Hall County and Gainesville taxpayer incentives will be utilized in the redevelopment of Greenway Park extending from the Amtrak station into Midtown. I believe construction should begin with this important hub to become a potential gateway for tourism. With gasoline prices at an all time high, Amtrak's connection to Canadian markets is important to international marketing.

Any available state monies would support construction of a new bus station including an existing area restaurant and historic landmark as a tourist information center. Other suggested uses are:

1. Using Amtrak to transport college rowing teams on the East Coast as far north as Toronto, Canada, to compete in a renewed Southeast rowing championship.

2. Amtrak, working with Northeast Georgia Medical Center, would be able to establish medical services to their hospital, including transports out of the new bus station.

3. A southeastern road race event at Road Atlanta could also utilize Amtrak to transport race fans from Gainesville to Toronto.

4. With the future rebuilding of our Mountain Center and the New Botanical Gardens, a Southeast Garden Show would be very possible for Gainesville.

Many other conventions are a reality with a new bus station, Amtrak and the county Red Rabbit working together for quality transportation. To pay for these improvements, Hall County should agree to relinquish to the city of Gainesville, for a five-year period, all revenue from the rental of the old county jail on Main Street. After five years, the demolition of the jail would make room for a multiuse building for city police, fire and consolidation of all city and county enhanced 911 systems.

I sincerely hope that our elected officials consider the importance Amtrak and a new bus station would be to renewed tourism interest in Hall County.

Terry Kuehn
Gainesville

Forever being thankful is its own reward
It is still a blessing and also uplifting to be able to listen to programs on radios, see shows on television and read articles and letters in newspapers concerning Thanksgiving Day. America is blessed in many ways, and it may not seem like much to many people, but if we were to lose a portion of what we have to be thankful for, then we could feel the loss. The old saying is: You never miss the water until the well goes dry.

As we feel the pinch of not having water to do many things that we normally do, we should also realize never to take things for granted. It should also tell us that things can be here today but gone tomorrow. Better still, don't worship things. I find it more rewarding to worship the one who created things that we use to make many other things from. To give him thanks is the least that we can do.

To be thankful means a lot. To tell someone thank you is worth many words not spoken. It is the beginning of what can become a pleasant relationship, if done in the right way.

The cause of being thankful is very good. The results are very rewarding. Being thankful is deeply rooted in the American way. America has come a long way by being thankful. Being thankful has many ways of showing itself, but saying thank you is a good way of showing a much deeper meaning. Being thankful causes the heart less pain because the Father of thankfulness is very generous in giving good gifts to those who have hearts that show being thankful really comes from the heart.

I listened to a daily radio show today that brought tears to my eyes. The show was concerning Thanksgiving. It is very sad that much of what we have to be thankful for is becoming less, simply because too few see the need to be thankful from the heart. The adversary is getting to too many people and causing them to disbelieve the real truth. Scriptures tell us much about the heart and how it can help us or hurt us. The same is with empty words coming from an evil heart.

Everything good was given to us for a reason. And to maintain and keep it requires a lot on our part. Even the technology that we boast about is a gift from God, that we need to be thankful for instead of taking it for granted. All that we have came from the source. The source deserves thanks, not in word only, but in action and deed as well.

It is good that government recognized many years ago that our Creator's presence is worth giving thanks for and to because everywhere the presence of the Lord is people get blessed.

Jesse D. Jenkins
Gainesville

Marxism? Darwinism is the right-wing ideal
Oh, please, give me a break. Jack Chesney wrote from Sautee-Nachoochee that Hillary Clinton (that would be Sen. Clinton, if one wanted to be respectful) "would be the first dedicated Marxist to occupy the Oval Office."

Mr. Chesney clearly knows nothing of Marxism or Sen. Clinton. Also, his characterization of the Democratic Party's voter base as "far left" is similarly misinformed. There is no significant "far left" on this side of the Atlantic. It's an illusion fostered by people - so-called conservatives, who actually are radical throw-backs to the unlamented 19th Century - who see social Darwinism, the survival of the fittest, including the very young, the very old and the sick, as the ideal. Often, they propose repealing programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, public health and education so that "market forces" can work their magic, as if such had never been tried before.

Laissez-faire capitalism, darling economic theory of the right, was tried for a long time, and it took decades of effort by progressives in this country to curb the excesses and see that government had a role to play in securing basic necessities for everyone. Funny, these so-called conservatives don't raise a ruckus about socialized highways and bridges, fire departments, police forces and the military (which has its own very successful socialized medicine program, by the way), but reacts with apoplexy whenever national health care is mentioned.

Mr. Chesney, shouldn't fear Marxism. No one wants that, and no one here is trying to get it. Perhaps he should fear a return to the dog-eat-dog society that radical conservatives dream of.

Al Dale
Atlanta

Stronger measures are needed to save water
It seems to me that no one cares that we are in a drought. Every one knows about it, but yet at the same time no one is doing any thing about it.

I think that it is becoming dangerous with how low the water level is getting. Eventually, we will be forced to have a ban on all recreation on the lake. I am also concerned about the fish because as the water gets lower and lower by the day, where are the fish going to go?

When are we going to start taking the drastic measures needed to save our lake and water supply?

Marshall Paul
Gainesville