This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016

Many thanks

I would like to extend sincere thanks to the men and women of Robins Air Force Base for their support of the 34th Annual Georgia Golden Olympics, held September 21-24, in Warner Robins. This year, over 800 senior athletes from across the country came together to compete in more than 80 different sports: from swimming and cycling to Wii bowling and football throw, there was something for every interest and ability. RAFB provided many volunteer hours over the four days, furnishing strong support and leadership to the athletes and other volunteers. Thanks to 78th Security Forces Squadron Tech Sgt. Chad Meadows who was instrumental in organizing the RAFB team across the various venues. It was inspiring to see how well the RAFB team worked together, encouraging the athletes, and carrying out their duties with enthusiasm and professionalism.

Thank you again to Robins Air Force Base for its help during the Georgia Golden Olympics, and for their continued support of the Robins Region.

For Amendment 1

I am writing to express my support for the Opportunity School District. I do so for several reasons but primarily because there are schools in our state that are not providing its students with the type of education they deserve or need to prepare them for the future.

Instead of addressing the chronically failing schools in our district, Dr. Sid Chapman, the President of the Georgia Association of Educators, said the proposal would take away local control and he believed the wording of the proposal was very deceptive because it stated the purpose was to help public schools, but he and others believed this was not the case. Notably, he failed to explain why he believed this when Opportunity School Districts in other states like Louisiana and Tennessee have been successful.

We need a mechanism for accountability for our schools. Opportunity School Districts would provide this sorely needed safety net for the following chronically failing Bibb and Twiggs county schools and their students:

Appling Middle School, Ballard Hudson Middle School, Bloomfield Middle School, Brookdale Elementary School, Bruce Elementary School, Burghard Elementary School, Hartley Elementary School, Ingram/Pye Elementary School, King-Danforth Elementary School, Rice Elementary School, Riley Elementary School, Southwest High School, Williams Elementary School and Twiggs County High School (http://www.gaopportunity.org/official-list).

Choice words

Donald Trump is a bad boy and needs his mouth washed out. So what? Our lily-white Republicans did not waste any time wringing their hands and saying they can’t support anybody that uses Donald’s type of language in a private conversation. Those Republicans and other politicians like them have reneged on their word to support Trump and should be flushed down the political toilet forever.

They are a bunch of lying, cheating, stinkers that only want to slide one of their sleazy kind into his empty (they hope) presidential slot. What these sleaze bags won’t tell you is that Trump’s nasty comments are 11 years old. The statute of limitations for some pretty serious crimes is less than seven years. Even rape has a statute of limitations of 15 years. This puts the utterance of potty mouth words right up there with capital murder, which has no statute of limitations.

If the truth were known, many of the lily-white congressmen wanting to dump Trump, would be comfortable right beside crooked Hillary. How in the world did we get into the mess we are in now? I would bet that some of the congressmen who want to dump Trump had a hand in it. Trump has his problems, not the least of which is his big flapping mouth and the stuff that comes out of it; however he would still be a better president than crooked Hillary.

From the bottom up

In the upcoming election we are asked to vote on something called Amendment 1. We are told that this will enable the state to turn failing schools into “opportunity schools.” What this amendment really does is to give the state authority to take over these schools and operate them from the state level.

This seems like a very bad idea. How can shifting a school’s problems from the local level to the state level improve educational opportunity. The idea is already arousing considerable resentment among people affected. Problems made locally should be solved locally.

I would suggest a different approach. We have a state school superintendent elected by the voters. Why not authorize this official to form intervention teams to go into local schools with problems (not take charge) and work with parents, teachers and other local educational personnel to identify the source of the problems and work on solutions. Work from the bottom up rather than the top down. Vote no on Amendment 1.

Southern hero

I was so very sorry to hear that the chief carver and designer of the Confederate Memorial Carving at Stone Mountain Park, Roy Faulkner, died on Friday, Sept. 30. He was 84.

From 1964 to 1972 — eight years, five months and 19 days — Faulkner worked 400 feet above the ground sculpting the likenesses of President Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jackson into Stone Mountain.

Faulkner is remembered as a man who was quietly proud of his work on Stone Mountain, but also one who constantly sought to help people. He was honored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and received the Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal. To me, Faulkner, was a Southern hero in the purest sense. Like our beloved ancestors of the Confederacy, this was a simple man who did extraordinary things.

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016."