SAVANNAH PORT
Politicians’ top priority not necessarily people
The proposed White House budget omits expected funding for the Georgia port expansion, leaving state officials scrambling to come up with $685 million in Georgia taxpayer funds. They hope for at least $400 million in federal reimbursement. The port expansion is a capital project that politicians like Mayor Kasim Reed and Gov. Nathan Deal can put their name on and claim as legacy.
Would that they were so willing to come up with the same amount of money to expand Medicaid, educate students, recompense teachers in keeping with their responsibility, and provide extended unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed and food enough to feed hungry people who can’t provide for themselves. In no way should we diminish the importance of the port to the state’s economy, but think what a much healthier economy we would have if we made the sick well, the hungry satisfied, and the undereducated proficient for any job the economy could provide?
BARBARA M. MORGAN, COVINGTON
CONSERVATISM
It’s arrogant to attach God’s name to politics
The Conservative Political Action Conference cheered when Mike Huckabee said, “If this nation forgets God, then God will have every right to forget us.” The arrogance of that quote is overwhelming. Can Huckabee define God’s “rights”? My God makes his own rules. His decisions are not limited by the rules of mortals like Huckabee and his followers.
BILL FOKES, BRASELTON
TRAVEL
Taxi mayhem mars 1st impressions of Atlanta
My spouse and I recently rode Amtrak from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta. We stepped outside to find a cab, expecting a cab master and a line of taxis since the Amtrak Crescent had just arrived. There were about 25 people and one taxi. Passengers were arguing with each other over who was entitled to the one cab. It got ugly. I stepped back inside and called a cab and gave our names. Meanwhile, a second cab stopped outside and a swarm of people surrounded it, each demanding and arguing that the taxi was for them. This scene repeated itself as each taxi arrived for about 20 minutes.
Finally, a cab arrived and the driver motioned to us, but the taxi we had phoned arrived at the same time and asked for us by name. The two drivers exited their vehicles and began to shove and push each other while they shouted why they should get “us” as the fare. My spouse had to separate the two men. As a life-long Atlantan, I was embarrassed, frightened and infuriated at the disorganization of the Amtrak station and the situation with the taxis. Imagine what a horrible impression visitors get when they arrive at Brookwood Station after exiting the Crescent.
JENNIE RICHARDSON, ATLANTA
