This is Viewpoints for Friday, August 14, 2015

Feagin Mill problems

For years folks awaited the widening of Feagin Mill Road and the addition of sidewalks on this increasingly traveled route. The open ditches would be gone, pedestrians would be safe and traffic would run more smoothly. What did we get?

First of all, there is a sidewalk on only one side of the street. What happened to the other sidewalk? Did the county run out of money?

Secondly, how did this project get checked off as being completed? There are dozens of cracks and chips, countless crooked edges and low spots, improperly installed ADA pads and stop lines positioned so that drivers must cross over them to get a clear line of sight down the road. I would not be surprised if some of the ramps were not up to ADA code.

Additionally, I walked this project almost daily and have to say I’m not impressed with the lack of professionalism of some of the subcontractors. Workers made little effort to pick up their beverage containers or food wrappers and I personally witnessed workers throwing their garbage down the storm drains. Worse than that, however, was the large number of empty vodka bottles I found on the job site. There were none of these before the project and none since the workers have departed. Coincidence?

Lastly, the citizens of Warner Robins and Houston County deserve better than this and our decision makers need to carefully consider which contractors are worthy of future projects in our town and which are not.

— Kent Kurtz

Warner Robins

Planned Parenthood statement

We knew the Georgia Department of Public Health would find no evidence of wrongdoing, and we are confident the Georgia Department of Community Health will find the same. We are also pleased to report that the state has assured us we will be able to continue to use the state lab for STD testing, which is a victory for thousands of women and men across Georgia who want nothing more than high quality care from Planned Parenthood Southeast. While we are deeply disappointed some officials continue to play politics, we are grateful to the public health leaders in our state who put the health and well-being of our communities first.

— Staci Fox

President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast

Atlanta

Home letting history down

Just a short note. Since so much is being written concerning the Confederate battle flag and the support for our history, I figured I may as well weigh in on the matter. It ain’t rocket science. The history of these United States of America is not being taught in our schools. Variations of snippets (sound bites nowadays) are all our children learn at school. The rest comes from home. And home is letting them down. Our heritage is too rich, too complicated, too involved to leave it like this. We live in the most free, diverse, open republic in the world. Yes, we have a long way to go. Yes, we need to change our ways. But, yes, we are America. We have to teach our children the total history of who we are, how we arrived, where we are and what are their responsibilities to get us where we need to go.

— Dewell Garner

Macon

Fool’s errand

The tragic incident in Charleston is not the sole reason to remove the Confederate battle flag. It is the spark that ignited over a century’s worth of racist kindling. It is time to separate the Confederate flag from the Southern heritage defenders movement.

I have heard the argument all too many times that the Confederate flag is a symbol of Southern heritage. Many defenders of the flag have conveniently forgotten the cornerstone of the South’s secession was the preservation of slavery and white supremacy. Following the end of the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag was adopted by the Ku Klux Klan. I can find no record of outrage in the South that their heritage was being maligned by this murderous hate group. Furthermore in the late 1950s when the federal government was beginning to threaten the Southern way of life — separation of the races — Georgia politicians responded with the inclusion of the Confederate battle flag into state flags. Was it Southern heritage? More likely a middle finger salute to Washington, D.C., that they had no business meddling in state law, (reminiscent of what had happened a century earlier).

I saw no public outrage with the flag being used by groups of racist lunatics; men, women and children, beating peaceful protestors, burning their buses, cursing, threatening and murdering schoolchildren in the 1960s. God knows the removal of the flag won’t change the hearts of many racists on both sides, but it is way past time to ban any government support of this symbol of hatred.

The South has much to be proud of and a rich heritage but secession was not its finest hour. Tying its heritage to a flag they have allowed to become a symbol of hatred and racism is a cultural mistake and trying to defend it is a fool’s errand

— Terence R. Heenan

Bolingbroke

A sense of urgency

In a recent article, “David Perdue: Still looking for ‘urgency’ in D.C.,” published in some newspapers, Perdue continuously quotes the Republican Party line while discussing a number of issues. He contends he is an outsider. Claiming to be an outsider while quoting the party line is hypocritical. He signed onto the Republican bandwagon before announcing he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Perdue quoted the party line how Social Security and Medicare must be cut. Cutting Social Security and Medicare is a standard theme among Republicans. They claim cuts are necessary to reduce the national debt. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has advocated raiding federal employees’ retirement accounts to fund other projects. Rep. Paul Ryan has proposed cuts to military retirement accounts and benefits. And Jeb Bush wants to phase out Medicare.

While advocating making these cuts, the House voted to give the top 2 percent another $270 billion tax break — repealing the estate tax. (Note: Only estates worth more than $10.9 million for couples and $5.4 million for individuals fall under the tax.)

Perdue and the Republicans assert cuts to Social Security, Medicare, military retirement accounts are necessary to reduce the national debt. There is only one way to reduce the debt: Reverse the tax breaks to the rich. Plus, rescind the tens of billions in corporate welfare. Perdue and the Republicans real objective is to retain their tax breaks.

Here is a thought to cogitate: Do Republicans and Wall Street Democrats want the economy to collapse, creating austerity conditions? It would open the door to provide them an excuse to abolish Social Security, Medicare, military retirement and other social justice programs. It would also provide an opportunity to abolish all regulations — environment, labor and any others they deemed encumbering to business. In other words, create plutocratic rule. The rule of a society by its wealthiest people for their own purposes.

— Ronald L. Cain

Elko

Surviving until the election

The experts at Fox News, have been spouting their opinion that had the recruiters in Chattanooga been armed, some of them may not have been killed. Methods to prevent reoccurrence will differ for sure, but one thing that will not differ is the root cause of the problem. Terrorists who commit these actions are linked by a religious ideology. To them, they are doing nothing wrong, they are like Christian evangelical missionaries who spread their dogma at every turn. In either case, both are guided by the standards set forth in the principles of their ideologies. The Muslim ideology is to kill infidels, while the Christian ideology is to save their souls. Each thinks the other is wrong.

Each side has their concept of victory. Victory on the terrorists’ side is to kill or convert all people who do not subscribe to the Islamic ideology, whilst the Christian ideology is to convert all Muslims to Christianity. Good luck on that. Identification of the victor would be simple.

In order to win, America must go into all countries supporting the Islamic ideology of beheading infidels and kill them all or the status quo will continue. In the meantime, we should not expect any action from the White House that might offend terrorists, so we must survive until a new president can be elected; hopefully not Hillary.

The terrorists now garner strength from our president’s weakness; we should expect the same from Hillary should she be our next president. Heaven forbid.

— Walter Huckeba

Perry

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, August 14, 2015 ."