LETTER: Concerned by actions of Winder officials

From previous experience, this could result in another white elephant like the Granite Hotel or a city barn with an indoor swimming pool.

On the planning committee I count only one member that is currently operating a business in Winder. All study or action should be tabled until there is a listing available to the public showing what functions are to be addressed and the estimated expenditures.

There should also be active Winder business operators invited to sit with this board for their professional input. Polling constituents and promptly reading e-mails or other correspondence would be helpful in making voterfriendly decisions. This could and should eliminate the future hiring of expensive consultants Winder has used in the past to tell us what we already know.

I do not think raising our monthly water rates is the best way to produce the revenue to be used for improvements and repairs to our infrastructure. Could we not use an assessment method instead of raising our monthly water rates? We already had one rate increase imposed on us that was not handled in a professional or businesslike manner.

Why not use dedicated assessments to cover the period and function of segmented repairs planned? These assessed funds would be stipulated to cover only the repairs planned for storm water work and inside the assessment period. Residents could pay multiple assessments, each one targeted at a dedicated function instead of imposing one large, financially imposing assessment.

This designated assessment would keep the funds from straying into other projects that are not approved by Winder voters, or in the best interest of Winder businesses and residents.

Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion.

Sincerely,
Jim Mauldin
Winder


Needing faith, hope and charity

Dear Editor:

In recent days, I have read so many attacks on Glenn Beck’s 8/28 “Restoring Honor” rally on Washington.

Most of the attacks were the fact that Mr. Beck, a radio and television host, is a Mormon. Am I confused here? Yes, Mr. Beck is a Mormon, but his rally was not just about religion, it was about three principles we so desperately need now more then ever: “faith, hope and charity.”

Faith meaning you don’t have to believe in Jesus Christ, but you have to have faith. It doesn’t matter what religion you chose, you must have faith because if you have faith, you will have hope.

We all must check ourselves on charity and do what we can for our community. If we can have these three values in our lives, it wont be long before we will and can have the courage and excitement to “restore America.”

Most of us stand by and wait for someone else to make a difference. Mr. Beck decided to do so and he was ridiculed. Why? The attendance numbers are all over the chart from 80,000 to 500,000, but I say 10 would be enough and is a start.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once delivered probably the most amazing speech in the existence of the United States of America. It was the speech that he delivered on August 28, 1963 — “I have a dream.”

In this speech, Reverend King talks about all men being judged on character not color, that we all get back to what our founding fathers knew — we were all created equal.

My question is this, where have we gone wrong America? What do we have to do to fulfill the amazing dream that Reverend King (and our founding fathers) had for all citizens of the United States?

Mr. Beck, you did the right thing, and I commend you. I want to thank you for keeping your word that “Restoring Honor” would have nothing to do with politics. Hopefully, one day we can all have faith, hope and charity to ultimately “restore honor” to this great county we call the United States of America.

Sincerely,
Kevin Lee