Readers write

No shelter plan for Shaky Knees is inexcusable

At the Shaky Knees festival on Saturday, “for your safety” meant pushing more than 20,000 people out of Piedmont Park and into a lightning storm with nowhere to go.

My wife and I had walked in minutes earlier. We spent the next two hours under a parking deck while the festival said nothing. It reopened for one act. Neither band we paid to see ever played.

Clearing an open field during lightning is right. Doing it with no shelter plan moves the danger from the promoter’s grounds onto city streets. And Ticketmaster, owned by the same company a federal jury found liable in April for monopolizing ticketing, is keeping every dollar, fees included.

The city permits these festivals. It should require a real shelter plan. And Georgia should require refunds when buyers get nothing.

NICHOLAS SOMERS, ATLANTA

Early recess to campaign derails House agenda

Regarding “Georgia Dems call ending U.S. House session ‘outrageous’,” Sept. 18, I have a couple of questions.

Do we taxpayers pay them to legislate or to campaign? Taking an early recess to promote party-oriented voting isn’t one of the congressional assignments in the Constitution. This move by Speaker Mike Johnson is clearly a derailment of the House of Representatives’ true agenda — debate and legislate.

About the decision to leave Washington until after the midterm elections, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia claimed, “It’s not my decision. It doesn’t matter whether I agreed with it or not.” What does he (and likely others) think he’s doing as a U.S. congressman? His quote is simply appalling. Opinions count. They need to be stated, justified, pursued, and debated.

If he’s not responsible for making decisions, how did he get elected, and why does he get paid to sit in our House of Representatives, debate, and legislate?

KEN MEAD, MARIETTA

Make Georgia ‘great’ by electing true public servant

I hate how elections can be decided by how much money someone has. And in our new Information Age, it’s hard to tell where people are getting their information.

I rue the day of another Republican, especially one like Rick Jackson, being elected in Georgia. Earning a billion dollars doesn’t show one’s true worth and character. His ads are slick, with tears and all. Let’s make Georgia “great” by electing people who are actually “public servants” and want to better the lives of everyone, not just themselves.