This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015
Enough
Enough is enough. I must admit, I'm for the "U." "U"GA.
— Hal Clarke
Macon
What colleges value
Monday's Telegraph reported the astronomical salary and benefits for the new University of Georgia head football coach. They confirm that college is not about learning any more, but football. That coaches are paid multiple times as much as what tenured Ph.D.s on the faculty earn seems absurd. Colleges also use numerous adjunct teachers, some being very good, because they can be paid a pittance. Salaries of coaches seem inconsistent with the huge indebtedness from student loans that many incur in attaining degrees. Brawn wins over brains.
I contend that classroom learning should be at the heart of what a college is about. I have been an adjunct teacher and was also a non-scholarship college athlete. I enjoy following sports as a fan. Sometimes, though, I wish college football could kick off.
— Jack Colwell
Macon
Preserving the legacy of Tindall Heights
In October 2015, the Macon Committee on Urban Affairs was established to address poverty, poor educational systems and substandard housing patterns in Macon. Comprising individuals from Macon's professional and civic communities, the committee's No. 1 priority is the approaching demolition of the Tindall Heights housing development, the oldest and most historically significant public housing development in Macon. Prior to 1940, many blacks lived in what The Macon Telegraph described as "Negro shanties," with only "an outside privy and water tap," located in what was then Tindall Field. The Field was converted into a "low-cost housing project." The Macon Housing Authority was created for this purpose.
The shanties were inhabited by former slaves, many of whom migrated from the plantations of Byron and Centerville. Now, 75 years later, the MHA is positioned to make it all "disappear," even though the property is within a Nationally Registered Historic District, even though a protected pre-1942 section of it, green buildings, are the former homes of black educators and entertainers who made unparalleled contributions to Macon and Georgia history.
Demolition of all the buildings appears inevitable, but what is not inevitable and worth taking a stand against is the destruction of the history, and the people's acceptance of such. As president and professor of history, I invite you to a community conversation,"Preserving the Historical Legacy of Tindall Heights," at 4 p.m. Jan. 15, at the Buck Melton Community Center.
— Deborah-Patrice Hamlin, Ph.D.
Macon
What a switch
How curious that Great Britain, the country against which our country rebelled because we found them to act in an undemocratic manner, now feels more of a duty to have a democratic and full-throated discussion before attacking Daesh militarily. Apparently the members of Parliament in the U.K. take their responsibilities more seriously than do our legislators.
Most people lose their jobs if they don't do what they've been instructed to do. Equally strange is that many of these legislators are members of a political party that purports to take the Constitution quite seriously.
— S. Janet Payne
Kathleen
Do as I say, not as I do
The ills and foibles of our society are played out in many venues as evidenced by the announced divorce by Ms. UGA from her loyal and successful partner of 15 years, Mark Richt. He successfully soldiered on over recent years spreading his lifelong theme of strong Christian beliefs in his chosen profession even as Ms. UGA.'s minions of "entitled fans" and all-knowing, biased sportswriters encouraged Ms. UGA to cast a wistful eye, flitting about which younger man she might entice to replace her older partner.
The deed has been done and the ripple effect will be felt for years. The winners of this action are Mark Richt and his family, the University of Miami and the ACC. I wish success to Coach Richt in every game he plays each year except one, against my Yellow Jackets.
Adults often look at some of the frivolous actions of our young people in dismay. We need only to look in the mirror to observe those responsible for examples that are emulated.
— Arthur D. Brook
Macon
This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 5:09 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015 ."