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PAGE 16A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 14. 2010
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
Last weekend I had the oppor
tunity to march with like minded
people in the Marble Festival pa
rade. We carried the American
flags, smiled and waved and
passed out information to the
adults. I can’t say how many
people lined the streets of Jasper,
but I saw more smiles and
thumbs up than negativity. The
negative reaction was in fact, non
existent. I would like to person
ally thank the people that came
to the parade for their cheerful
encouragement, and to the city
and county that held it. God
Bless you all!
Craig Stallings
Dear Editor:
For our neighbors who can’t
find jobs, who are worried about
losing their jobs, whose retire
ment savings were hint when the
stock market plunged or whose
businesses don’t have enough
American customers to survive,
“Federal debt” is a concern for
the future. When the house is on
fire, put out the fire FIRST, con
serve water later.
The direction of our economy
is changed by “consumer confi
dence”. If I believe that my fi
nancial situation will get better, I
have the confidence to spend
more. (The same goes for busi
nesses and hiring.) When mid
dle-class families, whose
spending drives most of the
economy, don’t have income or
are too insecure financially to
spend more, businesses won’t
hire more people, wages that
those employees would have
spent are never generated, prod
ucts that those employees would
have made (and bought with
their wages) are never sold and
the combined financial behavior
of all of us - the economy - can’t
recover.
If all I hear is “gloom and
doom”, it cripples my confi
dence, I keep my money in my
pocket, and the economy gets no
better. When individuals, busi
nesses, and state and local gov
ernments ALL cut back, ONLY
our Federal government can step
up and borrow long-term to buy
goods and services and build in
frastructure, to put people back
to work. There is no one else.
Business news says that cor
porate profits are back to pre-re-
cession levels. This miracle was
achieved by laying off employ
ees, shipping jobs to low-wage
countries, using lower-paid tem
porary, part-time, and “contract”
employees (or outsourcing to
firms that do), and automating as
much work as possible. But since
these businesses aren’t “confi
dent” that their potential Ameri
can customers will have more to
spend, they won't hire more peo
ple - not in the USA anyway.
So when DO we deal with
Federal debt? When people and
businesses are earning enough
that they can afford to pay their
taxes again. Tax revenues go
back up, Federal spending goes
back down and debt is paid
down.
If we didn’t hear so much
“Didn’t work,” “Won’t work,”
“Can’t do it,” “Stop trying,”
“Don’t” - along with political ob
struction that has made SURE
there’s no recovery before the
election - our confidence would
recover and our economy with it.
G. David Robinson
Dear Editor:
As a first-time writer, I would
like to express my concern in re
gard to the sole
commissioner/multi commis
sioner board. After attending
meetings representing both sides
of the issue, I am firmly con
vinced that going to a multi-per
son commission form of county
government would cost our
county a very large amount of
money over and above the cost
of a sole commissioner.
I believe if you have a good
thing, stay with it as is shown by
the fact that I have belonged to
the same church for 67 years,
been married to the same woman
61 years and had the same boat
for over 30 years. I feel like our
form of county government now
is good, let’s keep it that way.
Sincerely,
Jim Quinton
Dear Editor:
Taxed Enough Already?
Sure, the poor and middle class
are. But the American Society of
Civil Engineers says we have
$1.6 trillion in overdue infra
structure maintenance. We also
need police and fire protection
and schools to educate our citi
zens for democracy. Taxes pay
for these things, requiring em
ployees (jobs!) to do them.
We also need safe places to
live and work. We need to elimi
nate threats from coal ash dumps,
acidic rainfall, smog, workplace
pollution and dangerous condi
tions, nuclear radiation, food
web destruction and the perva
sive threat of global warming.
Taxes levied by governments
both pay for regulating these
dangers and constitute incentives
for private corporations to elimi
nate them.
You want benign environs for
you and your loved ones? We
need to raise taxes. The money is
available, at the top, where tax
rates have been cut drastically
since the 1970s. If you work for
a living, you pay a much higher
tax rate than someone who lives
on capital gains. Corporations,
which our conservative Supreme
Court has declared to be people
who use money to speak, used to
be taxed at much higher rates
than now. Now they can move to
Bermuda and pay nothing.
The Bush tax cuts should be
allowed to expire, and the mar
ginal rates should go up even
more. Import tariffs should raise
revenue and force companies to
make more goods in the U.S.
(jobs!).
And for those who exclaim
that raising taxes and tariffs to
protect domestic labor will hurt
the economy, the boom times of
the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s saw high
corporate taxes, high marginal
tax rates, strong unions (better
jobs!) and well-made American
products.
But that’s ok, you see, be
cause those large, lightly regu
lated corporations created lots of
millionaires and people living
very comfortably. Were you one
of them? No, you are almost cer
tainly one of the underpaid or un
employed, here. Wages have
stagnated for decades. Upper
level incomes haven’t. Who do
you think polluted the environ
ment, destroyed unions and re
placed American workers with
desperate immigrants and
teenagers in China? Not you, the
worker.
If you want to vote for some
one who will tax those who
AREN’T taxed enough already,
stay away from the recently de
parted conservative power struc
ture that demonstrably doesn’t
want to. Do it quickly, while Bill
Cagle and his ideological compa
triots are busy squeezing through
the eye of a needle.
Andy Kippenhan
Dear Editor:
It is somewhat ironic that as
much of the nation is calling for
smaller governments at every
level, we in Pickens County are
considering tripling or quintu
pling our local government. I
have lived in Georgia counties
where the sole commissioner and
the multi-man commission were
in place; I have come to prefer
the sole commissioner for a
county our size.
Dining the almost 40 years I
have lived in Pickens County, I
have had occasions to approve
the majority actions of some
commissioners and disapprove
the majority actions of others. I
knew who to blame or to whom
to give credit. I always knew that
at the end of four years I could
vote to retain or remove that
commissioner and that my vote
would count as much as that of
any other voter. In a multiple-
man commission, it becomes so
easy to “pass the buck”. It is
“The other board member took
that action, not me” and it takes
several election cycles to make
desired changes.
I will vote to retain the sole
commissioner form of govern
ment locally.
Sincerely,
Lawton Baggs
Dear Editor:
I saw on the TV news there
are going to be 20 billboards in
the Atlanta area indicating these
certain people don’t believe in
God. Well, there are lots of peo
ple that DO believe in God, in
cluding myself. He gives me the
strength to make it through every
day. And because of His love,
this is the reason for the Tent Re
vival we will be having Oct. 13-
lb at 7:30 nightly. Call
for directions, 770-893-2860.
May God bless you,
Louise Duncan
Dear Editor:
The last item on your Novem
ber ballot is this question, “Shall
the governing authority of Pick
ens County be changed from a
sole commissioner to a three-
member or five-member board of
commissioners?
I’m voting NO.
Why: This unnecessary pro
liferation of elected county com
missioners will necessarily
increase my county taxes. This
change is NOT a foregone con
clusion.
Please vote.
Anne Bessent
Dear Editor:
The importance of every voter
to exercise his/her sacred right to
vote cannot be over-emphasized
in this turbulent time in our na
tion’s history. In fact, the 2010
General Election may very well
be the most important one of our
collective life-time.
I’m reminded of the answer
Benjamin Franklin - at the con
clusion of the Constitutional
Convention - gave to the person
who slipped up to him and asked,
“What have you wrought?” he
quickly replied, “A Republic, if
you can keep it!”
And keep it we shall, if every
qualified voter does what active
registered voters, by definition,
do best - Vote on Nov. 2, or bet
ter still, vote early. The polling
places are open now, weekdays,
at specified times and locations,
through Friday, Oct. 29. Also re
mind your family members and
friends to do the same. Now is
the time to have the voices of all
Americans loudly heard and the
way to do it is to vote in the elec
tion. We, as Americans, need to
get our country back!
And another strong reason for
voting in the 2010 General Elec
tion is the potential upcoming re
districting among Georgia’s 11
Congressional districts. Based on
population changes reflected in
the 2010 Census, it is almost a
certainty that some redistricting
of Congressional boundaries will
take place between the time of
this election and the subsequent
tremendously important 2012
election. The newly elected
Georgia governor, members of
the General Assembly and cer
tain other elected officials will be
charged with this responsibility.
And that is why it is most expe
dient that voters consciously vote
for those candidates who share
their convictions and values.
Such elected officials are ex
pected to vote accordingly.
An even more important rea
son for casting your vote now,
and in future elections, is that too
many of our servicemen have
given their lives in present and
past wars for us to have the right
to vote. We honor their memory
by doing so. God bless America!
Sincerely,
Chris Cates, MD
Former Ga. 9th Dist. Cong.
Candidate
Dear Editor:
Sometimes very special peo
ple enter our lives and we fail to
adequately thank them for how
very much they mean to us. Two
“angels” in the life of my son
Tim and me are Weldon and
Elsie Eaton. Whenever Tim, who
has Cerebral Palsy, has been in
the hospital IU unit, they never
failed to visit him and bring us
cheer. Through this and many
other ways they have always
supported us when we needed it
the most.
My definition of an angel is a
special someone sent to offer
love and support. Someone on an
errand from a higher authority
that goes beyond the call to offer
encouragement. In my mind,
Weldon and Elsie meet these
qualification.
May God’s richest blessing
always be with you two.
Love,
Faye Hitt
Dear Editor:
In a recent article, six candi
dates were pictured at the Pick
ens County TEA Party forum;
two Democrats, two Republi
cans, and two Libertarians. Why
is it that the Libertarians did not
field candidates for state senator
and state Representative? It is
because in Georgia the ballot is
rigged so Libertarians only have
access to state wide office. This
is why Chuck Donovan, Liber
tarian candidate for the US Sen
ate, and Dan Barber, Libertarian
candidate for Lieutenant Gover
nor, were at the forum. They are
running for state-wide office.
In 1943 Georgia legislature
passed a law in that, excepting
state wide candidates, other third
party candiates submit a petition
signed by 5% of the number of
registered voters in order to get
on the ballot. This means they
must get thousands of signatures
at a great cost. All of them are
subject to subpoena. The result
is almost no third party candi
dates are on the ballot. This is
important. Even if a third party
candidate loses, they
can push important issues. For
instance, Ross Perot ran on a bal
anced budget. Under Clinton and
a Republican Congress, we
achieved this and without the in
flation tax, America had a time of
great prosperity. Citizens of
Georgia deserve better. They
should insist that the Democrats
and Republicans under the Gold
Dome end their monopoly and
allow ballot competition.
Bert Loftman,
Director of ElectTheRightCan-
didate.US
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VEWIII JMjBS FORD
aawtumiua
TVe
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