Published: May 03, 2008 07:07 pm            

Saw God working in Scouts

I saw God today! This is a new country song and I hope most of you have had a chance to hear it.

I just wanted to let the City of Jacksonville know that we have several young men that you need to be very proud and give thanks for. We all hear too much about how bad kids are nowadays.

We are fortunate in Jacksonville to have three Boy Scout Troops in Jacksonville, T407, T403 and T434. These Troops sent 29 members to work at Camp Pirtle on Lake Murvaul the weekend of April 25th. These young men spend their weekend working with/serving the Cub Scouts of our District. They spent their weekend actually practicing the values that you have taught them in their Sunday School classes. They each worked hard to make sure others had a good time and enjoyed the weekend.

Several of the Fathers camping with their Cubs mentioned how impressed they were with the attitude and enthusiasm all of the Boy Scouts working that weekend.

I saw God last weekend in your sons. So keep up the good work and Thank You!

Antony Baker

Jacksonville



A good reason to vote

Two years ago the citizens of District 4 here in Jacksonville did a very remarkable thing, they elected the first woman to the city council, Phyllis Wilburn. Finally, there was representation from the female perspective in the council meetings. It took her a bit of time to get adjusted to being the only woman in a decision making body that has been all male for well over 100 years, but when she did, great things began to happen in this town. Phyllis Wilburn is simply doing a fantastic job as a Jacksonville city councilwoman, and that is a good reason to vote for her again. Way to go Phyllis.

Now, lets talk about the JISD school board trustees. I'm not going to go into all the reasons why we need new faces on the board. Shoot, you already know what they are anyway.

I am, however, going to try to persuade you to vote for Belinda Sims for Place 3, and Ken Smith for Place 4. Both of them have children in the school system, and both of them want to see that all the children in the district get the very best education possible.

In the JDP paper, and on the JDP computer forum, they have expressed many new ideas that would, if implemented, provide for better communication between the school administration and the parents, reduce truancy, help develop a long range Master Plan for the future growth of the district, increase graduation rates, reduce teacher turnover, and most of all, make JISD an Exemplary district.

We need this kind of vision for our school district, and Belinda and Ken can help us achieve these goals. I truly believe that these two people will make enormous gains in bringing JISD back to the great school district it use to be, and that is a good reason to vote for both of them.

Now is the time to make positive changes for the future of OUR school district.

Don B. Gateley

Jacksonville



Thanks for observing motorcycles

I would like to express my appreciation to the general motoring public for their observations of all the motorcycles on the roadways. I would like to express this, but I cannot, because out of all the attempts of the biker community to educate the public to be attentive, and to actually realize and notice that there are motorcycles riding the same roadways that you travel every day, we are still getting run over. With the increase in fuel prices and the warmer weather, there are going to be more and more of us on the streets. Some of us are experienced riders, and some are not. With the increase in motorcycles, there will of course, be more accidents. Most of the accidents will be two vehicle accidents, one being a car/pickup, and the other being a motorcycle. Even with years of riding experience, there are certain situations that we cannot avoid. We are taught or have learned how to control our avoidance maneuvers, braking, skidding and also how to lay our bikes down to avoid an accident. We wear leather jackets, chaps, gloves, boots and some wear helmets. These things and our knowledge are our only defenses in an accident. They do not, however, protect us very much when we tangle with a 2,000-plus pound vehicle.

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, a month in which the biker community will do everything it can to educate the public on their awareness of us and the perils that we face every time that we decide to ride.

If you know a rider, talk to them. If you don’t, then meet one of them and ask the problems that he or she faces every time that they ride. And if nothing else, attend a meeting of a local Motorcycle Rights Organization in your area. There are two in Jacksonville, TMRA2 and ABATE. All that we are asking is that you are aware of us on the roads, and especially that you see us, because all that we want to do is make it to work, school or on our runs or vacations and return home to our families uninjured and more especially ALIVE!

David Barber

Jacksonville

        

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