This is Viewpoints for Monday, September 5, 2016

Code enforcement — not

A month ago I requested a Perry code inspector turn in a complaint concerning two lots in my neighborhood that were under construction and not complying to the city code concerning grass and weeds. Some weeds are 4-feet tall and the Bahia grass is more than 2 feet tall. Two weeks later (Aug. 19) I called the city manager to complain. He said he would look into the problem and get back to me.

He called Sept. 1 and said he could not find anything in the code that required building contactors to comply to the code. I stated that the book can be interepted in two ways. I asked if there was anything in the code saying contractors do not have to comply to the code. He could not tell me.

They have to comply with building codes. He said that he contacted the builders and said a citizen was complaining about the grass and the grounds (like that will do any good). I assume there is selective code compliance in the city of Perry.

I will spend a lot of time and money now fighting Bahia grass over the next two years because code does not apply to everyone in the city of Perry. One of the houses is in the entrance of the neighborhood. Looks really great.

Another option

A recent column stressed the need for an expanded Middle Georgia Regional Airport in order to service the growing and currently unsatisfied commercial aviation needs of this area. The solution proposed in the article was a physical expansion of the existing Lewis B. Wilson airfield, now known as Middle Georgia Regional Airport, including a longer runway among other things. Although the column made a strong case for the need, perhaps the solution needs more analysis.

Robins Air Force Base, just a scant few miles south, has a 12,000-foot long runway, which is more than enough concrete to handle any commercial airliner, and plenty of government-owned real estate for passenger and cargo handling facilities. A joint-use airfield is not a new concept at all. Other joint military/commercial airfields already exist in America, and they work out very well for both users.

Obviously, a cost/benefit analysis would be necessary to see which solution is the best bang for the buck, but there is another factor to consider: Having a joint-use facility might well tip the scales of any future BRAC base closing decision in Robins’ favor. There is even a third factor: further development of commercial/military partnerships for logistics support, Robin’s main mission. Some airlines might even consider having their fleet service performed there, away from the congested Atlanta area. It’s a solution alternative that needs to be studied.

Republican shills

As a 50-year registered Republican, retired Army officer, and a combat veteran, I never could have imagined in my worst nightmare so-called Republican leaders like Gov. Nathan Deal, Sonny Perdue, Newt Gingrich and Gov. Chris Christie shilling for a self-professed adulterer, draft dodger, fraud, bigot and misogynist like Donald Trump.

Over the past week, we’ve heard them telling us that Trump didn’t really mean it when he said he would round up 11 million immigrants with a deportation force (Trump’s Gestapo), put them in “detention centers” ( Trump’s concentration camps), he would order our military to commit war crimes (Trump’s SS), he would ignore our NATO commitments and our trade agreements, he would encourage nuclear proliferation so Third World countries “could defend themselves” and when he insulted our POWs and the families of our war dead.

Yet, they believe a man who has never been a conservative until it was expedient to pretend to be one will appoint conservative judges. How gullible! Like the thousands of people Trump has scammed throughout his career (construction contractors who didn’t get paid; purchasers of Trump condos that didn’t get built; Trump University students who were ripped off; lenders left holding the bag by his many bankruptcies) these dupes will rue the day they sold their souls to a despicable blowhard and bully.

There is a an alternative for those Republicans who can’t sell out to Trump. Split your vote — Gary Johnson and William Weld (real Republicans) for president and VP on the Libertarian ticket, and for Republican legislators to retain control of congress.

Perceived defeat?

Thieves of Southern Heritage have always existed. They sailed the same ships as my ancestors. True Southern people have always stood a proud, steadfast vigil, beholding “those people” for what they are. Clearly, the decaying America of today is much of what Confederates passionately fought to prevent. Save your breath contending with me about slavery. Too much of that tired ol’ saga is effortlessly refuted.

Proverbs 25:21-22 says “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.” Hence our enemies bear their own shame void of pride or honor. They are typically the same voices who shout for justice, equal rights, peace, understanding, fairness, for us to “give back” and “come together.”

They enjoy the tacit approval of unknowing and/or uncaring Southerners who deserve their fate. These robbers have not even paused when Confederate flags came down, but were immediately after the “Don’t Tread On Me Flag,” and now the national anthem. How long will it be before their aim is set on Old Glory?

They are daily heaping deserved coals of fire on their own heads as the Lord rewards the Southerner more in every perceived defeat than any victory claimed against him.

What he meant, was ...

Frank Gadbois wrote the following in his letter published in the September 1 issue of the Telegraph: “A BRAC will be here in a few years, and there could be only two USAF depots in the DoD in the near future.

Let’s hope that RAFB will not be one of them.” Surely, he meant to write, “Let’s hope RAFB will be one of them.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 9:06 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Monday, September 5, 2016."