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THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 12. 2015 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 15A
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Letters to the Editor
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Dear Editor
Photo/Tech Sgt. Erin Hickok, Page 6 National Guard Jan. 2015
I cut this picture out of the National Guard magazine and am
sending it to you in hopes that others will see what the riots in Fer
guson were all about. That’s my flag! That’s the flag that so many
died for! It is beyond words that rioters, looters and burners did this.
Why? Because a police officer who was trying to protect and defend
the citizenry was himself attacked by a “gentle giant” and after being
severely beaten shot the perpetrator when he came back to beat him
some more.
We don’t hear about the second guy, but about a week ago I saw
a video with the “gentle giant” beating up an unarmed elderly (grey
hair) black man and the other guy kicked the elderly man who had
been knocked to the ground. By the way, there were onlookers who
didn’t intervene on the elderly man’s behalf. This was totally black
on black and wrong.
I’m not a racist but these things make me sensitive especially
when the President, the Attorney General and two (so-called) rev
erends shouted racism not only to America but to the United Nations.
I heard Herman Cane say he was a “black American” and he went
on to say how ridiculous it was for white folks to say they were Irish
American, German Americans, etc. (I’m German, Irish, Scottish,
English American). So why does he say he’s “black American” when,
in fact, he is an American! Period, end of story!
When my brother used to lifeguard, he was darker in color than
Herman. We must stop this racism based on skin color.
Well, I’ve said it. I suppose I’m in trouble now. But, don’t you
dare bum my flag.
- Robert A. Reitz
Dear Editor:
In 1990 (whew; that seems
like a long time ago!), the Pick
ens County Extension Service
began the renovation of the
Jasper Railroad Depot. Time has
moved on, and the Extension
Service recently moved out. I
was reminiscing about the 1990
renovation and wanted to take a
few moments to thank the com
munity for their support way
back then.
Mayor Lee Newton and Com
missioner Don Mullinax worked
closely together to get the Depot
for the program. State Represen
tative Garland Pinholster ob
tained a grant to begin the
extensive renovations. Mrs.
Bonnie Ray, long time 4-H vol
unteer, worked to help us raise
dollars to fund the renovation.
So many people in our fine
community joined in this project.
It was sort of like the Tom
Sawyer story; as we worked,
people stopped and volunteered.
The Pickens County Builders As
sociation jumped in to help with
the interior framing. Clay John
ston and Jeff Henke brought a
crew of builders together to con
struct the beautiful deck in two
days. Tony Byrd of Byrd Electric
wired the building and thought
fully put security spotlights out
back so kids would be safe at
night. Mac McElhattan plumbed
the building and donated the fix
tures. Wish I could tell the story
here of a Master Plumber at
work. Wow!
Bill Durrett made a custom
handrail for the stairs. We were
lucky to have the late Ross
Fletcherjoininthefuntoo. Mul
linax Truss, Inland Rome, Geor
gia Marble, Brock Supply and
others provided lots of materials.
Johnson Building Supply gave
me the key to their lumberyard
when we built the deck in case
we forgot something on those
Saturdays.
City employees helped us
with sheetrock, and school sys
tem folks helped with a special
wall. Mike Norton donated his
crew and himself to paint after
lots of 4-H’ers, parents, inmates
and anyone we could find
scraped old paint off and repaired
the exterior of the Depot. Yes, I
did cut the tiles for the roof after
searching everywhere for re
placements.
It was a great experience for
me and my co-workers and 4-
H’ers to have the community
join this project and carry it
through to the end. The Depot
renovation was an example of
what a great community we live
in and how it supports great
causes.
Sorry I didn’t mention every
one who helped, as space won’t
allow it, but YOU know we ap
preciated your investment in the
Agriculture and 4-H program
way back in 1990.1 give a heart
felt thank-you to all of you!
Rick Jasperse
Retired County Agent
Dear Editor:
In light of unforeseen circum
stances that were announced in
last week’s Pickens Progress
with the suspension of city street
comer fundraising by the city
council, the American Legion
Riders (ALR) of Post 149 are not
able to do their boot drive
planned to help our Legion fam
ily and the Jasper Merchant’s As
sociation raise the rest of the
much needed $10,000 for the city
police department’s new bullet
proof vests.
It seems that the uproar for
city street solicitation with these
types of fundraising methods
have come about due to recent
youth seen on the street comers
throughout Pickens County sell
ing donuts to raise funds. I can
not express enough at how ap
palled I was to see them on the
comer of Highway 53 and 108
last weekend myself. As the
road captain for our ALR, it is
always safety first and there is
no way I’d ever allow our riders
to be in locations like that and
we are adults. I think that their
intentions were good but their
choice of location was not care
fully thought out.
It would make more sense to
me to utilize the knowledge of
our city police on safer locations
for such events rather than to
stop all street solicitation.
Carrying liability insurance
also should be in place with such
groups that choose to do these
types of fund raising methods.
Organizations such as the Amer
ican Legion already carry such
insurance.
Our ALR did its first fundrais
ing of this type last fall with all
proceeds going to the CARES
organization. We collected over
$2,000. Our plan was to do two
boot drives a year and give that
money to deserving local groups.
The youth groups should con
template a much safer way of
raising funds such as the spon
soring of a pancake breakfast at
Fatz Cafe. Car wash programs
are another great idea for chil
dren to raise funds and many of
the local businesses will support
these efforts. I would rather see
our future generations doing
these types of fundraising ideas
than to ever think that a young
life could be halted through the
bad decision of street comer so
licitation. It is only my opinion
but I think that street comer
fundraising should be left to
adults in organizations such as
the Lions Club, the Shriners, the
American Legion and many
more.
Kelli Blohm
President of ALA Unit 149,
Road Captain and Secretary
ALR 149
Dear Editor:
Ignorance: Noun: lack of
knowledge or information.
Ignorant people are those who
have to create their own “statis
tics” to justify the childish antics
and venom spewed in my direc
tion. What they do is verify they
are ignorant.
We still seem to have the con
spiracy clowns about town.
Benghazi, IRS, etc, which have
all been looked at by multiple
Republican committees, who
found nothing. The sock puppet
brigade still parades them out,
and claims Obama has done
nothing. Really? Let’s pretend
the following has not occurred;
55 straight monthly improve
ments in jobs numbers, unem
ployment is 5.8%, far below the
Bush administration’s 7.8% in
January 2009.
Signed an Executive Order
instructing federal agencies to
review all federal regulations
and remove any unnecessary
and/or burdensome regulations
from the books. (Something
Conservatives and Republicans
keep mouthing they wanted to
do, now that Obama did it, it’s
bad).
Through the American Re
covery and Reinvestment Act,
saved at least 300,000 education
jobs, such as teachers, princi
pals, librarians and counselors
that would have otherwise been
lost.
Along with Congressional
Democrats, provided funding to
states and the Department of
Homeland Security to save thou
sands of police and firefighter
jobs from being cut during the
recession.
I can list a couple hundred
more accomplishments.
When you know nothing
about a subject create your own
statistics. Fabricated nonsense
like “99.99% of gun owners
would never consider killing an
other human being”...I’ve
known several who look for
ward to a confrontation so they
can “legally shoot somebody.”
One of them will spend the rest
of his life in jail. Or how about
“After all, school shootings are
not only not on an increase but a
child is more likely to be struck
by a meteor than experience a
school shooting.” It is a bold
faced lie, another fabrication
from somebody that knows little
to nothing about the subject mat
ter of gun violence. That is some
thing somebody does when they
are ignorant. There have been
multiple school shootings since
Sandy Hook. Ten of those inci
dents the shooter’s intent was
mass murder. They are not going
down they are going up. That is
reality. There have been 10
school shootings in Georgia
since Sandy Hook. Not to men
tion claiming requiring a back
ground check is an attempt to
“restrict” anybody’s rights is a
load of manure. If it did, licensed
firearms dealers would not be re
quired to conduct background
checks.
Charles O. Hendrix Jr.
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