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Opinion
Every day should be Mother’s Day
Last Sunday marked another Mother’s Day. The day was a mix of joy and sadness. There is sadness in being reminded that both my mother and my wife’s mother passed away too soon, at fairly young ages, and we really miss them. There is joy because life, with it’s inevitable cycle of renewal, has provided us with two new mothers to occupy our attention and affection – our daughter, and daughter-in-law. Frankly, all three generations of moth...
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We need a national sales tax
First, let me say that I hate taxes. And I believe that a national sales tax is the best way to meet our responsibility to government. I do not believe we need a federal income tax and that a national sales tax should be charged to each and every person who buys a product, or service. Second, I do not believe that this country can continue to support the give away programs that we now have. We cannot pay for children because parents are not...
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Performance was wonderful
I attended the Gardner Newman Middle School drama and chorus performance at Faith Baptist Church Friday evening. Even though I had two of my granddaughters performing, I was reluctant to go. Boy am I glad that my wife insisted that I was going! I was blown away by all the talent. Great singing, dancing, and acting. And the facilities were great as well. I just want to let the students know how much we enjoyed the entire performance. Their tea...
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A censored race war?
When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks — beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work — that might seem to have been news that should have been reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn’t. “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel was the first major television program to report this incident. Yet this story i...
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LaGrange College brings in another great speaker
The other day, while picking up my son (Zachary Taylor Tures, age 4) from Long Cane Elementary School, I told him “Did you know you were named for a president?” He replied “yes, daddy.” I added “Did you know that Zachary Taylor was a general too?” No, he didn’t know that detail. So I explained what generals do. “So Zach, would you rather be a president or a general?” Without missing a beat, he replied “A president, daddy.” This caught me by...
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Cathy Sargent
Alphabet Soup Part 17: Q is for Quirk
Quirk (kwerk) - a peculiar individual trait or behavior. If you ever hear anyone described as just a normal guy or gal, don’t believe it. I have long been of the opinion that no one can claim to be normal. Some are more “normal” (whatever that really means) than others, but everyone is at least a little bit weird or eccentric. However, some folks do a great job of concealing thoughts, preferences, or practices that might seem a little stran...
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Vote no on TSPLOST
Voters statewide on July 31, will have the opportunity to vote for a transportation special-purpose, local-option sales tax that would fund improvements to roads and infrastructure. Formally called the 2012 Transportation Referendum, the tax means voters will decide on a 1 percent regional sales tax to fund transportation improvements in their individual regions. If approved July 31, the sales tax would generate an estimated $18.67 billion ...
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Jay Russell
A year later
This time last year I was an unhappy camper. My 11-year tenure as the Director of Athletics at LaGrange High School was coming to a close because the hiring of my son in February was interpreted as a violation of the school system’s newly implemented nepotism policy. The good news was that the system allowed me to remain as a teacher at the high school, be the assistant Athletic Director and coach 9th grade football. As it turns out, this pas...
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Editorial: Troup County needs mental-health court
The creation of a specialized court in Troup County designed to help nonviolent mentally ill people get treatment instead of going to jail is a critically important milestone in the continuing local effort to reform mental-health care. Many mentally ill people move in and out of the criminal justice system and never get the professional treatment they need. It’s a harmful and costly cycle. “Officers deal with a mental patient an avera...
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Thomas Hunkele
‘Jukebox’ in our minds…’
It was November 1982 – only a few weeks after my ordination. I settled back into my recliner – the “Gregorian Chant” was just beginning – I had chosen the “music for the mood” – quiet, contemplative and peace-filled. There is little in life that compares to sound, beginning with the seeming silence of a mountain top where one can see forever but only hear a whisper of wind, the enchanting laughter of a child, the breathtaking sigh of “I love ...
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Were the Good Old Days really that good?
Nostalgia is a tricky feeling to deal with. When we get nostalgic, it’s only the good and positive things we yearn for; we never get nostalgic for the bad things. I get nostalgic when I hold grandchildren; I find my hopes for them shadowed by my fears for them, because I don’t understand the world they will grow up in. Today’s world seems dangerous and unforgiving compared to the world in which I spent my childhood. We lived in a Midwestern...
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John Tures
Has Congress become more extreme? Maybe not
Three years ago, my students in a U.S. Government class did a study of Congressional voting over the last several decades. We found that the number of moderates declined between 1975 and 2005, but the number of Southern moderates still exceeded a sample of non-Southern states. The student paper was so good that it won the McBrayer Award for best paper delivered at the Georgia Political Science Association. It’s an honor I’ve never managed t...
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Small town life has its advantages
I heard a West Point resident say, “New police officers only know the faces they see on bulletin boards, wanted posters and police reports,” and I realized I wasn’t in a big city anymore. Being raised Atlanta, where the only way to get to know any authorities is to get in trouble, and communication with local law enforcement is limited. Personal relationships with police officers are not expected, much less demanded. There isn’t a sense o...
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Cathy Sargent
Alphabet Soup Part 16: P is for Procrastinate
Procrastinate (proe-KRASS-tuh-nate): to intentionally put off until another day or time something that needs to be done (from the Latin for “toward tomorrow”). Just about everyone knows this word, because just about everyone has done it, and some of us are quite good at it. Some of us are maybe a little proud of our abilities to drag our feet yet beautifully accomplish at the last minute that which must be done. You probably have some stori...
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Linda McMullen
Being our authentic selves
“There is zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” So says Susan Cain, author of “The Power of Introversion in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.” That is one of several declarations made by the author who is advocating for greater acceptance of introverts in a society designed for extroverts. She writes that we live in an environment where schools, businesses, and even churches ascribe more value to extroverts...
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Letters
We need a national sales tax
First, let me say that I hate taxes. And I believe that a national sales tax is the best way to meet our responsibility to government. I do not believe we need a federal income tax and that a nati...
1 day 19 hrs ago | 0 0 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
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Performance was wonderful
I attended the Gardner Newman Middle School drama and chorus performance at Faith Baptist Church Friday evening. Even though I had two of my granddaughters performing, I was reluctant to go. Boy a...
1 day 19 hrs ago | 1 1 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend
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Hope that TSPLOST fails
Dear Editor, As a candidate for District 3 of the Troup County Board of Commissioners, I would like to inform your readers on how I view the upcoming TSPLOST referendum to be decided in the Ju...
6 days ago | 0 0 comments | 15 15 recommendations | email to a friend
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2012 elections bought and paid for by PACs of America
Dear editor: The superconservative PACs bulging with dollars of corporations and the super rich are targeting moderate but competent congressmen.Some have been taken out in the primaries,other...
6 days ago | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend
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What is the plan for TSPLOST?
Dear Editor, I read with interest the article written by Sheri Kell, “Investing in the future,” Georgia’s crossroad decision. Some of the statements she wrote, I question. “Last year, offic...
6 days ago | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend
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Editorial
What would community be like without SPLOSTs?
Have you ever seen “It’s a Wonderful Life?” It’s that vintage movie starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, who thinks life isn’t worth living and wishes he had never been born. So his guardian an...
6 months ago | 1 1 comments | 15 15 recommendations | email to a friend
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Out-of-towners would help fund SPLOSTs
Recent letters to the editor have raised a question about the proposed special-purpose local-option sales taxes on the Nov. 8 ballot. Groups backing continuation of the taxes say that about a thi...
7 months ago | 2 2 comments | 12 12 recommendations | email to a friend
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Giant footprint
Ray C. Anderson called himself a “recovering plunderer,” saying that any company that makes money by taking more from the earth than it gives back is plundering the planet. “Theft is a crime,” he s...
9 months ago | 0 0 comments | 17 17 recommendations | email to a friend
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We must turn our economy around
Dear Editor: Jerry Fulks of West Georgia Health wrote a letter in the Oct. 27 edition urging voters to approve a constitutional amendment to benefit trauma-care facilities in Georgia. I stand b...
18 months ago | 2 2 comments | 18 18 recommendations | email to a friend
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