It was quite a surprise to open the Oct. 13 Citizen and encounter a lively political article by the Lifestyle columnist Sallie Satterthwaite. My wife and I enjoy Ms. Satterthwaite's lifestyle columns. I especially delight in her travelogues about her journeys abroad.

As someone who could never afford to travel to Europe in my younger days, my wife and I are now unable to travel the great distance due to having to raise our 4- and 2-year-old daughters. One day when our children are grown, I will finally get my chance; but for now, I will hold on to Ms. Satterthwaite's word pictures and keep dreaming.

I have written many letters to the editor in The Citizen newspaper. Most of my letters have been over hotly contested issues such as hazardous chemicals, annexation, poor commercial development and government dysfunction. My personal hypothesis on what it takes to get your message both seen and understood is to have a subject that the people can identify with, listing your supporting facts and listing sources to sustain those facts. I have gratefully received e-mails thanking me for presenting a new idea and for just providing my sources.

Of course, in the lifestyle section of the newspaper you will not find a lot of hard news. The journalist would certainly want to correctly spell the names of various personalities and make certain that the dates for various events are accurate. However, much of what you read in the lifestyle section is really the journalist's impression or personal expression of a particular situation. Most of the articles will be upbeat or humorous and a few will elicit a tinge of sadness. Please go to your local library and request several months of past issues and get your own historical perspective of the lifestyle section just to see if what I am saying is correct.

After reviewing the particular writing style relegated to lifestyle section journalists, it is comprehendible that Ms. Satterthwaite might have a difficult time writing on a more potent political subject. She is really not to blame for the lack of factual content and logic in her column on Peachtree City Council candidate Dan Tennant. The simple truth is that she is just not accustomed to writing in that specific format.

I took the liberty to research the subject, Dan Tennant, for myself and I also took a close look at the content of Ms. Satterthwaite's column. I have written down some of what I found. Please look up the sited references for yourself to guarantee what I am reporting is genuine.

The first point to address is logic. Logic is the science of reasoning, proof, thinking or inference. We want to determine whether a statement is the correct or incorrect use of reasoning. Ms. Satterthwaite's entire column is based on one written statement by Mr. Tennant, as recorded in the Oct. 7 1999 Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Third, I believe that this community should have `one of their own' serving on City Council — namely a married, average income professional who is raising children in a Christian environment. I am the only candidate with those characteristics. I believe the leaders of the city should be an accurate reflection of the people who live here and who share the same values — commitment to family, commitment to church, commitment to living right and doing right and not answering to anybody except the will of the people.”

Is Mr. Tennant “the only candidate with those characteristics” today? Technically, yes, because he is the only one currently raising children in a Christian environment.

However, I must point out that another candidate, Mr. Chuck Lehman, informed me that he attends the same church as Mr. Tennant, that he is married and that he has raised children (now grown) in Peachtree City. We can reason that Mr. Lehman's income falls into the average to high range because he was a top executive with Hi Brand Foods prior to retiring.

Mr. Tennant offered some clarification of the preceding quote in the Oct. 14 1999 edition of Fayette Daily News where he stated: “Let me be absolutely crystal clear on the intent of my comment. I intended to assert that as a married, average income professional raising children in a Christian environment, I most closely approximate the typical Peachtree City family.” Draw your own conclusion.

Ms. Satterthwaite noted the “present suggestion of elitism, racism and anti-Semitism” in her column. Racism is definitely not indicated nor implied. Many African-Americans and persons of other races residing in Peachtree City easily meet Mr. Tennant's average criteria in terms of being married, average income and raising children in a Christian environment. African-American is not synonymous with single, poor and non-Christian.

Anti-Semitism is not a logical conclusion either. Being a Christian is not tantamount to hating Jews, Muslims or any other religion. Being an American is not tantamount to hating Canadians.

Ms. Satterthwaite was probably not aware that Mr. Tennant's late grandparents were Jewish (I got this information by calling him on the phone). It is possible to discern how she may have conceived elitism by Mr. Tennant mentioning income, but he did go on to say “not answering to anybody except the will of the people.” He compared himself to the theoretical average citizen, but stated that he will recognize everyone, and this would rule out elitism.

Ms. Satterthwaite stated Mr. Tennant's admission of being a Republican “annoyed me enough to plan this column.” Ms. Satterthwaite also referred to herself as a “semiretired female with grown children and liberal inclinations.” Let the readers draw their own conclusions.

As for me, it appears that Ms. Satterthwaite became annoyed with Mr. Tennant because he is on the opposite end of the political spectrum from her, but I refuse to dub this elitism on Ms. Satterthwaite's part. If her statement is reasonable, then we have a right to be annoyed with her for being liberal. Of course, at this point, everyone would be annoyed because we can always find someone with a different point of view.

Ms. Satterthwaite took the quote, “one of our own,” and stated that the phase was a code of some sort. She went on to say: “I hear white. I hear male. I hear conservative Christian. I hear middle-aged. I hear exclusion.” We need to seriously reason this out.

It is an absolute fact that if the mother is white and the father is white there is a 100 percent chance that their child will also be white. Mr. Tennant's sex was determined in his mother's womb and he is middle-aged because he was born 40-something years ago. Mr. Tennant had no control over these factors, and yet he is being indicted because of them. There are moderate Christians, so to say he is a conservative is speculation. This would have been a good opportunity for Ms. Satterthwaite to actually speak to Mr. Tennant (an interview perhaps) and find out where he actually stands on various issues.

I did in fact research Mr. Tennant and found out he volunteers with Habit for Humanity and Meals on Wheels. He is active in his church and is a member of Promise Keepers, which demands that its members “reach beyond racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.” He has coached local youth sports and has involvement with the YMCA Indian Guides and the Boy Scouts.

I found out that Mr. Tennant's son, Joe, died in his arms at the age of 14 from a severe asthma attack. I learned that after grieving with the loss of his son (if it is possible to cease grieving), he founded a local charity in the boy's honor. The Joe Tennant Memorial Classic golf tournament has raised money for the Peachtree City Police Department, the Boy Scouts, the Christian City Children's Home, the Methodist Children's Home, Peachtree City United Methodist Church youth fund, Booth Middle School Science Olympiad Team, and will be handing out $5,000 in college scholarships in the year 2000.

References include Chief J. Murray, Peachtree City Police Department; Robey Hartley, Cubmaster, Boy Scout Troop 175 and Cub Scout Pack 75; Bob Crutchfield, President and CEO, Christian City; Kim Taylor, Fund-raising Chairman, Booth Middle School Science Olympiad Team; David Stewart, Peachtree City UMC. Several of the donations specifically help underprivileged children while his volunteer efforts have aided low-income persons and shut-ins.

This same Dan Tennant decided to run as a write-in candidate for the city council four years ago when he discovered that the lone candidate in the race was a commercial developer named Jim Pace. Noting that a conflict of interest would exist with a developer voting on zoning, variances and the like, Mr. Tennant decided to stick with his decision to campaign.

He was chided severely in letters to the local newspapers for becoming a write-in candidate just weeks before the election and making the city have to pay to open the polls on Election Day. Determined, he spent the three weeks prior to the election walking around town, shaking hands and delivering his message on having an average person with no conflicts of interest representing the people. Remarkably, Mr. Tennant managed to obtain a record 42 percent write-in vote (The Citizen, Nov. 9, 1995). Anyone who enjoys Peachtree City and has seen Jim Pace's voting record over the past four years would cringe.

For certain, some people will read Ms. Satterthwaite's article and think it pure lunacy or perhaps a smear campaign. Our society has gotten to where we do not appreciate such gross displays of circumstantial trial by innuendo. Perhaps we need to follow Mr. Tennant's example and simply forgive and keep on moving forward.

Unfortunately, the voter turnout is expected to be only between 3,000 and 4,000 voters out of a population of 30,000-plus. Hopefully, committed voters will contact the candidates and find out where they specifically stand on the issues. An uninformed vote is as bad as no vote at all.

Do not agree with overly broad “city's best interest” type statements; ask for specifics. Please get the facts.

Steve Brown
Peachtree City
steve_ptc@juno.com

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