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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 29. 2015
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Letters to the Editor
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Dear Editor:
To say I am livid would be an
understatement. Today my 4-
year-old granddaughter came
home from school and said she
did not want to go to school to
morrow because “a bad guy was
going to go to the school and
shoot her friends and she was
going to have to hide.”
Is this the America that we
want for our children? Is terrify
ing a four year old with gun vio
lence enough for the pro-gun
crowd or should we start earlier
say, 2 years old? Instead of ter
rorizing 4-year-olds we should
be trying to make sure guns do
not get in the hands of people
who cannot be trusted with them.
Our elected officials do not have
the spine to do that however.
They are cowards and fear the
backlash more than they care
about our children. They care
more about an NRA rating and
their political future.
This is not the America I want
for my grandchildren. I will con
tinue to fight to protect my
grandchildren and your children
with SENSIBLE measures to at
tempt to keep guns out of the
hands of people that should
never, ever, have access to them.
People who oppose universal
background checks for all trans
fers of guns pretend the facts do
not exist. They pretend that chil
dren are not needlessly being
killed with firearms because of
EASY access to guns and irre
sponsible gun owners who leave
loaded weapons in places where
children can get them. The fact a
person can obtain a gun does not
make them “responsible gun
owners.” No more than some
body getting a drivers license
will automatically turn them into
“responsible drivers.” It’s past
time to do something about how
easy it is to obtain a gun and try
to minimize that ability. I am
tired of all the Second Amend
ment rhetoric and you should be
too. When it comes to bars,
claiming it’s a business owners
right to make a choice because it
is “private” property is pure non
sense and an insult to anyone
with more than 100 functional
brain cells. My automobile is pri
vate property in the purest sense
of the phrase but I still have to
wear a seatbelt if driving it.
I know my granddaughter is
going to have nightmares
tonight. Thanks a lot.
Charles O. Hendrix Jr.
Dear Editor:
Dangerous, treasonous, irre
sponsible, complete disrespect
for the Presidency of the United
States are just a few of the words
I can think of for what House
Speaker Boehner has done by
circumventing President Obama
and inviting Netanyahu to speak
before our Congress.
How must we allowed a for
eign leader to address our Con
gress for the purpose of
manipulating U.S. foreign policy
toward Iran or any other coun
try?
Boehner’s meddling actions
in our foreign policy could un
dercut everything our State De
partment is doing. Boehner and
his bunch would rather sabotage
negotiations than have President
Obama and his administration
succeed.
This unprecedented action of
marginalizing the office of the
Presidency and State Department
will have dire consequences in
the ensuing years.
If Netanyahu has an ounce of
integrity he will decline
Boehner’s invitation.
Sheri Freeh
Dear Editor:
It’s interesting how many
American patriots support the
use of torture, especially since
it’s unconstitutional. Their stance
is that if torture saves lives, that’s
all that matters. So much for
principle, I guess. Perhaps all
their preaching about the impor
tance of electing politicians who
abide by the Constitution is just
lip-service.
If saving lives is the goal, why
not allow federal, state, and local
law enforcement the flexibility to
use torture if faced with similar
life-threatening circumstances?
Lives threatened by a terrorist are
not more important than a lives
threatened by a domestic crimi
nal, are they?
Robert Ban-
Dear Editor:
I am not a member of the
Pickens Seniors for Change, and
I believe they have a right to their
opinion like all citizens. How
ever, the ad you folks ran last
week in the Progress urging
home buyers to “picket” (I as
sume you mean “boycott”) Pick
ens real estate is not going to
help your cause. If you own a
home here, which I assume is
correct since you are upset, and
you tell people not to buy here,
you are damaging the value of
your own home along with
everyone else’s. That is like the
passengers pumping water into
the Titanic because they were
mad at the captain for hitting an
iceberg. The county is a legal en
tity. It doesn’t care if you destroy
your own home value. You will
still be living there paying taxes
after all the buyers go some
where else. I’m not going to get
into whether you are right or
wrong. Just use the proper chan
nels to make your voice heard.
You are only hurting the local
economy by using your current
approach.
Roil Barnes
Realtor®
Dear Editor:
Wow, what a weekend - my
83rd birthday and all sorts of cel
ebrations. One that my fellow
Pickens residents can join in is to
attend the Tater Patch Players
presentation of Farce of Nature.
A superb rendition of a decidedly
funny play.
Elsewhere in today’s
Progress, you will find a critique
by Maria Boling (my host for
that evening) so let me wax elo
quent about the participants -
first. I’m in love (again) with Pat
Northcutt. A seasoned trouper
who has trod before the foot
lights many times for Tater Patch
and other venues, and again
shows her incredible talent. She
portrays a “forced-retirement
law enforcement officer” who is
recalled to active duty to stand
watch over a “witness-protection
mobster/informant”, beautifully
portrayed by Tyler Roper
(Carmine), whose rubbery face
can deliver a thousand expres
sions. Pat (Maxine) zealously
pursues her guardianship of
Carmine, while confusedly
searching for her often misplaced
gun and bullets (shades of Bar
ney Fife).
Just watching these two do
their thing is well worth the price
of admission, you get a decided
bonus in the other actors and the
superb (all volunteer) support
staff (Countryman, Nawrocki (2)
Leah Fowler, - well, you get the
picture.
Farce of Nature plays over
the next two weekends - so get
off your duff, forego the mind
less, muddled pap presented on
television and go see your neigh
bors present a live, hilarious
evening of real entertainment.
Joe Fore
Dear Editor:
Under inflated footballs don’t
bother me as much as over in
flated presidents. Did you hear
529 accounts that were setup, tax
free, to aid paying for kid’s col
lege education are going to be
taxed?
Does anyone think their per
sonal retirement accounts are
safe and won’t be taken over by
Social Security with a stroke of a
pen?
Good luck with that!
Hugh Pendley
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Trinity Church to host webcast
of Mingling of Souls
Trinity Church in Marble Hill
will host a dinner and webcast of
Matt Chandler’s The Mingling of
Souls which is based on his new
book on marriage. The Mingling
of Souls focuses on God’s design
for Love, Marriage, Sex and Re
demption.
Trinity Church’s pastor, Jeff
Falkowski, feels this is a much
needed event and wants to make
it available to the community,
“We take care of our cars and
houses to make sure they’re in
good shape and are working
properly. How much more
should we be concerned about
the condition of the most impor
tant thing in our life - our rela
tionship with our spouse or
significant other!”
Trinity Church wants the sur
rounding community to know
and experience God’s love, and
sees this as a great opportunity to
fellowship while learning about
God’s intentions for our lives.
In a culture where the founda-
Matt Chandler
tions of attraction, love, marriage
and sex are rapidly eroding, Matt
Chandler offers an eternal,
counter-intuitive perspective
from the biblical book Song of
Solomon.
Scripture says we’re to nur
ture our hearts above all else -
yet we are inundated with songs,
movies, and advice that contra
dicts and cheapens God’s design
for love and intimacy.
Matt Chandler, one of today’s
top Christian voices, helps navi
gate these issues for both singles
and marrieds. In The Mingling of
Souls, he reveals the process
Solomon himself followed - At
traction, Courtship, Marriage...
even Arguing.
Plan now for you and your
spouse or significant other to join
us for a night of fellowship.
Where: Trinity Church - Mar
ble Hill - 2685 Steve Tate Hwy.,
Friday, February 13 at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are required and are
$12.50 per person. A meal is in
cluded and childcare is available
with reservations (please specify
how many children will need
childcare).
Contact Cindy Gantz at 770-
893-2682 or cindy@trinityon
thenet.org to reserve your spot or
for more information.
Georgia’s unemployment rate drops
to 6.9 percent in December
The Georgia Department of
Labor announced that Georgia’s
seasonally adjusted unemploy
ment rate for December was 6.9
percent, down three-tenths of a
percentage point from 7.2 per
cent in November. The rate in
December of 2013 was 7.4 per
cent.
“We ended the year with our
rate dropping below seven per
cent for the first time since last
April,” said State Labor Com
missioner Mark Butler. “And,
this was the first time in eight
years that we’ve had job growth
in December.”
The rate declined as holiday
hiring boosted Georgia’s job total
to 4,196,400, the highest level
since 4,202,100 at the beginning
of the recession in December
2007. Employers added 900 new
jobs in December, up from
4,195,500 in November. Retail
trade, warehousing and trans
portation, industries associated
with holiday hiring, accounted
for virtually all of the job growth.
“I’m especially pleased that
we had very strong 2.7 percent
over-the year job growth, which
gave us our largest December-to-
December growth since 1999,”
Butler said. “And, when we look
at the various sectors, we had
four that grew by more than three
percent - professional and busi
ness services, leisure and hospi
tality, construction, and trade and
transportation.”
Georgia added 108,200 jobs
since December of 2013, up
from 4,088,200, with private in
dustry accounting for 98.5 per
cent of the growth.
The over-the-year job gains
were in professional and busi
ness services, 32,900; trade,
transportation and warehousing,
26,800; leisure and hospitality,
18,900; education and health
services, 10,900; manufacturing,
6,700; construction, 4,900; infor
mation services, 2,800; other
services, 2,000; government,
1,600; and financial services,
1,000.
There were 57,510 new
claims for unemployment insur
ance (UI) filed in December. Of
that number, 27,868, or 48.5 per
cent, were temporary claims filed
mostly in textile manufacturing
and construction due to seasonal
layoffs. Additional temporary or
partial claims were filed in ad
ministrative and support services
and accommodations and food
services.
Overall, new claims, includ
ing seasonal and other layoffs,
were up by 102 percent from
28,465 in November. However,
they were down by 12.7 percent
from 65,889 in December of
2013. Most of the over-the-year
decline came in manufacturing
and construction.
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Pickens Co. Progress - 706-253-2457
Beauty Padgeant to benefit local Jasper resident!
Ricky Bramlett, husband and father of two, has been battling leukemia;
recently received bone marrow transplant. Ricky will be out of work
for a year, with no family income.
Let's come together and help support this family!
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Benefit Beauty Pageant
February 7, 2014, Jasper, GA, 1 pm, Pickens Recreation Center
ONLY $50 to enter.
Register at www.beautiesofthesouth.com
10 age divisions, 2 Supreme awards! Queens receive tiara, custom sash, trophy,
flowers. All contestants receive an award. Beginners are Welcome!! Dress can be
any color. Get those entries in today!
Questions? email beautiesofthesouth@hotmail.com
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