As we near the presidential election, it troubles me to see candidates who appear to have a purpose no better than their own.

While it's great to think our political leaders exist to serve the people, their actions say otherwise. It's obvious most politicians' goal is to sustain their own status, and we the people come in last.

Actually, look at all the political agencies; they exist primarily to perpetuate their own existence and this is reflected upon highest officials, including the presidency.

While I realize that many politicians begin with a desire to serve the people, the truth is that most end with the desire to serve themselves.

How does a voter distinguish between the good and the bad or is it just a question of which is the lesser of evils? What do you think?

Carol Singleton
Gillsville

Plenty of water falls in lake, but more needed
In discussion of the level of Lake Lanier, the media is conditioned to speak only in terms of feet. Let us consider and be thankful for water measured in inches.

It is impossible to know exactly how much water a rain puts in the lake. However, there is a way to get a ballpark figure. The area of Lake Lanier has been described variously from 38,999 to 40,000 acres. One inch of rainfall on a flat surface of 1 square yard equals 4.7 gallons of water. One inch of rainfall on 1 acre equals 27,154,285 gallons of water.

Thus, one inch of rain over all of Lake Lanier would amount to 40,000 times 27,154,285. My calculator will not handle that sized figure, but we are talking billions of gallons of water.

I do not know how many acres make up the city of Gainesville. However, it is reasonable to assume that about 50 percent of the rain that falls on Gainesville lands on a flat surface such as streets, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, automobiles and rooftops, both residential and industrial. Gravity dictates that most of this stormwater will find its way into the lake. Thunderstorms at least replace the water lost in drawdown and evaporation.

Forget the lake level until next spring. It would take a rain of biblical proportions to fill the lake before the onset of winter.

William A. Sellers Jr.
Gainesville

‘Lawyer up' before date
I wanted to respectfully ask the paper to print the names of all the jurors in the jilted lover case so I could ask them what they were thinking. I guess the new dating regimen in Hall County will be a requirement that both parties exchange their lawyers' business cards at the beginning of the date.

Clay Hulsey
Flowery Branch