-- — Pitts column questioned

Leonard Pitts likes to manipulate words in order to support his position that America is a racist country.

Pitts said Herman Cain branded himself a victim of racism. That black people are racist because they disagree with his politics. Pitts goes on to say “so blacks aren’t held back by racism, but Cain is?”

Leonard, Cain never said he was “held back” by racism. On the contrary, he said one can succeed in spite of racism, as he did. What Cain did say is that he is a victim of racism because blacks do not like his politics, which is indeed true.

That racism did not keep Cain from being successful and he applies that logic to black people in general. Mr. Pitts is the epitome of black racism against another black due to different politics.



Andy Patterson

Valdosta

Searching for Superman

We’ve a fascination with fictitious superheroes. We wish they were  real and we could put them in our real world to fix it.

The world’s looking for a leader similar to the fictitious Superman, and will very soon get one. He will appear after the rapture of the Church, (1 Thess. 2: 7,8). He’ll be the darling of every religion, until he destroys all religion and demands to be worshipped as God (2 Thess. 2:4, Rev. 18). He’ll appear a  savior of mankind, but secretly be mankind’s greatest enemy. He’ll be the personification of Satan, head the “one world government,” bring peace to the Middle East, receive power from Satan; showing signs and wonders to deceive (1 Thess. 5:3,2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 6:1,2).

During his reign, God will pour out His wrath on earth because of man’s sinful, unrepentant heart (Rev. 9:20, 21). This superman is the “Anti-Christ” (2 Thess. 2:1-12; 1 Jn. 2:18), demanding that all receive his mark (“the mark of the beast”) on their hand or forehead; or starve (Rev. 13).

The Jews will accept him as their Messiah (Jn. 5:43), only to have him turn on them (Zech. 13:8,9; Mat. 24: 15-21) until God intervenes (Dan. 7:25-27;  Zech. 12-14; Rom. 11:26).

The world’s rejected Jesus, but will accept this superman. He’ll not come out of the comics though, but out of the bottomless pit, to which he’ll return (Rev. 17;8, 19: 20, 20:10).



James H. Cagle

Lakeland, Ga.

Tax, unification truth

I’ve heard several people say school unification will cause a significant tax increase. Yet, no one seems to know why this would happen. It appears this rumor is based on a document circulated by the Lowndes County Board of Education.

When looking at what other communities experienced after unifying their school systems, one would see their school taxes have not increased any more than what we experienced locally. A unified system will still have the same number of kids and need about the same number of teachers in the class room. Unification will bring savings in the central office, which could be directed back into the classrooms by providing better support for teachers or reducing class size.

Common sense tells us that a unified system would likely have a millage rate that is a blended rate between the two existing millage rates. This means the millage rate for a unified system would be somewhere around 15.84 mills rather than the 21.0 mills cited by county school officials. This position is also documented on Page 56 of the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute study on school unification, which says, “city residents can expect a slight decrease in their school millage rate (16.98 mills) while county residents can expect a slight increase in their school millage rate (14.70 mills).”

Don’t believe the scare tactics! I encourage Valdosta voters to research the facts about school unification before heading to the polls and voting on this important issue.



Judson Rackley

Valdosta

Everybody loves a winner

I’d like to express my appreciation for all of the hard work our local athletes put into our sports activities. Whether it be baseball, basketball, football, soccer, or track and field, they all deserve our utmost support. These young people, along with the coaching staff, trainers etc., put in lots of blood, sweat and tears into sports programs. They are the ones who earned Valdosta the distinguished TitleTown honors.

Every intelligent person knows that education is the most important aspect of our school’s curriculum, but sports and other “extra-curricular activities” are important as well. My hat is off to all who meet their academic challenges in addition to finding the time to entertain crazy “sports hyped-childish adults” like myself.

A gigantic “Boo” goes to all the egocentric fans, who call themselves adults, that always have time to bash sports. This also goes to those who abandon the kids before a contest ends. Case in point, many Wildcat fans left during the third and latter fourth quarters of the Vikings vs. Wildcats competition.

This isn’t fair to the players, nor does it exhibit good fan sportsmanship. And to my shame and disappointment, I fell prey to the idiocracy by leaving 17 seconds before my Vikings lost to Valdosta.

I’ve given myself the gigantic “Boo” and hope that I’ve redeemed myself by remaining the  entirety of the game between the Moultrie Packers and the Lowndes Vikings game.

I’ve always considered myself as the die-hard Vikings fan (I support the Cats when they are playing against other teams), but I tripped up. But I got up to tell all y’all grown folks that it’s not about you and me. It’s all about the kids!

So please stop pouting and start shouting! Shout to the bitter end because the kids are winners even when they fall short in a contest. Go Cats, Vikings, Valiants, and last but not least, Go Blazers!



Joseph J. Hayes Sr.

Valdosta