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• What is education's purpose?

  Published on: 07/01/08

  The recent community concern over the CRCT results has really brought into focus exactly what is our purpose of teaching today's students. It seems that all we hear about the education system anymore is how our students are doing on standardized tests. This has never been more evident than with the recent high failure rates of the CRCT exams. Parents are outraged over the huge failure rates and need to ask "why" is this happening? I don't believe it's the fault of the child or the teachers, but I...

• Historic injustice

  Published on: 07/01/08

  What is education's purpose? The recent community concern over the CRCT results has really brought into focus the question of exactly what is our purpose of teaching today's students. It seems that all we hear about the education system anymore is how our students are doing on standardized tests.

• Ask someone who knows

  Published on: 06/30/08

  I want to respond to a letter printed in the June 24 paper. The letter describes the benefits of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom as "infinitesimal." I have a fair amount of education, but sometimes I just cannot understand his writings.

• Help for vets in time of need

  Published on: 06/29/08

  Back in the mid 80s and early 90s, I was one of dozens of Vietnam-era veterans whom Duncan Sinclair of the Pastoral Institute and Bernard Moss of the Bradley Center helped to lessen the effects of combat related PTSD. I'm glad to see that someone has resurrected the idea to help serving, retired or just ex-veterans cope with the lingering affects of their combat service... and I stress the word "cope" because PTSD doesn't ever disappear completely.

• Guantanamo series a disgrace

  Published on: 06/27/08

  After reading the "investigative series" on your Guantanamo heroes, I am convinced of your open defiance of our military. Your paper advises one to be a patient reader when obtaining "detailed information" to form an opinion. From reading your newspaper, the only "detailed information" I get is negative reading on our military, the war on terrorism, and what a bad country we live in. Your paper is quick to blame the United States for every bad deed in the world. With all your "detailed information...

• Tribute to a true American hero

  Published on: 06/26/08

  On Friday, June 13, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Blue Room, we conducted a birthday luncheon for Colonel Robert B. Nett (USA Ret.). It was the 81st birthday for the only living Metal of Honor recipient residing in Muscogee County.

• Feeding fear and profit margins

  Published on: 06/25/08

  To paraphrase GOP icon Ronald Reagan, "There they go again." Neocon bloggers say get the word out against the oil windfall profits tax and the mini-neocons are writing letters about the evils of taxing corporate America. But as French author Anatole France once said, "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

• Little support for peace effort

  Published on: 06/22/08

  I have been reading the latest news coming out of Israel with cautious optimism: the ceasefire with Hamas, an offer to begin talks with Lebanon, and the ongoing talks with Syria and the Palestinians. It looks like Israel is heading in the right direction in its quest for security and peace.

• Trashy city reveals trashy minds

  Published on: 06/19/08

  Beer bottles, cans, wrappers, cups, boxes, old tires and broken-down chairs. A peek at the average American trash dump? Actually, they're just a few of the items I passed while driving to work this morning -- many, sorry to say, in my own neighborhood. I'm not sure how it happened, but Columbus is quickly joining the ranks of America's trashy cities.

• Let's be informed on the issues

  Published on: 06/18/08

  As we approach the July 15 vote for LOST, I sense that many of the citizens of Columbus are still straddling the fence. Based on what I read every day in Sound Off, there are certain contributors who apparently have no idea what it takes to operate a city and don't care to explore the facts.

• Impolitic, but factually correct

  Published on: 06/17/08

  In the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer on June 11, there was an article about the use of the word "stupid" in a council meeting. I am not certain whether the use of this word in a council meeting is politically incorrect, but I am certain that the use of such a word regarding the U.S. Congress is and would be absolutely correct.

• Moral standards not bigotry

  Published on: 06/15/08

  A June 6 letter regarding the policies of the YMCA caused me to take umbrage, and not because of who the writer is but because of the implications and tone. I am a Christian, and while I do not agree with the lifestyle of the writer, I do not believe in persecuting her or others in this lifestyle. I firmly do believe, however, that with the help of our Lord and with sincere prayer, change to the heterosexual lifestyle is entirely possible.

• Kudos to Covington, Foundation

  Published on: 06/13/08

  The arts community was jolted by the recent study that showed the economic impact of the local arts industry. Many thanks to Brad Barnes for his fine reporting and to Dusty Nix for the insightful editorial on the subject.

• Prohibition the real problem -- again

  Published on: 06/12/08

  Thank you for the recent opportunity to discuss the efficacy of drug prohibition in America.

• 'Close' doesn't count with medicine

  Published on: 06/11/08

  During the last year, a revealing light was placed on the mental health system of Georgia. Many problems were uncovered in the public and private sector.

• Let's give credit where it's due

  Published on: 06/10/08

  In a recent letter to the editor berating city government for inefficiency, I couldn't help but nod my head at a few of the statements, yet also feeling that I needed to come forward and set the record straight about a couple of issues. In one sentence, the author wrote: "... I have seen nothing out of the mayor's office, the city manager or the council to make our government more efficient and effective for the citizens it serves."

• It's a 'fantasy' to believe in

  Published on: 06/09/08

  I live in a fantasy world where we learn from history. Some hope we forget it. That way they can keep running the same old scam and keep the public paying for it. They hope we forget how greedy visitors at Versailles bled a broken world dry after WWI. They hope we forget how they ended the Great Depression by inventing perpetual war for profit. They hope we forget we've heard it all before when they say we have enemies aplenty for someone else's kids to kill, while skillfully hiding lost billions...

• Selfless dedication to duty

  Published on: 06/08/08

  After running a lunchtime errand in downtown Columbus on Thursday and traveling down Front Avenue, I had a very close encounter with a Bradley Fighting Vehicle coming toward me. The sheer size of this vehicle intrigued me and when I returned to work, I read that soldiers would be in a Bradley demonstrator and testing whether they can use only a camera system to detect enemies in an urban environment without exposing themselves to fire.

• Steps forward and backward

  Published on: 06/06/08

  We should be very proud -- let's not blow it! Being voted the fourth-best place in America to raise a family hopefully will deter the naysayers who constantly belittle our city and those who are responsible for attaining this status -- the mayor, council, school board. How many of these critics have lived in a city that has an ideal, faultless school board or city council?

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