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5A
OPINION
®he £ntics
gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com
The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
LITERS
North-south
trail plan is
one we need
I recently saw the Gainesville and South Hall
Trail Studies report produced for our Metropoli
tan Planning Organization. This is a visionary
plan — a north-south spine trail for walkers and
cyclists connecting central Gainesville with Flow
ery Branch with an array of connecting side trails
to fun destinations.
The trail plan couples outdoor enjoyment with
healthy exercise for children and adults. It avoids
the need for car journeys and the associated con
gestion, emissions and stress. It gives people a
joyful reason to visit the businesses along the trail
such as the Left Nut Brewery and the businesses
on Main Street in Flowery Branch. And it does all
this at a very low cost compared to just about any
other transportation project.
This forward-looking plan is just the kind of
quality of life improvement we need to attract
people to our county and grow our economy. I
would love to see it implemented.
Robin Terrell
Gainesville
No matter how hard politicians
try, I’m still not scared
I watch TV, I see the ads. But my goodness, I’m
just not frightened of all the things I’m supposed to
be afraid of! (Maybe my gene pool is turned upside
down.) So, I’m forced to deal with this. I have to
admit that I’m not afraid of: border crossers or
asylum seekers; the media (though some advertis
ers weird me out); people who don’t look like me;
more guns/no guns/more taxes/no taxes. I’m not
even afraid of Democrats! This is troubling. Sort of.
I’ve lived long enough to know that fear is an
effective motivator. Doesn’t mean things turn out
well, but it works. I’ve also lived long enough to
know there is an antidote to fear — the power of
hope.
Hope has proven, to me at least, to be more uni
fying, more powerful, more joyful, more fulfill
ing and more motivating than just about anything
else. I find it in many people and places — and a
uniquely American place is our constitution and
rule of law where respect for one another (no
matter who you are), for one’s property (no mat
ter where or how you live), and for one another’s
faith (no matter what it is) is embedded. Respect
generates hope. But, respect is a lot harder to do
than fear, isn’t it?
Mutual respect is foundational to so many
things, so many better things among people. If
nothing else, it leads to less fear, a lot less.
So this Election Day, I will vote against fear
wherever I see or hear it. I will vote for respect,
for you, for me, for everybody else. More impor
tantly, the day after the election I will continue to
reject fear. I will foster respect — mutual respect
— wherever I can and live in the hope that respect
thrives as part of our American Way and will
carry each day forward.
Craig Carpenter
Gainesville
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published in print, electronic or other forms.
Letters and other commentary express the
opinions of the authors and not of The Times.
It s important you vote on Nov. 6
For The Times
Candidates for governor Democrat Stacey Abrams, left, and Republican Brian Kemp.
As a public
service, I want to
share with you the
latest political data
in order to help
you decide for
whom to vote in
next week’s elec
tions. If you have
already voted,
hopefully it will
confirm the wis
dom of your deci
sion or let you bang your head against
the wall for being such a dimwit.
This means mining the political exper
tise of one Junior E. Lee, general man
ager of the Yarbrough Worldwide Media
and Pest Control Company, located in
Greater Garfield, Georgia. Junior is
not only one of the nation’s most highly
respected political analysts, he is also a
pest control professional. That is a rare
combination. Neither Rush Limbaugh
nor that guy on MSNBC who looks like
the Pillsbury Dough Boy can make such
a claim.
One of Junior E. Lee’s most impor
tant contributions to the refinement of
political analysis has been the creation
of Round or Square Polls, whose motto
is “If you provide the dough, we’ll cook
the results.” It has become the model for
most all other polling organizations in
the U.S., plus-or-minus 5 percent.
When I got Junior on the phone it was
obvious he was very busy. He said he was
not only analyzing the voting trends of
people who own dogs between the ages
of 18 to 45 (the owners, not the dogs) and
are female (the dogs, not the owners),
he was also loading up the truck with
Permethrin to go spray Arveen Ridley’s
barn for ticks.
I apologized for getting him at such
an inopportune time, but told him I was
feeling the heat to get the latest political
analysis to my readers before they got
it from suspect sources like the national
television networks, the cable news
channels, the New York Times or Farm
er’s Almanac.
Junior said he certainly understood
my concerns except he thought Farmer’s
Almanac played things pretty straight
even though they spend too much time
talking about wooly worms being an
indicator of future weather trends. He
said they should leave wooly worm dis
cussions to pest control professionals like
himself.
I quickly steered the conversation
back to next week’s elections because if
you get Junior started on wooly worms,
nematodes and the like, you can’t hush
him up.
I asked Junior about the governor’s
race. It seems that Democrat Stacey
Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp are
running neck-and-neck at this point. He
reminded me that a Libertarian is also
running, although he has about as much
chance of winning as a wooly worm does
learning to play chess. I will admit that
Junior E. Lee’s analogies can be a bit
weird at times. I think he has inhaled a
bit too much malathion over the years.
As for the governor’s race, Junior says
it will be won by those in the middle
since most of the wingnuts on either end
of the political spectrum have already
cast their ballots.
What constitutes the middle, I asked?
Junior says it is mainly people who don’t
want illegal aliens being allowed to carry
guns on our college campuses or in our
houses of worship. I said I would have
to think about that one. For example, I
knew Baptists weren’t keen on illegal
aliens but that they liked packing heat
most everywhere because they consider
it a “sanctity of life” issue — forget that
pesky “Thou Shalt Not Kill” command
ment. Junior reminded me that we were
talking about folks in the middle, not
Baptists. Ah, yes. That’s why the man
gets the big bucks.
If Abrams wins, Junior predicts she
will move the governor’s office to Hol
lywood where most of her financial sup
porters are located. On the other hand, if
Kemp wins, he says look for Hooterville
to be the new state capital and Jed Clam-
pett to be his chief of staff. I hope he is
just pulling my leg.
Junior said he needed to wrap up
the conversation. After he finished at
Arveen Ridley’s place, he needed to
drive over to Aunt Flossy Felmer and
take another peek in her drawers. He
says he is looking for fire ants. I don’t
believe that for a minute. Frankly, I
think Junior spends too much poking
around Aunt Flossy’s drawers, but I don’t
say anything. Finding a highly respected
political analyst who is also a pest control
professional is not easy.
In closing, Junior E. Lee joins me in
urging you to please vote on Nov. 6. It
is both a privilege and a responsibility.
About that, we are not kidding.
Dick Yarbrough is a North Georgia
resident whose column regularly appears
Saturdays. Contact him at P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, GA 31139; online at
dickyarbrough.com; or on Facebook.
DICK YARBROUGH
dick@
dickyarbrough.com
Your government officials
Georgia state government
Gov. Nathan Deal, 203 State Capitol, Atlanta
30334; 404-656-1776; www.gov.georgia.gov
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, 240 State Capitol, Atlanta
30334, 404-656-5030; www.ltgov.ga.gov
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, 214 State Capitol,
Atlanta 30334, 404-656-2881, fax 404-656-0513;
www.sos.state.ga.us; Elections Division, 2 MLK,
Jr. Drive SE, Suite 1104, West Tower, Atlanta
30334-1530, 404-656-2871, fax, 404-651 -9531
Attorney General Chris Carr, 40 Capitol Square SW,
Atlanta 30303; 404-656-3300; law.ga.gov
School Superintendent Richard Woods, 205 Jesse
Hill Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta 30334; 404-656-2800;
www.doe.k12.ga.us; askdoe@gadoe.org
Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, 148 Andrew
Young International Blvd. NE, Suite 642, Atlanta
30303-1751; 404-656-3045, 877-709-8185;
www.dol.state.ga.us
Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, 2 Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 704, West Tower,
Atlanta 30334; 404-656-2070; oci.georgia.gov;
inscomm@mail.oci.state.ga.us
Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, 19 Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive, Room 226, Atlanta 30334;
404-656-3600, 800-282-5852; agr.state.ga.us;
info@agr.state.ga.us
Public Service Commission, 244 Washington St.
SW, Atlanta 30334-9052, 800-282-5813, gapsc@
psc.state.ga.us, www.psc.state.ga.us. Chairman
Chuck Eaton, District 3; Tim Echols, District 2; H.
Doug Everett, District 1; Vice Chairman Lauren
“Bubba” McDonald, District 4; Tricia Pridemore,
District 5
"Oh, well. Back to Daylight Losing Time."
JIM POWELL I For The Times
Three months after Chicago’s most
violent weekend, the trail grows colder
The Chicago Tribune
In just 18 hours last Sunday, gunfire
struck 26 people in Chicago’s South
and West Side neighborhoods. Over the
entire weekend, 42 were shot and five
died, including a 16-year-old boy.
Appalling? Yes. But this wasn’t even
the most violent outburst of the year.
That grim distinction belongs to the
first weekend in August, when at least
41 people were shot over seven hours.
In all, 75 people fell to gun violence that
weekend, and 13 died.
Many of these shootings likely
were gang-related attacks that miss
the intended target and hit innocent
bystanders.
This slaughter on the streets is Chica
go’s tragedy. Just as tragic: Most of the
people who pull the triggers get away
with it. They’ll never be caught. They’ll
be free to menace neighborhoods again
and again.
Why? Because the Chicago Police
Department has a dismal clearance
rate. That’s the measure of how often
police solve homicides. For 2018 killings
so far, the rate is about 17 percent, the
department says. That’s about the same
as the 2017 rate, which was the lowest
recorded in years.
For nonfatal shootings, the rate dips to
6.5 percent in 2018, compared to 7.2 per
cent for all of 2017. The odds of getting
caught overwhelmingly favor criminals.
To better understand why police fail
to arrest killers so often, the Tribune is
tracking CPD’s investigations of those 75
cases in August.
The police arrest tally from that week
end is paltry so far: Chicago authorities
filed the first murder charge in late
September.
Two other suspects have been
charged in separate cases in which the
gunshot victims didn’t die. That’s it.
Three people charged in 75 cases.
The longer the remaining cases go
unresolved, the colder the trail grows.
Many will never be solved. That will
leave a lot of violent criminals on the
loose, reloaded and ready to splash
more blood on the streets.
She Stines
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