Newspaper Page Text
October 22, 2014
PAGE 5A
On the Outside
Looking In
It’s too early for
Christmas decor
BY DON DANIEL
tullaybear@bellsouth.net
realize the upcoming holidays, Thanksgiving
and Christmas, are gold mines for retailers but
I just don’t understand why Christmas decora
tions are already being displayed and for sale
before Halloween. And many retailers are al
ready promoting they will be open on Thanksgiving
Day in an attempt to milk as much as they can from
us buyers.
Is there a change of heart for Forsyth’s “Holiday
Parade” which is already being promoted by the
local Chamber of Commerce? It is
still going to be called a Holiday
Parade with the theme being
“Christmas Past”. Finally the
Chamber just may be listening
and eventually, hopefully, called
the parade what it should be
called, “A Celebration of
Christmas Parade”.
I guess, as I have written
before, calling it a Holiday
Parade, is obviously the inten
tion not to offend other religions and persons who
do not celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.
WHEN I founded this newspaper, my constant
goal and objective was to continually promote shop
ping in Forsyth and Monroe County. As I am doing
now, hopefully we will all do our Christmas shop
ping locally.
Every once in a while, I do venture out of town to
shop but most of the time it is spontaneous buying.
I really enjoy shopping at home and saving the gas
money by shopping at home instead of out of town. I
also enjoy talking with local store owners and let
ting them know I appreciate their businesses and
the contribution they are making to our local econo
my. If per chance, I can’t find what I need locally, I
will venture to a mall or specialty store but most of
the time I can find it right here at home.
So, I encourage you to shop at home this
Christmas season.
CHANGING the topic. The other morning I
attended a Development Authority of Monroe
County meeting in hopes of getting a “scoop”. The
DAOMC is very protective of what they do and
know. They are not locally proactive promoting
Monroe County’s potential as a community seeking
industrial or other businesses.
Almost immediately after beginning their meeting,
they went into an executive session to “discuss” pos
sible acquisition of property with several Forsyth
City Council members. After the “session”, when
asked what they discussed, the DOAC chairman
told me they approved Project 10141014 possible
property purchase. That was all the information
divulged by the chairman, keeping any details of
the project and their decision very close to their
vests.
Town talk and speculation on project 10141014 is
that it has something to do with an upscale and
well-known hotel coming to Forsyth and that is why
several Forsyth city representatives were sitting
around the table.
THE FIRST correct answer to last week’s The
Question was Deborah Oliver identifying Stephanie
Colwell as Mary Persons’ Homecoming Queen.
Deborah gets a certificate for a Forsyth Main Street
t-shirt, two Lucky Cafe egg rolls, Dairy Queen
Blizzard, Whistle Stop fried green tomato appetizer
and a cookie from Jonah’s.
Here’s The Question for this week: Monroe County
Commission Chairman compared one section of
Monroe County as what? The story and answer was
on page 4C of last week’s paper. First correct
answer after 12 noon on Thursday gets the goody
certificate.
MISIDENTIFYING again! On the web sites of
WSB-TV and The Atlanta Journal/Constitution the
headlines were “Forsyth man arrested after police
say he tried to meet girl 13”. You had to read the
story to find out it was Forsyth County, not the City
of Forsyth.
UNDERSTAND our former county commission
chairman hosted a “fund raiser” for Michelle
Martin, a.k.a. Michelle Nunn. It will be interesting
to see her campaign report to find out how much
she raised and who donated from her visit to
Monroe County.
READ this week’s Reporter and find out how
Monroe County Hospital would handle an Ebola
scare. Reporter Reporter Richard “Dude” Dumas
has interviewed MCH employees for the story.
OUR Magistrate Judge Buck Wilder and his son
are entertaining crowds with their singing. Great
father and son entertainment. Check out his
Facebook page and see him outfitted in his “Hog”
rider leather outfit.
AS YOU are aware, deer season began this past
Saturday and Monroe County is noted as having
some the biggest deer in the state according to
Terry Johnson, retired Program Manager of the
Georgia Nongame/Endangered Wildlife Program.
If you are out there hunting for a “Bambi” make
sure safety is constantly on your mind.
Don’t forget to listen to The Reporter On The
Radio on Majic 100 on Sunday mornings at seven or
anytime by clicking on the radio tab at mymcr.net.
Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.
Contact Don Daniel at tullaybear@hellsouth.net.
^Reporter
Carolyn’s Corner
Houston, we have a
BY CAROLYN MARTEL
ads@mymcr.net
Y ears ago, recording
artist Ann Murray
sang, “Sure could use a
little good news today.”
Couldn’t we all? Much
of our news today is negative and
disturbing. The threat of Ebola
spreading in this nation, our frag
ile economy, the threat of ISIS ter
rorists and our borders being
overrun by illegals are just a few
headlines that capture
our attention. Here’s a
headline equally shocking
in my opinion: “City of
Houston demands pastors
turn over sermons.”
What? Is this America or
Nazi Germany?
says,
IF YOU have not heard
this latest outrage, the
city of Houston has (]_
issued subpoenas
demanding a group of pastors
turn over any sermons dealing
with homosexuality, gender iden
tity or Annise Parker, the city’s
first openly lesbian mayor. Any
ministers who fail to comply
could be held in contempt of
court. So what’s all the fuss
about? Earlier this year,
Houston’s non-discrimination
ordinance, known as the
“Bathroom Bill” was approved by
the city council. This non-dis
crimination ordinance includes
allowing transgender men to use
the ladies restroom and vice
versa. After opponents of the
bathroom bill filed a lawsuit, the
city’s attorneys responded (retal
iated?) by issuing subpoenas
against five members of the
Houston Area Pastors Council.
Although the pastors targeted
and served subpoenas did not
file the lawsuit, they were
among 400 Houston churches
that opposed the ordinance.
THE OPPOSITION to
Houston’s non-discrimination
ordinance goes much deeper
than meets the eye. This boils
down to freedom of speech and
the right to dissent. In my opin
ion, being politically correct has
gone to seed and common sense
is no longer common. This sub
poena fiasco on the part of
Houston is an attempt to intimi
date and silence pastors who
would address the cultural
issues of our day.
TODD STARNES, host of Fox
News and Commentary and
author of “God Less America”
I predicted that the gov
ernment would one day
try to silence American
pastors. I warned that
under the guise of toler
ance and diversity elect
ed officials would
attempt to deconstruct
religious liberty.” Tony
Perkins, the head of the
Family Research Council
told Starnes, “The
Tflx\Tj t. state is breaching the
wall of separation
between church and state.
Pastors need to step forward and
challenge this across the coun
try. I’d like to see literally thou
sands of pastors after they read
this story begin to challenge gov
ernment authorities—to dare
them to come into their churches
and demand their sermons.”
Starnes says, “Tony Perkins is
absolutely right. Now is the time
for pastors and people of faith to
take a stand. We must rise up
and reject the despicable strong-
arm attack on religious liberty.
We cannot allow ministers to be
intimated by government thugs.”
CONSIDER THE following
from the annals of history. A
quote often attributed to Albert
Einstein expresses the danger
and folly of remaining silent
when our voices need to be
heard: “Being a lover of freedom,
when the [Nazi] revolution came
I looked to the universities to
defend it, knowing they had
always boasted of their devotion
to the cause of truth; but no, the
universities were immediately
silenced. Then I looked to the
great editors of the newspapers,
whose flaming editorials had
problem
proclaimed their love of freedom;
but they, like the universities
were silenced. Only the church
stood squarely against the path
of Hitler’s campaign for sup
pressing the truth.”
ERWIN LUTZER, author of
“Hitler’s Cross” writes, “In pass
ing, we should note that Hitler
banned prayer in schools,
changed Christian holidays into
pagan festivals, and eventually
forced the church leadership to
accept his outrageous demands.
His political machine swallowed
the church whole because the
church had lost its biblical mis
sion. Thus the state not only
interfered with religious prac
tices but controlled them.”
(Lutzer, p.19).
DO WE see what is at stake?
Our First Amendment rights are
constantly being challenged.
There are those who would love
to shred our Constitution and if
we ever lose the battle to secure
freedom of speech and religion
then as Starnes says, “The gov
ernment might come for your
pastor.” Does this sound too far
out? Study history. Hitler suc
cessfully muzzled the pastors of
Germany. The Nazis kept tight
ening the noose and it became
more and more difficult to speak
out. Over 800 pastors were sent
to concentration camps for
opposing his policies.
STUDY HISTORY and you
will see that abuse of authority
is a never-ending threat to those
who love freedom and democra
cy. The unforgettable words
uttered by Tom Hanks in the
movie Apollo 13 come to mind:
“Houston, we have a problem.”
Houston has a problem and so
does the rest of America if we
fail to take a stand against the
assault on religious liberty!
Carolyn Martel writes encour
aging columns each week in the
Reporter’s Carolyn’s Corner.
She’s also the advertising man
ager for the Reporter. E-mail her
at ads@mymcr.net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bass: EPA rules on Scherer needed
To the editor:
read with a great deal of interest the half
page advertisement the Forsyth Monroe
County Chamber of Commerce sponsored in
last week's issue of the Reporter (Oct. 15).
They argue that EPA mandates will create high
er electricity rates for the residents of Georgia.
They fail to address the hidden costs of contin
ued production of carbon dioxide from coal-fired
plants on the health of the citizens of our county
and state.
Pollution of our air is a serious problem. I am
disappointed to see that you and the Board of
Directors of the Chamber of Commerce emphasize
the immediate costs to us while ignoring the dol
lars and cents continued pollution will ultimately
cost us. You promote an argument that benefits
power companies and brushes aside the health of
the people in our community.
Ralph Bass
Forsyth