Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
PAGE 5A
Radical left wrong about
voter ID issue
V oter ID is once
again in the
courts. The
U.S. Supreme Court has
just heard arguments
from the state of Indiana
over the validity of the
requirement that all vot
ers submit a photo ID
before voting. Pundits
on the left are scream
ing their opposition to
the idea. The Atlanta
Journal’s Cynthia Tucker
declared that if the Supreme Court
upholds the Voter ID law, that
blacks, Latinos, native Americans
and all other minorities ought to
engage in massive protest.
Why? Well, it is because the radi
cal left uses those who are incapable
of making their own decisions as a
tool to impose their radical agendas.
They seek out people who are lack
ing in the knowledge and motivation
to take an active part in our political
system then attempt to guide them
into supporting otherwise unpopular
political ideas.
Lack of proper identification also
enhances the ability of unethical pol
iticians to commit fraud as another
way of imposing their ideas on the
nation.
If the radical left had its way,
anyone could simply show up at the
polls and vote, even if they are here
illegally. It would be easy for them
to take people from one polling
place to another so that they can vote
multiple times.
The Constitution protects our right
to vote. But it does not require it.
It does protect the unknowing and
uncaring from having their votes
abused by pressure groups. That
is why we are guaranteed a secret
ballot. I would never do
anything to prevent a per
son from voting who truly
wants to. On the other
hand, I strongly oppose
anyone who would use
any tactic to try to push
someone into voting,
especially if they do not
understand what they are
voting for.
Obtaining an official
ID card is easy. Most of
us already have one. It
can be a driver’s license, a military
ID, an ID from certain government
or private organizations that deal in
sensitive areas, or just a card issued
by a government agency on request.
In Georgia, such cards are simple to
get. The very people who are so con
cerned that someone will not be able
to go to a site to get one can just as
easily arrange transportation there as
they can to the polls.
We are supposed to have a govern
ment of the people, not of the special
interests. Those who care enough to
equip themselves to vote deserve to
have their opinions reflected. They
do not deserve to have their opinions
overturned by fraud, deception and
deceit by political pressure groups.
Obtaining some kind of ID card to
assure that you are eligible to vote
is a part of the process. If you don’t
care enough to do that, you don’t
care enough to make a good deci
sion. I am sorry folks, that is just the
way it is.
Frank Gillispie is a contributing
columnist for The Banks County
News. His e-mail address is
frankgillispie671@msn.com. His
website can be accessed at http://
frankgillispie.tripod.com/
frank
gillispie
Back to the beach
W “
Speedweeks
getting ready
to kick off this Saturday
night with the Bud
Shootout at Daytona, it
brings to mind a simpler
time, when, instead of
fighting aerodynamics,
drivers fought sand on
their windshields.
From its inception,
NASCAR’s premier venue
was the old beach and
road course in Daytona. It was, to
say the least, an interesting place to
race.
For many years, land speed
records were attempted on the
hard packed sands. When those
attempts moved to the salt flats in
Bonneville in 1935, stock car races
were organized on a combination of
the beach and the paved Highway
A1A. Racers would run two miles
south on A1A, make a sharp left
onto the beach, then run two miles
to the north before turning back
onto A1A.
It was an incredible place, and
generated some amazing races.
Not to mention some amazing
stories.
Lloyd Seay, a Georgia moonshine
runner, has been said by many to be
one of the greatest natural talents
to have ever climbed behind the
wheel. Seay had a knack to bicycle
his Ford on two wheels through
the corners on the beach. The fans
would clamor to see this incredible
show put on by the Dawsonville
native. Seay won on the beach on
his fifth try on August 24, 1941. He
started 15th on that day, but was in
the lead by the time the first lap was
over. He led every lap en route to
the win.
Seay would die later that year at
the hands of a family member in
Dawsonville in an argument over
sugar for moonshine.
Legendary driver Tim Flock is
considered by many to be the best
beach course racer of the NASCAR
era. He was the only driver to win
in every major NASCAR division to
race on the beach, including Grand
National, modified, and the convert
ible division. Flock, who passed
away in 1998, used to tell the story
of racing on the beach in 1955 in
his Carl Kiekhafer owned Chrysler
300. As he sprinted up the beach on
the first lap, he ran into an unsus
pecting flock of seagulls at about
140 miles an hour.
The air was filled with
enough feathers to make
it look like a snowstorm
had struck the beach.
“They started hit
ting my windshield,
and the feathers and
the guts stuck to my
windshield!” Flock
would say years later in
an interview. Leaning
out the window, he
used a rag intended to
clean sand from his
windshield to clear off the “bird
remnants.” By the second lap, there
wasn’t a seagull to be seen on the
beach.
In 1956, legendary stock jockey
Junior Johnson took a wild tumble
on Daytona’s sands. Photos of the
accident sequence shows Johnson
exiting his overturned racer via the
rear window before the car even
came to a complete halt.
Two-time Cup champion Ned
Jarrett had an equally close call in
a beach race early in his career. He
was racing up the beach in a modi
fied/sportsman event when a faster
modified hit him, sending his car
tumbling into the surf. Dazed from
the accident, Jarrett stumbled across
the beach, miraculously evading
being struck by oncoming rac
ers, and promptly passed out upon
reaching the spectator area.
Jarrett came to moments later in
the arms of a rather rotund woman
who was trying to pour whisky
from an Early Time liquor bottle
into his mouth to try to revive him.
“I was bleeding, and I was pretty
sure I was going to die,” said Jarrett
years later. “I just knew they
wouldn’t let me into heaven with
that liquor on my breath!”
Racing on the beach came to an
end after the 1958 Grand National
event, which was won by Paul
Goldsmith. The next year, drivers
traveled a little further down A1A
to the new Daytona International
Speedway, which held its first
events the following year.
As NASCAR gets ready for the
50th running of the Daytona 500
next week, it should be remembered
that there would be nothing to cel
ebrate if it wasn’t for the pioneers
who weren’t afraid of high speed
during low tide.
Brandon Reed is a reporter for
MainStreet Newspapers. Contact
him at brandon@mainstreetnews.
com.
brandon
reed
Other Views
The real question is ‘How would Jesus vote?’
Dear Editor:
In answer to Kerri Testement’s
column, “Who will you pick for
president?” we as Christians must
ask ourselves, “How would Jesus
vote?”
I have voted for Democrats and
Republicans over the years and I say
give me a wonderful man or woman
who will set high moral standards
for me, my children and our nation.
We need a person that stands for tra
ditional marriage, who loves souls,
who loves beautiful little babies
from conception to birth and some
one who hates partial birth abortion,
the killing of innocent babies up to
nine months in the mother’s womb.
We must stand for life. Don’t take
my word for it, but look at the voting
record of all the candidates. Then
vote with knowledge and convic
tion.
This is what is wonderful about
the Bible Belt and God-fearing peo
ple, that generally speaking, we have
higher moral standards than the rest
of the country.
So vote for eternity, for one day
we must stand before God to give an
account of how and who we voted
for to help our nation.
Again I ask, “How would Jesus
vote?”
Sincerely,
Ed and Dori Sturgill
Troy and Barbara Jones
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