SUBURBAN GROWTH
People with courage,
vision made Gwinnett
The AJC recently published an article about the people who were instrumental in building a four-year college in Gwinnett County (“The way it works in Gwinnett,” News, Dec. 15).
I don’t know any of the individuals mentioned here personally, but I can say without reservation that those people, along with some others, helped to create a wonderful environment for families to live in. We moved to north Gwinnett in 1976, when it was very rural. Growth was inevitable, due to I-85 going through the county, and I know that these individuals worked very hard to ensure the growth would enhance our community and not harm it.
Too many times, developers are criticized — but where would we be without the people who have the vision and courage to take the risks that result in the wonderful neighborhoods and schools we all enjoy in Gwinnett?
MARY JANE MCDANIEL, LAWRENCEVILLE
GOVERNANCE
It’s heartening to see
cooperation on budget
It was heartening to finally see both parties working together to finish a national budget — even though it isn’t a budget either side wanted.
It is always arrogant, both personally and politically, to think we could never be wrong about something. Sometimes, one side is wrong, and the other is right. Sometimes, we may all be correct — yet in other situations, all of us could be wrong.
It is also becoming tiresome to hear a president, whether it’s George Bush or Barack Obama, being called a “liar” after making a statement that later proves to be incorrect. It is a lie when we deliberately state something we know is untrue, but we have all had the sad experience of passing along information from a source we believed to be credible, but which later proved not to be. That is a huge embarrassment. Although we deserve to be called wrong, we don’t deserve to be called liars.
During this holiday season, in the spirit of good will toward man, it would be well for us all to remember the admonition: “Seek justice, love mercy.”
MARGARET CURTIS, ATLANTA
TURNER FIELD
Move Olympic flame
to more visible location
Please put forth the suggestion that the Olympic flame needs to be relocated when the Braves’ current stadium is demolished.
It needs to be moved to Centennial Olympic Park, where it can be easily viewed by all and would no longer look out at a large parking lot. Although this structure it is not as attractive as other Olympic flames, it is one of the last symbols of “our” Olympics, and needs to be honored in a way other than overlooking Georgia State University’s parking spaces.
RANDY HOYE, ATLANTA
PRISONS
Raise standards for
corrections officers
“Half-measures won’t end rapes in nation’s prisons” (Opinion, Dec. 18) screams for our attention.
Our prison system is failing. As the mother of an inmate who is serving a bone-crushing sentence that doesn’t fit the crime, I can tell you how broken the system is. Ms. Charen mentions that the guards have a job that is “not pleasant.” These are corrections officers, not guards. The officers I have encountered are typically young, undertrained and underpaid. The prisons are completely understaffed, and have not enough money or resources to do the job of “corrections.”
Let’s take the billions intended for regulations and train the people who work in prisons to protect and rehabilitate offenders. Let’s make their chosen profession become one they can be proud of. We should also stop mandatory minimums and mass incarceration, and use common-sense approaches to identify the true criminals — and convict accordingly.
KATE BOCCIA, ALPHARETTA
