This is Viewpoints for Friday, Nov. 13, 2015

Parking 'hood in'

Someone with the city should either educate the driving public or ticket illegal parking in the diagonal reverse parking spaces on Second Street between Cherry Street and Poplar Street. Everyday more than half the cars are parked "hood in" which is dangerous and illegal. Last week I saw a Fire Department car with a "1" in the center of its side door shields, parked hood in toward the sidewalk. Reverse parking is not designed for backing out across two lanes of opposing traffic, and it's dangerous to do so.

The reverse parking concept is a modern and effective urban design tool which protects bicyclists from people suddenly opening their doors in the path of a rider as often happens with parallel parking. With dedicated bike lanes on that portion of Second Street, reverse parking is a needed safety enhancement.

I would like to see aggressive parking enforcement, or even better, the county should paint directional arrows in the parking spaces pointing toward the center of the street to warn drivers who don't know, or don't care, when they're entering these parking spaces in the wrong direction.

— Lee Martin

Macon

Regarding coach Mark Richt

While sophomoric sportswriters and fanatical fans call for coach Mark Richt's football hide, they should pinch themselves until it hurts. Of all head coaches in America who have been coaching as long as coach Richt, only four have a better winning percentage: Bob Stoops of Oklahoma (.795), Nick Saban of Alabama (.759), Gary Patterson of Texas Christian University (.753), and Brian Kelly of Notre Dame (.740). Richt is fifth at .736.

Of coaches who have coached at their schools as long as Richt has been at UGA, only Stoops and Patterson exceed Richt's winning record. Can we persuade Stoops, Saban, Patterson, or Kelly to come to Athens if we rid ourselves of coach Richt?

Compare coach Richt with coach Vince Dooley. Richt comes out on top. Dooley had a winning percentage of .715 compared with Richt's .736. In bowl games Dooley had a .450 mark compared with Richt's .643.

Digest one more statistic. Except for Robert Winston, who coached in only six games, and Herman Stegeman, who coached in only 29, Coach Richt is the winningest coach in UGA history. The list includes Wally Butts at .615 as well as Vince Dooley.

Personal character cannot be measured in percentages. You never see Coach Richt humiliate his student athletes in front of national audiences when the young men have made huge mistakes. One wonders how a head ball coach could be a better icon for a university than Coach Mark Richt has been for the University of Georgia.

— Walter B. Shurden

Macon

Attention span

Just a compliment to Woody Marshall for his usual, astute and timely photograph in The Nov. 10 Telegraph where Central High School senior Derrick Evans is shown distributing a macroeconomics review sheet to his classmates.

It appears to me that the seated classmate showed no interest in the review sheet. Rather, more interest in using his cell phone during class. As well, it seems the remaining students are genuinely interested in the review. Just saying.

— Jim Goswick

Macon

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 10:02 PM.