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It’s time to change to district voting here

The local Fayette County observance of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [will be] on Aug. 6 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. [at the Old Fayette County Courthouse on the Square in Fayetteville].

Plans include a voter registration drive, choir singing, poetry reading, introduction of elected officials and a brief address by a prominent civil rights era figure across the street at the gazebo at the Fayette County Stonewall Avenue Government Complex.

Citizens will be able to register to vote, ask questions, and get information on upcoming elections.

An NAACP membership enrollment campaign will be held simultaneously with the voter registration drive at a separate table. Non-members of the NAACP are welcome to sign-up and old members can renew their membership.

NAACP membership is open to people of all races who believe in freedom, justice and equality. Call 770-460-9934 for more information.

Although we wholeheartedly support the Voting Rights March and Rally to be held in downtown Atlanta on Aug. 6, the Fayette County event is essential to raise awareness of the antiquated at-large voting system used in Fayette County.

Recent efforts by African-American citizens and state Representative Virgil Fludd to get the county to change to district voting have been thwarted.

Under the at-large voting process in Fayette County, the minority vote is severely diluted and several African-American candidates have been unable to get elected to county commission or school board in recent elections.

County officials have been shown data revealing that counties in Georgia with demographics similar to Fayette County have switched to district voting.

Overall, our goal is to peacefully commemorate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, support the call for the extension of the expiring provisions and to educate the citizens of Fayette County on the pressing need to switch to district voting where everyone has a better and fairer opportunity to get elected.

John E. Jones
Voting Rights Act Commemoration Committee chairperson
Fayette County, Ga.

Sign ordinance win is victory against clutter

Fayette County’s sign ordinance has just been upheld in court, again.

Let’s understand that the county’s ordinance only applies in the unincorporated county. The cities all have their own sign ordinances.

It is possible that the county ordinance could use some refreshing and, based on Superior Court Judge English’s recommendation, that is exactly what is happening now. But, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Take a ride out Ga. Highway 74 towards Interstate 85. Or go east on Ga. Highway 54 towards Clayton County.

As soon as you cross a county border, you are going to see a slew of “Homes from the $80s” type signs. Dozens of them. And, many other signs as well, especially during political season. My question to you is, do you want that kind of clutter here?

On the other hand, I went to the Christian Coalition political forum. Someone was giving away “10 Commandments” signs, about the size of the most common political yard signs.

When I saw them, I thought, there are a lot of places where you would not be permitted to display that sign. But, I have seen those signs here, in the unincorporated county, and if you’ve driven about a bit, you have too.

I don’t know about you but I like living in a place where a person can put up a “10 Commandments” sign AND where we don’t have a huge amount of “sign clutter.”

We all know that an ordinance has to be made to apply in all situations. There can’t be exceptions for a candidate, a cause or a commercial purpose on a case-by-case basis based on who and what we do or don’t like at the moment. That’s not fair or legal.

I wanted to be very cautious about our sign ordinance. And, last year I didn’t think that we should change it in a rush during “political season” just to make a bunch of politicians happy. That’s who seemed to be doing a lot of complaining.

So, what happens when the leadership is confronted with a challenge that could alter the traditional appearance of the area? Do they fight for us? Do they look for resolutions that preserve our traditions?

The County Commission said, “we are not knuckling under to someone who wants to come here, alter our way of life and walk away with the benefit while leaving us with the mess”. The Commission fought.

There have been some local elected officials, and their attorneys, who have not understood sign ordinances and the efforts of your county to protect your sign ordinance. The most recent example was in Peachtree City.

In Peachtree City, a majority of the Council did not want to fight for you. They were perfectly willing to throw out one of the traditions that has made Peachtree City special from its beginning in order to save themselves some imagined difficulty and to heck with the citizens who maybe would want to preserve a special feature of their city.

They’ve decided to allow 4-foot-by-4-foot “mini-billboards” to be placed on residential lawns in UNLIMITED number.

If you are an “active” person, or live near one, they could have two or four or eight or 10 “mini-billboards” on their lawn.

I would like to thank the two members of the council who would not support this.

The tough ordinances were part of the character of Peachtree City. Have you ever had a visitor from out-of town who commented on the size of the McDonald’s signs or the steel covers (not plastic) on the Coke and Pepsi machines?

Peachtree City was recognized as “one of the 10 best places to live” by Money Magazine. One of the reasons for this was thanks to a rule that limits development and commercial signage.

Fayette County is different from other counties and we like it to be different. Peachtree City is different from other cities and the citizens there like it to be different.

These differences are not for everybody. That’s why it is in the Republican (and American) tradition to say, “If it’s not for you, you can live someplace else where the situation is to your liking.”

It is the attitude and willingness to be different or special that increases property values. Fayette County and Peachtree City have a marketable difference with other places that residents can take to the bank.

One of the reasons the Peachtree City Council made this decision was because, regardless of the “braying” they do about “cooperation,” this administration does almost no cooperation with anyone.

No one from Peachtree City ever contacted anyone from the county to find out the truth about our sign ordinance.

I’d really like to hear from you, the public, on this issue. I suspect that some of you may have decided to live here based on what you perceived was a different approach to government. The sign ordinance may have been one of the factors.

You tell me. You can call me at 770-487-2654 or write me at 220 Copperplate Lane, Peachtree City, Ga., 30269, or e-mail me at pfeiferfaycocomm@comcast.net or contact me through the county offices.

Let me know your feelings about the sign ordinance: too strong, too weak or just right.

Peter Pfeifer
County Commission, Post 3
Peachtree City, Ga.

Lance’s Tour De Ga. route should be marked

When Lance Armstrong rode through downtown Fayetteville on April 20, 2005, it was a stupendous occasion for those of us who ride bicycles.

As I watch him win his seventh consecutive Tour de France, it moves me to work toward doing something special for someone who has done so much for the world of bicycling, and has overcome such a huge obstacle as cancer.

For those of us who have overcome other difficulties and ride bicycles also, there is a sense of connection with his seventh Tour de France win.

To me, it would be an excellent idea to dedicate, by placing signage, the route Lance Armstrong rode in the 2005 Tour de Georgia in Fayette County and all of Georgia, if possible. It would also please me to see a proclamation declaring a “Lance Armstrong Day” in Georgia.

A special thank you to OLN and Comcast for allowing us to see the race.

Congratulations to Lance Armstrong, 2005 Tour de France winner.

Carleton L. Williams
Fayetteville, Ga.

Fire Rove as national security risk

We know that Karl Rove revealed the identity of an undercover CIA agent to reporters Matt Cooper of TIME and columnist Robert Novak.

Karl Rove either broke the law or was grossly negligent with national secrets, yet he still works in the White House.

This CIA agent was “outed” in order to discredit a critic of the Bush Iraq policy.

President Bush should keep his promise and fire Karl Rove. There needs to be a full accounting to the American people about what happened in this CIA leak case, and Karl Rove should lose his job.

Teri LeFrois
Peachtree City, Ga.

Most ignorant of Islamic ambition

Re: ”Never Quit,” the article about U.S. Army explosive disposal specialist Brian Doyle.

I was moved by the character, purpose and determination of this fine young man, as he has worked to recover from devastating injuries from two bombs in Iraq.

My teenage daughter is at an age where she is seriously thinking about what career field to pursue. Her field of interest is broad: youth minister, business management, physical therapist and possibly something in the visual arts.

I have told her, “You don’t have to give up on one interest to pursue another. Some of these things could be a hobby or volunteer work while another is your career.” The choice is hers, but I would be most proud if she chooses to be a physical therapist for the military.

The men and women in the military deserve our very best. They deserve our respect, our gratitude, our financial support and our emotional support.

The emotional support can be through letters, care packages, donations to the USO [office] at the airport or around town. They put their lives and their well-being in jeopardy so that the rest of us can continue to enjoy the freedoms and prosperity of our great country.

In our blissful arrogance, we are far more ignorant of the final goals of the jihad Muslims than they are of our way of life.

We assume that their religious beliefs are basically the same as ours; they just call our Creator by a different name.

We assume that those who would murder innocent people are just a tiny, radical minority of Islam. We are far too puffed up with our own opinions to even consider that we know next to nothing about the enemy.

In his book, “The Crisis of Islam,” Bernard Lewis describes the beliefs, purposes, similarities and differences between Islam and Western civilization.

If you have not already done so, you owe it to yourself and future generations to educate yourself about the belief systems that motivate many millions of people around the world.

You need to know how some recent Islamic sects, not all, have distorted the teachings of Muhammad. You need to understand how a religion that is not separate from politics, but by its very nature is the ruling force, eliminates all freedoms for everyone, believers and non-believers.

And you need to know that the goal of al Qaeda is world domination by any means necessary.

Our Muslim friends, who do not agree with the distortions of Islam which are preached by the jihad extremists, are going to have to help us defeat them.

I sometimes think about how Germany must have been before the Nazis came into full power. “When good people do nothing,” comes to mind.

Surely, if the German people knew what the Nazis had in mind for their fellow citizens, they would have stopped them early, before it became impossible.

Most of us are too comfortable letting our volunteer military do the hard, hard work of fighting al Qaeda. We haven’t even bothered to educate ourselves about what is in store for the rest of the world and us if we lose.

Marilyn Weigle
Peachtree City, Ga.

Speaking in political code: What does ‘pro-military’ really mean?

I’ve found your very absorbent newspaper to have many uses while camping and consequently missed reading Mr. Arnold’s original diatribe on Democrats.

While I now find myself wishing I’d found a similar use for his letter printed 20 July 2005 I have, to my chagrin, read it in its brief misplaced entirety.

Oh history, that thou could’st make thyself known to the unwilling. Mr. Arnold throws around the idea of “pro-military” as some holy grail so perhaps we should examine the concept before we draw the conclusion.

If someone is pro-military, I believe they show themselves concerned with the readiness and ability of the military to protect this nation.

In that light, the person would care that the military is paid sufficiently, that those wounded in the line of duty are well provided, that veterans accrue some benefit after separation which allows them to find work.

Also, such a person would want to see the military acquire weapons it will need to militarily defeat present and future dangers to this country and her citizenry, that its members receive sufficient training to accomplish the aforesaid.

A pro-military stance should also involve using that military wisely.

Unnecessary uses of military power are a commensurate waste of that power, and a waste of the lives of the citizens of whom it is composed.

There are other political penalties for the arbitrary use of the military art, and those have long-term deleterious effects upon the military.

So I think we can say with some certainty that a pro-military person desires only the proper use of military power.

Mr. Arnold mentions both George McGovern (negatively) and Zell Miller (positively) so let’s examine those two.

Senator McGovern, before his long career in the Senate, was a B-24 pilot in WWII. He flew more than 30 missions over such unfriendly places as the Ploesti oil fields in Romania where 60 bombers were lost on one mission. He proved himself a brave and steady combat pilot as evidenced in the book “Flyboys” by Stephen Ambrose.

As a senator of the United States, he adamantly opposed our intervention in Vietnam. He believed the war ill-conceived and the war strategy a complete waste of lives. History has borne him out.

His opposition to the war allowed Richard Nixon, who had never smelled combat, to paint him as some kind of pinko softie.

Over the years Sen. McGovern voted for numerous weapons system improvements during the Cold War and was a champion of the veteran. He was always on the side of the little guy, who has always comprised the vast majority of any army.

Zell Miller was a popular governor and served in the Marines. As often occurs with military service, I don’t believe he ever saw combat, but that is more a case of happenstance than design.

When he became a senator, he promised to represent all the people of Georgia, and he seemed to represent the Republican caucus very well.

When the question of authorizing the President to use force came before the Senate he told us, “When my Commander-in-Chief says go, I just salute and say yes sir.”

After a thorough search of the Constitution, the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist Papers, and the military chain of command, I was thoroughly confused as to why he would think that the President was his commander.

Then I realized he still thought of himself as a two-stripe Marine, which is fine unless you happen to be a U.S. Senator with a sacred duty to the Constitution and the American people.

He never asked the hard questions. He never asked anything at all. He essentially handed over kingly powers the Constitution was written to forestall having vested in any one man.

As a result we find ourselves in a very unnecessary waste of power and lives in Iraq, based on the revised excuse that it will spread democracy throughout the Middle East.

At the end of WWI, the French determined never to have their country invaded and ravaged by the Germans again. Defensive warfare had dictated the flow of battle in the Great War, so they spent the next two decades building formidable defenses along the German border.

The Maginot Line, as it came to be called, took up not only a sizable portion of the military budget, but a large part of the French gross domestic product.

The strategy, and the line were expensive failures. When Heinz Guderian concentrated his armored forces and went where the line was not, the French had no counter because of strategy, not because of resources, nor French valor.

So is voting in favor of all proposed military spending bills “pro-military,” and voting against any bill “anti military”?

Was George Washington anti-military when he warned us: “Hence, likewise they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty”?

The truth is that the post-Vietnam rebuilding of the U.S. military began with Jimmy Carter after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That rebuilding continued under Ronald Reagan and each successive president, culminating in the combined arms we now possess.

Along the way members of our government have weighed the necessity for various weapons systems and force composition and size versus the perceived threat.

Hopefully they do not vote to authorize more just for the sake of having more. And in the end, having more is little guarantee of success if we’ve planned and provided for the wrong war.

Our successes have been joint efforts of Americans, not Republicans or Democrats.

When I’m in Boston, I always go to the Common to see the magnificent rendering of Washington on his horse. There is no explanation of who he was or what he did because everyone in the world knows.

He spoke little and wrote less, but his Farewell Address is full of the warnings against faction: “... warn you against the baneful effects of the spirit of party in general” ... “gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual” ... “It serves to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”

The country has been factionalized in the past, never to its benefit, and is greatly factionalized today.

I take Mr. Arnold’s ignorance personally because I am a lesser man than the great Washington. But in the end, the country will need to lessen this adherence to the extreme view of those across the aisle, which is used by leaders and disciples on both sides, if we are to meet the challenges ahead.

Timothy Parker
Peachtree City, Ga.

Stand up for Boy Scouts vs. ACLU

Just hours ago, I introduced an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill, “Support Our Scouts Act of 2005.”

Earlier this month, an appeals court judge declared Pentagon support for the Boy Scouts of America major gathering, the National Scout Jamboree, unconstitutional.

Why?

Well, in the words of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who petitioned the court: the Scouts require members to “privately exercise their religious faith as directed by their families and religious advisors.”

That, they argued, was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (separation of church and state).

Sadly, the court agreed.

You’re probably wondering what takes place at the National Scout Jamboree, just what it is that had the ACLU so aghast.

An American tradition, the National Scout Jamboree is a gathering of over 40,000 people, scouts, moms and dads, at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia (a military base).

They come together every four years and learn important skills, such as canoeing, leathercraft, land navigation, first aid, and survival skills.

They also come together to celebrate their bedrock values. They talk about patriotism; they talk about public service; they talk about conservation; they talk about civic virtue; and they talk about faith.

No specific denomination, mind you, but rather the mere acknowledgment of a higher power.

That was enough to set the ACLU attack machine in motion; they put this venerable organization in their crosshairs.

Once again, the ACLU sued the Boy Scouts of America.

This is an organization, the Boy Scouts of America, whose motto reads (in part): “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country ...”

They gather, as I once did, as my three sons did, as more than 40 members of the United States Senate and 150 members of the House of Representatives did, to talk about principles.

Principles like honesty, integrity, and character.

My friends, the Boy Scouts of America produce good kids, the true leaders of tomorrow.

They’ve been doing it proudly since 1910.

And it’s a sad day when we need to enact legislation to enable them to keep doing it, particularly at a time when we face such unprecedented challenges at home and abroad.

As they say, America’s greatness is determined by our goodness.

Well, let me tell you, these kids are as good as it gets. They make us proud.

And we need to stand up for them.

My amendment does the following:

It makes clear that the Congress regards the Boy Scouts of America to be a “youth organization,” not a religious organization.

It asserts the view of Congress that government support of the National Scout Jamboree (by the Defense Department) helps with the training of our armed forces.

It removes ANY DOUBT that federal agencies may welcome Scouts to hold meetings and go camping on federal property.

I believe this amendment will receive broad, bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House, and that it will pass this year.

And I hope you will join me in standing up for the Boy Scouts of America by calling your senators and representatives and asking them to support the “Support Our Scouts Act of 2005.”

As for me, I hope to proudly be among those attending their annual Jamboree.

Bill Frist, M.D.
Senate Majority Leader
Washington, D.C.

Where is the compassion?

I had an experience Saturday that has so disgusted me I just had to write.

I was driving south on Ga. Highway 74 about 2:30 p.m. after several hours of errands and as I got into the left turn lane in front of the Tyrone Publix, I noticed a dead dog in the grass of the CVS right up near the curb.

It initially looked like a stuffed animal. You couldn’t miss it. I could see a collar on it in the distance.

I got myself turned around and as I crossed Hwy. 74 to drive into the CVS, I noticed a woman walking in the grass towards the dog. I parked and went over to her. She had already read the name tag on the dog and was on the phone.

As we waited there for the owner, we both determined that due to the condition of the dog, she had been there for a hours.

My question is, who hit her and why didn’t you stop to see if she belonged to anyone?

And my next question is, how many hundreds of cars passed by and even got stopped by the red light where you could have gotten a very good look at the dog and you did nothing?

You all disgust me. You may have gotten your groceries bought, gone to your sporting events, got your hair cut, and whatever else you do on Saturdays, but none of you have a shred of decency to let someone’s pet just lie by the road.

The owner was very upset. “Angel” had dug under the fence of their new home in Southhampton.

It was not his fault. It was probably unavoidable on the part of the person who hit her. But so many of you saw her and kept going. I only hope she didn’t lie there injured.

Many thanks to Lynne Staples of Fayetteville for stopping when she saw the dog. There are a few of us out there.

Linda Conley
Tyrone,Ga.

Bush’s pick for court a partisan hack

John Roberts has spent just two years as a judge, but a lifetime as a partisan hack.

His history of working to push the Radical Right agenda, from curtailing individual freedoms to meddling in the 2000 Florida recount, indicates he would function more as The White House’s ambassador to the Court than an impartial justice.

Also, President Bush rushed his nomination so people would stop talking about Karl Rove’s illegal behavior. But the man Bush nominated for the post, Ken Starr’s former deputy, has as little integrity as Mr. Rove, and threatens to do a lot more damage to our way of life.

Congress now has the opportunity to decide if the Radical Right will hit the trifecta in their grab for absolute power in all branches of government.

But roadblocks in John Bolton’s UN confirmation, as well as the recent filibuster fight, proved that clearer heads can prevail in Congress in a bipartisan way.

Now is the time for moderates in both parties to say no to the extreme ideology we will face for the next 30 years if Roberts is confirmed.

Alan Sarvis (age 17)
Peachtree City, Ga.