This is Viewpoints for Sunday, January 10, 2016
'March for Life'
I wanted to report to you that a "March for Life" will be held in Macon on Jan. 22. The march will begin with a rally in front of Government Center at Rosa Parks Square at noon. After brief remarks, the march will proceed to Central City Park. The march will be preceded by a Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church at 11 a.m. to pray for the end of abortion and for those directly affected by or participating in this unholy activity. All supporters of life are welcome to attend the march and/or the Mass.
As you know, Jan. 22 is the 43 anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade which prohibited states from regulating abortion unless it was justified by "compelling state interest." In the ruling, the court arbitrarily created a trimester system for defining fetal development and concluded that after the second trimester the states may have a compelling reason to protect "potential life," ignoring the clear biological fact that human life begins at conception. The court's decision was not based on scientific or ethical considerations and relegated the fetus to the status of a non-person.
Regrettably, since 1973, more than 57 million human lives have been ended by abortion in the U.S., unprotected by a government that embraces that all persons are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Approximately 1,800 abortions occur each year on women from the midstate area.
The National March for Life is an annual event held in Washington, D.C., since Jan. 22, 1974. The goal of the march is to overturn Roe v. Wade and reduce access to abortion. A concurrent March for Life has been held in Macon in previous years. This year the event is organized by The Kolbe Center, a crisis pregnancy and pro-life center in Macon offering services to women with an unintended pregnancy.
The Kolbe Center and Caring Solutions Pregnancy Center are two pregnancy centers in Macon that offer alternatives to women considering abortion.
We look forward to a large turnout of supporters of life at the march on Jan. 22 and the ultimate end to the scourge of abortion.
— Richard A. Rowe, M.D.
President, board of directors
The Kolbe Center
Macon
New garbage staffing?
In 2016, the Macon Solid Waste Department will no longer pick up garbage. That job will be taken over by Advance Waste. As I understand, instead of two men dumping carts it will be a one man operation with the driver and one helper. Plus, like the city use to do, they had two men and a driver.
The two men worked both sides of the streets at a time. Not with Advance Waste. They do one side of the street at a time and turn around at the end and come back up the other side. This is going to pose a problem unlike in the county area.
There are far too many houses for this to work. It took all two men could do to pick up garbage on both sides of the streets at the same time. There are some long streets in Macon. One man is not going to work. That man will be so tired at the end of the day. The county needs to give this a second look.
— Johnny Reese
Macon
Recycling misstep
Having used the recycling program in north Macon for many years now, I am very disappointed to find out that glass will no longer be recycled. To suggest people drive to distant fire stations to leave glass containers will surely cause citizens to simply dump glass within the regular garbage from now on, especially since not every fire station will participate.
While I applaud the new changes within the county for the garbage and recycling services, I find this particular new omission to be a bad one. If the older recycling trucks handled glass, they could have stayed with the older trucks, since it did not "mess up" the workings on the vehicles before. And won't the glass containers also wreak havoc with the newer trash trucks?
One step backward for a good recycling service.
— Jo Garcia
Macon
Tests for everyone
In the spirit of total non-partisanship, and reach-across-the-aisle type cooperation, may I offer a plan for "Gun-Related Background Checks" with something for everybody?
How about the same form, with the same questions, all of which must be correctly answered, but it has to be filled out not only by all purchasers of guns, but also by all those who would either make "gun" laws, or enforce them in any way. That seems plenty fair, doesn't it?
All of our elected officials and judges and law enforcement officers can pass these simple background checks, can't they? Or, if not, maybe they should not be allowed to make or enforce "gun" laws on those who can pass such tests?
— Jay Menefee
Macon
'Wall of Faces'
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the Vietnam Wall in 1982, seeks to honor Vietnam veterans and to help heal America's wounds from the Vietnam War. In implementing its mission, they are seeking to connect a face with every name on the wall through their interactive digital "Wall of Faces" and in the future education center.
To help fulfill this mission, Auburn High School AP U.S. History students in Auburn, Alabama, are seeking help in providing photographs to honor the memory of Georgia and Alabama fallen soldiers. Currently, 29 of Macon's 56 Vietnam War casualties do not have photographs representing them (715 of Georgia's 1,584 casualties lack images).
Your help in finding photos of the following Macon fallen heroes would be greatly appreciated: John Wesley Baker Jr.; Gola Calvin Betleyoun; Eddie Brown Jr.; Woodrow Michael Cannady; William Sherwood Cochran; Jimmy Lee Curry; Carlton Leo Dixon; Eugene Felts Jr.; Willie Stephen Fields; Kenneth Charles Fordham; Clifford Gray; Willie Greene; Ralls Hawkins; Ralph Leon Hinson; Lewis Howard Jr.; Elton Lee Jennings Jr.; Horace Johnson Jr.; Ronnie Joe Jones; Henry Ronald Martin; Larry Donnell Murray; Michael Van Murray; Bartow Wesley Potts Jr.; William George Rainey; Sandy Lee Ross; Thomas Rowland; Wayne Thad Strickland; Calvin Leroy Taylor; Charles Franklin Thomas; and John Willie Washington
For those with photos of these heroes, please contact Blake Busbin, Auburn history teacher, at wbbusbin@auburnschools.org. One can also submit photos to the Wall of Faces website, by going to www.vvmf.org and clicking the Wall of Faces link.
— Blake Busbin
Auburn, Ala.
This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 9:10 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, January 10, 2016 ."