Speak Out

Re "Enough blame to go around: But not everyone is taking it" (Editorial, April 19):

If there were no city of Atlanta and no Lake Lanier, the river would be much lower today and would have been significantly lower last summer. I am amazed that folks from Florida and Alabama do not seem to understand that letting out more water than what comes into the lake is not sustainable.

No, Atlanta has not done enough to plan, but even with the water the city takes, there still is an expectation by Florida and Alabama that we can somehow continue to let out water that does not exist.

Jeffery Daigrepont
Gainesville, Ga.

Sales tax sham

Rep. John Knight's constitutional amendment bill to exempt groceries from the state sales tax is a sham. It would do just that and nothing more except to raise taxes on many Alabamians to the extent that they may be less well off in the end. While it goes too far in one respect, it fails to go far enough in another.

Many self-sufficient Alabamians, not to mention commercial farmers, grow much of their own food in gardens. Knight's bill doesn't remove the sales tax on items required to grow food for an average vegetable gardener — such as seed and plants, fertilizer, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, gardening tools and machinery, fuel and lubricants for the machinery and other miscellaneous items.

His bill rewards people who might well grow some of their own food who are instead using food stamps (paid for by taxpayers) at the expense of those who grow much of their food.

What's fair or responsible about that?

Don Seibold
Wetumpka

Keep it in context

Re "That's all there is" (Speak Out, April 21):

Letter writer David N. Miles brings up a very important observation he has made based on a passage in the Bible, specifically Ecclesiastes 9:5. There is not enough room in the Speak Out section of The Star to explain context, so I will give a short answer as if Miles were quoting William Golding's Lord of the Flies: "They used to call me Piggy!"

Now, I can assume that the one talking used to be literally a pig and has been transformed, or maybe be large like a pig, or dig holes with his nose. Probably none of these are true. So, to understand what is really going on, I would have to read it all, possibly even look into the background of the people involved and check some original languages to see if I am reading a solid translation.

To understand Ecclesiastes, it is important to understand the perspective of the author, the history and the whole context of scripture to handle God's word accurately. This is one reason we have so doggone many denominations. I was overwhelmed when I returned from overseas at all the different ones! But, that is another story ...

As a defense on my part, I'll share some biblical examples regarding life after death:

David knew he would see his son again (in heaven). He (and Job) also said he would see God face to face. Daniel spoke of a resurrection to life, and Enoch went into the presence of God (he skipped the death step.)

One thing that I did notice from Miles' reply is that he used scripture to support my scripture. Good move. Keeps people on their toes and sharpens those who are reading!

Jeff Hines
Anniston