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PLANET JEKVLL
What planet is Anna Ferguson living
on? (Letter, "Chapman No Guv," Sept. 16.)
Whenever an individual berates another so
unfairly and without restraint, one has to
wonder. Ferguson fictionalizes State Senator
Jeff Chapman, who is running for governor,
as dishonest, power-hungry and under
informed. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Senator Chapman has risked his party's
ire to stand up for the people of Georgia
in the controversy
over Jekyll Island.
"Capitol Impact,"
on April 25, 2007,
said of Chapman: "If
there was any heroic
figure in the legisla
tive session that just
adjourned, it would
be Jeff Chapman...
He stood up to a
group of powerful,
wealthy business interests over the fate of
Jekyll Island... If Jekyll Island still has sea
turtles nesting on its south end 10 or 20 years
from now, and you're able to take the family
there and stay at a reasonably priced hotel,
you'll be able to thank Jeff Chapman."
The reason the current development plans
for Jekyll Island are much more palatable to
citizens is Senator Chapman's insistence for
a more citizen-responsive process. Chapman
is the only public official with the cour
age to speak out against the contract that
gives Linger Longer Communities free use of
oceanfront public land, sticks the state with
$50 million in bond indebtedness for infra
structure costs and gives 99 percent of gross
sales on the Jekyll town center project to
Linger Longer. In response to Senator Tommie
Williams, who said it does not matter how
much money Linger Longer will make on the
Jekyll deal, Senator Chapman wrote: "Any time
you take a public asset and your statement is,
1 don't care what the private partner is mak
ing' you are saying, 1 don't know that what I
am getting is fair and good for the people.'"
I have found
Senator Chapman
to be intelligent,
thoughtful, fair and
honest. He is keen on
doing the right thing,
no matter the politi
cal cost. Senator
Chapman knows that
informed decisions
cannot be made with
out the best informa
tion. Regardless of politics, he votes for what
he deems to be best for his constituents and
the state as a whole. Ferguson misrepresented
the situation on Jekyll Island. If people are
happier today with Linger Longeris town cen
ter project, it is because Senator Chapman
helped to influence a re-working of the plans.
Even the Jekyll Island Authority, which subse
quently reduced the footprint of the original
plan, now admits that first plan was over the
top and unpopular with citizens. Ferguson
tried to convey the notion that Georgia
citizens have finally seen the light and have
come around to JIA's way of thinking. The
bottom line is that Jeff Chapman stood for the
common good in pushing for citizen-friendly
renovation of Jekyll Island State Park. Anna
Ferguson is simply way off the mark. But
angry people often are.
Babs McDonald
Jackson County
FAIR AND MORAL
I'm continually amazed at the number
of people who really, truly believe that any
health care reform is going to lead us to ram
pant sorialism. In fact, there is no proposal
in Congress today that would lead us in this
direction. What the people who are pro
reform, myself included, really want is a fair,
moral system that covers everyone.
Here are some questions for all of you to
answer:
Is health care for all a moral or eco
nomic issue? (Those of you who embrace an
Abrahamic religion should consider WWJD?)
Is it acceptable that some people are left
to die because they can't see a doctor when
they get sick?
Is health care a human right?
Should society guarantee health care, the
way we guarantee the right to think and pray
as you like, to get an education, to vote?
Is medicine a commodity to be bought and
sold, like a car, computer or camera?
Do people in our country have a right to
health care?
Have you ever paid a share of someone
else's health care? (This is a trick question.
The answer is that we all have. Don't believe
me? Ask the CEO of any health care system.)
These questions, except for the last one,
can be found in T. R. Reid's book, The Healing
of America. They are the questions that Prof.
Wm. Hsiao, Harvard economist, asks to help
design health care systems worldwide. Note
that many of the systems he has helped
design take care of people far better than ours
(which he hasn't helped design), i.e., many
countries in the industrialized world as well as
Taiwan and a few others. If you really want to
find out which country has what and how we
compare, get a copy of Reid's book and read
it. It's an excellent resource to help under
stand the variety of systems, none of which is
the scary socialism variety.
Ironically, the U.S. embraces all systems
within our current system. For the rich there
is a wide choice and excellent insurance.
For working people there are many forms to
choose from. For the elderly and veterans, we
have very good government-run health care.
For the uninsured some are able to get gov
ernment assistance and minimal care. The rest
of us have a plan just like India. It's called
"out of pocket." In the event that you have
no income (think unemployed) and do not
qualify for assistance, it might also be called
"out of luck."
I'm embarrassed to see insurance com
panies making a 40 percent profit on health
care. There's something very immoral about it.
Elizabeth Bishop-Martin
Athens
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4 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 30,2009