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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PAGE 5A Letters to the Editor No respect shown for couple’s Disappointed by our legal profession Dear Editor: We live on Hwy. 105 South and we have a lot of drivers that fly up and down this road every day, especially pick-up trucks. We have called the Banks County Sheriff’s Department and reported this before. They did come out and have been good about patrolling the area but you can’t get all the speeders. There is a church right next door to my house in a curve. There are no “Church” signs or “Slow” or “Children Playing” or anything. The county needs to get some signs or maybe the Department of Transportation has to do that. A child is going to get hit there one of these days. Just a couple of weeks ago, a young man in a pick-up truck was going so fast coming past the church, he lost control of his truck and only by the Grace of God, he didn’t go off in the ravine. When he tried to get back on the road, he was going so fast he came right down my yard, tearing up the grass and spinning rocks and dirt, all the way past my house and finally stopped at the edge of my yard in the ditch. If anyone or anything had been in my front yard, he would have hit them and possibly killed them or at least hurt them. On Friday, June 13th, our pet dog Teddy Bear was hit and killed about 5:30 p.m. It was still plenty daylight. We had him in the back yard playing with him and letting him run. He ran up the hill and evidently went through the trees down to the road. My husband came in the house and when Teddy Bear didn’t come back, he went to look for him. He found him all right — dead — laying in a ditch just south of our yard, apparently a broken neck as there were no other marks on him. This happened in less than 10 minutes! Some will say we should have had him contained, but if you have animals, you know sometimes they will run out of the yard. Where he was laying, and by the blood on his face, you could see the person that hit him was coming south and Teddy Bear was on the side of the road at the edge of the road com ing home. My point is, when the driver came by the church, you can see a long way down the road. It is very obvious the driver would have seen Teddy Bear for quite a ways, especially it being broad daylight. There were no skid marks or any thing so the driver didn’t even try to miss him. And they were not even compassionate enough to come up to our house and tell us they killed our dog. We have found that a lot of folks here only consider a dog “just a dog.” In fact, we have heard it said. We see them dead laying on side of the road, and the owners just leave them, don’t even care enough about their animal to bring it home and bury it. Teddy Bear is dead and buried. There’s nothing we can do to bring him back, as much as we wish we could. I want whoever did this to know how heartbroken we are, the tears we have shed since it happened, and how much we miss Teddy Bear. Ironically, he was a rescue puppy we found several years ago, dumped by someone. We raised him, he was a big part of our family, and to end up getting hit and killed by a vehicle driven by some uncaring person is really unfair to him. Another thing, we have a cat that never leaves our yard, he was another rescue we found last year as a kitten almost dead, in the middle of the road in the country, cardboard box laying where some body threw him out. I imagine there were other kittens, but we didn’t find them. Three weeks ago, we were gone from home two or three hours, came back, couldn’t find Kitty. He always comes to meet us when we get home. He finally came out from behind a shrub, limping, his left leg was just hang ing. When we took him to the vet, the X-ray showed his leg was broken in three places. The vet said that it looked like he had suffered a very hard blow, looked like maybe by a baseball bat or something or maybe a very hard kick with a hard shoe or boot, didn’t think he was hit by a car, although it might be possible. He never leaves the yard, so we don’t know what happened. We either had to put him to sleep or have his leg amputated. We had his leg amputated, and he is doing great. We love our animals, and who would hurt and kill our pets, I can’t pets imagine how cold-hearted a person would have to be. A mighty sorry human being, in my opinion. I am writing this to make people aware of the speeders on this road and what can happen. There are children on this road. What if a child had been on side of the road instead of Teddy Bear? The child would either be dead or very hurt. Would the driver have left a child on side of the road and the parents would have to go looking for them and find them? I hope the driver who killed our dog reads this, they know who they are. I hope every time they drive by my house, they will see the cross of flowers we put up for him and that they will remember everyday for the rest of their life that they killed someone we loved very much. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Sincerely, Bob and Pat Gillespie Baldwin Dear Editor: After my child’s father began pay ing child support, he decided to get a lawyer and come after me saying I committed fraud by not informing him of our child. He did know of her and I have proof. He wanted me to have an abortion but I couldn’t. At the time, I was 29 and not so wise. This man lied to me about his wife and four kids, birth date, birthplace, etc. The only thing I knew at the time was that his job was legitimate. He is a professional and makes great money. Me on the other hand, love my job but don’t make much at all. Well, my point is this, I can’t get a lawyer to represent me because I don’t have $3,000-4,000. Sad, huh? I am innocent and only need to prove it but not even Georgia Legal Aid will help me. However, If I wanted to go out and hurt someone, smoke some dope or sell it, steal or something to that nature I would have lawyers all around me like flies. What is going on with our justice system? It is even hard for women to find lawyers to get out of abusive mar riages. I am now a single parent with two kids and have zero help. I am very disappointed with the legal profession. Sincerely, Kathi Strickland Commerce Let us know your story ideas Have an interesting story to share? Do you have a unique hobby? If so, we would like to know. Contact Angie Gary, editor of The Banks County News, at 706-367-2490 or e-mail information to her at AngieEditor@aol.com. The Banks County News Get the local school, church, sports and other community news delivered to your home each week! Just clip the coupon below to begin saving today over the newstand price! Name Address City State Zip 30,000 high-performance trucks. Over 50,000 high-achieving employees. Making a difference one community at a time. The NEW Waste Management. With a massive North American presence that includes lots of heavy-duty vehicles and hard-working individuals, is it any wonder that the NEW Waste Management is such an active member of this community? Of course, we owe our reputation for making a difference to the partnerships we’ve developed with each community we serve, to enhance its quality of life. We’re especially proud of our vigorous and growing community relations programs. We created them to support local and nationwide community organizations - including neighborhood watch programs, school activities and public lands and parks projects - that work to make the communities we share better places to live. The NEW Waste Management embraces the responsibilities of a good corporate citizen by channeling our resources into local education, community vitality and environmental awareness efforts. It’s another way we’re making a difference. WWW.WM.com One community at a time. From everyday collection to environmental protection, look to the NEW Waste Management. Subscription rates for The Banks County News are as follows: $19.75 per year for Banks and adjoining counties; $17.75 per year for senior citizens in Banks and adjoining counties; $38.85 per year for delivery elsewhere in Georgia; $36.85 per year for delivery elsewhere in Georgia with senior citizen discount; $44.50 per year for delivery out of Georgia; $42.50 per year for delivery out of Georgia with senior citizen discount; $42.20 per year for the military with APO address. Enclosed is my check for $ Expiration Phone or □ MC or □ VISA # MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. 33 Lee Street, P O. Box 908 Jefferson, GA 30549 706-367-5233 Fax: 706-367-8056 Website: www.mainstreetnews.com ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ POLITICS An open meeting will be held on June 27, 2008 for selected contested races on the Banks County, Georgia Primary election ballot. These races will include the following: U. S. House of Representatives 10th District District Attorney for Piedmont Judicial District Banks County Commission Chairman Banks County Sheriff Banks County Board of Education The meeting will be held at the Banks County Recreation Department on Thompson Street in Homer, Georgia. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. Each candidate will give an opening statement and attendees will then be able to meet and question the candidates. The Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, July 15, 2008. Advance voting will be conducted the week of July 7 to July 11, 2008. Sponsored by the Banks County Republican Party Ad paid for by Clyde A. McArthur, 132 Lakeview Drive, Baldwin, Georgia ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★"A-