SUPER BOWL AD
Coke ad showcased an accepting America
The Coca Cola ad during the Super Bowl was one of my favorites. I love how it showed that our country is accepting of all nationalities and cultures and has been since its inception. Singing “America the Beautiful” in multiple languages does not mean English is not our accepted first language. Why? It reminded me of growing up in a small town in Wisconsin where we would frequently sing songs in German, not because we were anti-English (our native language), but because it was part of our German immigrant heritage. What a beautiful message of welcome to all.
DEBBIE RIVARD/PEACHTREE CITY
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
City and state not governing responsibly
Can the city of Atlanta and/or the state of Georgia get any more backwards or ridiculous or just pathetic?
The city can spend millions on a new football stadium but we have to shut down libraries one or two days a week because they don’t have the budget?
The state can’t handle two inches of snow, but is looking to legalize carrying concealed weapons anywhere from a theatre to church.
Where does this madness end?
M. E. WILSON/STONE MOUNTAIN
POLITICS
Hillary Clinton will do anything to win office
Columnist Jay Bookman may be ready to forgive Bill Clinton’s infidelities of 15 years ago, saying the damage caused by his behavior appears to have healed. Hillary ought to read Bookman’s column because, in my opinion, she sure as hell hasn’t forgiven and hasn’t forgotten. Hillary’s staying with this philanderer was a purely selfish motive to preserve the couple’s quest for more and more power. Hillary Clinton would sell her soul in order to gain the presidency.
JACK FRANKLIN/CONYERS
WINTER STORM
Learning commonsense lessons will help next time
Atlanta had an ice storm in 2010 that shut it down for days, another in 2011 and here now in 2014, two storms back to back — more working days unnecessarily lost.
We cannot compete with other major cities to the North or South unless our state and city officials stop the excuses that no one believes and deal with winter weather.
I visited my office Wednesday. The corners are a little icy, roads are slushy — yet anyone could be at work if the roads were sanded or salted. They are not. It is a disgrace.
Wherever our tax money is going, the city needs to keep private workers at work to have those taxes coming in. Operating in this weather is tiresome, but no more than a nuisance if the city and residents grasped that this is our winter norm. Fixing the problem is simple and straightforward:
1. The city and state have trucks out salting and sanding all roads during the night of a storm, treat side roads during the day and re-sand major roads before evening rush hour, paying particular attention to ramps and hills
2. Interstate highways were closed to trucks during rush hour
3. Office buildings salted and sanded their parking lots
4. Drivers are taught to go slow, just tap on brakes, don’t stop on hills and fill up with gas when a storm is predicted
5. Schools were ordered to close for impending storms
6. Residents equipped themselves with winter clothing and put these in their trunks, along with a bottle of water, food, a shovel, an ice scraper and a bag of kitty litter for use if they spin on the ice. That, and a decent set of all-weather tires and Atlanta could be the City That Can.
Cities to our south don’t get this kind of weather. Cities to our north deal with it. We get it and won’t deal with it. We have a great and ambitious city, but we will flail as long as our recurring image, year in, year out, is the City That Can’t.
E. MORGAN/ATLANTA
