This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Never ending debate

Like all of us I am dismayed by the generalized anger and division in this community and this country. The violence in the poorer neighborhoods of Macon is off the chain.

Every morning as I read The Telegraph and the letters to the editors, I see the same voices writing the same divisive things: no point in reading Frank Gadbois anymore, I already know that he will say, needling his usual foes who will come back with the same tired rhetoric taken from Rush Limbaugh or Rachel Maddow. I submit that local citizens need to be writing and involving ourselves in local issues rather than spouting the same junk.

For example, how can a white guy like me contribute to helping out the seemingly intractable issues facing the poor gang infested neighborhoods? Teaching reading skills is a great idea, but where does one go to participate? How about basic entrepreneurial instruction for teenagers and young adults to get their own small businesses going?

Why doesn’t the school board open the gymnasiums after school for things like upward basketball so as to augment the recreation centers? Then there are the churches. What are churches doing in their neighborhoods? Marches against violence are nice but useless. Maybe churches could work together (radical idea). Some churches have gyms and classrooms or playing fields.

Some years ago a number of Christians had a youth center called the Powerhouse in the Bellevue neighborhood that had been formed by a group out of Indiana. This center had some impact before it went broke. How about a center formed by Maconites rather than missionaries from Indiana, even black and white people working together?

Perhaps we can use the letters to the editor page to brainstorm ways to help heal our community rather than to fan the flames of partisanship. I would urge The Telegraph editors to limit the usual letter writing culprits to the guidelines and instead to encourage this as a forum for the well-being of the community and leave the rest of the never ending debate to Fox and CNBC.

Slow response

My “See Click Fix” report on the latest Macon-Bibb pronouncement regarding cleanup of debris from Hurricane Irma at “737” continues a mixed bag of on- site visits involving on going easy pick-ups of the many debris-filled black bags that I filled; your multiple cuts of 200 year old pine tree trunk in Captain Kell Drive’s right-of-way (per county survey flag) and left it after tree top cut and cleared from the closed street. One motorized scoop picked up the bulk from a part of our 70 foot long debris “landfill” that is located along the curb that I have supplemented for weeks after the “under supervised” initial incomplete removal that was blocking the street.

Please return and complete cutting up the tree trunk and remove the stump; and remove my mini-landfill, and stop talking about plans as I emulate Eliza Dolittle’s plea in “My Fair Lady,” “do it.”

I am encouraged however, by Mayor Reichert’s comment about the cedar tree clean-up at Government Center coming after completion of citizen’s clean-up. Our clean-up preceded the Government Center debris removal. (I am in the phone book if you need further information.)

Continued complaints

Any time one of us dares to enlighten our constituents, there is a price to pay. My Oct. 11 letter about the Medical Center and the Wellness Center caused questions that need addressing. Why did the complainants not call the Bibb County Health Department? Well they did, and were told they have zero jurisdiction. Can you make any sense of that?

I am very discouraged by the fact the members themselves refuse to confront any perceived injustices. As to the response to the letter, some members feel certain that renting parking spaces is highly questionable and management should park in the very rear of the property along with the staff. As to flack about compensation, the enormity of the holdings throughout Georgia offers enormous funding at an enormous cost to taxpayers. Health care is being slapped in the face when fans (12 of them) are justified in trying to balance an antiquated air-conditioning system for the track area upstairs. Hot and sweaty members are being hit with all sorts of questionable debris from fans. The entire circle is very unhealthy.

Just the cost of signs throughout the property of Navicent would have paid for a new air-conditioning system. There were other clubs, but they had to pay taxes and did not have the millions of dollars in cash flow to survive. If only a group of businessmen would put a single level club (clean) nearby. If former employees of the Wellness Center (victims of treachery) were hired, they would make us proud.

I know taxation. Macon-Bibb County recently disclosed they are down to a few million dollars and they have recently provided millions of dollars for indigent care. Why then is Macon-Bibb County not giving to the other hospitals? How many divisions of state and federal agencies also pay the hospital. That needs to be divulged now. The Medical Center is a primary competitor with small businesses that provides rentals of properties throughout Macon-Bibb County. These small businesses all pay taxes.

No scholar

I am not a scholar of God. I am only a man who looks at alternatives in the search for God. Many things I see in my own faith cause me to wonder. I try to overlook my shortcomings and try to get to my inner soul in that church. To know God I need to know me and the people who worship God. I feel my own shortcomings are bad enough. If I continue to search, and if I find my goal then I can become a better man. How can I not believe in God when all around me God has shown me his love and life?

I live in a world that is full of beauty that only a God could make. Also, the world is full of evil and hate. God has placed a shield between me and the forces of hate. That shield is called the church. Go to church Sunday.

This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, November 29, 2017."