We still help pay their greens fees
An article by Jim Houston stated the budget for the two city-owned golf courses was cut by $270,000 in the 2016 budget. Mr. Skip Henderson, who voted for the final version of the budget, states: "It seems we accept the responsibility to provide all these other recreational facilities in the city for some reason, we don't lump Bull Creek into that genre."
Mr. Henderson knows there is still a subsidy for Bull Creek and Oxbow in the amount of $300,000 in FY 16 budget. He also knows that other venues, swimming, tennis, skating, softball, baseball, soccer, fall under Parks and Recreation. The Golf Authority, with no oversight from the city except the subsidy, is responsible for operation of the courses and sets the salaries of the director and other employees, who are city employees. Is this not strange?
Taxpayers subsidize every golfer who uses these courses, whether they are citizens or not. Mr. Milan, director of golf, says he has to keep rates competitive with Callaway Gardens and Maple Ridge. He will have to raise his rates considerably to compete with these two courses, as he should. Bull Creek is as fine a golf course as you would want to play in the area, and golfers should pay for its operation.
For Mr. Henderson to say that the golf courses are not lumped "into the genre"is a bit hypocritical. He knows what is in the budget he voted for.
For taxpayers to subsidize such a small percentage of the citizens is ridiculous. For a city this size to support two golf courses, is just as ridiculous. The Golf Authority could combine all into one facility where it could be operated more efficiently and with less overhead. Some fat could trimmed at all the venues, including the golf courses.
Jack L. Langford
Columbus
<b>Nuclear head games</b>
Mr. Obama's psychologization of "statecraft" is obvious -- the "reset" with Russia and the Arab Islamic world, Cuba and now Tehran, a totalitarian state under the auspices of a cleric who has ultimate authority and who advocates through the apocalyptic ideas in their constitution that they must strive for the political, economic and cultural unity of the entire Muslim world. Although Mr. Obama states that his "deal" is the only option outside of war to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb we all know this is pseudology of a quintesential nature.
The facts: Five years after adoption of the plan, the arms ban expires; at eight years the UN's ballistic missile ban expires; at 10 years they can buy nuclear-related goods; at 15 years it can start enriching Uranium above the 3.67% level. Oops, an atomic bomb and intercontinental missiles to deliver it. "In other words, a carton of milk with an expiration date."
What he did not factor in is the psychology of a culture totally foreign to him but universal: Bad guys behave badly because of who they are, what they espouse, what they seek, not because of what we did to them. We have a similar portrait in Putin's actions against the Ukraine, Moldova, and soon the Baltic states, not because they did anything to Russia but because of who he is, what he believes and what he seeks.
Mr. Obama has fallen under the spell of the "Jacobin" fallacy: history is driven by politics, understood as a quest of power and understood as he knows best (To Congress: reject it and I will veto it). Is this the "stunning historic mistake " as proffered by Netanyahu, or not? You decide!
Joseph Liss
Columbus
<b>Waste of time, money</b>
Everyone knows I supports everyone getting to the polls. But why Sunday? When I ran in 2012, with over a month of early voting including some Saturday voting, ONLY 26 percent of the people actually voted. So why does Sunday make any difference?
The problem is people need to get off their rears and go to the polls. I keep hearing people are not being given ample opportunity and that is far from true. Anyone can take part of early voting and use Saturday voting as well. But to create more money to be paid out for Sunday voting I think is a waste of time and money.
Of course this is my personal , and I plan to attend the Sunday voting forum on Thursday to hear the people speak on this issue, but every time I hear Sunday voting i think of all the many missed opportunities everyone had to get to the poll but delayed and postponed and ended up not going at all. We need to get out the vote and make sure folks gO. But ultimately it is up to the person whether they choose to be lazy or participate in their civic duty.
Jeremy Scott Hobbs
Columbus
<b>High risk, no reward</b>
What is nearly 36" in diameter, 900 miles long, contains explosive material, and uses a community-destroying 6-story compressor station to push the gas along? Well, I gave away the answer -- a methane pipeline. Does it benefit Georgia? No. The gas comes from Alabama and goes throuth hundreds of miles of Georgia wetlands, quail country, farmland, and the most densely populated county in Southwest Georgia. The pipeline runs thru the City of Albany well fields and the Compressor Station displaces 50 families, lowers property values for 500+ families, emits tons of poisonous gases and sits almost on top of one of our independent wells that produces 2000 GPM. Our fate as a community lies with an out-of-control federal bureaucracy called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC.gov).
A coalition of elected officials, businesses, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, and other agencies stands united against this unnecessary intrusion. If Sabal Trail/Spectra wants to export Alabama gas, they should run their pipeline to the port of Mobile.
Roger Marietta
City Commissioner
Albany
This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 3:18 PM with the headline "We still help pay their greens fees ."