HOLIDAYS
Christmas spirit isn’t same without Jesus
We miss the old days of “Merry Christmas.” When we moved here from Illinois in 1977, there was a live nativity scene on the first floor of the Georgia Capitol. Children sang Christmas carols here as well as in their public schools. Store clerks greeted customers with, “Merry Christmas.” All of this is no more. Why? What is the error he committed that caused such a war against Jesus on his birthday? He taught that we should love our enemies, help widows and the needy, and judge not lest we be judged. Sounds good to me. God sent his son to offer eternal life to all who believe. Why would anyone try to stop this? There’s no Christmas without Christ.
CLAIRE FRAHLER, Atlanta
Muslim’s commentary on peace appreciated
Your column by Plemon T. El-Amin, which was published on Christmas Eve (“Muslim’s message: peace and goodwill”), was inspiring. It has given me hope that all of God’s people can come together, if only they could really absorb the teachings of their religious beliefs.
MARILYN CANTWELL, Woodstock
UNEMPLOYMENT
What’s so bad about working for a change?
The article on the loss of jobless benefits for 1.3 million long-term unemployed (News, Dec. 26) concludes by stating some unemployed people might now have to take minimum-wage jobs to get by until they can find work at their skill level. Really? So instead of receiving free money from the government, they will actually have to work, albeit at a minimum-wage job, to earn this money. What a concept! Someone making $7.25 an hour would earn $1,160 working full time (40 hours/week) in one month — essentially the same as the average unemployment benefit payout of $1,166.
DON SADLER, Johns Creek
DEKALB CITIES
Better for competing areas to get together
I grew up in the Northlake area, got my haircuts in Tucker and went to school in the Lakeside area. Rather than fighting over the Northlake office and retail tax base, the three proposed cities could “merge” as one and call themselves Lavista. They each share Lavista Road, which runs east-west through all of them. By combining the three areas into one city, they could save taxpayers considerable money having one police force, one mayor and one administrative support staff. If the population of the three areas was about 180,000, it would rank fourth in Georgia behind only Atlanta, Augusta and Columbus, giving the city of Lavista significant political influence.
JOHN LYONS, Johns Creek
