There’s more to the Beverage story

I am writing in reference to your Sept. 30 editorial (“A control problem”). I am a friend of treasurer candidate Stephanie Beverage and I was there when she experienced the issues that were mentioned in the editorial.

Did anyone stop to ask her what was going on before ripping her in the paper again? Things were said about the last time she ran and I don’t feel like she has been given a fair deal here.

I would much rather have a person that went through bankruptcy 12 years ago deal with my tax dollars than a person holding that position for four years and tells me now she can correct problems. She shouldn’t have to correct it. That is her job. It should have been done correctly.

Does anyone know what Steph was facing in 1997? I do. It was a personal situation, but no one asked, did they? She was facing a divorce raising two children with no child support and was left with all the family bills to deal with on one income. We all have or may face some financial issues. So that doesn’t make a bad person. It doesn’t mean that we don’t learn from our mistakes or that we didn’t cause these issues.

She now works as a 911 dispatcher. Seems to me that the one phone call made to her could be life or death. We trust her for that, don’t we?

If I can trust her with my family and friends’ lives, I can surely trust her with my tax dollars. I have no issues with Treasurer Sandra Dixon, but if I did, it would be that my city’s tax dollars are mishandled. I believe that Steph would do a good job for us and see that the office she is representing would be run as all us taxpayers expect and trust.

I am right there with you, Steph.

Bekky Jones-Ludwick

Waynesboro

Racism cuts both ways

To Nelson Graves: I will use your own example to get the point I have been trying to make all along.

Suppose I’m in front of you in line for a job. My experience is better than yours. I have four years in the United States Air Force doing the same job. My age is right for the job and physically I’m able to do the job better. I passed the test with a better grade than you but they decided to push you in front of me to get the job. The difference is the color of your skin.

Suppose I decided that instead of going to a local business college in 1958, I wanted to attend Morehouse. My grades were good enough and the school would be paid by the government under the G.I. Bill. I have passed the entrance exam with a very good grade but I didn’t tell them I was white. You know exactly what would have happened when they found that out. Sorry, can’t help you.

Suppose my daughter (I have a son) decided she wanted to enter a local beauty contest, called the Black American Beauty Contest. She is told she cannot enter. Why? She is young, good-looking, talented, she plays classical guitar, she’s highly educated and is very good with the English language. The reason she can’t enter is that she’s not black. Whoa! Isn’t that discrimination?

Suppose I want to start a small business in a depressed area and need a loan from the government. The government tells me it can’t help because all the money goes to minorities and I’m white. Now, Mr. Graves, I’m the one in pain. None of this should happen to any race.

Maynard Allen Altizer

Waynesboro

Obama’s success? Really?

Hail the successes of Barack Obama?? Out of three columns of mindless bloviating, Nelson Graves could manage to name only one success. The stock market had regained half its losses. Well woop-de-do!!

That has certainly helped out the folks who are still unemployed. Since this newspaper won’t allow me the same space advantage, let’s quickly look at some of Obama’s other accomplishments. Unemployment as of today is at 9.8 percent.  Heck, that hasn’t been done since 1982!  He said his zillion-dollar stimulus package would be used for “shovel-ready” jobs. I guess if you count a couple million bucks to Clinton’s library, and a bunch to a professor in Alaska to study grandparents, then maybe that’s an accomplishment.

He’s all for cutting our carbon footprint with cap and trade. How much was cut when it took two jumbo jets to fly two people and their respective entourage of Secret Service, press and support staff to Copenhagen for a 20-minute sermon. Which by the way, did nothing, as the United States got whacked on the first vote on the host city for 2016 Summer Olympic Games. I guess the International Olympic Committee is a bunch of racists, too. Right?

Phil Witry

Waynesboro