
my entire life, for Sheriff Craig
along with Chief Deputy Joseph
E. McDonald to share their time
with me, providing counsel and
guidance, has made me even
more proud to be a resident of
Jasper, Ga. and Pickens County.
I “salute” the Pickens County
Sheriff’s Department and hope
the natives of this amazing
county are aware of this treasure
we have!
Respectfully,
Sandra E. Thomason
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Card of Thanks
We would like to attempt
to express our thanks to the
friends and family who have
helped us during our time of
grief and sorrow due to the
loss of Jason. Words cannot
fully express what you all
have meant to us.
Robert & Verette Angel
Robert & Angela Martin &
Family
PEACE FOR THE STARS
I am at Peace
I lay at rest under the sky with the stars shining over me
When you look at the stars, think of me,
Though you cannot see me.
I once viewed a beautiful sky
And from the sky shone two beautiful stars
I loved the sky, and the two stars shined most brightly in my eyes.
Another took my sky, but I could still see the stars that I loved most
And then the stars were plucked from my sight, one by one
And the sky sought to lock me away and be forgotten.
And darkness came over the face of my land.
But I still looked to the sky, though another was beholding her
Then a cloud came by obscuring the sky
And I began to see the sky in the cloud
Two more stars began shining brightly as the first two
But I had not forgotten the first two
Yet I loved the younger stars as I did the first stars
My greatest desire was just to see the stars, all of my stars, clearly in my view
But by and by, the cloud that I loved sought to block my view of my
younger stars
And again, darkness came over the face of my earth.
A darkness so great I could bear it no more.
I was not innocent,
But only of what I was accused
By the sky and the cloud that I loved
But the stars are blameless, innocent.
And for a moment in time, I looked to the Brightest Star,
The One whom I had looked to many years ago
And as I looked to this Star, I thought of you,
Though I could not see you.
And He gave me Peace
I lay at rest under the sky with the stars shining over me
When you look at the stars, think of me,
For my prayer was that on that Bright Day,
We would shine together in eternity.
- In memory of Jason Angel
ton
APPEARING SOON
Sunday, October 3
6:00 PM
Admission is free. A free will
offering will be received.
1036 N. Main
Jasper, GA
706.692.6315
www.mtzionjasper.org