This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017

Making the call

The world of public safety is a completely separate world to most of us but is a world which needs to be better understood and supported if we are to continue to live in a free and prosperous land. Evil and malice exist and there’s a cost associated with either dealing with or not dealing with it. Let’s pick the harshest of agreements and all focus on addressing a few of those intimate concerns together.

1. The funding and addressing of convicted felons in possession of a firearm.

2. Incentivizing the training and recruitment of new officers.

3. Medical cost associated with containing violent offenders and the violent mentally ill; they’ve grown unrealistic.

Local public safety offices are the front lines to protecting our way of life and local taxpayers are not able to fund the necessities in which they are charged to provide. We have got to think and come to terms with the extraordinary cost associated with dealing with those with malice intent. Evil isn’t going away. Courage is needed to support those who courageously protect us everyday. When we call 911, they come; a local office will answer your call.

Today, they are calling on us.

Unexplainable

Holy cow! Shades of Batman! It can’t be! I was sitting up late watching the Alabama-Clemson football game. I thought “This is a waste of time! Everyone knows the fix is in. Every pizza eating clown with an I.Q. of 25 knows Alabama is going to win. The score has been predetermined. God will not allow anyone to defeat Alabama.” I went to bed.

Jumping Jellybeans! I woke up Tuesday morning and realized my TV was broke. They were saying Clemson won. I thought, “This can’t be. Think of the shame to Alabama if the referees allowed Clemson to win. Think of the shame to Alabama if the football fans begin to believe God does not have the power to make Alabama victorious.”

I thought for a while and realized we have to come up with an excuse that could explain this disaster. Then I thought of Hillary Clinton. Yes that would do it. Everyone would believe that. I will tell everyone the Russians did it.

Old school rules

The world is totally wrong today. You folks think we need to pump more money into schools. What we need in the schools is discipline. They took discipline out of the schools because of abuse and the fact that most of the children being disciplined were black. So what? I don't care if they are black, yellow, white or brown. If you get in trouble, you pay the price.

When I was going to middle school, if you even leaned back in your chair, you were sent to the head of the class and spanked. I never felt abused, and I am a better person for it. The same thing goes with all the crimes that are being committed. If you are proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, you should swing.

Again, I don't care what color you are. This would be a huge deterrent for committing crimes, as well as the discipline thing in schools. If you are going to act out, you suffer a consequences. Where are the old school rules?

Let Us Not Forget

In a November 11 special to The Telegraph, former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis listed a litany of successes that took place during his two terms in office. That list was extensive but deserves to be longer. As the city’s first official communications director for the Mayor’s Office from 2001-2003, I witnessed firsthand the work put into bringing Macon further into the 21^st century by the Ellis administration under very trying circumstances like those created by barrages of responses to open record requests; constant microscopic looks into Ellis’ professional and personal life by the press, police and politicos; and a former district attorney created investigation that led to nothing.

All these inquiries preoccupied time that could have been better spent doing even greater work than was done. Nevertheless, let me add to the list of successes previously stated.

▪ Ellis reclaimed Fort Hawkins that has led to it being a more prominently known instrumental part of local history.

▪ Using FAA grant funds, the Middle Georgia Regional Airport tower and terminal was overhauled, the first since 1959.

▪ Three additional Sister Cities were added in Russia, South Korea and Ghana, West Africa — which resulted in unprecedented cultural exchanges to the benefit of Macon.

▪ A communications division was created comprised of public affairs and Channel 18 that give Macon its first official newspaper and internal television coverage and programming.

▪ A Cyber Center was created in partnership with Goodwill at its former Broadway location downtown bringing free Wi-Fi, Internet usage and other computer related opportunities.

▪ Downtown Macon’s largest, free public concert featuring James Brown with nearly 20,000 packing Poplar Street.

▪ Mayor’s Night In and Out were created to fulfill his campaign promise to run a transparent administration that would allow citizens to meet with Ellis directly about their concerns.

▪ Through a $19 million Hope VI (HUD) grant, Ellis transformed inner city housing into places that brought neighborhoods near downtown on par with those in the suburbs.

▪ In partnership with Mercer University, the Macon Housing Authority and the Ellis administration and Macon City Council created the Beall’s Hill collaborative that laid the foundation for today’s College Hill Corridor.

There are other successes I could mentioned but in the interest of time and space, I will rest my case with those listed. Many would ask, “what does it matter who gets the credit?” The real question is why hasn’t Ellis been acknowledged more since leaving office beyond his own account or accounts such as this one? I would submit that because he did it his way. There as some who are trying to write the Honorable Mayor C. Jack Ellis out of history as not only Macon’s first black mayor, but perhaps to date, its most successful.

With all due respect to those before him and since, thank you Mayor Ellis for your contributions toward making Macon better. However, let us not forget how so much of what we enjoy today as citizens of this city began on his watch and those who assisted him. For history is best qualified to serve as the ultimate reference concerning what really happened.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017."