STORM RESPONSE
State’s actions helped Georgians stay safe
Governor Deal called me and other local jurisdictions personally to ensure things are on the right track. I cannot recall that ever happening before. A lot of the local jurisdictions had run out of salt and sand due to the previous storm. GDOT ended up saving our bacon. We sent 12 dump tracks and filled them up. That was huge. I can only imagine what would have happened if we did not treat the roads. Charley English has the operations at the state level cranking at full speed, and I have to say that I am extremely impressed. The utilities have been incredible partners, and the fact they bring tree and limb crews with them has been a tremendous help to us at the local level. Power outages have been only short-term problems thus far. As someone who lived through the 1973 storm in Atlanta, I would say that we have learned a great deal about how to respond to ice storms since then.
STEVE BROWN, CHAIRMAN, FAYETTE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
WATSON’S STATUE
Removal of populist’s statue speaks volumes
Moving the statue of Tom Watson from in front of the state Capitol building is a good idea, for whatever reason. Watson famously said that racism was invented by the people at the top to keep the people below fighting each other instead of their common enemy, the powerful at the top. He also dared to speak out against out-of-state interests that bought a Georgia governor to overturn a court decision made in Atlanta that was upheld all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Populists like him, and his ideas have no place in Georgia in 2014.
ROBERT DAVIS, BLOUNTSVILLE, ALA.
ARTS
Spoofy musical still works for Mormons
The hit Broadway musical, ‘The Book of Mormon,” by receiving good reviews from AJC theater critics, enhanced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ recent billboard efforts to bring this powerful book out of obscurity, something Mormons have been trying to do since 1830. Yes, we Mormons know the play was a spoof on Mormonism. But I believe the Lord was well pleased with both the play and the reviews because it will result in more people learning for themselves that it is what it says it is – “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” and a 1,000 year history of Christ’s “other sheep” here on the American continent. This play remarkably shows how the Lord’s ever-growing cadre of full time missionaries, now exceeding 80,000, is taking the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world, including Africa, while learning to walk in the Savior’s footsteps through personal dedicated service.
DONALD S. CONKEY, WOODSTOCK
