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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 19. 2015
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Letters to the Editor
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Dear Editor:
Your excellent editorial on
measles should remind us all that
the facts are on the side of vacci
nation. These one-off cases,
often unsubstantiated testimoni
als but highly touted in social
media, do more harm than good
to new moms trying to make the
right decision for their kids.
When you have a half dozen of
the worlds greatest medical re
search and treatment facilities
say we must vaccinate- that
should be good enough for all of
us.
Plus, while I’m sort of liber
tarian on many issues, there ap
pears to be no middle ground
here. The greater good of our
communities is served by gov
ernmental vaccination require
ments. I would feel pretty
uncomfortable if my grandkids
went to a school system where a
measles vaccine was not re
quired.
You took the high road with
your well-researched editorial -
but I would say to those who are
fighting the medical establish
ment on this issue that they are
not only putting their own child’s
health at risk - as well as that of
her friends - but are selfishly
turning a blind eye toward the
facts.
With that kind of parenting -
some of it fueled by the Just-
Call-Saul lawyers - you had
better be very sure of your ac
tions. If you make the wrong
call, measles may be the least of
your problems.
Dave Altman
Dear Editor:
I would like to take this venue
and opportunity to apologize for
something I did without knowing
it was wrong. On February 2, the
Jasper City Council suspended
the collection of funds while
standing in an intersection. Since
last year, I have been collecting
for the Shrine in the intersection
coming out of the Kroger/Home
Depot center onto Hwy. 53. On
Wednesday, February 4, I was
unaware that the council had
taken this action. My usual rou
tine and permit was for Monday,
Wednesday, Friday and Satur
days during lunch and the
evening hours and I was out
there as usual. One of my lodge
brothers stopped and said he
hoped that I didn’t get arrested.
He told me of the council’s ac
tion. I stayed a few minutes more
and as I was leaving, Lt. Cliff
Fisher, Jasper Police Depart
ment, pulled up and told me
about the situation. I was leaving
and told him until it was resolved
I would not be back.
If my being there offended or
upset anyone, I am sorry. I try in
every way to obey the law. I do
understand the mayor and city
council’s concern about the
safety of the citizens, especially
our young people. I also under
stand that the city could be held
liable. Our organization carries a
liability policy on us as a group
or individual while raising funds.
The Shrine, firemen and other
groups (especially youth organi
zations) use the intersections as
a means of being seen and rais
ing funds. It would be a shame to
stop this completely. The major
concern is the children. I would
never stand on Hwy. 53 - any
where in the roadway on Hwy.
53 or on Hwy. 515 and its inter
sections (Note - I was a police
officer for nine years and worked
traffic a lot- and those roads
scare me).
I agree with Kelli Blohm,
American Legion, that stopping
the activity all together would se
verely hurt some organizations.
But at the same time, there have
to be some constraints to protect
everyone, especially the young
sters. I hope the council can
come up with a working solution
that will allow our activities to
continue. I suggest they look at
the Kennesaw ordinance and
adopt it to Jasper.
Again, I am sorry if I upset
anyone - I was just trying to
raise money for our functions
and kids.
Ralph O. Dennis, Noble
Yaarab Shriners
Dear Editor:
Well it has been a while, but
events have a way of catching up
with us, seems like they always
do. Wednesday we were regaled
with the news that the US was
abandoning our embassy in
Yemen and were sort of leaving
in a rush, left the keys in the still
running cars at the airport, etc.
etc. etc. Not lost in all the
hoopla of the rush out was the
US Marine contingent having to
destroy the arms on site as well
as decommissioning their per
sonal weapons at the airport be
fore being “ allowed’ to leave.
As an elder Marine I wept for my
brothers and their plight, a Ma
rine and his weapon are a part of
one-another, they were, basi
cally, told to remove their right
arm.
Never mind the loss of our
embassy, the recruiting coup of
the sight of the Marines being
forced to leave their weapons
behind is priceless to our enemy.
Being herded onto a civilian air
plane and summarily thrown out
of the country with little dignity
has given our enemy a recruiting
poster for the ages. Moreover,
our State Department said last
night that this was a carefully
planned and executed operation.
Are these fools serious? This,
Marines leaving their weapons
behind, was the optic they inten
tionally choose. If so, they need
to be FIRED forthwith. There
was zero excuse to be caught in
that situation, ZERO. In my life
time, only one other thing has
been this embarrassing to the
American military, Jimmy
Carter’s leaving our dead on the
desert in Iran.
I weep for the future of my
nation, openly, NEVER have we
been so poorly lead, inade
quately defended, this goes be
yond the pall. If it took our
razzing that entire city and its in
habitants to withdraw our people
that that is what should have
been done. Remember Gordon at
Khartoum? The progressives
have emasculated this nation
starting back in the ’50s and we
are bearing the fruits of their
labor today. Oh, and thank you
President Obama for your vigor
ous defense of our nation and its
citizens, it didn’t interrupt your
selfies there did it? Impeachment
cannot come soon enough.
Semper Fi brothers.
R. Lee Greene
Dear Editor:
My first reaction to reading
this week’s letter from Mr.
Charles Hendrix was to ignore it.
Like most of his liberal brethren,
when faced with information that
fails to fit his jaundiced view of
the world, he resorts to name
calling. Aside from the personal
attacks, he also concluded that
my statistics are of my own mak
ing, so rather than respond in
kind to the nastiness, here is
some hard data related to school
shootings:
Per the National Center for
Educational Statistics, there have
been an average of 25 school
homicides per year since the
early 1990s, the highest number
being 34 in 1997. These inci
dents resulted in an admittedly
unfortunate, annual average of
37 deaths. Over the past decade,
the number of such incidents has
actually declined, but to gauge
the likelihood of a child being
killed in a school shooting, let’s
use that average of 37. There are
roughly 50 million full time stu
dents in this country at present.
Dividing those 37 deaths by the
total student population tells us
that there is a bit less than a one
in a million chance that a child
(or teacher, administrator, etc.)
will die in a school shooting.
As for Mr. Hendrix’s associ
ates who are chafing at the bit to
find a “legal” excuse to shoot
someone, I suggest that he find a
better crowd to hang with. I have
to question whether these people
really exist, but if they do, they
hardly represent a statistically
significant sampling of American
gun owners. As a self acknowl
edged expert on statistics, I have
to assume that he imderstands the
concept of statistical signifi
cance.
Mark Buchheim
Dear Editor:
As the Pickens County Queen
for Mardi Gras, I would like to
thank everyone for their votes.
Because of your most generous
support, I was able to raise al
most $9,000 to benefit Georgia
Mountains Hospice, Jasper Ro
tary and the Knights of Colum
bus. It was a wonderful event
and we are lucky to live in such
a giving community.
Gratefully,
Margy Lohman
Dear Editor:
Many thanks to writer Larry
Cavender and the Progress for
last week’s article on Old High
way 5. There are many of us who
weren’t part of that history, and
his words and pictures are a gift
from folks like Cavender who
were. Having a better feeling for
the history of our home makes
living here a richer experience.
Dan F. Huth
Letters Welcomed
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letters. Letters concerning any
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will be considered for publica
tion. Letters addressing issues
will be accepted but not those
expressing a personal grievance
directed toward another individ
ual. Letters UNDER 400
WORDS are preferred. All let
ters MUST BE SIGNED with
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given where the author can be
reached to verify information.
Opinions expressed in letters
and signed columns are those of
the author and do not necessar
ily represent the views held by
the Progress.
Reinhardt names 20th president
On behalf of the students at Reinhardt University, Alex
Bryant (l), president of Student Government Association,
presents Dr. Kina Mallard, Reinhardt’s 20th president, and
her husband, Steve Dietz, with an engraved door knocker to
welcome the ttvo to their new home.
“These people were
good people, ” says
Dr. Kina Mallard of
interview process
that led her to
Waleska
By Katie Gibson
Editor of the Reinhardt
Hiltonian
In a press conference held
Thursday, February 12, Rein
hardt University announced the
20th president of the institution
will be Dr. Kina S. Mallard. The
current president of the univer
sity, Dr. Isherwood, will be retir
ing at the end of June with Dr.
Mallard assuming office July 1
of this year.
During a speech, William G.
Hasty, Jr., a member of the
search committee and the Board
of Trustees chair, informed the
assembled members of commu
nity, student, faculty and press of
the search process that led to the
eventual selection of Dr. Mal
lard: “We were looking for some
one who could increase our
endowment and enrollment, as
well as encourage community
outreach.... That’s what we were
looking for, and of course, we’ve
found her.”
Hasty praised the hard work
of the Waleska college’s Board
of Trustees, as well as the search
committee that was formed to aid
in the vetting of potential candi
dates.
The decision was made by the
Board of Trustees on Feb. 10th,
but was not released until the
press conference. This search
process has been ongoing for the
last seven months, with 70 appli
cants showing interest in coming
to Reinhardt from across the
country. The search committee
included representatives of the
student body, surrounding com
munity, faculty, staff and the
Board of Trustees.
Dr. Mallard has extensive ex
perience in higher education be
ginning her teaching career in
1982, and comes to Reinhardt
from Carson-Newman Univer
sity, Jefferson City, Tn., where
she most recently served as exec
utive vice president and provost
since 2012. From 2009 to 2012
she was provost and vice presi
dent for academic affairs at the
same university. She has also
been in roles of academic leader
ship at Gordon College in Wen-
ham, Ma., as well as Union
University in Jackson, Tn.
When addressing the standing
room only crowd she was asked
if there was one thing that stuck
out to her at Reinhardt Univer
sity, she replied, “It’s hard to put
a word on a feeling, but I will say
that the people made up the feel
ing.” She continued that even
while going through the inter
view process, a typically intimi
dating experience, she got the
feeling “that these people were
good people.”
Throughout the event there
was a theme of “welcome home”
repeated by various speakers.
Student Government Association
President and Search Committee
member Alexander Bryant pre
sented Mallard and her husband
Steve Dietz with an engraved
door knocker on behalf of the
students, summing up the theme
of the conference by stating,
“welcome home” as he presented
them with the gift.
Dr. Isherwood will be retiring
after serving as Reinhardt’s pres
ident for 13 years. During his
tenure the university has seen
positive changes in the areas of
renovation, new building con
struction, as well as improve
ments in artistic, athletic and
academic arenas among others.
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Attention All Crafters, Artists,
Jasper Bluegrass
Charity Festival 2015
needs YOU!
This is a big one & space is limited.
Join us May 8-10 at our
annual bluegrass festival
sponsored by
American Legion Post 149
covering the 21 acres off 515
on Church Street
May 8, 9 & 10, 2015
Call 706-253-1715
Email: Iegionfest@gmaiI.com
www.legionfest.org w
Online you can learn all about the event, become a Vendor.
Buy tickets & Rent RV & camping space with credit card
Scope it out!!!!
A
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“Easy steps to finding out who you are! ”
Noted historian and genealogist speaks to local Friendship Force
By Charlene Terrell
The Friendship Force of Big
Canoe/North Georgia meets Feb
ruary 22 at Windermere Club
house in Cumming at 4 p.m.
Guest speaker is Elizabeth Stew
art Olson, noted historian and ge
nealogist who says her
presentation is titled, “Easy steps
to finding out who you are!”
Ms. Olson is president and
board member of the Association
of Professional Genealogists and
is on the board of the Georgia
Genealogical Society and serves
as vice president. She is a trustee
of the R.J. Taylor Foundation,
the Gwinnett Historical Society
and Autrey Mill Nature Preserve
& Heritage Center. She is con
sultant to the Atlanta African
American Historical and Ge
nealogical Society. She received
the Georgia Genealogical Soci
ety Volunteer Award in 2011 and
the Georgia Genealogical Soci
ety Special Recognition for Ex
traordinary Leadership
Campaign to Save the Georgia
Archives - 2012. She has 30
years of broad-based experience
in historical research and prob
lem-solving. Ms. Olson has stud
ied at Boston University,
Samford University and the Na
tional Institute for Genealogical
Studies, University of Toronto
and the Georgia Chapter APG
Study Group. She is a registered
researcher at NARA in Morrow,
the Georgia State Archives, Mor
row and the University of Geor
gia Library.
Following a meal, there will
be a business meeting with up
dates on incoming and outbound
exchanges and future plans and
opportunities.
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