Isn't it interesting how some politicians will jump on a bandwagon only after discovering their constituents are favoring someone else who's taking leadership away from them?

After reading in The Times on May 9 that county commissioner Deborah Mack has called for a deeper investigation of the county's board of tax assessors, expanding the board to five members and more oversight of that group, I nearly choked and laughed out loud at the same time. That's a classic example of political posturing at its sleaziest.

Regular Times readers will recall clearly that attorney Ashley Bell asked the commission for those very same things some three months earlier! Ms. Mack and several of her cohorts on the county commission chose to ignore the requests of Bell and his clients Lyman Martin and James Cantrell.

Those are the folks, as we know, who uncovered the fouled nest of deceit known as the Board of Tax Assessors at their own expense. The county should have spearheaded that effort, but our leaders chose to turn a blind eye. Their reasons will come to light later.

It's good to know the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is taking the lead in investigating alleged felonies by members of the assessor board. Emory Martin (no relation to Lyman Martin, I'm told) and his cohorts must be sweating bullets by now, knowing that they can't duck the scrutiny of the GBI.

At the same time, many citizens are tickled to learn of the resignation of the head of the snake known as Hall County government. County Administrator Jim Shuler, in spite of his face-saving attempts at denial, has learned that honest taxpayers won't stomach chicanery and his personal enrichment at our expense. We've had enough.

Now we just need to mount a collective outcry for prosecution of court clerk Dwight Wood, who used taxpayer-funded staff and facilities to line his own pockets with passport processing fees approaching $200,000. Using personnel, equipment, buildings, utilities, etc., for personal gain is plain and simple theft of services paid for by you and me. It was legal, though unethical, for Wood to pocket the money. It wasn't legal to use our employees and assets for personal enrichment. Return of every single dollar might soften the outcry and help Wood avoid a legal defense.

We're getting Hall County government cleaned up a step at a time. If enough citizens let their voices be heard, the excision of government cancers will continue.

Craig Cook
Gainesville

It's time Georgia took control of its water
As of May, the first discharges of water from Lake Lanier have increased while the rains have decreased. Downstream, all the way to Florida, their water levels have stabilized, but Lanier has not. It will take a lot of rain and "management" to bring us up the 13 feet needed to be at full pool.

I have written to Sens. Isakson and Chambliss, Rep. Deal and Gov. Perdue that we need to step up the pressure yet again. Have you? Either we file lawsuits to block increases and tie up the courts or confiscate the dam and let the state of Georgia manage the lake. That certainly would get us on national news as we spin our case to the feds through the outcry of the people of Georgia as they march and take over Buford Dam. I'm not a wacko, but it might come to this.

After 17 years of these water wars, it's time for a revolt, especially since Florida's panhandle and Alabama along the river borders have not been on water restrictions.

Read that Alabama Gov. Bob Riley gets on the TV news and tells Alabamans that he'll drain Lanier dry before he concedes. Not to be outdone, Florida doesn't care about the so-called endangered mussels that only a raccoon would love. They're just the ticket they need to cover for their oyster business.

We've got to fight for Georgia.

We read something about a long ago "Flint River" project that the Carter administration scrapped in a letter to The Times. I'm sure the farmers in South Georgia had the pressure on Jimmy to do that. But if this is something that will benefit this fragile water system, lets look into this again.

Our watershed that feeds Lanier is small, but the system's water use is massive and needs to be managed properly for humans. The environment and animals will survive, they have for decades, even before the lake.

What we need are more state- or county-owned reservoirs with a easier, faster, cost-effective permit system to speed up the process. We can't wait for years and years to go by to deal with this.
Then when we have years of plenty of rain, we can fill massive holding tanks, as those we have for strategic gasoline reserves, to store water when needed in time of droughts.

As a side note, how much water is needed for that huge new Kia plant in LaGrange on the banks of the Chattahoochee? How is that going to effect Lanier?

Jane Browder
Gainesville

The American Dream: Work hard for success
Today it is raining that beautiful, needed rain and for some reason my wife and I had a discussion about where we started in our married life of 40 years, and where we have ended up.

Neither of our parents was able to provide us a "silver spoon" existence so we had to work hard to help put ourselves and eventually our two children through college. We also had to work hard just to make ends meet while raising these two children, and often we both went without new clothes to see that our darlings were fitted to the T.

I guess you could say we were middle class and had cause to be proud. You know, the all American family that goes to church, pays their bills on time, has a good reputation, has good friends and enjoys the simple things in life because the big boats and big expensive cars were out of reach.

After our children were out of college and on their own, we realized we needed to save, realizing that Uncle Sam and his Social Security would not meet our needs, much less our wants. So we continued to not buy expensive cars and big boats and worked like dogs to invest money enabling us to retire in comfort.

Well, as I look at the peaceful rain fall, I realize this country is the only place on Earth that I know that would allow two working stiffs to live in a beautiful home, surrounded by other mostly retired working stiffs who made the most of what this great country had to offer, which is the opportunity to succeed no matter the color of your skin or where you start in life.

At times, I have a difficult time understanding why so many people gripe about this country and why so many people think that government is their way to happiness. Folks, the United States of America is wonderful and I thank God he let me live in a country that does not oppress anyone who is willing to work to climb the ladder of success.

For all our sakes, let's not let politicians or our weakness mess up a great thing!

Jim Threlkeld
Clarkesville