This is Viewpoints for Friday, April 29, 2016

Redesign good, sort of

Congratulations to The Telegraph on the newspaper’s new design. The category labels at the top of every page, the subject labels above headlines, the expanded index and reference boxes, and the three-point summaries at the beginning of major stories do indeed address the needs of today’s time-starved readers. And the page numbers and date are much easier to find than before.

Even better, the ridiculous giant “T” on the front page, apparently lifted directly from The New York Times’ online logo, is now mercifully gone. The “jump” headlines, on stories that continue inside from section fronts, can now be read without a magnifying glass. The former readouts within text, in tiny type barely larger than what they were excerpted from, have also mercifully disappeared. The editorials now get more space and have correspondingly more depth. And best of all, the editorial cartoons have been enlarged from their former diminutive size to have the impact editorial cartoons are supposed to have.

On the downside, it is now the bylines that have become unaccountably tiny, and the headings on letters to the editor have become even shorter and more cryptic than before. The new ultra-wide headline font severely restricts what can be communicated in headlines, which must be giving the headline writers fits. It’s too bad to lose Local & State as a stand-alone section. And “Prayer for Today,” “Lighter Side” and 30-year-old reruns of “Doonesbury” continue to infringe on the precious space of the Opinion page. None of them has much to do with the purpose of an Opinion page. Couldn’t they also disappear as part of the redesign? (This is not saying anything against prayer, but only that religious sentiments are better expressed on the Religion page or as letters to the editor than as a standing daily fixture on the Opinion page.)

Better yet, why not give the Opinion page editor at least three pages a day to work with, to better fulfill this all-important function of a newspaper?

David Mann, Macon

Sports complex

Approximately $5 million in SPLOST money is available to build a sports complex and the estimated cost has been stated to be $22 million per mayor and council. The complex proposed includes two gyms, nine baseball/softball fields, a 43,000-square-foot building and an indoor walking track. As important as baseball and softball are to our area, not all children participate in these sports. A complex of this magnitude ($22 million) should consider the talents and interests of all children. We need football and soccer fields; children are playing games in the outfield of softball fields because we have neither. We need more tennis courts. We need a swimming pool for swim meets. Some people want a skateboard park.

Common sense government says to build what you can with money available and add to it in the future. What is the opinion of Recreation Director James Dodson? Has he even been consulted? I ask the elected officials to take a good look at this before making any further decisions. They haven’t said how they intend to pay for this $22 million dollar complex with only $5 million dollars at hand to build. I hear it would probably be with a bond issue. The city of Warner Robins already has a $28 million dollar bond. I’m not sure we can afford another $22 million. Hear me when I say, I’m all for a sport complex, but one that fits the community’s needs. Citizens have the right to know how and where their SPLOST monies are being spent. Without accountability, there is no transparency.

Off base

As a senior citizen who will soon turn 78, I think Betty Echols is way off base with her comments about elderly drivers. I moved to Georgia from California six years ago and one of the first things I noticed was what lousy drivers so many young people are here.

Talking on their phones, texting, weaving in and out of traffic, unsafe lane changes, tailgating and speeding up when the light turns yellow are just a few things I observe on a regular basis and ignoring the speed limit seems to be a requirement. Backing up without looking seems to be popular with all age groups.

I wonder how she will feel about senior citizens when she reaches that point in life. For most of us, old age is a physical thing, we still function mentally as well as we ever did. Granted, some people have functionality problems in their older years, but Echols seems to think all seniors should be stripped of their driving privileges after a certain age.

For what it’s worth, I’m physically handicapped from an auto accident in 1986. I was rear ended while stopped at a red light by a woman watching an airplane. Her age was not a factor, just her poor driving habits. As a result of her inattention I now walk slowly with the aid of a cane.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 9:41 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, April 29, 2016."