October 10, 2004
By Staff
Supporting the military
The members of the 186th Air Refueling Wing would like to thank Colonial Bread and both local Wal-Marts for making generous donations toward a recent fund-raiser for a fellow National Guard member. With the help of these local merchants the 186th ARW was able to raise over $1,100 to help cover medical expenses for this member while she goes through a bout with cancer.
It is support like this that makes Meridian such a military friendly community.
Maj. Brad Crawford and
members of the 186th ARW
Important moment
Last Tuesday, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly against legislation that called for reinstating the draft, and the bill was soundly defeated. This was an important moment in today's political climate because both Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards have falsely claimed that it is Republicans, and President Bush, who support draft reinstatement.
While this vote should put the issue to rest, it is necessary to point out that it is another Democrat South Carolina's Ernest Hollings who has introduced similar legislation in the Senate. No Republican in Congress has introduced any draft legislation.
Kerry is on record saying he might be open to the idea of a draft, and President Bush, in his closing statement in the first debate, made it clear that under him America's military will remain all-volunteer.
President Bush understands that the men and women who volunteered to defend America, and who serve in our military today, deserve our greatest appreciation and respect. As a candidate to be commander-in-chief, John Kerry should know better than to play politics with military service.
Esse Harold Keyes
Meridian
Why does South
support Republicans?
As a Southern woman, I have an extremely difficult time understanding why Southern voters began supporting Republican candidates. The change seems to negatively impact us all, with the exception of the extremely wealthy, and frankly the percentage of Mississippians who fall into that category are few and very far between.
Are we shooting ourselves in the foot? Do we want to lose even more of the services that are necessary for the health and safety of our children and our elderly? None of us are getting any younger. Do we want less money available to educate our children so that they can have better jobs,
better lives? I don't understand.
Nationally, Mississippi is expected to vote to keep Bush in office for a second term. If we believe that the Republicans will improve the quality of our lives and better meet the needs of our poor and rapidly shrinking middle-class, then we haven't been paying attention to the history and politics of recent decades.
And if you think the Democrats are big on spending, America is now in more debt than ever because of this war, which many people do not believe we should be fighting. Oh, yes, and didn't Bush tell us on May 1 that the war was over? So why have more of our young men and women been killed in Iraq since Bush declared the war "over" than were killed during the 43 days when he declared us "at war"? I don't understand.
Susan Steen
Hitt, Boswell applauded
I would like to applaud the actions taken by Craig Hitt and Ray Boswell concerning the "out of town" trips planned by some members of the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors. I agree with Craig that the board members should be treated the same as the other departments pertaining to travel requests. It is totally absurd that anyone should be allowed to attend six or seven out of town meetings events at the taxpayers' expense.
In my opinion, the only trips that should be funded by the county would be those within the state (Biloxi and Jackson). If the supervisors want to take a paid vacation to Las Vegas or Honolulu, then that money should come out of their pockets, not the taxpayers. Thank you, Craig and Mr. Boswell, for doing the right thing by taking a stand.
I.K. Ethridge
Collinsville
