To the Editor:

Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio’s mouths’ got dry while telling lies. Ryan during the vice presidential debate with Joe Biden, where he kept stuttering and sweating and drinking copious amounts of water. Rubio was constantly licking his lips during his Republican response to the president’s State of the Union address and had to use a water bottle to keep from choking on his lies. Actions speak louder than words and body language says a lot. People get hung up on words and ideologies and political and social views believing those things have real substance. But why get emotionally caught up on words when the truth is starring you in the face?
If your child is lying to you and you’re a good parent it doesn’t matter what you feel or think about your child. They’re lying and that’s all that counts. You can’t allow strong feelings for that child to cloud your judgment. If they keep lying eventually they loose your trust. How is that any different than politics or social issued? Bad parents ignore all the danger signs and make excuses for their children’s bad behavior just like voters make excuses for their own parties’ bad behavior. But in the end you’re only hurting your child, yourself and your country. So when the truth gets you down and excuses don’t work and your mouth gets dry and sticky do like Ryan and Rubio take two lie pills and drink plenty of water.

Christopher Murray
Madison
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Printed in the February 28, 2013

To the Editor:

If Chris Murray has fired the M-60 and M16A-2 in the military, he should know that those weapons are machine guns that fire more than one bullet out of the barrel with each pull of the trigger. He claims that these military only guns are what gun enthusiasts are wanting to protect from proposed bans on “assault weapons,” such as Sen. Diane Feinstein’s (Dem. Calif) S150 bill.
Mr. Murray is either horribly confused on this or is trying to confuse the readers. Machine guns have been under strict federal control since the 1930s and the days of  Al Capone and Bonny and Clyde.
Some of the current crop of civilian legal assault guns that you may purchase at Franklin’s Sports in Athens or at Walmart may look like machine guns, but are semi-auto only, firing just one bullet for every trigger pulled.   
Mr. Murray can learn about this technical difference by ordering a free manual published by ATF, (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), entitled Federal Firearms Regulation Reference Guide, ATF pub. 5300.4

George H. West
Madison
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Printed in the February 14, 2013 edition

To the Editor:

I like guns as much as anyone. I was the machine gunner for my platoon. I had a .50 cal., M-60 and a M-16A2 and I loved shooting them, but as a civilian I understand first hand why that kind of weaponry has no place in society. I know gun enthusiasts try to justify owning assault weapons but if you make it easy for law abiding citizen to get them what’s stopping criminals from getting them too? It just becomes an arms race where tens of thousands of lives are loss yearly to support some mentally ill philosophy of gun ownership. So are we really exercising our constitutional right to bear arms or are some just abusing that right for profit and recreation? Because that is not responsible citizenship.
Doing something just because you can despite the consequences isn’t being responsible. It’s a selfish abuse of your rights at the expense of others. That is not what the second amendment is about or what it was intended for You don’t need a gun that fires 30 rounds a second for any reason unless you’re hunting Godzilla or velociraptors. The last time I checked there weren’t any! So if the N.R.A. believes responsible gun control revolves primarily around preventing the mentally ill from having guns then they should be who are the main reason criminals and crazies get their hands on assault weapons in the first place.

Chris Murray
Madison
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Printed in the February 7, 2013 edition

To the Editor:

The Caring Place, Morgan County’s local food bank issues a big thank you to the Sportsman’s Pantry for the donation of 800 pounds of ground venison during the recently completed deer season. This lean ground meat was distributed to those in need in Morgan County.
Sportsman’s Pantry is a 2-year-old program created to provide a means for
hunters to donate a field-dressed deer they do not need to a local processor who for a minimal fee packages the venison and contacts a local charity to pick up and distribute.
Local hunters, local processor, and valuable food for local residents in need. A simple, but efficient, way to help our neighbors.
One of the sponsors of the Sportsman’s Pantry is Georgia Outdoor News located on Seven Islands Road in Madison.

Ron Milton
Buckhead
Via e-mail

Printed in the February 7, 2013 edition

To the Editor:

A Rockdale County funeral director is facing a lawsuit in a dispute over a headstone. A Morgan County family claims George W. Levett Jr. of Levett Funeral Home in Rockdale County made a mistake on the headstone and refuses to fix it.
Bennie Lee Clark's family is embroiled in a heated battle with newly-elected Rockdale County coroner George W. Levett Jr. There is no headstone on Mr. Clark's grave at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Rutledge.
Mr. Levett sold the family a double headstone after Mr. Clark's death in February 2011. It was to be engraved with the names of Mr. Clark and his wife, Josey, who plans to be buried beside her husband in the family plot one day.
Josey and her children claim that Levett made a mistake on the headstone order, inscribing Mr. Clark's name on the wrong side. When the family asked Levett to fix it, he offered to dig up Mr. Clark's remains and move him to the side of the headstone bearing his name.
The family is outraged, with his suggestion. Levett told FOX 5 in a phone interview that no mistake was made on his part that the headstone was engraved as ordered.
The Clark family has filed suit for the $700 headstone they paid. The family says it's not about the money, it's the principle. My family, don't want to be burdened with this when you have lost a loved one. The Clark family is eager for their day in court.

Jestine Salter
Conyers
Via e-mail

Editor’s Note: Much of this was taken from a news report by FOX 5 found at myfoxatlanta.com.

Printed in the January 31, 2013 edition

To the Editor:

Since the 2004 expiration of the previous semi-automatic ban, gun ownership has increased significantly and is now at its highest rate in almost 20 years, while gun violence has dropped just as significantly with gun murders down 75 percent since 1980.  This supports the controversial but empirically supported idea that legal gun ownership may reduce gun crime.
There seems to be an unwillingness of many to address the real purpose of the Second Amendment.  Gun ban supporters often ask, "Why do you need an extended magazine to hunt deer?" and this may sound like a reasonable question, especially to those who consider hunting and self-defense the only legitimate use of firearms.  But the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting.  It's not even clear from the legislative history that it has anything to do with self-protection.  The purpose of the Second Amendment has always been to secure for the People the means to struggle against tyranny.  It flowed directly from the English experience in which local militias were used by the King to enforce undemocratic and oppressive rule. This seems like an extreme concept for some Americans, but this is our history.  And history is replete with examples of the oppression of people who couldn't defend themselves.  Tyranny does not characterize our government now, and hopefully it never will.  The Second Amendment is in place to guarantee our people that they have the means to struggle for their liberty again, if, God forbid, we ever need to.
Molon Labe!

Aubie Knight
Madison
Via e-mail

Printed in the January 31, 2013 edition